The worst bad beat story .....

The One That Got Away

Teusday, August 7th - Up for grabs at Isleta Casino Resort is over $120,000 in jackpot money for a bad beat situation. As told by a regular, here is how it went down:

"On the board are three Aces. One player has revealed pocket kings. (Full house Aces full of Kings) The second player reveals pocket Queens. (Full house Aces full of Queens) But there is one player left and this guy shows An Ace with a rag. (Four of a kind Aces) Everyone at the table groans. The final guy does not have a qualifying hand because both his hole cards do not play. So all he gets is a little over $50 in the pot."

Reportedly, the table was about ready to kill this guy, a crumudgeonly type who has earned the nickname "No-Tip" Tony. In the scenario above, to make sure the bad beat jackpot qualified, he would have had to fold and let the two full houses play alone. This would have guaranteed him a cut of the 25% that the "non-players" at the table would receive. (At least $4,000) Now Tony is a regular player familiar with the house rules. It seems crazy that in a momentary lapse of reason he would blow the opportunity to make a few thousand.

Reality or Illusion?

Upon further investigation I found some extra details that both explain and make more painful the truth. Apparently Tony was all-in and the two players holding aces full had a side pot going. Accordingly, they had to show their hands first to determine the winner of the side pot. With that finished, Tony was asked to reveal his cards. Apparently, according to bad beat rules, all cards have to be resolved at the same time to create a bad beat. Since there was first a side pot round where the bad beat cards were revealed without all cards being shown, it disqualifies
the bad beat. So, no matter what, it was never to happen. One of the most incredible grand illusions that might ever happen occurred.

The jackpot keeps climbing. Updated bad beat jackpot numbers for all poker houses in New Mexico will appear in a couple days.