Odds Of Winning Poker Bad Beat Jackpot

Posted on

In poker, bad beat is a subjective term for a hand in which a player with what appear to be strong cards nevertheless loses. It most often occurs where one player bets the clearly stronger hand and their opponent makes a mathematically poor call that wins with any subequent dealing to complete the hand.

In pure mathematical terms a one-outer can be considered a pure bad beat, however there is no consensus however among poker players as to what else exactly constitutes a bad beat and often players will disagree about whether a particular hand was a bad beat. A few examples are: quads over full house, quads over quads, straight flush over quads, small full house vs. bigger full house or better.

Types of bad beats[edit]

Any hand that looked like a favorite to win can end up losing as more cards are dealt (with the nuts being the exception), but bad beats usually involve one of two not mutually exclusive scenarios:

Earlier this week we talked about the Birthday Problem, as regards Rob Tinnion winning the Sunday Million twice, and the odds of that happening. At first glance, it seems like there’s a similar thing going on with the Taj Mahal’s scheme to give away their bad beat jackpots. As the world of online poker grows leaps and bounds, it is important to remember that bad beats exist in the land based casinos and online. In fact, to help with the bad feelings from bad beat draws, some casinos have created bad beat jackpots. By taking a small rake over a period of time, the casino can have a side pot for the best bad beat.

  • The player who wins on a bad beat is rewarded for mathematically unsound play. Calling a bet despite having neither the best hand nor the right pot odds or implied odds to call, then winning anyway, is characteristic of this type of bad beat. It can also involve the inferior hand catching running cards when it requires two cards in a row to come from behind to win the pot. For example, catching cards on both the turn and the river in Texas hold 'em that complete a straight or flush.
  • A very strong hand loses to an even stronger one, better known as 'cooler'. This type of beat occurs with some frequency in movies. In the films The Cincinnati Kid and Casino Royale, The Kid and Le Chiffre each lose with a full house to a straight flush. In this situation, it is possible that both players have played their cards well, and avoiding the bad beat could not have been achieved without committing a mistake.

Reacting to bad beats[edit]

A bad beat can be a profound psychological blow, and can easily lead to a player going on tilt. Professional player Phil Hellmuth, among others, is notorious for his pronounced reactions to bad beats. However, suffering a bad beat means that the losing player was 'getting the money in good' and in most instances would win by playing the same hand the same way. Thus, the more stoic poker players accept bad beats as an unpleasant but necessary drawback to a tactic that works the vast majority of the time.

Bad beats online[edit]

In online poker rooms, bad beats often lead to accusations that the random number generator is 'rigged', even though such beats also occur in offline games. Many online poker rooms post statistical data to demonstrate the randomness of the hands generated.[1] In online poker games players have an opportunity to play in 'bad beat' tables where the player who has the best losing hand receives an accumulated prize pool. An additional amount of rake is taken from each hand to fund the jackpot. The largest online jackpot to date was €1.25 million, hit in July 2011 with €443,000 going to the loser of the hand.[2]

Players are statistically more likely to experience bad beats online, since playing using a computer allows for more hands played per hour. Also, online players may play multiple cash game tables and/or tournaments at the same time, also increasing the frequency of hands dealt.Also, tells are rendered moot, so players are incapable of reading clues such as body language in aid of deriving the strength of an opponent's hand.Finally, online poker games (especially freeroll tournaments) are far more accessible to the average player who, being average, is less likely to be knowledgeable regarding the techniques of the game, in turn making it more likely they will bet from the gut or intuition rather than experience.

Bad beat jackpot[edit]

A bad beat jackpot is a prize that is paid when a sufficiently strong hand is shown down and loses to an even stronger hand held by another player.[3] Not all poker games offer bad beat jackpots, and those that do have specific requirements for how strong a losing hand must be to qualify for the jackpot. For example, the losing hand may be required to be four-of-a-kind or better. There may be additional requirements as well. For example, in Texas hold 'em there is usually a requirement that both hole cards play in both the losing and winning hands, or that where a full house is the minimum (usually aces full of jacks or higher), both hole cards must be used to make the three-of-a-kind in the full house.

Bad beat jackpots are usually progressive, often with a small rake being taken out of each pot to fund the jackpot (in addition to the regular rake). When a jackpot is won, it is usually split among all players sitting at the table at the time of the bad beat with the losing hand getting the largest share, followed by the winning hand, and all the other players dividing the remainder. Generally, only the best losing hand is eligible to win the largest share, even if another hand would also qualify.

Specific rules, collections, payout percentages, and amounts vary greatly from one casino or cardroom to the next, and are sometimes changed.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^PokerStars: Random Number Generator Audits
  2. ^Boss Media's Bad Beat Jackpot is Finally Hit
  3. ^'Commerce Casino: Jackpots'. Archived from the original on 2006-08-20. Retrieved 2006-08-20.

Books[edit]

  • Bad Beats and Lucky Draws by Phil Hellmuth ISBN0-06-074083-3
  • Poker: Bets, Bluffs, And Bad Beats by A. Alvarez ISBN0-8118-4627-X
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bad_beat&oldid=971418456'

Winning Numbers

LOTTO MAX & Extra

BC 50/50

Loading...

Winning Number

Past Results »

Poker Lotto

Loading...

Nightly Draw
Winning Hand

TBA Winners

(Total instant and nightly draw winners for this date)

Past Results »

Loading...

01020304050607080910
11121314151617181920
21222324252627282930
31323334353637383940
41424344454647484950
51525354555657585960
61626364656667686970
71727374757677787980
Past Results »

Pacific Hold'Em Poker

Loading...

Winning

Top Opponent Cards

Community Cards

The Hand To Beat

Past Results »
Odds of winning poker bad beat jackpots

Lotto 649 & Extra

Loading...

Past Results »

BC49 & Extra

Loading...

Past Results »

DAILY GRAND & Extra

Loading...

Odds Of Winning Poker Bad Beat Jackpot Odds

LOTTO MAX & Extra

Loading...

Odds Of Winning Poker Bad Beat Jackpots

Past Results »
MAXMILLIONS
PLEASE KEEP YOUR TICKET
Results will be available soon

Remember

Sign your ticket

Bad Beat Progressive Jackpot

Find out all the great Pacific Hold'Em Poker prizes available to be won and the odds you have of winning them.

Odds

Pacific Hold'Em Poker Prizes & Odds Table

Prizes

If you win, each $2 bet gives you a share of the prize pot. The number of players playing will determine the total prize pot.

Bet AmountShare of Jackpot
$2.001 Share
$4.002 Shares
$6.003 Shares
$8.004 Shares
$10.005 Shares

Odds

Prize CategoryOdds
Bad Beat Jackpot1 in 31,719.44
Best Hand in Province1 in 763.40
Beat the Table1 in 5.33
Any Prize1 in 5.29

* Approximate Odds

Bad Beat Jackpot

The Bad Beat Jackpot is a separate, progressive jackpot that continues to grow until it's won. You could win the Bad Beat Jackpot if:

Odds Of Winning Poker Bad Beat Jackpot

You have a 4-of-a-Kind or a Straight Flush but your hand loses to your on-screen opponents.

You must use at least one of the 2 cards printed on your ticket to create your best possible 5-card hand.

Your best possible 5-card hand must be stronger than the 5 community cards alone (the card(s) printed on your ticket can't simply replace equivalent cards within the 5 community cards).

If more than one hand qualifies for the Bad Beat Jackpot, only the best Bad Beat hand will be awarded the jackpot. In the event of a tie, the Bad Beat Jackpot is shared. In the event of a tie, the total prize will be divided by the number of winning shares.

Know how the game works and what the odds are before playing.

The more you know about the games, the better equipped you are to make informed decisions when you play.

Learn more about the odds at GameSense.com.