PokerStars Approaches 100 Billionth Hand Milestone
For the last decade (minus a brief stint in which the operator was offline due to the seizure of it domain name by the US Department of Justice), PokerStars has reigned as the world’s largest online poker room. With an average of 20,000 active, real-money players competing at the tables at any given time, it’s no surprise that the online poker room has broken so many industry records. PokerStars is now poised to surpass yet another milestone, expecting to deal its 100,000,000,000 (100-billionth) hand sometime this month.
In February of this year, the mega-poker-site celebrated its 95-billionth hand, which tells us, on average, just how many hands are being dealt on a monthly basis; about 1.25 billion per turn of the calendar page. PokerStars is well known for offering massive promotions every time a milestone is reached. The 95-billionth hand awarded $23,920 to the lucky recipient, “RichB17”, and players are looking to cash in for a lot more this time around.
PokerStars has revealed that $5 million in prizes will be allocated towards the site’s ‘100 Billion Hands Celebration’. The rewards have already begun, with $1 million of the prize money reserved for the day of the hand’s dealing. The lucky player who is dealt the milestone hand will receive $100,000, with all players seated at the same table set to receive $10,000 each. The remainder of the $1 million will be spread among all players who are actively participating in tables of the same game type and stakes.
The 100-billionth hand promotion is expected to draw an unprecedented number of players to the website in the coming week as the milestone quickly approaches. But that’s not the only reason the tables will be filling up beyond the usual numbers this month. There is still the matter of another $4 million to be won. PokerStars is also running a series of tournament promotions, including the ‘World Record Tournament’, slated for June 16, a ‘Golden Sit’n’Go’ series, scheduled for June 17-23, a ‘Zoom 100’ tourney, and the ‘Ultimate Freeroll’ with a $1,000,000 prize pool.
The World Record Tournament has a nominal buy-in of $1 and a fixed prize pool of $300k, with $25k going to the winner. As the name implies, PokerStars is attempting to break its own world record (previously set at 200,000 players in December, 2011) by drawing a target crowd of 225,000 to the tables. Note that registration is capped at 225,000, guaranteeing a valuable overlay in the bubble.
The Golden Sit’n’Go series aims to award a minimum of $1 million in SNG prizes over the course of the week, with 2x, 4x and 10x prizes. The Zoom 100 tournament is debuting as the online poker room’s very first $1 million guaranteed high-speed Zoom tournament, featuring multiple satellites or a direct buy-in of $100+$9. Finally, the $1,000,000 GTD Ultimate Freeroll will mark the conclusion of the PokerStars 100 Billion Hands Celebration on June 30. Tickets are required to enter, but are easy to get ahold of. Simply deposit $50 or more before the end of the month with the bonus code “ULTIMATE”, or place in the top 50 in one of any of the 100 Trivia Freeroll tourneys happening daily. To enter a password-protected Trivia Freeroll, you must correctly answer a trivia question related to PokerStars’ history, at which time the password is provided.
Alex Payne, Chief Marketing Officer for PokerStars, who recently announced the promotional aspects of the 100 Billion Hands Celebration, said that they have estimated the arrival of the historic hand for June 14th, 2013. Promotions of this magnitude have proved overwhelmingly successful for PokerStars. In anticipation of the big payout, players in the past have piled into the online poker site, taking seats at as many tables as possible in an attempt to scoop a portion of the prize money.