Bad Beat Jackpot Rules
For a bad beat jackpot to fall out certain rules and requirements needs to be met and they may be different in every poker room, however we have tried to cover the most general ones in this section.
The general bad beat jackpot rules follow nearly the same structure when it comes to hand requirements and payout distribution. To check out the specific bad beat jackpot rules for the poker rooms presented on this site we recommend you to click Poker Room name in the list on your right hand side.
Fund Distribution
To fund a bad beat jackpot a small percentage of the rake for every hand played is collected from the pot to feed the bad beat jackpot. The rake "taken" can vary slightly but is in general not more than 50 cents per raked pot.
Of the total jackpot around 50% is paid out to the bad beat winner, 20% to the winner of the hand and around 20% of the overall amount to seed the next jackpot. The general bad beat rules also ensures around 10% to be split between the other players involved in the hand. Players who sat the hand out will not receive a slice of the jackpot.
General progressive bad beat jackpot rules
Bad beat jackpots are only available on specially designated tables, marked with a B or J, available under the ‘Cash Game’ tab in the poker lobby.
At least four or more players must be dealt into the hand.
Players sitting out do not qualify for the jackpot and will not be awarded.
The losing hand must contain of at least Four of a Kind, 8s, or better to qualify. In some rooms such as Party Poker quads of sevens is the minimum requirement.
The best hand for both the winner and the loser must contain of both their two hole cards and the hand must go to a showdown.
In order for the hand to qualify for the jackpot the hand must be raked and the jackpot contribution must be collected.
Only the two highest hands will be qualified for the jackpot even if there are more hands that qualify for the jackpot, with the highest hand being the winning hand (the winner) and the second highest hand winning the jackpot (the loser of the hand)
If two qualifying jackpot hands falls out at the same time it is the hand that started first (based on the system clock) that will be awarded.
A player must play the hand independently and cannot tell an opponent how to play the hand nor reveal it to any player. Violating this rule will disqualify the hand from the progressive bad beat jackpot.
