Sixty Eight Grand Bonus

The 65th Billionth hand on Pokerstars was dealt yesterday.

The run up to it was preceded by the 65 billion promo give-away.

Stars gives free money to each millionth hand leading up to the 65th billion. 300 hands get paid out.

The big winner was ‘yllams’ from New Zealand. He won $68,420 in prize money for being in the right place at the right time and winning the Mega Milestone hand.

There were $770,588 in prizes awarded during the whole promotion, with over 1,600 winners collecting cash.

The prizes are calculated as follows (source, Pokerstars website):

Milestone
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 64,700,000,000 and end with hand 64,999,000,000.

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 65 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 $65,000 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 + $65,000 = 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 $65,000 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 $65,000 - bringing the total cash award up to $126,000.