A loud roar went through the Harrah’s Philadelphia poker room early in the morning on April 5. After three months of building the bad beat jackpot fund, it finally hit for $179,313.40.
The turn was very kind to “Ibrahima D.,” in more ways than one. He turned quads and would soon realize they weren’t good enough to take the pot. Fortunately for him, “John T.” flopped a king-high straight flush, which made losing the hand very profitable.
Ibrahima has $89,656.70 to help him overcome his bad beat, while John claimed $44,828.35 for the winning hand. That left the rest of the players at the table to split $44,828.35. Players can thank the two empty seats and the player in the bathroom for a slightly bigger payout than they would have received otherwise.
Bad time for a bathroom break
Darrell Peterson picked the wrong time to leave the table. He was in the bathroom when the action played out.
The players took pity on Peterson, though, each paying him out a small sum from their winnings. It seems fitting considering the hand wouldn’t have happened with him there.
“[It] wasn’t a huge score. But I did get a taste so, and I appreciated it because they didn’t have to,” said Peterson on Facebook.
Not everyone at the table participated in the unofficial payout to Peterson. Peterson, in good spirits about the whole thing, mentioned that one guy stiffed him.
The fourth bad beat jackpot in six months
The jackpot is now at $87,860.90, which is bigger than the jackpot the last time it hit.
The last jackpot hit on a Friday evening in late December, for $77,426 when quad threes lost to quad nines. That was the third time in three months that the bad beat was hit at the Pennsylvania casino.
In the middle of November, the jackpot hit for $85,224.40 and then again for $78,503 in early October
The largest poker bad beat jackpot in history
$179,313.40 is nothing to sneeze at, but it pales in comparison to the largest poker bad beat jackpot recorded.
Earlier this year, on Jan. 16, “Scott” had his quad threes beat by the quad queens of “Kenneth,” to claim their share of the $1,068,590 bad beat jackpot at Motor City Casino in Detroit, MI.
Scott took home $427,452 for his losing hand, while Kenneth pocketed $213,712. It always nice when losing pays off in a big way.
Again, empty seats at the table meant a bigger paycheck for those observing this historic event. Each player received a whopping $106,856 each.
