It looks like it’s game on in the partypoker/PokerStars battle for top dog in the online world, PokerStars announcing a cut-price Sunday Millions buy-in as they attempt to drag players back from their rivals!
By: Andrew Burnett
The Sunday Millions on PokerStars has become something of an institution for players and the Red Spade site alike, but now the buy-in has been cut from $215 to just $109, with the guarantee remaining at $1million.
The past year or two has seen partypoker offering amazing online tournaments and live events to rival the best out there, and it was probably only a matter of time before PokerStars had to indulge in a ‘supermarket wars’-style approach – the Sunday Million action perhaps the first blow.
With the buy-in change being permanent, the poker community is abuzz with excitement at what this will mean for players – and the site – with PokerStars needing to draw in 10,000 players to meet their guarantee.
Questions are already being asked about whether the top prizes will remain the same or not (usually $100k+ to the winner) or whether a flatter payout structure will appear.
Since its inception 13 years ago, the $215 has been the go-to Sunday biggie for many of the world’s leading online players, and a ton of regs and recs alike.
However, with partypoker breathing down their necks with their own Super Sunday special and a never-ending supply of other series’ for players to jump into at the weekend, it seems that PokerStars have decided to up the ante a little.
The Sunday Million will still be the only tournament offering a weekly $1million guarantee – and PokerStars will be taking an extra bit of rake from the newly-designed buy-in if they hit their targets – but they’ll have to hope the permanent nature is reflected in players permanently turning out in huge numbers.
With some of the prestige value gone – or perhaps diluted – by the unexpected changes to the Sunday Million, that may not be as easy as it looks on paper.
