Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Have you ever hit the Bad Beat Jackpot?

Sitting around playing online poker yesterday, I got this text from my poker buddy: "I just hit the Bad Beat Jackpot."

"So, how much money do you get?" is what I immediately texted back. I mean, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

"$8477 minus some taxes," was the reply.

He had sat down in the $4/8 limit hold'em game and was under the gun, so he let the button pass. The first hand he held 6 4 and raised when it came to him in the cutoff. Yes, he plays differently than most of the nit/calling stations in a limit game.

The flop was 8 5 2. "Pretty good flop for me since I have a double gutshot so I bet and the button raises and we get one other caller," he texted.

"The turn is the 5. I check, he bets, I call."

"River is the 7 giving me the straight flush. He had 5-5 for quads."

My calculation is that there was "only" $42,385 in the Bad Beat Jackpot. That says it's likely been hit fairly recently. Sometimes they build up and you can really win a big pile of money. My buddy had the winning hand, so he got 20%. The guy with quad 5s took the bad beat, so he got 40%, and the other players divided the remaining 40%. Too bad I wasn't there playing, too!

Have you ever been involved in a bad beat jackpot? Once at the Gold Strike, I got a players' share of a mini-Bad Beat (aces full of kings got beat by quad kings), but it was only $240.

8 comments:

  1. I saw it hit the other night 3 tables away from me. It happened to have been the 2nd time in 24 hours - the BBJ was around $100k at the time. Since it was the second time in 24 hrs, the BBJ reset to a lowly $640.00. Yes - SIX HUNDRED FORTY DOLLARS. I did read one blogger a few years ago who hit for $40k:
    http://thetrooper97.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-sickest-night-of-poker-ever.html

    Pretty crazy though I believe he squandered it.

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  2. It hit at the next table when I played in Peoria, IL last Friday. Total was just over $22,000. Non-involved players at the table got about $700. Missed playing when the Caesars bad beat hit in Las Vegas by about 5 hours in June.

    Only one where I actually got some cashola was a mini bad beat at Harrahs Las Vegas a year ago - about $50 for being at the same table.

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  3. I've never even been in the room at my local casino when it's been hit. One of the dealers told me a great story about when it hit at one of his tables. The BBJ was at like $185,000. The kid who got beat and was getting 50% of that was in construction, but had been out of work for a while. He just sat there staring at the board without moving while the rest of the table was going nuts. The dealer finally asked, "Are you okay? You know you just won like $90,000, right?"

    After responding that he was okay he whipped out his cell phone and dialed a number. When the party at the other end answered he excitedly said, "Dude, dude...I've got that $20 bucks I owe you!"

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  4. I've never hit one and I've never been in a casino when one was hit.

    In fact, of all my years playing live I've only ever even seen one hand that would qualify for a bad beat - but the casino didn't offer such at the time.

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  5. I got table share at Ameristar in KC once. It was a royal over aces full of jacks. My table share was $365. You do the math. :)

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  6. It's never hit when I've been around, but I have seen people chase some horrible hands trying to be around when it hits. Makes for some really big pots for no reason around here. I usually enjoy playing more when it's not the center of attention.

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  7. Yes. I had the losing hand about 7 years ago at Treasure Island Indian casino in MN. I had 55 and flopped quads. It was bested on the river by a heart straight flush to the 8. My share was 16,400. I was 28 at the time. It was my biggest score to that date. It was certainly exciting to say the least. What made me laugh is that the room manager asked me how I wanted my payment. Chips, cash, or check, or any incraments of each. It made me laugh. The only thing that made me nervous was how much to tip the dealer. Employees told me it was custom to tip 10%, but 1600 bucks was a lot of money to me at that time. I ended up tipping a grand. That bad beat helped me pay off my bills at the time and was a great contributor to my poker bank roll, and I haven't had to add to it since.

    -grouse

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