PokerStars' 'The Deal' winner collects life-changing win

(PRESS RELEASE) -- The jackpot for The Deal, PokerStars' hugely popular mini game, has hit for the first time in almost two weeks. The progressive jackpot had grown to well over $550,000 when 'zuziek79' triggered the jackpot to win $287,230.45 at PokerStars.com, an Amaya Inc. brand.

A life-changing moment
The Polish player was playing The Deal for the very first time when the lucky strike came on his seventh hand at the 7 StarsCoin buy-in level. That triggered the Royal Flush that led to the largest jackpot the game has ever paid out. 'zuziek79' was being railed by his brother and confirmed that excitement levels at this point were "crazy." Another brother missed out on the excitement but 'zuziek79' said, "He's getting a nice present as compensation. I'm very happy. It is a life-changing amount of money for me. I plan to spend it wisely and of course continue playing at PokerStars."

Additionally, 54,190 players were awarded a $5.30 share for playing in the 12 hours leading up to the jackpot hit.

Only 12 hours later, as if making up for lost time, the jackpot wheel spun again, this time paying out $17,789.53 to 'money0099', who just missed out on the bumper payout by a few hours.

Over 20 jackpot triggers in six weeks
The Deal Jackpot has been triggered more than 20 times and awarded more than $1.2 million in winning payouts since launch in mid-December.

The Deal jackpot winner payouts and dates
21 December: $42,329.42
23 December: $103.720.04
25 December: $84,632.03
26 December: $65,774.86
27 December: $53,254.91
29 December: $75,703.91
31 December: $77,601.14
1 January: $23,138.02
4 January: $93,607.62
6 January: $50,155.62
7 January: $31,739.41
10 January: $55,231.28
11 January: $36,705.30
15 January: $39,531.70
17 January: $48,974.88
18 January: $22,860.39
28 January: $305,019.98

For more information, please visit the PokerStars website.