PokerWorks

PokerStars is throwing a celebration for its 25th billion hand, only they're the ones handing out the presents.

Think about that. 25 billion hands in just a few years. It took McDonalds decades to reach that number.

Among the promotions all this week, from Feb. 11 to Feb. 18, are reload bonuses, cash prizes for milestone hands, the 25th billionth hand and increased guarantees for the Sunday majors.

• A Reload Bonus - You can earn a 25 percent reload bonus up to $250. To qualify, deposit between Feb. 11 and 23:59 Eastern Time on Feb. 18, using the bonus code 25bash.

To clear the bonus, you must earn the number of Frequent Player points. You can check the points out in the Cashier window under "Check My Bonus Status."

If you haven't yet downloaded PokerStars , you'll get a 100 percent matching bonus up to $50. You must enter the marketing code of POKERWORKS upon registration and the bonus code of STARS50 upon your first deposit.

• You'll want to hit up the cash tables this week. Starting from hand 24,850,000,000, PokerStars will hand out cash bonuses for every millionth hand. That's a total of 150 bonus hands until the big one, and you can earn a cash prize just for being dealt in the hand.

But if you're the winner, you can earn even more. For instance, even if you're playing at Micro stakes, you'll get $300 for being the winner. Everyone else gets $125. If you're a high stakes player, however, you'll get a $2,500 bonus if you're the winner and $1,000 even if you're just sitting there with cards.

And if you're a VIP Club member, if you're SilverStar or above, whatever bonus you earn will be multiplied according to your current status.

• The 25 Billionth Mega Milestone - OK, this is pretty big.

The winner of the 25th billion hand will win an amazing $100,000. And not only that, but the presents include an EPT Monte Carlo package, a PokerStars Caribbean Adventure package, a World Series main event package and a WCOOP Main Event ticket.
That all adds up to a prize package of $150,000.

But if you're just sitting there with cards, you'll split a $100,000 cash prize as well. You might not want to sit out when that hand's about to be dealt, in other words.

• Finally, this Sunday's top two majors, the Sunday Million and the Sunday Warm-Up, will both have their guarantees ramped up. The Sunday Warm-Up at 12:45 Eastern will have its guarantee boosted to $1.25 million.

That will be followed by the Sunday Million's boost to $2.5 million at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

You can, as always, win your way into the $215 buy-in events through satellites.

This is an event that you just can't miss. It will, after all, be a while before the 30th billion hand is dealt at PokerStars. At least a little while.