What is the biggest bad beat jackpot ever?
In 2007, a new bad beat jackpot record of $861,000 was set at Absolute Poker KADI. This record was then smashed in February 2009 by players in a $100 max No-Limit Hold’em game at Carbon Poker who won at $1.2 million bad beat jackpot which I believe is still the world record. The losing player apparently received $417,396. He had a lower straight flush than the winner who won $209,000. The rest of the record-breaking jackpot was split between the other players at the table. Other large bad beat jackpots have included the one from Party Poker in about August 2008 when a total of $700,000 was won by a table of six players.
Most bad beat jackpots are progressive, like the one at Party Poker, meaning that they continue to grow until they are hit by a player. Party Poker collects 50 cents from every hand raked from players that play on tables designated as bad beat jackpot tables. There are more than 100 of these tables at any one time and according to Party Poker themselves, the jackpots increases on average by $1000 every hour. You will win on a bad beat table if you lose with a hand of four of a kind, 8s or better and there are more than four players at the table. The loser will receive half of the jackpot, the other half will be split evenly between the winner of the hand and the remaining players who participated in the hand.