Best Jackpot Poker Sites
Many of the most popular poker rooms on the Internet offer jackpots to their poker players. The best jackpot poker sites go as far as to offer not only the popular bad beat jackpot, but a Sit N’ Go jackpot for tournament players that are successful at several tournaments in a row. The best jackpot poker sites also offer multiple jackpot levels based on a tournament ladder system (winning more tournaments results in a higher jackpot) or specific game jackpots (special buy in levels or game rules offer different jackpots). Some Sit N’ Go jackpots at poker sites are offered at a flat rate while others are progressive jackpots with a preset minimum amount. Popular minimum jackpots at poker sites include $2,000, $15,000, $25,000 and $50,000.
Types of Poker Jackpots
Bad beat jackpots are offered by most major poker rooms on the Internet. In general, these jackpots are progressive (increase gradually as they are not rewarded – funded by player rake) and are paid out when a very high quality hand is beaten by an even higher quality hand. Most sites require the losing hand to be at least Four of a Kind (eights or higher). However, the best jackpot poker sites often only require that the losing hand is at least Four of a Kind (sevens or higher). It is important to remember that not all games are subject to a bad beat jackpot. Any tables at which a bad beat jackpot can be rewarded will be marked as such and a small amount of extra rake will be subtracted from each pot (to add to the progressive bad beat jackpot).
The distribution of the bad beat jackpot varies from site to site. However, common rules are that 25% is used to begin the next progressive jackpot while 10% is paid to the hosting poker room. Of the amount remaining, the person that lost the hand will receive 50% of the jackpot and the winner will receive 25%. Finally, the remaining 25% will be evenly distributed to each of the players that was involved in the hand on which the bad beat occurred. They do not have to still be in the hand when the bad beat occurs. Rather, they must simply have been dealt cards at the beginning of the hand in question. Of course, some jackpot poker sites have slight alterations to this rule that determine who gets paid as a result of a bad beat.
The best jackpot poker sites also offer jackpot Sit N’ Go poker tournaments. These tournaments require participants to pay an additional fee when they enter (in addition to the standard 10% required of all players). This extra fee is used to fund the progressive Sit N’ Go jackpot. Typically, these types of jackpots are not rewarded on a set amount of tournaments. Rather, poker sites will require that a player, at any time, wins a certain amount of these tournaments in a row. For example, a jackpot poker site might require the player receiving the jackpot to win 6 tournaments in a row. There is usually also an additional jackpot paid to the player that came second (in terms of tournament performance) when the jackpot was won.
Titan Poker
Titan Poker is the best jackpot poker site on the Internet because they offer a variety of lucrative Sit N’ Go jackpots for players of multiple skill levels and preferences. The Dirty Dozen jackpot (at least $2,000) is the easiest to win as it only require 4 wins at 12 player tournaments. The buy in for this tournament is $2.00 (plus an additional $0.40). The second SNG jackpot at Titan Poker involves 10 player tournaments – called the Maui. The jackpot is paid to the player that successfully wins 5 tournaments in a row. This $15,000 jackpot requires players to pay an entry fee of $5.00 + $1.00. There are two more SNG jackpots at Titan Poker of $25,000 and $50,000.
UltimateBet Poker
UltimateBet Poker has one of the best bad beat jackpots on the Internet – especially for players that merely witnessed the event at the table. For example, each player that received cards and contributed to rake during the bad beat hand is paid a guaranteed jackpot of $1,000. After this pay out, the players also receive the possible remaining funds from the jackpot. UltimateBet only requires that the losing hand in a bad beat jackpot be at least Four of a Kind Eights and include both of the player’s hole cards to form the hand. The bad beat jackpot at UltimateBet is funded through an additional rake at qualifying tables. For each pot where at least $0.25 is subtracted in normal rake, an additional $0.50 is contributed to the jackpot.
Absolute Poker
In addition to their tournament leader board jackpots, Absolute Poker offers a substantial bad beat jackpot to players that contributed to rake at a table when a bad beat occurs. This jackpot regularly exceeds $100,000 in total (this means that the winner of a bad beat jackpot will receive at least $50,000). This is why Absolute Poker is often regarded as having a bad beat jackpot that is the fastest growing on the Internet.
Taking Advantage of the Best Jackpot Poker Sites
As the best jackpot poker sites typically require players to play at qualifying tables in order to be eligible (and pay extra fees to do so), many new players question whether it is worthwhile to pay the additional money to qualify for a possible jackpot. The fee for tables that qualify for a bad beat jackpot is normally so small that it is difficult to notice. This is possible because the jackpot is typically funded from play across the entire site rather than on individual tables. However, you must remember that the odds of receiving a bad beat jackpot is much lower than many players think (about 0.0000064 for any two players at your table if the jackpot requires at least a Four of a Kind Eights).
Sit N’ Go jackpots at poker sites are often much more lucrative than bad beat jackpots. This is solely because the added fee is not so much that it puts a dent in your bankroll. These types of tournaments are also known to attract a great deal of new players – likely resulting in soft competition. Standard SNG poker games nearly require a very aggressive play style and players that do not use one are often at a marked disadvantage. The odds of you actually winning the Sit N’ Go jackpot depend almost solely on your skill level and the competition that you face. However, even coming close to a Sit N’ Go jackpot at one of the best jackpot poker sites will already have rewarded you with a great deal of tournament winnings to pad your bankroll.