With the surprising news that Party Poker have decided to end their popular bad beat jackpot, I thought this would be a good time to review which poker networks still have bad beat jackpots running in 2012.
For those readers not familiar with bad beat jackpots, they work by paying out a huge prize for players getting beaten with quad-7’s or better at designated tables. The jackpot amount is cumulative, with an extra fee at the special tables feeding the total. It is not only the player with the losing hand who gets paid out – the winner of the hand gets a nice prize, and usually everyone else dealt into the hand gets a smaller payout too. Typically 20% of the total is held over to start the next jackpot amount.
While the extra fees add up, these tables do attract more recreational type players compared to pro-grinders – making them easier to beat. This is especially true when the jackpots get large. You can expect the action to start heating up when the total gets to $250,000 or more and to go crazy once the million mark is close.
So, which networks have bad beat jackpots in 2012 – and which are the best?
Bad Beat Jackpots 2012 – Carbon Poker On The Merge Poker Network
US-Friendly Carbon Poker are the biggest site on the Merge Poker Network. They have great software and peaks approaching 10,000 players – meaning plenty of action too. The Carbon Bad beat jackpot was in the headlines several times last year, at one point going over the $1 million mark.
This jackpot is triggered by losing with 7-7-7-7 or better, with both the winning and losing hands using both hole-cards. The prize is then split up as follows: 35% to the loser of the hand, 17.5% to the winner, 17.5% to the remaining players (who must be dealt into the hand) and 20% to reseed the jackpot, with the remainder as a fee.
Bad Beat Jackpot tables take an extra 50c from each hand for the jackpot and are noticeably looser and wilder than the regular tables – experienced players should be able to turn a good profit despite the extra rake.
Poker Bonus Network readers can claim a special extra bonus to get you off to a great start at Carbon Poker. This is a 150% matched bonus on your first deposit (up to $750) plus a free $11 SNG token on top. Simply use Carbon Poker coupon code PBKLUB when you register your account.
Carbon are leading the way for the US market – though accept players worldwide – make sure you check the Bad Beat Jackpot tables for yourself now!
Bad Beat Jackpots 2012 – Paradise Poker On The Boss Poker Network
For players outside of the US, you can find the softest games on the already soft Boss Network at Paradise Poker. Their bad beat jackpot is counted in Euros and at the time of writing is already over €225,000. This is triggered by getting beaten with quad 2’s or better at designated BBJ tables. As usual both hole-cards must be used. The Paradise Poker bad beat jackpot is split like this: 70% is split as follows – 50% to the player whose hand is beaten, 25% to the player with the winning hand and 25% to the remaining players (who must have been dealt into the hand, not just seated). 20% of the total is used to seed the next jackpot, and 10% is a fee for the network.
Paradise offer some cool promotions and some excellent tournaments on top of their popular cash game selection. You can also get your hands on a €1000 (200% matched) welcome bonus – Find out more about the Boss Poker Network here.
Bad Beat Jackpots – One Quirky Bad Beat Bonus (For Non-US Players).
Here is a bonus which fits in with the 2012 Bad Beat jackpot theme from OnGame’s Red Kings Poker. This premier OnGame site give you an extra $300 bonus the first time you get dealt the king of hearts and the king of diamonds (the two red kings!). The twist is this, if you lose the pot with these cards… your bonus is increased to $500! I wonder whether you would deliberately lose, hmmmm?
You can choose from 6 different welcome bonuses at Red Kings – I personally recommend this site as a great place to play! Click here to check out Red Kings Poker for yourself now!
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