Friday May 31,2013 : 100 BILLIONTH HAND IMMINENT AT POKERSTARS
Online poker site initiates a slew of special promotions to mark landmark event
Online poker operator Pokerstars, which commands half the global internet poker market, is preparing for the dealing of its 100 billionth hand, a landmark event which will likely occur sometime in June 2013.
The Isle of Man-based company has set aside over $5 million for special promotions designed to celebrate the achievement on the run-up to the literally big deal, augmenting its usual offerings in cash games and tournaments.
This month will see a a “Golden SNGs” promotion; a $1 million guaranteed tournament based on the Zoom fast-fold product; a $1 million (sort of) free roll tournament; and a $300 000 world record attempt.
The World Record Tournament will kick off on June 16 as a $1 buy-in event with a $300,000 guaranteed prize pool, and Pokerstars hopes to again break its own world record for the most players in action simultaneously on the site by attracting around 225,000 poker fans.
The Golden Sit & Go’s opportunity will be available randomly across most of the poker giant's real-money action, and will run between June 17 and 23, being announced as players are about to start. It will boost the prize pool by up to 10x, building anticipation and excitement, not to mention the competitive spirit!
The $1 million guaranteed Ultimate Freeroll is something of a misnomer and takes place on June 30. It carries a main prize of $50,000, but entry is not quite free; players must have tickets, which are available by making a deposit of at least $50 or by winning one of the many Trivia freerolls that start June 5 and run through June 29.
The traditional Milestone Hand cash game promo is again to be wheeled out, but with bigger prizes, thanks to a million dollars guaranteed and earmarked for the occasion. The winner of the landmark hand will receive $100,000, whilst everyone dealt into the hand at that table will receive $10,000, along with another $2,000 for each VIP Player Point they have earned in their last fifty hands at that table.
But that's not all, as the TV commercials say: when the 100 billionth hand is dealt every player online playing the same game for the same stakes will get a piece of whatever is left of the million dollar guarantee.
Once the 99,700,000,000th hand is dealt, players will also qualify for small prizes at each one millionth hand point running up to the key 100 billionth hand.