"z4muz" Sunday Million 15th Anniversary; PokerNews Live Reporting Starts Today!
The Sunday Million has been the flagship event at PokerStars for 15 years ever since "aaaaaaaa" outlasted a field of 5,893 players to win the $173,844 top prize during the inaugural Sunday Million on March 6, 2006.
PokerStars is celebrating this milestone in a big way with a blowout Sunday Million 15th Anniversary featuring a massive $12.5 million guarantee for a $215 buy-in. The event began on Sunday, March 21, and will continue for two more days until a winner is crowned on Tuesday, March 23.
Many players will be guaranteed a massive payday - especially for the top two players that will be guaranteed at least $1 million each!
The prize pool has already been smashed with already more than 65,000 entrants creating a prize pool of more than $13 million and counting with late registration open until the start of Day 2 today at 5 p.m. GMT (1 p.m. EDT).
PokerNews will be live reporting the final two days of this epic event until a winner is crowned.
"z4muz" Leads Heading Into Day 2
Day 1 featured 18 blind levels of 20-minutes each with nearly 13,000 players advancing to Day 2. This number will grow as there are still players late-entering and re-entering with late-registration open for 24 hours after the start of Day 1, although they will have to begin with a starting stack of 20,000 for 10 big blinds.
There are still plenty of satellites running if you are looking to get into the action for a fraction of the cost.
Play in the $12.5M GTD Sunday Million at PokerStars
Sweden's "z4muz" was the only player to amass more than 600,000 in chips on Day 1 and will bring forth a huge stack of 321 big blinds with 641,908 in chips.
Nine other players amassed at least 500,000 in chips including Finland's "SceneTid" (588,365), Canada's "Ace TL" (558,600), Romania's "cryd0" (541,857), Norway's "bryn32" (535,926), Canada's "Nyzerone777" (529,674), Germany's "V.H. MAXX" (519,593), Romania's "poker2424242" (517,947), Hungary's "G.Clarton" (511,800), and Brazil's "LearnAllTime" (508,835).
Top Ten Heading into Day 2 of the Sunday Million 15th Anniversary
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | z4muz | Sweden | 641,908 | 321 |
| 2 | SceneTid | Finland | 588,365 | 294 |
| 3 | Ace TL | Canada | 558,600 | 279 |
| 4 | cryd0 | Romania | 541,857 | 271 |
| 5 | bryn32 | Norway | 535,926 | 268 |
| 6 | Nyzerone777 | Canada | 529,674 | 265 |
| 7 | V.H. MAXX | Germany | 519,593 | 260 |
| 8 | poker2424242 | Romania | 517,947 | 259 |
| 9 | G.Clarton | Hungary | 511,800 | 256 |
| 10 | LearnAllTime | Brazil | 508,835 | 254 |
Tom "MajinBoob" Hayward Best Among the PokerStars Ambassadors
Nine PokerStars Ambassadors entered the Sunday Million 15th Anniversary on Day 1. Tom "MajinBoob" Hayward shined the brightest after running up his only bullet into 172,428 in chips for 86 big blinds heading into Day 2.
Lex "L.Veldhuis" Veldhuis (139,563) and Fintan "easywithaces" Hand (114,488) entered four times before advancing to Day 2, while Ben "Spraggy" Spragg (23,600) used three bullets to bring slightly more than a starting stack into Day 2.
Despite his short stack, Spragg did provide one of the more memorable moments on Day 1 live on his Twitch stream when he got paid with quad aces in a hand with aces versus kings.
Felix "xflixx" Schneiders (149,872) and Ramon "RamonColillas" Colillas (85,772) were both able to make it through Day 1 without re-entering.
Meanwhile, Arlie "Prince Pablo" Shaban (three bullets), Mason "Pye_Face21" Pye (two bullets), and Georgina "GJReggie" James (one bullet) all entered yesterday but failed to make it to the end of the day. We may not have seen the last of this trio as they still have time to get back into the action before the start of Day 2.
PokerStars Ambassador Chip Counts Heading Into Day 2 of the Sunday Million 15th Anniversary
| Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tom "MajinBoob" Hayward | New Zealand | 172,428 | 86 |
| Felix "xflixx" Schneiders | Germany | 149,872 | 75 |
| Lex "L.Veldhuis" Veldhuis | Netherlands | 139,563 | 70 |
| Fintan "easywithaces" Hand | Ireland | 114,488 | 57 |
| Ramon "RamonColillas" Colillas | Andorra | 85,772 | 43 |
| Ben "Spraggy" Spragg | United Kingdom | 23,600 | 12 |
Day 2 Begins at 5:10 p.m. GMT
Day 2 will kick off today, March 22 at 5:10 p.m. GMT at Level 19 with blinds at 1,000/2,000 with an ante of 250 and increase every 15 minutes as opposed to the 20-minute blind level structure yesterday. The penultimate day will conclude after Level 50 is in the books and resume on Tuesday, March 22 at 5:05 p.m. GMT.
PokerNews will be live reporting the event the rest of the way. So be sure to stay tuned to find out how the action unfolded and who will be crowned the Sunday Million 15th Anniversary champion.