Yllams scooped the huge payout when the six players at the table moved all-in and his A-K flopped trips on a board of A-A-9-4-7. The players at the winning table were all awarded $500 for every VPP (VIP Player Point) earned at the table in the previous 50 hands, while the winning player had his amount doubled and won $65,000 on top for becoming the 65-billionth hand winner.

The ecstatic New Zealander, who was playing in the early hours of Monday morning his time, only managed to type a few words into the chatbox – “Unbelievable... I have work in a few hours” – before logging off to celebrate.

At the time the 65-billionth hand was dealt, there were more than 230,000 players spread across 34,000 active tables.

Road to 100 Billion

The 65-billionth hand celebration was part of PokerStars’ trek toward 100 billion hands, marking every five billion hands with a milestone celebration. In total, the 65 Billion Hand promotion, which ran for nearly a week, comprised 301 Milestone Hands from 64.7bn through to 65bn, and saw $770,588.88 given away to more than 1,600 PokerStars players.

Key facts

Total prize hands: 301
Total prize money: $770,588.88
Prizes per hand: $2,560.10
Prize per player: $449.59