Online poker’s most iconic tournament, the Sunday Million, is celebrating a major milestone. Twenty years after its debut, PokerStars is marking the occasion with the 20th Anniversary edition of the Sunday Million, continuing its tradition of hosting a special anniversary event each year.

This year’s edition introduces a completely different structure. Rather than being held over a single weekend, the tournament will stretch across the summer, beginning this Sunday and concluding during the first week of September.

Although PokerStars had already announced the schedule, it has now confirmed the prize pool. The 20th Anniversary Sunday Million will guarantee $5 million, making it the operator’s largest tournament of the year and one of online poker’s biggest tournaments in 2026. While the guarantee is smaller than in recent anniversary editions, it still stands out as one of the headline tournaments on the online poker calendar.

The tournament itself also looks very different this year. For the first time, the Sunday Million Anniversary will use the Phased format, with Phase 1 flights running every day from June 28 through September 6. Players can attempt as many Phase 1s as they like until they finish with chips in Phase 2, giving them multiple opportunities to reach the final stage. The Phase 2 finale takes place on September 6, before the tournament concludes and crowns its champion on September 7.

Another notable change is the introduction of the Progressive Knockout (PKO) format. It marks the first time an anniversary edition of the Sunday Million has been played as a PKO.

PokerStars has also made the tournament significantly more accessible by reducing the buy-in. While the weekly Sunday Million has long carried a $109 entry fee and anniversary editions have traditionally cost $215, this year’s 20th Anniversary edition returns to the regular $109 price point, allowing more players to take a shot at the $5 million guarantee.

Sunday Million 20th Anniversary Key Highlights:

  • Guarantee: $5 million
  • Buy-in: $109
  • Format: Phased, Progressive KO
  • Phase 1s (Daily): June 28 to September 6
  • Phase 2 (Final): September 6
  • Final Day: September 7

The lower buy-in, however, also creates a much bigger challenge. With the entry fee cut in half, PokerStars will need roughly twice as many entries to cover the guarantee. At $109 per entry, the tournament requires approximately 50,000 entries to avoid an overlay.

That is an enormous target. Last year’s anniversary edition featured a $6 million guarantee with the traditional $215 buy-in and attracted 28,444 entries, ultimately missing the guarantee by $311,200. However, that event was conducted as a single-flight tournament, leaving players with only one opportunity to enter, apart from the extended late registration period.

This year’s event, therefore, needs a considerably larger field, although PokerStars has stacked the odds in its favor with a lower buy-in and more than two months of daily qualifying flights.

The operator has also expanded the number of ways players can earn their seats. Traditional satellites begin at just $0.55, while dedicated Spin & Go qualifiers launch on June 27 with buy-ins of $0.75 and $4. Meanwhile, the Jet Set Season promotion is distributing $300,000 worth of Sunday Million Anniversary Phase 1 tickets.

Players also have another opportunity through PokerStars’ recently introduced Wildcard Wins promotion. The weekly leaderboard campaign awards $50,000 in prizes through July 19. Eligible sports bets generate random leaderboard points, with the highest-ranked players earning rewards that include Silver Passes, Bronze Passes, and Sunday Million 20th Anniversary tickets.

A 20-Year Legacy

The Sunday Million no longer commands the same dominance it enjoyed during PokerStars’ global heyday. Over the years, the operator’s exit from several grey markets has reduced the size of its worldwide player pool, and many of its marquee tournaments now attract smaller fields than they once did.

Still, the Sunday Million remains one of online poker’s defining tournament brands.

Since launching in 2006, the tournament has paid out nearly $1.5 billion in prize money across almost 1,000 editions. Few tournaments in poker history have consistently produced seven-figure prize pools on the scale of the Sunday Million, and after two decades, it continues to occupy a special place in the online poker world.