Bad Beat Jackpots Hit The Headlines

It’s the one possible saving grace when you have a huge hand and bump into an even bigger one, and this week has seen two stories about poker ‘Bad Beat’ jackpots in the news, the first a $120,000 clusterfuck of a tale from Las Vegas - the second providing over $1million worth of possibilities in Detroit.

First up, a Vegas bad beat story which may yet have a happy ending, as the Nevada Gaming Control Board are meeting again to decide whether 83-year-old Avi Shamir deserves his $60,000 share of the Station Casinos' ‘Jumbo Hold 'Em Poker Progressive Jackpot’ promotion.

The problem? Shamir’s straight flush was beaten by a bigger straight flush held by Len Schreter, who unfortunately showed his hand as soon as the river was dealt – breaking a cardroom rule that all action must be completed without interference for the bad beat jackpot to be valid.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that ‘A review of surveillance video of the game showed that Schreter exposed the two cards he was holding out of order as the game concluded,’ adding that, ‘According to Station’s Jumbo Hold ‘Em Jackpot official rules, “discussion of hands during the play by players, at the discretion of management, may void a Jumbo Hold ‘Em Jackpot.”

At the initial hearing Schreter said:

“I was hurt emotionally by Red Rock [part of the Station Casinos group] but this guy [Avi Shamir] was hurt financially. Red Rock kicked me in the stomach, but Red Rock kicked him in a place a lot lower than that.”

Schreter’s impetuous actions have already been ruled as not changing the game’s outcome by the gaming board, but Stations have appealed the decision, so the bad beat duo – and the 80 or so others who were due a share of the jackpot for playing at the time it was hit – will have to wait a little longer to find out if they’ll get paid or not.

The $120,000 Vegas Progressive jackpot was dwarfed by news that a Detroit cardroom jackpot had topped the $1million mark, the MotorCity Casino’s ‘Texas hold’em bad beat’ pot sitting at $1,010,380.45 as the weekend kicked off.

Claiming it as the largest bad beat jackpot in the city’s history, to qualify players will need to lose with quads against bigger quads with both hole cards in play. No easy task, but a share of a million bucks will ease whatever pain a player might feel should it happen.

Cardplayer.com reported that the Detroit Million isn’t the only time a $million+ payday has been won in the bad beat stakes, Canadian Elphege Delarosbil picking up $460,000 for seeing his turned quad jacks lose to a queen-high straight flush this year, the winner of the hand scooping $230,000, while others at the table got $30K each and everyone else playing poker in the room $1200 better off.