What is a Bad Beat Jackpot in Poker?
A bad beat is when a terrific poker hand loses to a stronger hand. In practice, this means that a carêt can lose to a better carêt, a full house can lose to a carêt, and a straight flush can lose to a flush royal. If this happens, the person who gets the bad beat will win the lion’s share of the jackpot.
The player who wins the hand also receives a share of the prize pool, just like any other active poker players at the table. The Bad Beat Jackpot can be a live or online poker room jackpot. It is a progressive jackpot, which is continuously increasing in size and is created by total contributions.
Essentially everyone who plays at a table pays a slightly higher rake than at a standard table. This extra rake is included in the total prize pool jackpot, which increases until someone wins it. The payout is usually split as follows:
- 50% to the player who lost a bad beat hand;
- 25% to the player who won the bad beat;
- 25% is divided equally amongst the remaining players at the table handed out.
Each room chooses its own rules for its bad beat jackpot. But most stick to this:
- the bad beat in live poker is full house, aces full of tens or higher, beaten by a square or better.
- bad beat in online poker – quad eights (or better), beaten by a stronger hand.
Obviously, the chances of winning the jackpot live are much higher and the qualification is more relaxed.
Poker sites with bad beat jackpots
Online bad beat jackpots have become less common than they used to be. Many were famous for great offers in the past, but have discontinued them. There are some where there is still a prize for the bad beat.
Promotional offers
The promotional team at the advanced online casino likes to innovate. Taking the fundamental concept of bad-beats, but changing the definition and rewriting the script, the promotional team has come up with some exciting moments.
The basic premise is similar, that if one player is unlucky, another will win the prize. However, unlike the standard bad beat jackpots, where gamblers have to lose quads, everyone can get something.
Essentially, online casinos will look at a player’s recent hand history and, if they notice something that seems unfortunate or unfair, will give a prize. That prize is a ticket, traditionally, to a freeroll. So if a player loses in a cash game or tournament, a promotion like this can save the day. The good thing about tournaments is that you don’t have to do anything. Everyone goes all-in in every hand until there is only one player left. When you add to that the fact that the prize pools are up to $50,000 and it can really pay off if you’re unlucky, everything plays into your hands.
What are the odds of winning a jackpot in poker? Usually more than 2,000,000:1. At this point, the pocket ten had a 95.56% chance of winning on the river. By the turn, the odds had increased to 97.73%. Based on this example, we can see that it’s unlikely that a player will lose with a pocket ten on the river.
