Online poker powerhouse Partypoker has announced the £5 million partypoker MILLIONS, a hybrid online and live poker event which guarantees a massive £1 million to the winner. The tournament is a throwback to the site’s landmark PartyPoker Million events, which began over 15 years ago and were instrumental in the company’s success in the online poker market.

MILLIONS, which boasts the largest guaranteed poker prize pool ever awarded in Europe, will be hosted on partypoker.com, as well as in card rooms across the United Kingdom and internationally. Qualifying players will come together at Nottingham’s Dusk Till Dawn poker club on April 20 to battle for the seven-figure first-place prize.

While the tournament may be over half a year away, players can begin their journey to the final table on partypoker starting October 4, when the site runs the first online Day 1 for a buy-in of £500 + £50. Day 1s will also be offered live at Dusk Till Dawn, as well as at affiliated card rooms, at a soon-to-be-determined date.

Players who advance through Day 1 will carry their chips over to either Dusk Till Dawn or go online for Day 2. players who feel like skipping Day 1 altogether, have the option of buying into Day 2 directly for £5,000 + £300 and receiving 1 million in chips.

Players who don’t make Day 2 on their first try, can play as many Day 1s as they like. Players who make Day 2 more than once, can play more Day 2s and take their largest end-of-the-day stack into Day 3.

As an added bonus for early birds, partypoker is running a promotion that gives a £550 cash prize to the first 100 players to make Day 2.

The site is also integrating MILLIONS into its Caribbean Poker Party event in the Dominican Republic in November. At the end of the week, partypoker will run two Day 1s and Day 2s, with those lucky enough to make Day 3 taking home a $1,500 cash bonus. The extra prize money will not be deducted from the MILLIONS prize pool.

Partypoker brand ambassador Mike Sexton, who was integral in making the inaugural Million event a success, will be back on hand to host the tournament.

“I am absolutely thrilled to host and bring back the partypoker MILLIONS in its original format with £1,000,000 guaranteed to the winner,” Sexton said. “This multi-venue, live and online event gives players the chance to qualify all over the world and win a share of the huge £5,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. This will be THE event of 2017 which I will not be missing and means a lot to me as this is how my partypoker journey started.”

With its combination of live and online play, coupled with a final table set on a cruise ship, the original Million tournament was seen as unique and innovative when it debuted in 2001. That year, poker pro Kathy Liebert beat out a field of mostly amateur online players to take home the title and a check for $1 million.

For those not looking to shell out the £550 buy-in for Day 1, partypoker will, of course, be offering plenty of qualifiers on the site.

“Not only can partypoker players win a share of £5,000,000, they will be able to qualify online from as little as $0.01,” said Group Head of partypoker Tom Waters. “We continually look to challenge ourselves and add value for the players. The partypoker MILLIONS does just that, offering the global poker community the opportunity to become a millionaire.”