Largest Poker Tournament Ever

Poker boomed in the mid-2000s and is continuing to grow today. When the old brass of the World Series of Poker was taken down by a new wave of fresh, college-aged kids, David Williams was perhapsthe most shining example.

Making the Main Event table in 2004, David had a look and attitude that no one at the WSOP had seen before. His charisma and skill combined with his rookie status left many wondering, “How did heget here?” The answer: the internet.

The PokerStars Sunday Million. Organized: Every Sunday. Poker Site: PokerStars. Guaranteed Prize. TOP 10 MOST AMAZING POKER HANDS EVER!Help us to 200K Subscribers - you are reading this, comment what poker video you want to see next. When it comes to the biggest poker tournaments around the world, arguably the best place to find the most lucrative payouts is the World Series of Poker (WSOP). This one is known as the largest one. The ultimate prize is a WSOP gold bracelet, but these events also come with enormous prize funds attached. PokerStars is home to the largest weekly online poker tournament held, the Sunday Million. It takes place at 18:30 ET every Sunday and boasts a buy-in of $215. A champion has been decided in the highest buy-in poker tournament in history. Aaron Zang emerged victorious from a field of 54 total entries in the £1,050,00 buy-in Triton Million charity.

With the internet still niche at the time, very few were aware of how powerful the tool was.

While smoke-filled rooms were still the backdrop for many major poker plays, a new class was cutting their teeth on tables online. Many, like David Williams, came from a gaming background. Beforebecoming a world-class poker player, Williams was handling cards professionally as a Magic: the Gathering player.

This new generation was developing skill quickly and looked poised to take over the world of poker. And take over they did. Fourteen years later, the prestige of online poker has come to rival even the biggest casinos and poker series. It would be silly for a poker player withany ambition to avoid online tables, as they are where the best of the best play.

Of course, as the industry grew, so did the pot. Now, online tournaments are handing out prizes that compete with the World Series itself.

An international online poker tournament held this week shattered a record for entries and generated an $18.6 million prize pool, making it one of the largest online tournaments ever.

Leading online cardroom PokerStars said the $18,603,200 prize pool in this week's 'Sunday Million' tournament was the biggest for any tournament in company history. Nearly 61,000 players combined to create a record 93,016 entries in the $215 buy-in tournament.

The previous record for entries in a 'Sunday Million' tournament (62,116) was set in 2011.

A player from Brazil with the screenname 'AAAArthur' won the tournament, after the final four players agreed to divvy up $3.67 million in prize money. After the deal was made, 'AAAArthur' bested the other finalists, winning the championship with a full house -- twos over jacks -- on the final hand.

'AAAArthur' won $1,192,802, followed by runner up 'CrAzY_sTeFaN' with $921,328, 'Salonteskis' with $826,919 and 'Caroline2963' with $786,873.

It's the third-largest prize pool for an online poker tournament ever, behind only two $20 million tournaments hosted by online site Partypoker in 2018 and 2019. Those tournaments, however, had significantly higher buy-ins ($5,300 and 10,300) compared to the 'Sunday Million.'

The record-breaking 'Sunday Million' tournament comes while people around the world are being encouraged to stay at home and isolate themselves during the coronavirus pandemic.

This week's event was the 14th anniversary for the 'Sunday Million,' which attracts players from jurisdictions around the world, including most European countries, Canada and South America.

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Germany was the most-represented country in this week's tournament, PokerStars said.

Players located in the United States are prohibited from entering international online poker tournaments by law. In the U.S., online poker is only legal in Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

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PokerStars, which operates in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, has seen increased traffic in recent weeks. Matt Primeaux, president of FOX Bet and PokerStars USA, told ESPN that guaranteed prize pools for online poker tournaments in New Jersey and Pennsylvania have increased by approximately 40% in each of the last two weekends.

The prize pool for the showcase Sunday online tournament in Pennsylvania on PokerStars has climbed from $50,000 two weeks ago to $105,000 this upcoming Sunday.

'If you would've told me when PokerStars launched in Pennsylvania that they'd have a $100,000 prize pool anytime soon, I would've laughed,' said Lance Bradley, president and editor-in-chief of poker site PocketFives and author of 'The Pursuit of Poker Success.'

'It's not a huge market -- it's decent-sized, but it's only one state. A $100,000 is a big prize pool for that state. People are looking for things to do while they're stuck in their house, and with no sports to bet on, no sports to watch, a lot of people are sort of returning to poker.'

The World Series of Poker, which in early March halted live tournaments in Atlantic City and Los Angeles due to the pandemic, received permission from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to run the circuit events that addressed the stoppage of the live events and will lead up to the main event online.

'Quite simply, we put $1.2 million in guarantees on these events,' Seth Palansky, a vice president for Caesars Entertainment, who handles communications for the World Series of Poker, told ESPN in an email, 'Halfway through, we've had more than $1.8 million awarded. Thus, we are on pace to triple the expected prize pools we assumed when pulling this together.

'It is not just these tournaments either,' Palansky added. 'Cash game traffic is robust, new registrations are up, first time depositors, etc. By all metrics, we haven't seen this kind of traffic (outside the WSOP) before, and our signups are the best they have been since the first week we opened our sites.'

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The World Series of Poker's $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event is slated to begin July 1 in Las Vegas.