Massive Bad Beat Jackpots Paid Out

February 16, 2009 (InfoPowa News) — The weekend saw over $2 million paid out in online poker badbeat jackpots at just two networks, Merge and Cereus.
 
On Saturday the Merge network reported that its $1.2 million bad beat jackpot had been won the night before, distributing $417,396 to player Ruggio and $208,698 to a Chicago student working his way through college and playing on the using handle Aelani. Seven players took money away from the pot, which has since been re-generated and is now at over $250,000. The big win took place at the Carbon Poker.com site.
 
The Merge badbeat jackpot was introduced in mid-2008, and this is the first occasion on which it has been won. Carbon Poker spokesperson Jay Manning, who revealed that the distribution awarded 35 percent to the biggest loser, 17.5 percent to the winner of the hand, and 17.5 percent among the other players in the hand. The Merge Gaming Network takes 10 percent, and the remaining 20 percent is used to re-seed a fresh jackpot.
 
At Merge, the jackpot is won when four sevens and beaten by a superior hand, with both the winning and losing hands using both players’ hole cards. If the hand is four of a kind, a player must hold a pocket pair. At least four players must have received cards in the hand, which must have contributed 50 cents or more in rake. The hand has to reach showdown with at least two players.
 
Over at the Cereus online poker network, Absolute Poker.com was the scene for the award of a more than $813,000 bad beat jackpot — the latest in a series of major bad beats paid out on the network.
 
A 65-year-old online poker player from Pennsylvania using the nickname HDCowboy enjoyed the best loss in his poker career, picking up the 'winners' $264,419 just before Valentine's Day when he lost a Texas Hold'Em hand, with 4 eights to the quad Kings of opposing player RangerXBob, who picked up $132,996. Five other players at the virtual table each received $1,083 in cash. Absolute Poker generously capped the night's largesse by presenting 1,028 other players at the Badbeat Jackpot tables with almost $83 apiece.
 
Bad Beat Jackpot games are traditional Texas Hold'em poker with an added jackpot component. 50 cents is collected from qualifying poker hands and placed into a progressively increasing pot until a table meets the required criteria for the award and the jackpot is paid out. At Absolute, the criteria is when a player loses a hand with four 8s or anything better.