PokerStars 10th Anniversary Sunday Million Sets Record For Largest MTT Prize Pool

As predicted back in November, PokerStars’ 10th anniversary Sunday Million broke its own record for largest ever prize pool for an online multi-table poker tournament. In total, over 62,000 people registered for the $215-buyin tournament making a prize pool of $12.4m.

It just surpassed the record set in the Main Event of the WCOOP in 2010, with a prize pool of $12.2m. It also topped a Sunday Million back in March, which had 60,000 participants vie for a prize pool a snip lower than $12m. That special event was held to celebrate another anniversary: five years of the Sunday Million.

The record comes exactly two weeks after the poker room broke another tournament record: on December 4, 200,000 players took part in a special $1 buyin tournament, setting a new record for most number of entrants in a paying event. The number could have been a lot higher but the number of participants was capped to ensure an overlay (and to give the PokerStars servers a fighting chance of survival).

Although impressive – especially considering PokerStars was forced to withdraw from the US market earlier in the year – the online poker room still has a long way to go to surpass live poker tournament records. The Main Event of the 2006 World Series of Poker boasted a total prize pool of $82.5m, with the event winner Jamie Gold scooping $12m for first prize.