Poker’s Sunday Majors Structures.
Sunday is the big day for online poker tournament grinders, but which sites offer you the best value for the bigger buy-in tournaments with huge prizepools and thousands of runners?
In this article we compare the major Sunday tournaments structures, buyins and guaranteed prize pools to make your choice a little bit easier.
Pokerstars Sunday Million
This is probably the best known and biggest of the Sunday majors, with the winner scooping a five-figure payday for their efforts.
Time: 20:30 CET
Buyin: $215
Starting Stack: 10,000
Starting Blinds: 20/40
Blind Levels: 15 minutes
Average Players: 6,000
Run Time: ~ 12 hours
The million has a good structure. Starting with 250 big blinds and even if you were to late-reg after 6 levels, you’d still have 50 big blinds in your stack. The tournament stays deep throughout and never really becomes a crapshoot.
iPoker Sunday Blast
The big one for players on sites like William Hill and Titan Poker that operate on the iPoker network is the Sunday Blast, which guarantees €30,000. It usually reaches the guarantee , but there have been overlays in the past.
Time: 19:00 CET
Buyin: €150
Starting Stack: 10,000
Starting Blinds: 10/20
Blind Levels: 12 minutes
Average Players: 1,100
Run Time: ~ 9 hours
The Masters starts off with a very generous 500 big blind stack. If you were to late register 90 minutes in, you’d find yourself sitting with a little over 60 big blinds, so you can see that it comes in line with the Sunday Million quite quickly. The blind levels are a little shorter and it doesn’t play as deep as the Million in the latter stages.
Party Poker $200k Guaranteed
Party Poker, like iPoker have a $200,000 tournament on Sundays where the winner can expect to walk away with upwards of $50,000. They almost always make the guarantee and overlays at Party Poker are a rarity.
Time: 19:30 CET
Buyin: $200
Starting Stack: 5,000
Starting Blinds: 10/20
Blind Levels: 20 minutes
Average Players: 1,100
Run Time: ~ 11 hours
Party have opted for a smaller starting stack that still represents 250 big blinds. The problem here is that after the first level the blinds double and despite the long blind levels.,after 90 minutes a starting stack represents less than 50 big blinds. Nonetheless, the tournament stays pretty deep and when it gets down to the final table, stacks are often 75 big blinds or more so there’s plenty of room for play in this one.
Ongame ChampionChip
The highlight of the week at Ongame which plays hosts to sites like Red Kings is also a $200,000 Guarantee. This one is a little more likely to have an overlay than the others, as Ongame doesn’t quite get a high enough level of traffic some weeks to meet the guarantee, particularly during the Summer months.
Time: 18:00CET
Buyin: $200
Starting Stack: 5,000
Starting Blinds: 10/20
Blind Levels: 20 minutes
Average Players: 1,100
Run Time: ~ 11 hours
Like PartyPoker, Ongame have opted for a 5,000 starting stack and 10/20 starting blinds with 20 minute levels. However, they’ve included the 15/30 level but done away with the 50/100 level, so the blinds jump from 40/80 to 60/120. After 90 minutes in the ChampionChip, a starting stack is equivalent to just over 40 big blinds, where it stays for most of the tournament. It gets a little shallow at the bubble and then deepens up again for the run into the final table, but it’s not as deep as the Party Poker tournament.
888poker Sunday Challenge
888poker have taken a slightly different approach to the other major sites. Their Sunday tournament is a rebuy event, where all players are allowed a single rebuy. The tournament almost always reaches the guarantee, and typically goes a few thousand dollars over.
Time: 20:35CET
Buyin: $90 (+one $82 rebuy)
Starting Stack: 5,000 (+5,000) rebuy
Starting Blinds: 15/30
Blind Levels: 15 minutes
Average Players: 850
Run Time: ~ 8.5 hours
The rebuy element complicated things a little bit when comparing things, but one thing that is evident is that the blinds go up fast in this one. After 15/30, the next few levels are 25/50, 50/100, 75/150, so even if you cash in your rebuy straight away, then after 90 minutes of play (6 levels) you’re going to be below 50 big blinds. There are a couple of nasty jumps along the way in this one, such as from a big blinds of 1200 to 1600 and from 12,000 to 16,000 so there are a few points along the way where you’ll be forced to get in the action. It’s slightly more shallow stacked than some of the other tournaments, but that’s understandable given the smaller buy-in and the fact that the field is extremely soft for a $100,000 tournament.
