An online poker player has walked away with a massive reward after losing a hand despite holding four jacks courtesy of the International Poker Network (IPN) and its bad beat jackpot.
Playing under the pseudonym ‘AlkaliEars', the lucky player received €144,473 of the €412,781 jackpot while the hand's winner took home €72,236 with the other competitors at the table receiving €24,078 each.
"I was so sure my four jacks would take the pot," said ‘AlkaliEars'.
"My heart sank when my opponent revealed four kings to beat them. But then I remembered that by losing with such a great hand I had won the bad beat jackpot.
The IPN is Europe's largest independent poker network and is operated by GTech G2. The network includes some of the world's most popular online poker sites such as VirginPoker.com, PokerHeaven.com and Casino-Club.com and regularly hosts guaranteed one million Euro tournaments. It recently celebrated its three millionth player and revealed that its current bad beat jackpot is already over €90,000.
"The bad beat jackpot was created to help ease the frustration of losing even when you're dealt great cards," said Mery Blomqvist, Head Of Marketing And Public Relations for GTech G2.
"With a jackpot requirement starting at quad sixes, this has got to be the easiest bad beat jackpot to hit anywhere."
To qualify for the IPN's bad beat jackpot, players must be at a designated bad beat table and use both pocket cards in their winning or losing hand. In addition, the losing hand must be four-of-a-kind sixes or better with at least four players in the hand.