Mystery surrounds PokerStars 70th billion hand celebration

PokerStars today reached yet another milestone in the site's ten-year history, as the 70 billionth hand was dealt at a $0.25/$0.50 heads-up table.

The hand was dealt while the two players, "koenigskebab" and "DodgeUrOuts" both went all-in holding and , respectively, with the first winning the hand as an ace was dealt on the flop.

"koenigskebab" took $73,380 for winning the milestone hand, while "DodgeUrOuts" had to settle for a $1,690 consolation prize, and PokerStars soon after announced the winning hand and congratulated the players.

Less than an hour after the hand was dealt, however, rumors of foul play started circulating, and following a video from YouTube user "evhero", it does indeed seem as if the two players used unfair methods in order to gain an advantage in the race for the big hand.

According to the video, the in-game chat box was almost immediately flooded with allegations of fraud and cheating as soon as the hand was over, and this led the YouTube user to look back at the hand history between the players.

According to this, the two players - both from Germany - had folded every hand pre-flop leading up to the 70 billionth hand, meaning that they were able to play more hands per hour than other players, and furthermore, without paying a single cent in rake.

Using this method across the maximum of 24 tables allowed, "evhero" claims, the two players managed to grind out thousands of hands for free, giving them better odds at hitting the lucky hand and cashing in the reward.

PokerStars has since withdrawn the news item of the milestone hand from the PokerStars Blog, but no official statement has yet been made to address the cheating allegations.

Seems smart if you ask me, even if they played heads-up on 24 tables if you take into consideration the number of tables running at this time I don't think their odds were that high honestly. But; I'm sure Stars will do something about it, don't need much reason (or any reason at all) to seize those funds

Don't they got rules they aren't allowed to do this?
Both were from Germany have to agreed that these guy is friends to do this.

Yes it would be considered soft-play I am guessing.

yes always make yu wonder how they can do this,but does not surprise me

lolz well they can kiss them funds goodbye ,they better withdraw the money before they lose it lolz!

They can play as many tables as they want at a time. There's no rules so they can't play 24 tables, that was very smart of those two.

24 is max they can play. AND you are missing the point, they folded every hand for an hour or so, so no rake was being taken from the players. Was a heads-up table so their stacks were staying the same , just at the tables hoping the 70b hand would go while sitting at the table, playing and not contributing rake. Which is definitely against the rules.

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Originally Posted by pkaff

24 is max they can play. AND you are missing the point, they folded every hand for an hour or so, so no rake was being taken from the players. Was a heads-up table so their stacks were staying the same , just at the tables hoping the 70b hand would go while sitting at the table, playing and not contributing rake. Which is definitely against the rules.

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they can fold everyhand but they still have to put in bb and sb..i really having a hard time seeing they actually cheated here..

Ok so post SB fold, then next person posts SB and folds, no rake is taken unless they see a flop. So they are losing nothing, yet have 24 chances at the 70B hand celebration? Doesn't quite seem right

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Originally Posted by don7238

They can play as many tables as they want at a time. There's no rules so they can't play 24 tables, that was very smart of those two.

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Originally Posted by pkaff

24 is max they can play. AND you are missing the point, they folded every hand for an hour or so, so no rake was being taken from the players. Was a heads-up table so their stacks were staying the same , just at the tables hoping the 70b hand would go while sitting at the table, playing and not contributing rake. Which is definitely against the rules.

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^^^This, it is total collusion, even though neither were gaining anything from each other, they had agreed to fold every hand until the milestone hand. Once it is reviewed I am sure their accounts will be suspended.
It is along the lines as a chip dump, even though one player is agreeing to give the funds to the other player, it is still collusion and can get your account suspended if they review.

Exactly, and when it comes to $73,000 .... There will be a review lol.

lol !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

yeah but if you lost 73 thousand dollars to an all in that would suck.

absolute colusion - kiss your money goodbye

I say kudos too them. If anyone is willing to go to that extreme to get an advantage I say good for them.

I know that Poker Stars is one of the hardest on playing by the rules, only site I know that really has Mods. that respond within minutes to a table when there are complaints. These people will loose all that money and any other they have there, would be my guess.

I am sure that PS will react, because if this is right, it was collusion.

its a little shady what they did but not totally shady ... they found a little edge and worked the system

they played within how the rules are written ... they can fold hands and play hu 24 tables

ethically and in the spirit of the game ... pretty douchey

Agreed - collusion between the two players for one goal - to fold hands until milestone hand was achieved. This obviously gave them an edge, but not a guarantee win. Can't imagine they will receive the prize money.

Here's a question that no one else has asked... How did they know it was the 70 billionth hand? Was PS really stupid enough to announce to them that it was the 70 billionth hand just as the cards were dealt instead of after-wards? I see the collusion aspect, but I am guessing that if these two people had this idea... so did thousands of other people doing the same thing. **SIGH**

Yeah pretty much they did memtg when that come up they were just lucky that they got choosen.

Sighhh more bad news for the online poker community. It's stunts like this that damage everything.

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Originally Posted by moemtg

Here's a question that no one else has asked... How did they know it was the 70 billionth hand? Was PS really stupid enough to announce to them that it was the 70 billionth hand just as the cards were dealt instead of after-wards? I see the collusion aspect, but I am guessing that if these two people had this idea... so did thousands of other people doing the same thing. **SIGH**

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Very good point!! Wow was PS that naive, did they have a counter, there must have been some kind of promo. Yikes.

germans always screwing things up

I agree, I would consider it collusion......Kick em, Ban em....

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Originally Posted by moemtg

Here's a question that no one else has asked... How did they know it was the 70 billionth hand? Was PS really stupid enough to announce to them that it was the 70 billionth hand just as the cards were dealt instead of after-wards? I see the collusion aspect, but I am guessing that if these two people had this idea... so did thousands of other people doing the same thing. **SIGH**

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the winner of the hand is awarded almost $70,000 more ... if they were heads up and the small blind got 7 2 and folded ... then he saw he only got $1700 instead of over $70,000 dont you think he would feel awful not even trying to play all in for $50-100 with 7 2 to try to win over $70,000. pokerstars should tell them it is the hand and they did.

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Originally Posted by Steves22

Sighhh more bad news for the online poker community. It's stunts like this that damage everything.

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exactly , but the sites need to come up with stuff so there is no way around the rules.

can you put up a link to the video? i am having trouble finding it.

Yes I will have to agree with you guys, collusion, no doubt.

theEVhero's Channel - YouTube

you will find it here

Most of you guys don't seem to understand how this promo works ... I'm assuming its like the last "Billion hand promo" but I could be wrong.

There was thousands of tables running when this hit and they were at 24 of them. The odds of this scheme to fail were far greater then it to succeed. They gained an edge by what they did, but like I already said it was a small one.

I don't think their odds would be that much better even if they were "cheating". Actually, I would not consider that a cheat.