PokerStars Revives Sunday Million Live in Italy
The hybrid €250 event heads to Casino di Campione in October with a €1 million guarantee and a final table on 12 October
PokerStars is bringing Sunday Million Live back to Italy this October, after a nine-year break from live tables, as part of its 25th anniversary year. The hybrid event at Casino di Campione carries a €250 buy-in and a €1 million guaranteed prize pool.
The tournament will mix online and live qualification. PokerStars says the format is meant to integrate online and live poker, with three online Day 1 flights and six live starting flights feeding into the later stages.
The online flights are set for September 13, 20 and 27. The live Day 1s will run at the PokerStars Live room inside Casino di Campione on October 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9.
The top 12.5% of each starting flight will advance with their full chip stacks and a guaranteed €500 minimum cash. Once a player qualifies for Day 2, that player cannot re-enter another starting flight.
Survivors return for Day 2 on October 10, with Day 3 on October 11 and the live final table on October 12. PokerStars has not yet announced whether any side events will run alongside the main event.
PokerStars Italy Customer Acquisition Director Germano Martucci said the event celebrates the community’s “passion, determination, and a competitive spirit.” He added that PokerStars wants players “from all over the world and all realities” to feel part of something special, and said the event is designed to bridge geographical and digital boundaries.
This will be only the second live Sunday Million in the series’ history. The first ran in 2017 at PokerStars Live at King’s Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, with a €220 buy-in, a €1 million guarantee and the same basic hybrid structure.
That 2017 edition drew 5,045 entries and missed the guarantee by roughly €50,000. PokerStars says it never brought the live version back after that run, even though the Sunday Million continued as an online series.
The online Sunday Million has since expanded into regulated markets including Italy and the Southern European shared-liquidity network, and reached the U.S. through FanDuel Poker with two separate $500,000-guarantee tournaments. PokerStars also marked the online series’ 20th anniversary this year with a special $5 million guaranteed edition, while the 2026 online anniversary event used a lower $109 buy-in and daily Day 1 flights on a summer schedule. The flagship dot-com Sunday Million is now reserved for selected occasions rather than running every Sunday, and PokerStars also hosted a $50 million guaranteed Anniversary Series earlier in 2026.
