Another milestone hand is approaching at PokerStars. The largest poker site will deal the 85 billionth hand during the next two weeks. If you've followed the promotion so far, you are aware that $1 million is distributed amongst a lucky few, who are dealt into milestone and Mega Milestone hands.
Throughout the history of the promotion players won 1.500 prizes and the lucky winner of PokerStars' last milestone hand, the 80 billionth won $22,940 to his bankroll, which he was dealt into at a $0.10/$0.25 micro stakes table.
There will be 300 milestone hands until the 85 billionth, therefore every millionth hand dealt from 84,700,000,000 to 85,000,000,000 counts. If you are in the 84,902,000,000th hand, for example, you automatically win money, according to VPPs earned at that table. You have to play at real money cash game tables. Unfortunately Zoom Poker tables won't count towards this promotion, but the PokerStars mobile cash games do.
funex700 taking down the 80 billionth hand
The exact date of the first milestone hand is expected to be next week. In order to maximize your chances of winning you should play long sessions at many tables, so you can collect many VPPs, and also be a bit looser than usually, because you get points for contributions to raked pots.
PokerStars.com details the promotion as follows:
Players dealt into a milestone hand win a cash prize of $60 for every VIP Player Point (VPP) they earned in the last 50 hands played on that table, including the Milestone hand itself. All players dealt in will also receive a base prize of $20, and any player that wins a portion of the main pot will get their prize doubled!
- Dealt into Milestone Hand: (# of VPPs in last 50 hands x $60) + $20 = Cash Prize
- Win Milestone Hand: (# of VPPs in last 50 hands x $60 + $20) x 2 = Cash Prize
Note: The 300 regular Milestone Hands will begin with hand number 84,700,000,000 and end with hand 84,999,000,000.
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. Everybody at the table goes all in, but your hand does not win the pot. 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 * $60 + $20 = $1,880. If you had won the hand, your prize would have been doubled to $3,760.
Mega Milestone
When the big 85 Billion Mega Milestone is reached, all players dealt in will be rewarded $1,000 for every VPP earned in the previous 50 hands (calculated same as above, but this time with a base prize of $10,000 for all players dealt in). The winner of the Mega Milestone will also have their prize money doubled - which means a grand total of tens of thousands of dollars!
- Dealt into Mega Milestone: (# of VPPs in last 50 hands x $1,000) + $10,000 = Cash Prize
- Win Mega Milestone: (# of VPPs in last 50 hands x $1,000 + $10,000) x 2 = Cash Prize
In the event of a split pot (either from a tied hand or from a split pot game) all players that took a portion of the main pot will have their prize money doubled.
Example 1: You play 41 hands and earn 55 VPPs when the Mega Milestone hand hits on your table. You win the Mega Milestone hand and earn a further 5 VPPs in the process. You will receive (60 x $1,000) + $10,000 = $70,000 as your basic prize, which is then doubled to $140,000 for winning the hand.
Example 2: You play 26 hands and earn 17 VPPs up to and including the Mega Milestone hand, in which you split the pot with another player. You will receive (17 x $1,000) + $10,000 = $27,000 as your basic prize, which is then doubled to $54,000 due to you winning a portion of the main pot.
