Party Poker Bad Beat Jackpot
Bad beat jackpots have become an increasingly popular promotional tool for online poker sites and Party Poker is home to one of the largest bad beat jackpots. Understanding Party Pokerís bad beat jackpot requires a good working knowledge of the jackpotís fund distribution, hand prerequisites and a good handle on the odds of hitting the jackpot.
Bad Beat Jackpot Payout Distribution
Party Poker services over 100 specific real money ring games that feed the progressive bad beat jackpot. Every raked hand on the bad beat tables contributes $0.50 to the jackpot. This equals about a $1,000 contribution every hour. If this trend were to stay steady for a week, the bad beat jackpot would accumulate $168,000 every seven days.
Party Poker divides the jackpot into multiple pieces:
- 50% to the player with the losing hand
- 25% to the player with the winning hand
- 25% evenly divided up between the other 4 or more players at the table
- 20% to go back into the jackpot
- 10% withdrawn as an administrative fee
For every $168,000 accumulated, the bad beat winner will receive $84,000. The Party Poker bad beat jackpot is usually much higher than $168,000 and it is not uncommon for bad beat winners to take home $150,000 – $200,000.
Party Poker Jackpot Rules
Hand requirements directly affect the potential odds of any bad beat jackpot. Party Poker maintains a strict list of requirements for bad beat jackpots. The list includes:
- The bad beat only counts if at least four active players are in the hand.
- The hand must reach the showdown.
- The final players must use both hole cards.
- Only the highest and second highest hands qualify for the bad beat.
The most important part of the requirements is the specification about the minimum hand ranking that qualifies as a bad beat. Party Poker accepts a hand containing a four of a kind with 8ís as the absolute minimum to qualify for the bad beat. Hands with a higher rank automatically qualify for the bad beat if the hand loses to a stronger one.
Odds Of Winning Party Poker Bad Beat Jackpot
Knowing the exact hand requirement means that players can calculate the odds of winning Party Pokerís bad beat jackpot. Using Party Pokerís hand requirement of at least a four of a kind with 8ís, the probability of beating a four of a kind with 8ís is 1 in every 156,250 played hands.
The probability to successfully beat the four of a kind hand requirement does not change at any point of the game. Every single hand played will have 1:156,250 odds of containing a hand that beats 8 quads. The higher the rank, the slimmer the odds are of it being beaten. For example, if Party Pokerís requirement were a hand with 6 quads or 7 quads, the odds of the bad beat occurring would be:
- 1 in every 107,527 played hands to beat a hand containing 6 quads.
- 1 in every 128,205 played hands to beat a hand containing 7 quads.
Another important aspect to consider is the possibility of two players being dealt the same pocket pair. Because Texas Holdíem only uses two pocket cards, it may often take a hand where two players are dealt the same, or nearly the same, pocket cards to trigger a bad beat situation. A situation where two players are dealt the same pocket cards is called a semi deal.
Semi deal probabilities are calculated based on a 10-handed game only. Semi deal probabilities can be calculated for specific pocket pairs. For example, the probability of two players being dealt pocket aces in a 10 handed game is 1 in every 135 hands. Calculating semi deal probabilities for precise hand qualifications such as those for Party Pokerís bad bead jackpot is much more complicated. The probability of a semi deal occurring that would ultimately qualify for Party Pokerís bad beat jackpot is 1 in every 155,000 hands. This means that every single hand has a 1 in 155,000 chance of two players being dealt pocket pairs strong enough to lead to a bad beat situation. Using the various odds alone, it seems near impossible to catch a break and win Party Pokerís bad beat promotion. However, the jackpot has already been hit on several occasions.