Name any poker tournament. Which one is the first that comes to mind? Maybe it is the WSOP Main Event. An online grinder’s choice is definitely the Sunday Million. Thousands of amateurs come to online poker with a dream of winning the Sunday Million. Amateurs go to sleep thinking about it and fulfilling this dream is what makes every successful pro happy.

Whether you are inspired by the intro (or not), look at 2CardsCollege‘s all-time top five rankings of the Sunday Million’s best players.

The number of participants since June 2012: a summer regress and a growth during the major tournament series (anniversary tournaments excluded)

Category 5: Sirocko and Magardan (this fellow has a heart)

Over the last 40 months (let us call this period an active stage of an MTT player’s career), there were 150+ Sunday Millions played on PokerStars. To be more accurate, there were 157 classic Sunday Millions with a $215 buy-in between June 25, 2012 and October 4, 2015.

How many of those 157 tournaments could a grinder who has a heart play? 120? Maybe 137? That would mean that he had only 20 free Sundays over three-and-a-half years. It is barely enough to attend parents’ and grandparents’ birthdays or uncles’ jubilees.

Nonetheless, the correct answer is 153 out of 157. Since July 2012, the players in our first category have played a Sunday tournament session and tried their luck in the Sunday Million 153 times. The stalwarts’ names are Sirocko and Magardan.

Simon “Sirocko” Christensson (pictured below) – $1,400,000 in cashes on PokerStars.

The man who loves his cat

The Swedish player reached his career peak in the beginning of this decade. “Sirocko” won the Sunday 500 twice ($113,000 and $97,000) and took the fourth place in the Sunday Million in December 2010 ($82,500).

The last 153 tries were not glorious for Simon Christensson, as he spent $33,000 on buy-ins and only recouped $21,500 in cashes.

Magardan is a player from Germany. The only fact known about him is that he also played 153/157 Sunday Millions and binked one of them last August ($177,000).

Here are the other nine players who took part in 150+ tournaments over the given period:

Ukrainian and Russian players made it to the money more than anyone else – “PostoronnimV” (135 tournaments) and Ivan “LeBronn2333” Pozhilov (138 tournaments). Both of them have 35 cashes. Kuba “Olorionek” Michalak from Poland is behind by 1 ITM (136 tournaments).

Kuba Michalak – the ISPT champion, the Dusk Till Dawn casino series that took place on the Wembley stadium

Only Lebronn2333 had a taste of the final table (sixth place in 2011, prior to the selected period), while PostoronnimV made the top 20 twice.

Category 4: Shulman20 (he speaks little but says much)

Let us move on. Imagine that you are an amateur. Sometimes you play tournaments and get into the Sunday Million on special occasions. What can you hope for? We are guessing it depends on your timing.

Our second nomination winner plays on the world’s biggest poker site under the nickname Shulman20. Over three-and-a-half years, Shulman20 has played the Sunday Million 11 times:

  • 4 cashes
  • 2 final tables 2 weeks apart (5/7,614 and 9/6,407)
  • Total buy-ins: $2,635
  • Total cashes: $70,843

What an amazing efficiency! (Never play cards with this man)

phil548 from Russia is just slightly behind the winner. To play two Sunday Million final tables, he had to pay the buy-in 12 times. PokerStars handed “phil” $42,300 for his 7th and 9th places.

The special prize in the “speaks little but says much” category goes to Gacela1. He took part in the Sunday Million 12 times, 9 of which brought him a profit. A simple calculation gives us a mind-boggling result: 75% ITM. Stability is a sign of excellence.

Category 3: Robtinnion (Mom, I’m rich!)

For the third category, we had to exclude not only the anniversary events, but also the Sunday Millions conducted during major series. We are going to talk about the total amount of money won.

Like the nominees in the previous category, Rob “robtinnion” Tinnion made the Sunday Million final table twice. He won both of his final tables, in January 2014 and February 2015, for a total of $426,000.

Rob Tinnion – 109 tournaments, 2 victories

“I won two tournaments once,” – says his Twitter bio.

The other names from the glorious list of the Sunday Million two-time finalists:

  • Akport from Russia (2nd and 3rd places in 2013, $308,000 in cashes)
  • Cosmin “xKoSSSx” Cosea (1st and 4th places, $282,000)
  • Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek (4/7419 on January 14, 2013, and a week later, on January 21, 3/7324, $260,000 total)
  • Georgios “GeoManousos” Sotiropoulos (one of the very few tournament players who ever said publicly “I love Sundays.” won $233,500)
  • Pratyush “Shane Gamble” Buddiga (9th in 2012, 4th in 2014, $103,000)

More PocketFivers:

2CardsCollege has its own sniper as well. Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet has three Sunday Million final tables on his long service record:

  • Fifth place in 2009, $57,500
  • Third place last year, $102,000
  • Another bronze last July, $89,000
  • A total of $260,000+ combined with other cashes
Jon Van Fleet – one of the iconic players in tournament poker

In an interview with the PokerNews, the most profitable Sunday Million player of the last several years and the winner of the “Mom, I’m rich” nomination, Ron Tinnion, said, “I got coaching with Jon ‘Apestyles’ Van Fleet a few days before my first win and he told me to do a lot of stuff — things like cut down the number of tables I was playing. The first game that I played after that coaching session was the Sunday Million and I won it, so of course I think he’s a genius. That built my confidence up and I knew I needed to keep following his advice.”

Besides the Ape, Bernardo “bedias” Dias (victory, 4th, and 7th, $360,000+) and another two-time champion of the Sunday Million, Mantas “bagoch” Bagocius, made three final tables each.

Bagoch

The Lithuanian player scored in 2012 and 2015. Since June 2012, he completed 138 Sunday Millions, cashed 22 times, and took $388,000 from the Sunday Million prize fund.

Category 2: ENIGMA4U4ME (the people’s choice award)

Did you read this interview? Then you know why the UKIPT regularAntonis “ENIGMA4U4ME” Poulengeris stands out from the group of players who were lucky enough to reach the Sunday Million final table twice.

Two years ago, he finished the Sunday Million in fourth and in August he chopped it heads-up. He has $220,000 in cashes in the Sunday Million. However, this is not the most important detail.

“My $1.5 million winnings in roulette happened over a period of seven days and I started with around $800. I turned the $800 into $38,000 and walked out. The next day, I bought a Lotus Esprit car and in the evening, I walked in with the balance of my winnings, about $12,000, and won around $180,000. I bought an apartment with cash the next day and this continued for the next few days when one day I won $600,000.”

“On the eighth day, I lost almost $500,000, but was still up around $1.5 million. That’s when I stopped and started playing poker. I sometimes see numbers before they come and only wish I could do the same with cards. It would make poker a lot easier”.

ENIGMA4U4ME

Wow! Just wow!

Category 1: VinceVegaMFR (simply the best)

Guilherme “VinceVegaMFR” Cheveau – is the absolute winner of the Sunday Million stars parade. Four final tables and two victories in 78 tournaments. Each 20th Sunday Million ended for VinceVegaMFR with a final table.

“I’ve played poker for around 10 years now and want a final table in the Sunday Million each year, so I am still way behind my goal,” joked Guilherme. He won last year and this year and finished 9th twice. The “all or nothing” tactics made the Brazilian richer by$343,000.

Wait, this is not him
Here he is, Guilherme Cheveau