The PokerStarsSunday Million is the staple online poker tournament. Last week, this marquee event drew a ridiculous 6,672 entrants, each of whom either won a satellite to get in or ponied up $215. This weekend, the Sunday Million celebrates its one year anniversary and PokerStars has gone the extra mile to make the event a rousing success. The March 11th Sunday Million will be a $1.5 million guarantee, which will draw the best and the brightest from around the online poker world in pursuit of one of the largest prize pools ever in online poker.

Since the inception of the Sunday Million, several PocketFivers have taken down the event. They include Eric “Rizen” Lynch (pictured at left), who finished 24th in the 2006 WSOP Main Event; Isaac “mr. menlo” Baron, a PokerStars veteran who’s racked up wins in the site’s $100 rebuy tournaments; top ten ranked player atimos, who took down the November PLB; adanthar, who captured first in the Bodog $109 tournament in late January for nearly $40,000; Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, who won the $200 rebuy on Stars twice last summer; and several others who make up the 50 winners of this signature event. All of the past winners will receive a custom Sunday Million jacket and will compete in the Tournament of Champions. According to Stars, the TOC will feature, “an EPT Monte Carlo package and $10,000 in other prizes up for grabs.”

So far, the excitement over the $1.5 Million guarantee has been noticeable on PokerStars. PocketFives.com member Scott Yeates, a member of the PokerStars VIP Team who posts under the name “Scotty,” said: “PokerStars has the largest weekly tourneys in the world. I wouldn't be surprised if we were closer to a $2 million prize pool than $1.5 million this weekend.” The sheer number of satellites headed into this weekend will make for an event composed of a very wide variety of poker players: “For many, this will be the largest tournament they have ever played in and they may have won their way into the event with their FPP’s or for as little as $3.”

With the opportunity to satellite into the Sunday Million, there’s a great value out there for those who want to win or buy their way into the event. Yeates comments, “Look at the success the best tourney players in the world have had on PokerStars and how well this has translated for them at the WSOP and other major events around the world. The practice you can get on PokerStars for $50 didn't exist just a few years ago.” The event really took off the weekend after the 2006 Super Bowl, as a blizzard on the East Coast forced many to remain at home. With no football to watch (yes, the Pro Bowl was on, but that doesn’t count unless you’re Sean Taylor), the Sunday tournament first eclipsed a $1 million prize pool. The first $1 million guarantee event was held on Sunday, March 4, 2006. The rest, as they say, is history.

Recently, Yeates posted a contest thread on PocketFives.com asking for guesses as to the total entrants to this week’s Sunday Million as well as what the first item ever purchased from the FPP store was. There have been hundreds of responses so far and the winners will take home iTunes gift cards, courtesy of PokerStars. Says Yeates about PocketFives: “The poker forum is a great way to get news out and have some fun at the same time.”

So what are you waiting for? MTT satellites into the Sunday Million take place every 10 minutes on PokerStars. Don’t miss out on the one year anniversary of the Stars Sunday Million this weekend on March 11.