Pennsylvania residents Scott Thompson and Brent Enos scooped the lion’s share of one of the largest live poker bad beat jackpots ever Tuesday night at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh.
The two northeastern poker players, in a low-stakes no-limit Texas hold’em game, played a pot neither will ever forget, and the same goes for the other players at the table.
In total, the card room’s bad beat jackpot hit $905,622.
Bad Beat Jackpot Hand Details
Thompson had quad aces, an unbeatable hand in terms of winning some money, because at Rivers, if another player has a superior hand it would trigger the bad beat jackpot. That’s exactly happened when Enos turned over a Royal Flush.
As a result, the quads received 40% of the jackpot pot, or $362,250, while the player with the Royal Flush took home $271,686 (30% share). The remaining six players seated at the table in the game collected a table share of $45,281 a piece.
“We are unexpectedly and happily becoming a national bad beat jackpot hotspot,” said Bud Green, general manager at Rivers Casino Pittsburgh. “Congratulations to our winning guests and to our Rivers Pittsburgh Poker Room Team Members for doing a terrific job.”
The poker room’s bad beat jackpot has reset and the current minimum qualifying hand is quad 10’s or higher beaten by a superior hand.
While the Nov. 28 payout is massive, it isn’t the largest ever at the Pennsylvania poker room. In August 2022, a $1.2 million jackpot hit at Rivers, the biggest in US live poker history. Quad aces lost to a Royal Flush in that one also, which paid Benjamin Flanagan of West Virginia and Raymond Broderson, a local player, a combined $858,000.
But the biggest live poker bad beat jackpot in history took place at Playground Poker Club in Canada this past August — CAD $2.6 million (approximately $1.9 million USD).
It’s highly unlikely Thompson and Enos are disappointed they didn’t set a record, however.
