The Trump Taj Mahal’s bad beat jackpot has finally paid off, in record fashion. Thanks to 84 year-old John Bazela’s four sevens getting beaten by by four aces, everyone at the table is quite a bit wealthier this morning. From the AC Press:
Tom Gitto, the casino’s director of poker, said the jackpot usually hits every 92,000 hands. Sunday’s bad beat came after more than 670,000 hands. For each hand, a dollar is added to the pot.
Bazela took home 50 percent of the pot Sunday, or $336,057. The actual winning hand takes home $168,028, or 25 percent. The remaining seven players at the Texas Hold ;Em table take home the rest, each collecting about $24,000.
News of the much-anticipated win attracted dozens of players and passers-by to get in on the commotion. Taj officials soon summoned two video cameras to film the aftermath of the jackpot, served the winners (or losers) Champagne and wheeled out a large cake congratulating the winner of “the largest bad-beat jackpot ever.”
Bazela said his hefty share will go to his 55-year-old daughter.
“What am I going to do with it?” he asked. “I just come down here to break up the monotony.”
via Trump Taj Mahal awards $336,000 to bad-beat poker winner for “losing” hand – pressofAtlanticCity.com.
I love that quote there–guys who live, breathe, and sleep poker and never see anything close to this money must be steaming.
This is exactly the kind of stuff that AC casinos should be doing. If you had a choice between driving to Foxwoods or AC to play poker, and you knew you could get $24,000 just for sitting at the table when someone else gets a bad beat, would that help tip the scales?