$6.5 mill paid to bad beat online poker players

01/03/2008

According to a statement released by online poker venue Absolute Poker, a total of 39 bad beat jackpots have been hit since the introduction of the firm's bad beat system in June 2007, paying out $6.58 million to bad beat players.

Bad Beat Jackpot is just like regular Texas Hold'em but with a slight twist. When seated at a Bad Beat Jackpot table, if a player loses a Texas Hold'em hand holding four 8s or anything better, he or she will win a large piece of the Bad Beat Jackpot.

To help the jackpot build, $0.50 is collected from qualifying hands at Bad Beat Jackpot tables. The jackpot keeps growing until someone hits a qualifying bad beat, at which time a large percentage of it is distributed amongst the bad beat victim and the participants in the online poker hand. The next player to lose a hand holding four 8s or anything better will win a large piece of the new jackpot. The participants in the bad beat hand will also share in the jackpot.

Absolute Poker introduced Bad Beat Jackpot to its lineup of online poker games on June 22nd, 2007, and on August 29 the company claimed an all-time online bad beat jackpot record of $821 670.69, beating the previously largest Bad Beat Jackpot record of $739 621 held by Party Poker.