by Mario Alfonsi | Published on May 6, 2012 | Updated on May 6, 2012It’s hard to imagine 80 billion of…well, of anything, really. So when an online poker site says they’re dealing the 80 billionth cash game hand in the site’s history, that definitely says something about the longevity and popularity of that poker room. For one player, that milestone hand meant even more – almost $23,000.A player from Spain known only as “funex700” won hand number 80,000,000,000 on PokerStars Saturday afternoon in their local time, taking home a prize of $22,940. It was the latest in a series of milestone hands from the world’s largest online poker room, which has traditionally given away large prizes every five billion hands or so (with smaller prizes available for every billion hands, and sometimes for other round numbers as well).As usual, the approach of the milestone hand brought plenty of excitement as players hoped to be lucky enough to cash in just for being dealt a hand with the right number. When the lucky number finally came up, it was at a $0.10/0.25 no-limit hold’em table named “Rosa V Fast.” The table was paused both to allow a host to come and award prizes to all of the players seated there, as well as giving time for spectators to watch the fateful hand.Once the hand was set to be played, every player immediately moved all-in, aware that the extra money they could potentially receive by winning far outweighed any other considerations. Ultimately, funex700 would go runner-runner to make two pair with his A5 offsuit, winning a pot of $179.88, and more importantly, a bonus prize of $22,940.However, the other eight players at the table weren’t just throwing their money away. Just for playing in the hand, each received at least $10,000 – certainly worth more than the money they lost on that hand, which was less than $50 for everyone involved.The next big payout hand at PokerStars will be the 85 billionth hand. The large paydays are part of the Road to 100 Billion promotion, which will end (of course) when the 100 billionth real money hand is dealt in the poker room.
