Happy Birthday to Everest Poker! One of the world’s largest independent online poker sites, Everest Poker is rolling out the red carpet for its players to celebrate five years of being in business. As part of the festivities, players can take advantage of a special $500,000 Guaranteed tournament that features a live finale in fabulous Las Vegas. In addition, monthly $5,000 freerolls and mega-paydays for players involved in its five billionth hand will attract new and returning players alike. PocketFives.com has two Everest Poker bonus options available to help you get started. Let’s take a look at the site’s five year anniversary extravaganza.

The online portion of the $500,000 Guaranteed takes place on October 4th on the virtual felts of Everest Poker. Step tournaments starting at an affordable $2 will get you into the event, which has a Step 5 price tag of $360. The deep-stack tournament will play out until nine are left standing. The finalists will then travel to Las Vegas (pictured at left) to play down to a winner. Everest Poker is throwing in $2,000 to cover accommodations and travel for the nine final table participants. In addition, each player will be invited to watch the finale of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event unfold live inside the Rio on November 7th. After the $500,000 Guaranteed has crowned a champion, Everest Poker will host a party Sin City style.
During its five year celebration, Everest Poker will eclipse the five billion hand mark – that’s billion with a “B.” Back on March 4th, 2005, Everest Poker dealt its 10 millionth hand. Ten months later, the popular online poker site dished out its 100 millionth hand. In April of 2007, Everest Poker hit a whopping one billion hands. Players dealt cards during the five billionth hand will see their bankrolls balloon by $5,000. It’s an easy way to make some extra cash just by being seated at the tables.

As you’d expect, many of Everest Poker’s promotions as part of its fifth anniversary revolve around the number five. Players dealt quad fives between July 1st and August 31st will receive 55,555 Summit Points for their feat. At least one five must be in the hole and the offer is only good in real money ring games. In order to take home the mother load of Summit Points, e-mail Everest Poker support and remember to include your Hand ID.

Everest Poker is also holding two $5,000 freerolls for players who rack up at least five Summit Points during the previous month. On August 6th, a $5,000 free tournament will be open to players who earned five Summit Points daily between July 5th and August 4th. Players who accrue at least five Summit Points daily between August 5th and September 4th will be eligible to play in a $5,000 freeroll on September 8th. You only have to accumulate points in 30 out of the 31 days during each period in order to qualify. Players can earn up to 4.2 Summit Points per raked hand at cash game tables and 8 Summit Points per $1 in tournament fees.

Prices in the Summit Point Store have been axed by 5% to 55% on select items including chipsets (pictured at right), polo shirts, t-shirts, sports bottles, fancy pens, mouse pads, glasses, hats, key rings, and backpacks. Finally, Everest Poker members who refer at least four players in a calendar month will be eligible to play in a $5,000 Refer-A-Friend Freeroll. The offer is good during July and August.

PocketFives.com offers two bonus options to seed your bankroll. First, you can take advantage of a $300 incremental bonus that is earned at a rate of $1 per 14.28 Summit Points. Alternately, you can elect to sign up for a $500 lump sum bonus that is released in its entirety when you accrue 5,000 Summit Points. Visit the official thread in Poker Discussion for more information.