The micro-stakes tables became the center of attention at PokerStars Monday as the world’s largest poker room dealt its 95 billionth cash game hand. As it does for every 5 billionth hand, PokerStars held a promotion in which it gave out cash prizes for every millionth or Milestone Hand, starting with hand 94,700,000,000. It all led up to the big Mega Milestone Hand at the 95 billion mark, where the rewards were even richer.
For each Milestone Hand (every millionth hand), every player dealt into the hand won a base prize of $20 plus $60 times the number of VIP Player Points (VPPs) they each earned during the previous 50 hands played on that table. Any player that won a portion of the main pot had their prize doubled.
The Mega Milestone, 95 billionth hand worked in a similar way, except the multipliers were ratcheted way up. Instead of a $20 base prize, it was $10,000, and the VPPs from the previous 50 hands were multiplied by $1,000 rather than $60.
That big hand was hit Monday morning at the $0.08/$0.16 No-Limit Hold’em table “Pasiphae.” Nine players were seated and, unlike a time or two in the past when a player for some reason did not realize what was happening, everyone looked like they knew they had hit it big. One problem: the under the gun player, MenFedlak, lost his internet connection when it was his turn, which considering he was under the gun, was right away. Everyone else did what they were supposed to do, go all-in, but MenFedlak was not able to make it back.
Now that everyone’s $16 (give or take) was in the middle, it was time for a sweat. The community cards came down 3♦-Q♦-2♣-6♥-5♥ but the cards were all still face down, so nobody knew who won. The first hole cards to be revealed were those of Domy07: J♠-Q♣. As the side pots were sorted out, each player mucked one-by-one and it looked like Domy07’s pair of Queens would hold. But finally, as Domy07 was likely about to celebrate, the game flipped over the cards of RichB17: 4♥-J♣. Domy07 got slow-rolled! RichB17 had rivered a straight and in turn, won $23,920.
“Super bink,” he said in chat.
Here’s a look at the payouts at the Mega Milestone table:
RichB17: $23,920
pacheko23980: $14,800
yanno: $13,070
soya_aware: $12,400
SAURO1980: $12,240
popp00: $12,000
Dummkobb: $11,700
Dom07: $11,660
MenFedlak: $10,240
The milestone hands will go away for a while as the hand counter continues to tick ever upwards. Next stop: 100 billion. PokerStars promises the prizes for that one will be huge.
