The Sunday Million 20th anniversary edition is underway with $5 million guaranteed, and the stat we like most: three Brazilians sit in the top 10 chip counts heading into the final phase. The world's most famous online tournament turns twenty with the biggest prize pool of its recent history.
The facts
For the first time, the anniversary edition runs as a phased tournament: you play a $109 Phase 1 and, if you finish with chips, your stack travels intact to Phase 2 on September 6, where everything gets decided — the champion is crowned on the 7th. Phase 1 flights run daily until then.
The numbers are already serious: nearly 25,000 entries processed across completed Phase 1s and 799 players holding a ticket to the final phase. An Austrian leads the pack with over 1,070,000 chips, one of only two players past the million mark. And the top 10 features three Brazilians: "chaavees" (906,697, sixth), "rodfarah" (881,102, eighth) and Douglas "h.dogui" Hobold (872,974, ninth). Latin America isn't just attending this party — it has a seat at the head table.
Entry routes range from satellites starting at $0.55 to special $0.75 and $4 Spin & Go editions that award tickets, plus a weekly draw giving away hundreds of seats for completing play missions.
Why it matters
The phased format changes the strategy, and you want to understand it before you sit down. In a regular tournament, accumulating chips is everything; in a Phase 1, the real goal is ending the day with a playable stack, because only surviving chips make it to September 6. It's the same muscle you train in a satellite: understanding what the tournament actually rewards, not what you assume it rewards.
And the lesson we keep repeating because it works: cheap routes don't mean playing without a plan. Between satellites, spins and phases, you can burn through a bankroll little by little without noticing. Decide how many attempts your bankroll management allows and stick to it — variance in fields of tens of thousands is brutal, and at low stakes the rake weighs proportionally more, so understanding how it works is part of playing well.
Three Brazilians in the top 10 is no accident: it reflects a region that studies and competes as an equal. If you want to follow the final phase with perspective — and prepare your own — join our community, where we'll be breaking down how to play a short, medium and big stack when everything is decided in a single day. Understand the format, and you arrive with an edge.