PokerStars Spooky Sunday Specials: $275K in Guarantees, a Bounty on SpaceyFCB, and Your Cheapest Route to the $1M Sunday Million Finale

Quick snapshot: On Sunday, November 1, PokerStars runs two progressive knockout tournaments at 6:05 p.m. GMT: the 5.50MiniSpookySundaySpecial(25,000 GTD) and the 75SpookySundaySpecial(250,000 GTD). Knock out host Kenny “SpaceyFCB” Hallaert in either one and you also win a $109 ticket to the $1 million guaranteed Sunday Million Spooky Season Finale on November 8.

Spooky Season on PokerStars has been running since October 9, and it’s now entering its final stretch. The series packs 94 events into five weeks, with buy-ins from $3.30 to $215 and formats ranging from PKOs and Mystery Bounties to HORSE and PLO. It closes on November 11.

Most players are circling one date: November 8, when a $109 PKO edition of the Sunday Million brings the series to a close with a $1M guarantee. But this Sunday’s pair of Spooky Specials is where smart players will start building toward it. Here’s everything you need to know, plus some numbers the promo pages don’t spell out.

What Time Do the Spooky Sunday Specials Start in Your Country?

Both events start at 6:05 p.m. GMT on November 1. Clocks have just changed in Europe and the US switches that same morning, so double-check your local time:

• UK / Ireland: 6:05 p.m.
• Central Europe (CET): 7:05 p.m.
• India (IST): 11:35 p.m.
• Brazil (BRT): 3:05 p.m.
• US Eastern (EST): 1:05 p.m.

The Sunday Million Finale on November 8 starts at the same GMT time, so these conversions work for both weekends.

The 5.50MiniSpookySundaySpecial(25,000 GTD)

This is the low-stakes player’s event of the weekend, and it’s actually cheaper than earlier editions. The Mini versions on October 11 and 25 cost $8 with a $30,000 guarantee. This one is $5.50 for $25,000.

• Starting stack: 25,000 chips
• Blinds: 100/200 with a 25 ante, 10-minute levels throughout
• Late registration: 2.5 hours
• Re-entries: up to five
• Minimum bounty cash per knockout: $1.25

Ten-minute levels mean this plays fast. With 25,000 chips and blinds at 200, you start with 125 big blinds, but late registration closes around level 15, and stacks get shallow quickly after that. If you register late, expect to be playing a short-stack, push-fold game sooner than you think.

The 75SpookySundaySpecial(250,000 GTD)

The headline event of the weekend is a deeper, slower tournament, which rewards patient, skilled play more than the Mini does.

• Starting stack: 50,000 chips
• Blinds: 125/250 with a 30 ante, 15-minute levels for levels 1–15, then 12 minutes
• Late registration: 4 hours
• Re-entries: up to five
• Minimum bounty cash per knockout: $12.50
• Satellites: from $1.10 to $16.50

Will the $250K Guarantee Be Beaten? Here’s What the Data Says

We don’t have to guess. The first $75 Spooky Sunday Special, on October 11, drew 3,805 entries and built a $259,424 prize pool. That’s roughly $68 of each $75 buy-in going into the pool (prizes plus bounties).

Working backward, the November 1 edition needs about 3,670 entries to reach $250,000. The October 11 field cleared that by around 135 entries, so the guarantee is likely to be met. But it was close, so a quiet Sunday could produce a small overlay. In that case, the prize pool would be larger than what players paid in.

That October 11 event also gave us the biggest Spooky Season prize at the time: Bulgaria’s “viko042” won $29,069. Argentina’s “Rexilionex” took $16,436 for second. That’s a realistic picture of what a deep run in this tournament pays.

How the Progressive Knockout (PKO) Format Works

If you’re new to PKOs, here’s the short version. Part of every buy-in goes into a bounty on your head. When you knock someone out, you get half of their bounty as instant cash, and the other half is added to your own bounty.

So the bounty on a player’s head grows the more players they eliminate. That’s why the minimums above say “at least”: the $1.25 and $12.50 figures are only what you win for busting someone who hasn’t eliminated anyone yet. By the final table, a single knockout can be worth more than some of the payout places.

Three practical things this means at the table:

• Call wider against big bounties. The extra cash means you can profitably call all-ins with weaker hands than you normally would.
• Big stacks cover more players. You can only win a bounty if you have enough chips to cover the player you’re up against, so early chip accumulation matters even more.
• You can profit without cashing. In the Mini, collecting four or five bounties covers your buy-in even if you bust before the money.

The SpaceyFCB Bounty: What He’s Worth

Kenny Hallaert is a Belgian pro best known for finishing sixth in the 2016 WSOP Main Event. He’s hosting both events, and he’s carrying a special prize. Eliminate him in either tournament and you collect his normal bounty plus a $109 Sunday Million Finale ticket.

In the Mini, that turns a $5.50 investment into a shot at a $1M guarantee. Even if you play no other satellites, it’s worth registering just for the chance to land on his table.

Note that the Hallaert ticket offer is not available to players in Belgium, Denmark, Germany or Sweden.

Satellites: The Cheapest Way In

For the $75 Spooky Sunday Special (November 1):

• $1.10 satellites at 3:30 p.m. and 5:18 p.m. GMT, each guaranteeing 10 seats
• A $5.50 satellite at 4:05 p.m. GMT guaranteeing 75 seats

The $5.50 satellite stands out. Seventy-five seats at $75 each is $5,625 in guaranteed tickets. With most of each $5.50 entry going toward seats, it needs over 1,000 players just to cover that guarantee. Any shortfall means better-than-normal odds of winning a seat.

For the $109 Sunday Million Finale (November 8):

• $11 satellites at 6:05 p.m. and 8:05 p.m. GMT on November 7, and 3:15 p.m. GMT on November 8 (100 seats guaranteed each)
• An $11 satellite at 4:05 p.m. GMT on November 8 (150 seats guaranteed)

That’s at least 450 Sunday Million seats, worth $49,050, from just four satellites. At $11 each, you need to beat roughly one in ten entrants to win a seat.

Side-by-Side: How the Three Events Compare

• $5.50 Mini Spooky Sunday Special: $25K GTD · 25,000 stack · 10-min levels · 2.5 hrs late reg · 5 re-entries
• $75 Spooky Sunday Special: $250K GTD · 50,000 stack · 15-min levels (12 min from level 16) · 4 hrs late reg · 5 re-entries
• $109 Sunday Million Finale: $1M GTD · 50,000 stack · 15-min levels, then 12 min for levels 16–37, then back to 15 · 4 hrs late reg · 5 re-entries · two-day event (Day 2 on November 9)

The $75 event and the Sunday Million Finale share the same starting stack and similar early structure. That makes this Sunday’s $75 event an ideal dress rehearsal: you’ll face the same stack depths and blind pace eight days later.

A Note for UK Players

Since October 7, UK PokerStars players have played through the PokerStars on Betfair app. Your account, balance and tickets transferred automatically, and you still have access to the Sunday Million and other global series. The switch also brought Stack+, a rewards program offering up to 25% rakeback. It’s worth opting in before a busy Sunday of tournaments.

Our Take: How We’d Play the Weekend

If your bankroll is small, start with the $5.50 satellite to the $75 event at 4:05 p.m. If you win a seat, great. If not, the Mini starts two hours later at the same time as the main event, so you haven’t lost your evening.

If you’re a regular mid-stakes player, the $75 event is a strong spot. The guarantee is roughly the size of the field’s natural prize pool, so there’s no huge overlay, but the structure is deep and the bounty format favors aggressive, well-timed play.

Whatever you play, set a firm limit on re-entries before you start. Five bullets in the $75 event means a potential $375 outlay, and late-night tilt is the most expensive leak in online poker.

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