In the United States, Thursday marked the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Families and friends from far and wide gathered around the kitchen table in an occasion that typically celebrates food, family, and football. For one member of Ultimate Bet, the day was a true cause for thanksgiving. SQUARE ROUTE won the very first Bad Beat Jackpot on the newly-formed CEREUS poker network, which was born when the player bases of Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker were combined on Tuesday. His bad break was worth $256,000 and the total jackpot at the time was nearly $800,000.
For SQUARE ROUTE, the beat was especially memorable, as the Ultimate Bet member had signed up for the online poker room just a few days prior. The hand occurred at 10:13am Eastern Time on Thanksgiving morning when he lost with a straight flush.
The Bad Beat Jackpot ballooned when the CEREUS poker network launched on Tuesday. In order to qualify for it, four eights or better must lose to a superior hand. As you might expect when there is a lot of money on the line, there are a number of stipulations that must be met. First, the hand must go to showdown. There’s no collusion in order to reach a showdown; however, if the players involved hold scantly-seen hands like four kings or a royal flush, chances are the action will go all the way to the river.
Second, both hole cards must be used in the final hands of both players. In addition, players must be seated at designated Bad Beat Jackpot tables and four or more players must be dealt to. In terms of how the Bad Beat is allocated if multiple players at the table qualify, Ultimate Bet’s terms state, “If there are two or more hands that qualify for the jackpot within one hand, then the two highest hands will be considered for the jackpot, with the highest hand being the winning hand (the winner) and the second highest hand winning the bad beat (the loser of the hand).”
In the Bad Beat Jackpot tables, $0.50 is taken out of each pot that reaches $0.25 or more in rake, which goes towards its funding. When a straight flush goes down to a royal flush, for example, triggering the Jackpot, 65% of the prize pool is allocated to players. The remaining 35% is divided between seeding the next Jackpot (25%) and “administrative fees” (10%). The player who takes the bad beat receives half of the Bad Beat Jackpot distribution. The person who dished out the bad beat receives 25%. Other players involved in the hand each take home $1,000 for witnessing the rare occurrence and the remainder of the money given out is divided among all other players seated at Bad Beat Jackpot tables of the same game type and limit.
As of 6:00pm ET on Thursday, November 27th, the Bad Beat Jackpot as shown on Ultimate Bet is $217,407. On Tuesday, the player bases of Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker merged to form the CEREUS poker network. On Sunday, CBS News program “60 Minutes” will air a story entitled “The Cheaters,” which will focus on the online poker scandals at UB and AP, both of which are owned by Tokwiro Enterprises. A teaser video posted on the show’s website features an interview with Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles about the GRAYCAT account on Absolute Poker, one of the infamous super-user names.
It is unknown what other industry topics will be discussed, which could include the legal action regarding the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which is being challenged on constitutional grounds, as well as the seizure of 141 internet gambling domain names in Kentucky.
