Senior Editor U.S.
Playground, a popular card room in Canada, saw one of its players run into a brutal cooler — straight flush losing to a better straight flush — that turned into one of the biggest bad beat jackpots in live poker history.
The hand that led to a room-wide celebration paid out CAD $1.6 million (approximately $1.14 USD) across dozens of players on Oct. 13, with two individuals taking home life-changing money.
Another Poker Bad Beat Jackpot for Canada’s Finest
Playground, located in Quebec, has hosted most of the biggest bad beat jackpots ever, including the record-setting CAD $2.6 million payout in August 2023 when quads lost to a straight flush in a $1/$2 no-limit hold’em cash game.
The newest bad beat jackpot hand was even more unlikely, but it also occurred during a $1/$2 game. Play was stopped at 11:59 p.m. on Monday when two players in the game turned over a straight flush, both playing two hole cards, a requirement to set off the bad beat jackpot at Playground.
The jackpot had reached $1,595,087, according to Assistant Director of Poker Operations Andrew Johnson, when the improbable hand hit. Two players, one holding 9♣8♣ and the other with 4♣3♣, flopped a straight flush draw on a board of 4♦5♣6♣.
Darin H., the player drawing to the higher flush, was in position to win the pot against his opponent, Bill K. But the player with the best hand would actually win less than the smaller flush when the 7♣ appeared on the turn, giving both players a straight flush.
Bill, for losing the hand, will collect the largest share of the bad beat jackpot — 40%, or approximately CAD $640,000. The player with the losing hand receives 20% of the pot, which should come out to around CAD $320,000. Payouts won’t be official until the casino has concluded it’s review of the hand. Playground’s bad beat jackpot rules call for 20% of the pot to go to the other players at the table, and the final 20% spread evenly among the remaining players seated in other games.
The bad beat jackpot has been reseeded to just under $170,000, with quad aces being the minimum qualifying hand. Playground, a popular poker room that has hosted major tournaments such as the World Poker Tour (WPT), also has progressive bad beat jackpots for Omaha and high-stakes cash games.
*Images courtesy of Playground.
Senior Editor U.S.