GGPoker’s flagship freezeout tournament, GGMasters, is set to double its guarantee for the upcoming Sunday edition (March 9), increasing it from $500,000 to $1 million.
This marks the first time GGMasters will feature a $1 million guarantee on a regular Sunday outside of a tournament series. The buy-in remains $150 ($138 going towards the tourney prize pool and $12 charged by the operator as a fee), meaning the event will need over 7,247 entries—twice its usual turnout—to avoid an overlay.
The boosted edition comes right after the $5 million GGMasters Anniversary event, which was ultimately canceled due to technical issues. Before its cancellation, the tournament had drawn over 35,000 players, but a table balancing issue disrupted play, forcing GGPoker to first pause and then call off the event. Notably, the tournament had already faced issues the previous week, leading to a rescheduling before its eventual cancellation.
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As GGMasters returns to its regular format, GGPoker has doubled its guarantee to $1 million. While this may seem like a goodwill gesture to compensate for the canceled event, the boost was planned even before the technical issues arose. GGPoker has yet to make an official announcement regarding the increase, and this may not be a one-off change—it could be here to stay.
A GGPoker spokesperson told pokerfuse that the increased guarantee may not be temporary but emphasized that its longevity will depend on the tournament’s performance. However, they hinted that as long as the poker community continues to support the event, the $1 million guarantee could remain in place for the foreseeable future.
No such guarantee increase has been implemented for GGMasters on the ring-fenced GGPoker Ontario platform, which is available to Ontario online poker players.
The jump from $500,000 to $1 million is quite big. If GGMasters maintains this guarantee, it could become a strong competitor to PokerStars’ iconic Sunday Million, which has carried a $1 million guarantee for nearly two decades. While the Sunday Million has a slightly lower buy-in of $109, it allows re-entries.
On the other hand, GGMasters remains a true freezeout, giving players just one shot per tournament. Interestingly, the Sunday Million also started as a freezeout before shifting to multiple re-entries.
The timing of GGMasters’ increased guarantee is noteable, as PokerStars has been experimenting with various formats to sustain its $1 million Sunday Million guarantee. For some time, the tournament has struggled to hit its target, prompting the operator to introduce new formats like Mystery Bounties and, more recently, a Phased structure. The latter proved successful, boosting turnout by 20% compared to the usual numbers.
However, the Sunday Million has since reverted to its traditional single-flight format, now played as a Progressive Knockout (PKO), causing an overlay in its most recent running. Next month, PokerStars will celebrate the tournament’s 19th anniversary with a special edition featuring a $6 million guarantee. As with past anniversary events, the buy-in will return to its original $215.
GGMasters Rich History
GGMasters first launched in January 2020, aiming to compete with PokerStars’ Sunday Million. While it didn’t initially match Sunday Million’s scale in terms of guarantees, it quickly built a strong following as a staple Sunday event, thanks to its revival of the classic freezeout format at an affordable buy-in.
The tournament was championed by GGPoker’s global ambassador, Daniel Negreanu, as it was his idea. It debuted with a $250,000 guarantee and rapidly gained traction, doubling to $500,000 within months—despite frequent overlays.
Undeterred, GGPoker continued to raise the guarantee, incrementally increasing it from $250,000 to $300,000, then to $400,000, and eventually to $500,000. This bold strategy paid off. After weeks of falling short, the tournament gained momentum, consistently meeting—and eventually surpassing—its guarantee. It has maintained a $500,000 weekly guarantee for four years, even as the room’s overall traffic has tripled.
The four-year stagnation may have been intentional, as GGMasters expanded into a week-long series featuring multiple editions, including Bounty, Classic, Asia, Double Stack, Bounty Warm-Up, and Turbo—all with a $25 buy-in. Additionally, the Bonus Bounty edition runs on Saturdays with a $108 buy-in and a $150,000 guarantee.
Despite the various GGMasters editions running daily, GGPoker is now making a bold move by doubling the guarantee of its flagship Sunday tournament. Another possible reason for the increased guarantee could be that GGPoker is currently hosting the WSOP Super Circuit Series, which runs throughout the month with a massive $100 million guarantee. The series is expected to drive higher tournament traffic, and GGPoker may see this as an opportunity to grow GGMasters alongside it.
How long the $1 million guarantee will last remains uncertain, but players will likely welcome the increase—especially with the potential for overlays making a return.
