PokerStars has been promoting its upcoming 25,000,000,000th hand for quite some time now, promising $100,000 to the winner, $100,000 split among the remaining participants, plus an awesome $50,000 prize package to four major live poker tournaments.

The hand finally took place in the wee hours of Monday morning, February 16th, but no one could have predicted how it played out.

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At a $1/$2 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo cash game sat 5 players – “NeonFrost”, chris12080”, “tupapi777”, “FrtSpkndMn” and “n47j25s”. Joining the table just before the prolific hand took place was “Confederate”.

Confederate was given the option to post the Blind out of turn to be dealt in the hand, or sit out and wait for the next hand. In what will be talked about for months to come as the worst decision ever made around the felt, Confederate chose to sit it out.

As the hole cards were dealt and the first betting round set to begin, it was announced that this was the 25,000,000,000th hand at PokerStars. Everyone was incredibly excited at the prospect, including Confederate. Tupapi777 was quick to point out – what would happen should the hand end in a split pot, as is typically the case in Omaha Hi/Lo?

PokerStars.com responded quickly, stating that the split-pot winner would also split the $100,000 grand prize for winning the hand. It was also confirmed that the split-pot winners would both walk away with the $50,000 prize packages, which included the following:

- European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Grand Finals
- PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
- World Series of Poker
- World Championship of Online Poker Main Event

Everyone was pleased with the decision, and the hand continued. Unfortunately it, it was about this time that it dawned on Confederate that since he chose to sit out and post blinds on the next hand, he would not be sharing in the phenomenal prize. He could do nothing but sit and watch as the hand played out, without his participation.

A crowd of near 1,600 joined the waiting list to view the table and watch it play out. This caused a “hiccup” on the server. When it restarted, NeonFrost’s was overcome with anger as his hand disappeared. It appeared as if he had Folded, but “Why would I ever Fold?” came his enraged response. He had $7 remaining in his chip stack, certainly enough to stay in the hand.

Regardless, the hand played out, and tupapi777 was clearly the Low Hand winner. PokerStars was quick to review the hand and determine how NeonFrost would have come out. His hand, a Queen-High Flush, would have been strong enough to take the High Hand half of the pot, and tupapi777 was more than happy to oblige when PokerStars required him to split the $100,000 grand prize with NeonFrost.

The prizes for playing and/or winning the PokerStars 25-billionth hand were doled out a follows:

NeonFrost: High Pot Spilt, $50,000 + $50,000 live tournament prize package
Tupapi777: Low Pot Spilt, $50,000 + $50,000 live tournament prize package
FrtSpkndMn: $33,333.33
n47j25s: $33,333.33
chris12080: $33,333.33