The PokerStars Road to 100 Billion hands

[blueday]

Road to 100 Billion: 65 Billion

PokerStars is on the Road to 100 Billion hands and they will be celebrating every 5 billion with a milestone hands promotion! The next stop on the way is hand 65 Billion, which will be dealt before the month of July is over.

So far 64, 686, 664, 476 hands have been dealt. 

To be a Road to 100 Billion winner, you simply need to play on PokerStars cash game tables and be dealt into a millionth hand from 64,700,000,000 to 65,000,000,000 (e.g. 64,902,000,000). If you're successful, you’ll receive a cash prize that could be worth thousands of dollars.

If you're good enough to win the sixty-five billionth hand, you will receive at least $65,000! During the 65 Billion hand celebration, players can expect to win close to $1,000,000 in prizes!

Milestone Hand Tips:

    Play on more tables - If you are able to play on more than one table at a time, you will increase your chances of being dealt into a milestone hand.
    Play longer sessions - The size of the prizes depends on the number of VIP Player Points (VPPs) you have earned while sitting at the table. You earn VPPs in cash games every time you play in a raked hand, so the longer you’re there the more you earn. Try to take a seat at a table well in advance of the next milestone hand to increase the amount of your potential prize.
    Play an action game - Some games generate pots more easily, such as Limit Hold'em or Pot Limit Omaha. Playing these will help you to earn VPPs faster.

There will be 300 regular milestone hands, and a final Mega Milestone in each Road to 100 Billion celebration. For the 65 Billion celebration, it’s hand #64,700,000,000 to #65,000,000,000. Next up will be 70,000,000,000, so keep checking back to find out more information.

If you have any questions about the Road to 100 Billion, contact support@pokerstars.com

Good luck.

blue

[blueday]

I signed in late last night just before I was off to bed and played two tables.  Unfortunately, I was nowhere near being in a prize hand but there is still time to receive a prize if you get the chance to play in the next week.  Current hand number is 64,713,376,831.  Prizes are awarded on each 1 millionth hand so the next one would be on 64,714,000,000.

blue

[blueday]

The 65 billionth hand will be dealt in the next hour!  

Join as many tables as you can and keep an eye on those hand numbers.

Good luck.

blue

[Rosebud]

Dang,wish I could!! Are you playing blue???

[blueday]

Yes Rose - I just loaded up 2 tables but it's really hard to get a seat.  I'm on the fixed limit tables.  Current hand number 64,998,474,733.  So just over 1 million hands away.

blue

[blueday]

64,999,156,639 is the current hand.  So many peoiple online - currently 199,000 players.

blue

[blueday]

226,000+ players
Hand number 64,999,849,048.  It's going to be in the next few minutes.

blue

[blueday]

That was it.  The nearest I was - 65,000,004,053.

blue

[wnanhee]

Holy cow...I know I may sounds silly but wow, over 226.000 players online! 
I wonder how difficult it would have been to win that sixty-five billionth hand...sounds almost impossible especially competing with large number of players.
Blue...Is your chance over then?

[Feelin froggy]

Wow that is a lot of players online. I'm amazing that they could handle such traffic. Very cool that you were among them blue!

[blueday]

Holy cow...I know I may sounds silly but wow, over 226.000 players online!  
I wonder how difficult it would have been to win that sixty-five billionth hand...sounds almost impossible especially competing with large number of players.
Blue...Is your chance over then?

That was a huge number of players.  I don't think I've ever seen it that busy.  You couldn't get a ring table seat for love nor money.  

Yes unfortunately Nan, my chance is over.  I was telling the players to hurry up or we wouldn't stand a chance but they took no notice.  We had several hands leading up to the big one that had the number 0 or 00 on the end and I really thought we were going to be lucky.  There were between 20,000 - 40,000 hands being played between each deal so that gives you an idea as to how "close" we were.  I would have hated to be at 65,000,000,001 though.  

Wow that is a lot of players online. I'm amazing that they could handle such traffic. Very cool that you were among them blue!

It was pretty exciting Froggy and the air seemed to be electric.  I also won a few hands too which was a bit of a bonus.  I can't wait for the 100,000,000,000th hand but there is 70billion/75billion etc to come yet.

blue

[blueday]

Details of the lucky punter who won the 65 billionth hand:

"Finally, a major event for the world’s biggest poker site, PokerStars has happened over the weekend. Namely, on July 24 the site dealt its 65 billionth poker hand, and the honors went to Christopher Small, a New Zealander from Christchurch, who became the first internet player to be rewarded for being dealt the jubilee hand within the Pokerstars Mega Milestone promotion.

The promo gave out $770,588.88 to more than 1,600 Pokerstars players over 301 hands.

Small, who was playing at a $.10/$.25 six-max no-limit hold'em table, one of 24 tables he was playing at the time, stated: "I was 24-tabling and saw the popup telling me I was involved in the 65th billionth hand. I had ace-king when I looked at the table. My reaction was one of 'this must be a dream.' I couldn't believe it."

The six players at the table had moved all-in and the board ran out, so Small took the major win of $68,420, whilst the other five players won at least $1,710 apiece."

OMG 24 tables he was playing at.  I guess he deserves it for the huge effort.  A very nice win for a .10c/.25c hand.  Congrats to him.

blue

[lipstick_xoxos]

What a amazing promo and win! And blue was a part of it. It had to be heart stopping!

How in the world could he keep up with 24 tables. I think the most i ever tried to play was 6 and it was the last time!

Thanks for letting us follow along on your journey.

[blueday]

It must have been a nightmare to keep up with the 24 tables.  Imagine if he had missed it and his hand was folded! 

It was exciting Lips - I only played for a very short time, but it was pretty electric.

I'm looking forward to the 70 billionth hand already.

blue

[blueday]

The Road to 100 Billion Hands - 70 BILLION

Pokerstars is back on the radar again with another milestone hand fast approaching.

The Road to 100 Billion is a cash game promotion that is awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash prizes as PokerStars heads towards dealing its 100 billionth hand. The next big milestone is 70 billion, and players in the UK can win their share of $750,000 in cash if they get dealt into one of the special hands.

Prizes are being paid out to players sitting at the table where every millionth hand is dealt from 69,700,000,000 to 70,000,000,000, and all you have to do for a chance of winning is play real money ring games. If you get dealt in to the seventy billionth mega milestone hand and win, you’ll bag at least $70,000 in cash. See the Milestone Hand Prize Examples below for more on how cash is awarded.

Here’s some tips on how to get dealt into a milestone hand:

    Multi-table: The more tables you are seated at, the greater your chance of being dealt into a milestone hand.
    Play for longer: Cash prizes during milestone hands are awarded based on the amount of VIP Player Points (VPPs) earned during your time at that table, and you accumulate VPPs each time you play a raked hand on a ring game table. That means the more you play at a specific table, the more money you can potentially win.
    Play action-packed games: Games like Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha often create lots of fast action, so playing on this type of table means you can earn VPPs at a faster rate.

You can keep track of the number of hands dealt already by looking at the number listed as ‘Previous’ in the top left hand corner of any ring game table in the PokerStars client. When you see the numbers ticking towards the next milestone, it’s time to play more!

70 Billionth Milestone Poker Hand Examples

The run up to the 70 million hand milestone is your chance to win a share of $750,000 worth of added cash prizes! See below for examples of what you can win.

Players dealt into a milestone hand win a cash prize of $50 for every VIP Player Point (VPP) they earned in the previous 50 hands played on that table. All players dealt in will also receive a base prize of $50, and any player that wins a portion of the main pot will get their prize doubled!

    Dealt into Milestone Hand: (# of VPPs in previous 50 hands x $50) + $50 = Cash Prize
    Win Milestone Hand: (# of VPPs in previous 50 hands x $50 + $50) x 2 = Cash Prize

Note: The 300 regular Milestone Hands will begin with hand number 69,700,000,000 and end with hand 69,999,000,000.

Example: You play for half an hour on a $1/$2 NLHE table. You play 53 hands in this time and are then dealt into a milestone hand. The system will look at the most recent 50 hands that you've played at that table and calculate the number of VPPs earned. In this instance, you earned 31 VPPs, so the prize will be: 31 * $50 + $50 = $1,600. If you go on to win the hand, you'll receive $3,200.
Mega Milestone

When the big 70 Billion Mega Milestone is reached, all players dealt in will be rewarded $500 for every VPP earned in the previous 50 hands (calculated same as above, including the base prize of $500 for all players dealt in). The winner of the Mega Milestone will also have their prize money doubled, and will also receive $70,000 on top - which means a grand total of tens of thousands of dollars!

    Dealt into Mega Milestone: (# of VPPs in previous 50 hands x $500) + $500 = Cash Prize
    Win Mega Milestone: (# of VPPs in previous 50 hands x $500 + $500) x 2 + $70,000 = Cash Prize

In the event of a split pot (either from a tied hand or from a split pot game) all winners will receive a share of the $70,000 proportional to their share of the main pot of the hand.

Example 1: You play 50 hands and earn 60 VPPs when the Mega Milestone hand hits on your table. You will receive (60 x $500) + $500 = $30,500. You win the hand and your cash prize is doubled to $61,000. You will also receive an additional $70,000 - bringing the total cash award up to $131,000.

Example 2: You play 26 hands and earn 17 VPPs when the Mega Milestone hand hits on your table. You will receive (17 x $500) + $500 = $9,000. The hand plays out and you split the pot with one of your opponents. Your cash prize is doubled to $18,000 and you receive half of the additional $70,000, taking your total cash prize to $53,000.

I'll keep you updated with when the mileston hand is likely to hit.

Good luck if you play.

blue