Stars 25 Billion Bash

[jillaj]

Whatever stakes you play, we’ve got something amazing coming your way. Get ready for the 25 Billion Bash - a series of events that gives all PokerStars players, new and old, the chance to be part of an extra special celebration and win massive cash prizes. It’s record-breaking time again at the world’s biggest poker site - and the next milestone on the horizon is dealing our 25 billionth hand. The winner of the Mega Milestone Hand will scoop an incredible prize and all the other players at the table will share in cash giveaways. There will be a total of $250,000 riding on one hand of poker! With this much on offer, there’s never been a better time to play at PokerStars.

The 25 Billion Bash has something for everyone. For new players there is $60K in First Deposit Freerolls, and for existing players there are increased Milestone Hand bonuses, plus our Biggest Ever Reload Bonus. For the seasoned player, the Sunday tournaments on February 15 will see mammoth action. The Sunday Million guarantee will be boosted to $2,500,000, while the Sunday Warm-Up prize pool has an increased guarantee of $1,250,000.

For full details, follow the links below to find out more about the exciting events coming your way for the 25 Billion Bash.

* Milestone Hands
* Mega Milestone - 25 Billionth Hand
* Biggest Ever Reload Bonus
* $2,500,000 Sunday Million
* $1,250,000 Sunday Warm-Up
* First Deposit Freerolls

Milestone Hands

The action begins before the 25 billionth hand is dealt†, because PokerStars will be giving away cash prizes throughout the event to players involved in each one millionth hand dealt* in cash games. Milestone Hands will run from the 24.85 billionth hand to the 25 billionth. To keep track of how many hands have been dealt so far, keep an eye on the ‘Game#’ in the top left corner of the table view.

Milestone Hands will be announced on the table with a pop-up message, before play is paused to ramp up the excitement. A host will then arrive at the table to explain exactly what’s happening. Players involved in every millionth hand dealt during the 25 Billion Bash will win the following:
Limit Winner The Rest
Micro $300 $125
Low $750 $250
Medium $1,250 $500
High $2,500 $1,000

There will also be a VIP multiplier, with bonuses for the following VIP tiers:
VIP Tier Multiplier
SilverStar 15% Bonus
GoldStar 30% Bonus
PlatinumStar 60% Bonus
Supernova 120% Bonus
Supernova Elite 200% Bonus

For example, if you are dealt into a Milestone Hand on a Medium stakes table and win the hand, you’d receive $1,250. If you are also a Goldstar VIP, you’d receive an additional $375 (30% Bonus).
Mega Milestone

Even the biggest live card room in the world, dealing cards 24/7, would take over 300 years to reach 25 billion hands! History will be made the moment PokerStars deals its 25 billionth hand, and we’ve got the prize to match the occasion.

The winner of the Mega Milestone Hand will receive the following:

* $100,000 in cash
* European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Grand Final package
* PokerStars Caribbean Adventure package
* World Series of Poker* package
* World Championship of Online Poker Main Event ticket

This is by far the best prize we’ve ever given away for a Milestone Hand, and is worth $150,000. If you are playing at the table but do not win the hand, don’t worry, the rest of the table will share $100,000 in cash and prizes. Please note there is no VIP multiplier on the 25 billionth hand.

In 2007, Canadian player Justine ‘justine0003’ Hall was the lucky winner of PokerStars last Mega Milestone. With just $12 in her account, Justine spent a May Saturday afternoon playing $.01/$.02 short-handed no-limit hold’em, and won $100,000 when her club flush was good enough to win PokerStars 10 billionth hand.

Watch the moment Justine Hall won $100,000 on PokerStars 10 billionth hand.
Biggest Ever Reload Bonus

As a thank you for helping us reach this huge milestone, we are offering players an extra reward - a 25% Reload Bonus. Make a qualifying deposit during the 25 Billion Bash and you will qualify for bonus cash up to $250, the biggest Reload Bonus in PokerStars history.

* 25% up to $250 Reload Bonus
* Qualifying period is from February 11 at 12:00 ET to February 18 at 23:59 ET
* To receive the bonus you must enter the code ‘25bash’ into the bonus code area of the Cashier when making your qualifying deposit
* Players must earn 20 VPPs per bonus dollar to earn the bonus (example: to earn a $150 bonus you must earn 3,000 VPPs). Required VPPs must be earned within 6 months of your qualifying deposit. To earn the entire $250 bonus, your first eligible deposit during the bonus period must be $1,000 or more

To increase your deposit limit from the default amount of $600, email , and please be aware that some payment methods have controls that PokerStars cannot influence (e.g. eChecks). For full Reload Bonus details, see our 25% Bonus page.

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$2,500,000 Sunday Million

The world’s biggest weekly online poker tournament gets even bigger during the 25 Billion Bash, as the guaranteed prize pool is increased to $2,500,000.

* Sunday, February 15 at 16:30 ET
* $2,500,000 guaranteed prize pool
* $215 buy-in
* Satellites, including VIP satellites will run all week
* Registration is now open!

To find the tournament, go to the PokerStars lobby and select ‘Tourney’ and then ‘Regular’ or ‘Special’. You can also use the Tourney Filter in the lobby to search for the tournament.
$1,250,000 Sunday Warm-Up

The Sunday Warm-Up will also get a bumper prize pool for the 25 Billion Bash, with a guarantee of $1,250,000.

* Sunday, February 15 at 12:45 ET
* $1,250,000 guaranteed prize pool
* $215 buy-in
* Satellites, including VIP satellites will run all week
* Registration is now open!

To find the tournament, open the PokerStars lobby and select ‘Tourney’, and ‘Regular’ or ‘Special’. The Tourney Filter can also help you locate the tournament.
First Deposit Freerolls

We are giving new real-money players the chance to win big in a series of freerolls during the 25 Billion Bash. To enter, just make your first real-money deposit, using any of our convenient payment methods, and enter the code ‘fdf2500’ into the bonus code field at the Cashier. You'll then be able to play in as many of the daily freerolls as you wish.

* $2,500 freerolls will run every day during the week February 15-22, 2009
* Freerolls will take place at 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00 ET
* $2,500 prize pool for each freeroll, with a 20% payout structure
* The buy-in is FREE - just make your first real-money deposit using the code ‘fdf2500’ and you are eligible to play in all the freerolls
* First depositors will receive a 100% bonus up to $50

To find the freerolls, go to the PokerStars lobby and select ‘Tourney’ and ‘Freeroll’. You can also search for the tournaments using the Tourney Filter.

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If you have any questions about 25 Billion Bash, please contact us at .

[jillaj]

I hope I win this lottery.

[MAYHEM45]

2.5 million sunday mill, omgomgomg

[Robbie Robb]

Looks like it's time to steal the kids monitor so I can multi-screen multitable .01/.02 again...

[Wes]

lol yeah i think the max is like what 32 tables of ring games on stars? I think I'll watch a movie on one monitor and autofold on another. ez game.

[Windbreaker]

I'm not sure why you need multiple screens to play 0.01-0.02 tables.

Seriously, when you are about an hour away from the 25th billion hand, you should fire up 24 tables. Once you are about 10,000 hands away or so...you should fold every hand as quickly as possible. Your goal is to maximize your chances to hit the magic number....not to win a 20 cent pot.

Ideally, you would have 24 tables, 6 max, with all players that know this. It would work best if each player were all on the same page. I believe they have set it up to prevent heads-up and tournament tables to ever hit the magic numbers. It would be very difficult to set a table with all of us in it.....the tables up filled up super fast.

Edit - last time I knew for sure, max tables for cash was 24....I don't think this has changed.

[Talking Poker]

I like Windbreaker's plan. This seems like a lottery worth playing.

Nice reload bonus too, but I didn't even clear the one from last year's WCOOP and I have another pending right now. Hmmm...

I EXPECT you guys to keep the rest of us updated as this is getting closer to happening...

[JDMcNugent7]

Are HU tables not allowed to win?

[Windbreaker]

I believe people use to abuse the milestone bonuses by sitting and folding non-stop when it was near the milestone bonus hand. I believe Stars has since made it so that the milestone hands will never fall on the HU's up table....much the same way it will never fall on a tournament table.

Although I believe this is how it is....it's not 100%.

[jillaj]

What are you USAmericans using to fun your stars accounts these days?

[Mogul4]

Nothing, recession ftw

[jillaj]

HU are allowed. You just need to load 24 up with someone and auto fold. Stars seems to be ok with this too.

[Talking Poker]

Has anyone estimated about when this is going to hit, give or take a few hours even?

Looks like we are almost at 24,934mm right now.

[Wes]

bank debit card worked for me

[jillaj]

A national chain?

[jillaj]

Looks like tomorrow sometime.

[Wes]

wells fargo

[lightfungus]

Anyone willing to swap about $100 (think its 96 or something...) FTP for $100 (or whatever the actual amount is) on PStars?

[jillaj]

Wow stars turned off heads up tables for the duration of the promo. That has to piss some HU grinders off.

[Windbreaker]

at 1:30 PM EST Sunday it's at 24.972

I've order the hand history from 29.0, 29.1, ... 29.5.

It looks like it's going to be late tonight or early tomorrow.

24900000000 - 2009/02/13 14:47:22 ET
24910000000 - 2009/02/13 19:38:35 ET
24920000000 - 2009/02/14 2:08:30 ET
24930000000 - 2009/02/14 10:53:09 ET
24940000000 - 2009/02/14 15:57:07 ET
24950000000 - 2009/02/14 21:12:14 ET
24960000000 - 2009/02/15 5:59:40 ET
24970000000 - 2009/02/15 12:33:27 ET

Sundays are usually busier...I would guess since it's nearing the peak traffic now....that it will be around 4 and half to 5 hours or so for every 10 million hands.

Edit - I'm a math idiot. Since we are about 2.75 times away...even with 4 hours per 10 million which would be really fast....we are at about 11 hours away...meaning it would be around at 12:30 AM EST....but I can't estimate the traffic today.

Maybe someone with more time/focus can take a closer look at it?

[Talking Poker]

This seems like a de-coder math problem to me.

As I type this, at 3 PM, we are at 24.9756

[Talking Poker]

8 pm: 24,987+

[Windbreaker]

24980000000 - 2009/02/15 16:47:24 ET

20:00 EST 24.987b

.11 billion away....I have no idea how long that is....5 hours or so away?

[Windbreaker]

Looks like from 24.97 to 24.98 it took a little over 4 hours 15 minutes.

So from here to 25 billion....probably estimate 4 hours or less to be safe.

I would get ready at 11:30 EST in case.

[Windbreaker]

It also might help if you filtered your cash games set up now.

Filter 6 player max, Min $0.01/$0.02, Max $0.01/$0.02, Fast tables, Hide Full tables.