PokerStars has dealt its 70 Billionth Hand. As a promotion, the online poker giant offered a whopping $70,000 as part of its Mega Milestone celebration. In this celebration, PokerStars has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars leading up to this milestone hand. The 70 billionth hand has arrived with impeccable timing as well, being dealt just before PokerStars celebrates its 10th Anniversary.
The cards were briefly paused at the $0.25/$0.50 no limit hold’em heads-up table where the 70 billionth hand was dealt. Two German players were informed that they were about to make history, and PokerStars let players flock to the rails to observe. Both players shoved their $25 in preflop. One player was to win $73,380, with the other set to pull in $1,700.
Koenigskeba was dealt AJ and DodgeUrOuts was dealt K5. The board fell A-4-2-K-6. Koenigskeba won with his pair of aces, and the much larger prize.
Unfortunately, he also won a little bit of infamy. Shortly after the river card was dealt out, observers discovered that the two players knew each other and had been at the heads-up table folding hands as fast as possible, as the milestone approached, in an attempt to gain an edge. Many players reacted negatively to the event after realizing this.
PokerStars released a statement on the matter:
“The winner of our 70 billion hand promotion appears to have worked with another player to use “fast-folding” methods in an attempt to gain an advantage, which has raised concerns among a number of our players. We have reviewed the circumstances around the winning hand and have determined that while the fast-folding may not be in the spirit of the promotion, it does not violate the rules and regulations of the promotion or our Terms of Service. As such, we will honour our promotional award.”
“We are reviewing the format of the promotion to try to minimize this kind of activity in future milestone hand promotions. We’ll provide more information on this in the near future. Rest assured that any format revisions will be implemented in time for the next milestone hands promotion, which will be a special edition during the 10th Anniversary celebrations.”
Congratulations to Koenigskeba, on both the sneakiness and the win itself!