Record ‘bad beat’ jackpot has Taj Mahal poker room packed in Atlantic City
Poker crowd looking for losing hand at Taj Mahal
Every table was full Wednesday evening in the poker room at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. Almost as soon as players tired out or lost their chips, there was someone waiting to take their place.
On a normal Wednesday night, even in the summer, the room would be about one-third full, poker room manager Tom Gitto said.
“(Now) every day is Saturday,” even in the wee hours of the morning, Gitto said. “We have people working seven days now. It’s just getting enough staff in here to keep up with demand.”
The reason for that demand was flashed on a video screen above the cashier’s cage. The “bad beat” jackpot stood at $607,734.
For those unfamiliar with poker jargon, a “bad beat” is when a player loses a strong hand to an opponent who has one that’s even better. Many poker players relish sharing their bad-beat stories with anyone who will listen.
To qualify for the jackpot, the losing hand must be a four of a kind or higher, and both the winner and loser must use both their hole cards to make the hand, Gitto said. The holder of the losing hand gets half the money, the winner gets 25 percent — plus the pot — and the other 25 percent is divided among the other players at the table who were dealt into that round. The jackpot builds with each hand dealt that does not produce a bad-beat winner.


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