- February 19th, 2009
- Online Poker News
In the early hours of Monday the online poker site PokerStars reached a very significant milestone, that being the 25th Billionth hand. And things didnt exactly go without a hitch.
PokerStars knows how to lay on a good spread and activity was frantic all weekend. There were cash prizes dropping every 1 million hands and the Sunday Million had an enhanced guarantee of $2.5 million
When the time of the 25th Billionth hand reached, things had reached feverpitch. It was barely possible to even get on a table such was the demand for players to get seated on as many as possible to maximise their chances.
The lucky table was paused to allow spectators to arrive and the rules to be made clear to the players. There was a link to the table put up in the main lobby, but such was the strain on the server loading up the table was a somewhat arduous task.
When the cards were dealt, NEONFROST disconnected and folded his cards. He immediately started to protest as he came back online, having seemingly lost out on his big chance at a slice of pie. Further players then seemed to struggle with connection isssues throughout the hand, but eventually tupapi777 scooped the entire pot.
Protests continued from NEONFROST, who wouldve won the high proportion of the pot, entitling him to half of the main prizes. However at this point tupapi777 legitmately thought had just won $100,000.
In a somewhat controversial decision PokerStars then decided they would allow NEONFROST’s hand to play, even though it had been folded. They effectively wrote him back into the hand in a monetary sense, and split the prizes 50/50 with him getting $50K and tupapi777 getting $50K. This is a fairly bold decision as it effectively goes against the actual pre-defined rules, however they took it in the interests of what they saw as fairness as the fact that there were multiple connection issues would lend itself to being a server-side connection issue rather than an issue at NEONFROSTs side.
There were certainly elements of farce to the whole proceedings, but still it was an entertaining night for the spectator, even if tupapi777 may feel somewhat aggrieved.
Here are the payouts that eventually were decided:
NeonFrost: Won high pot — $50,000 and tourney package
tupapi777: Won low pot — $50,000 and tourney package
FrtSpkndMn: $33,333.33
n47j25s: $33,333.33
chris12080: $33,333.33
Here is the actual hand:
PokerStars Game #25000000000: Omaha Hi/Lo Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/02/16 4:35:36 ET
Table ‘Susilva’ 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: NeonFrost ($7 in chips)
Seat 2: tupapi777 ($112.25 in chips)
Seat 3: FrtSpkndMn ($22.25 in chips)
Seat 4: n47j25s ($43.25 in chips)
Seat 5: chris12080 ($43 in chips)
n47j25s: posts small blind $0.50
chris12080: posts big blind $1
Confedrate: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
HostJeff [observer] said, “Congratulations, everyone!”
Confedrate said, “ty”
n47j25s said, “woot”
tupapi777 said, “YES!!!”
Confedrate said, “ya baby”
tupapi777 said, “a dream come true!!!”
chris12080 said, “wow”
HostJeff [observer] said, “We’re about to award $250,000 in milestone prizes to this table”
Confedrate said, “i 2nd that”
HostJeff [observer] said, “We’ll give a few minutes for a crowd as big as the Super Bowl to gather to watch you. :D”
tupapi777 said, “: )”
NeonFrost said, “this is unreal”
HostJeff [observer] said, “And then, the winner of the hand will win $100,000 and some great tournament entries. Everyone else will split $100,000.”
tupapi777 said, “: )”
StaffBryanS [observer] said, “Good luck to each of you! Congratulations, as well!”
tupapi777 said, “THANK YOU”
tupapi777 said, “!!!”
FrtSpkndMn said, “Flipping for 150K 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Confedrate said, “ty”
tupapi777 said, “not bad lol”
tupapi777 said, “; )”
HostJeff [observer] said, “I’ll restart the hand shortly. Is everyone calmed down enough now to start?”
n47j25s said, “i m just workin on points for an ipod”
tupapi777 said, “oh man, trying to lol”
tupapi777 said, “lol”
Confedrate said, “lol”
NeonFrost said, “congrats everyone”
chris12080 said, “u2″
Confedrate said, “u 2 man”
tupapi777 said, “thanks, u2″
tupapi777 said, “!!!”
NeonFrost said, “anyone else have about 17 tables up at once? all beeping like crazy?\”
tupapi777 said, “lol”
n47j25s said, “only 3 for me”
HostJeff [observer] said, “OK, here we go….. good luck, everyone!”
tupapi777 said, “i got 4″
Confedrate said, “i had 4″
n47j25s said, “too late here - cant focus”
tupapi777 said, “here we go baby”
FrtSpkndMn said, “had 3, just closed them”
HostJeff [observer] said, “It might take a short while for the game to restart.”
Confedrate said, “closed them all”
tupapi777 said, “what happens if its a split pot?”
Confedrate said, “lol”
tupapi777 said, “high gets the prize?”
Confedrate said, “h /l”
FrtSpkndMn said, “who f’ing cares?”
Confedrate said, “lol”
tupapi777 said, “lol”
HostJeff [observer] said, “tupapi, because it’s Omaha, there’s good news, and bad news. <grin>”
tupapi777 said, “i’ll be happy with 20k, no problem there : )”
HostJeff [observer] said, “The bad news is, the $100K winner’s share is split amongst main pot winners. That share will be smaller if a low qualifies.”
n47j25s said, “are there 5 or 6 players to split?”
HostJeff [observer] said, “But, all main pot winners win the Tourney packages.”
tupapi777 said, “that’s great news!”
HostJeff [observer] said, “Indeed it is.”
tupapi777 said, “100k more to split if there is two main winners!!!”
tupapi777 said, “so instead of 20k, each can get 25k if there is two winners, ok guys, NO SCOOP!!! LOL”
tupapi777 said, “this is indeed a blessing in the sky!!!”
HostJeff [observer] said, “The tourney packages are worth $50K each (WSOP main event, PCA, WCOOP ticket, EPT Monte Carlo).”
Confedrate said, “neon this is ur 2nd right”
Confedrate said, “right on”
NeonFrost said, “my 2nd what?”
Confedrate said, “2nd time making it”
NeonFrost said, “nope first”
Confedrate said, “right on”
NeonFrost said, “i cant even type”
Confedrate said, “nervous”
NeonFrost said, “excited!”
Confedrate said, “just kknocked over my drink”
HostJeff [observer] said, “Thanks for your patience, everyone.”
Confedrate said, “np”
tupapi777 said, “ok, confedrate doesnt get anything right? cuz he isnt dealt in?”
Confedrate said, “no way”
n47j25s said, “no offense but i was wondering that too.”
n47j25s said, “u might be voted off hte island .”
HostJeff [observer] said, “Unfortunately, Confedrate, it looks like that’s right. You were waiting to post your blind, and didn’t get dealt in. I’m very sorry.”
Confedrate said, “thats cra-p”
tupapi777 said, “sorry about that brotha”
n47j25s said, “bad beat.”
tupapi777 said, “very bad beat… ugh”
n47j25s said, “is ps taking this long to make sure we have an xtra crazy hand”
n47j25s said, “like a joker on river or something”
n47j25s said, “2 str8 flushes?”
NeonFrost said, “whats the ETA on the flop?”
HostJeff [observer] said, “There’s a problem in restarting the game, we’re working on it. Thanks for your patience.”
NeonFrost said, “no worries im in no rush!”
NeonFrost said, “time for a crown rocks!”
tupapi777 said, “chucks, already 2am here in cali, all bars are closed! dammit!”
tupapi777 said, “haha”
FrtSpkndMn said, “4 am in texas”
n47j25s said, “5am here . bars open soon”
FrtSpkndMn said, “classes in 4 hours :)”
n47j25s said, “recession over!”
NeonFrost said, “yup got work in 4 hours”
n47j25s said, “economically stimulated!!”
FrtSpkndMn said, “not being a poor college student = win”
HostJeff [observer] said, “Not long now”
HostJeff [observer] said, “Good luck, players!”
NeonFrost has timed out while being disconnected
NeonFrost: folds
NeonFrost is sitting out
tupapi777: raises $1 to $2
FrtSpkndMn: raises $1 to $3
tupapi777 said, “oh ooh”
Moderator56 [observer] said, “Hello Caller….Please email support@pokerstars.com with your issue. Moderators only handle chat issues. Thank you.”
n47j25s: raises $1 to $4
Betting is capped
NeonFrost has returned
Moderator56 [observer] said, “Players….Please excuse the interruption, Good luck and please enjoy your poker game now.”
chris12080: calls $3
NeonFrost said, “wtf??”
tupapi777: calls $2
FrtSpkndMn: calls $1
*** FLOP *** [2s 7s Kh]
NeonFrost said, “what happened to my hand”
n47j25s: checks
NeonFrost said, “something is wrong with your server”
Confedrate said, “ya tell me about it”
chris12080: checks
NeonFrost said, “this isnt right”
tupapi777: bets $1
FrtSpkndMn: raises $1 to $2
n47j25s: calls $2
NeonFrost said, “no way”
chris12080: calls $2
tupapi777: raises $1 to $3
FrtSpkndMn: raises $1 to $4
Betting is capped
n47j25s: calls $2
chris12080: calls $2
tupapi777: calls $1
*** TURN *** [2s 7s Kh] [As]
n47j25s: checks
chris12080: checks
tupapi777 is disconnected
NeonFrost said, “OMG seriously this is ridiulous i had Q hi flush what happened to my hand?”
NeonFrost said, “why would i ever fold?”
n47j25s said, “.”
n47j25s said, “is frozen??”
tupapi777 is connected
tupapi777: bets $2
FrtSpkndMn: raises $2 to $4
n47j25s: calls $4
chris12080: calls $4
tupapi777: calls $2
*** RIVER *** [2s 7s Kh As] [7c]
n47j25s: checks
chris12080: checks
tupapi777: bets $2
Confedrate said, “i think the last everyone has shot”
Confedrate said, “i think the last hand everyone has a shot”
NeonFrost said, “i hope someone boated”
n47j25s is disconnected
FrtSpkndMn: raises $2 to $4
n47j25s is connected
tupapi777 is disconnected
chris12080 is disconnected
Confedrate is disconnected
n47j25s: calls $4
Confedrate is connected
tupapi777 is connected
NeonFrost said, “i didnt get 120 seconds”
chris12080 is connected
chris12080: calls $4
tupapi777: calls $2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FrtSpkndMn: shows [Ts 5c 4c Ah] (HI: two pair, Aces and Sevens; LO: 7,5,4,2,A)
n47j25s: mucks hand
chris12080: shows [4d Qd Ad Tc] (HI: two pair, Aces and Sevens - Queen kicker)
tupapi777: shows [Js 6d 5s 3s] (HI: a flush, Ace high; LO: 7,5,3,2,A)
tupapi777 collected $31.50 from pot
tupapi777 collected $31.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $64 | Rake $1
Board [2s 7s Kh As 7c]
Seat 1: NeonFrost folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 2: tupapi777 showed [Js 6d 5s 3s] and won ($63) with HI: a flush, Ace high; LO: 7,5,3,2,A
Seat 3: FrtSpkndMn (button) showed [Ts 5c 4c Ah] and lost with HI: two pair, Aces and Sevens; LO: 7,5,4,2,A
Seat 4: n47j25s (small blind) mucked
Seat 5: chris12080 (big blind) showed [4d Qd Ad Tc] and lost with HI: two pair, Aces and Sevens
