After in June 2013 having dealt its 100 billionth hand, the world’s largest poker company, PokerStars, doubled that in just six years as it spread its 200th billionth hand last week and in doing so made history.

The Stars Group-owned and operated poker site dealt its first hand nearly two decades ago and since then has spread more hands than any other online poker domain, celebrating each and every major milestone along the way with huge cash payouts to the multitudes of players that made it all possible.

“we’ve been looking forward to hitting this milestone for a long-time”

According to the press release…

All six players who were dealt into the history-making hand of the May 4 8c/16c No Limit Hold’em cash game were awarded $10,000 each, with player ‘KeySssi’ taking the pot.

Weeks-long celebrations:

Celebrations for PokerStars’ 200 Billion Poker Hands saw the online poker community receive upwards of $2 million in the form of a variety of promotions, including ‘surprise Stars Rewards Chests,’ a $200,000 Mega Freeroll tournament, over $400,000 worth of ‘free tournament ticket drops, and random giveaways and free merchandise from the Stars Store.

Celebration Wheel:

Among other prizes, any player who has played at least one hand of poker for real money on PokerStars since the first hand was dealt in December 2001, was able to spin the 200 Billion Hands Celebration Wheel for free, with a chance of winning as much as $2,000 each day. Throughout the duration of the celebrations, in excess of 6 million spins were awarded.

Director of Poker Innovation and Operations for The Stars Group, Séverin Rasset, said…

“Two hundred billion is truly a stellar figure. It’s almost inconceivable. We’ve been looking forward to hitting this milestone for a long-time and it has been our privilege to put on weeks of celebrations to give back to every PokerStars player that has made this happen. Everyone here at Stars is very excited about this out of this world achievement. I’d like to congratulate you all. We can’t wait to celebrate the next milestone!”

SCOOP dates announced:

Key dates for the 2019 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) have recently been revealed. The 16-day series will take place from Sunday, May 12 to Monday, May 27.

Key Dates:

Main Event: Sunday, May 26, 2019

Low/Medium Phase 1 satellites: Starting Sunday, April 15, 2019

High Phase 1 satellites: Starting Sunday, April 21, 2019