The Power of Bad Beat Jackpots
The Playground Poker Club has long held a prominent spot on the 'jackpot map' of poker. Many might recall that in August 2023, the largest live Bad Beat Jackpot in history—2.6 million CAD—was hit there when quads lost to a straight flush, also in a $1/$2 game. In April 2025, the second largest 'bad beat' in history happened at nearby Casino du Lac-Leamy (about 2.5 million CAD).
However, Playground Poker Club is at the forefront in this statistic, with four out of the top five largest Bad Beat Jackpots occurring here:
- August 2023 – $2,590,185 (Playground Poker Club)
- April 2025 – $2,513,553 (Casino du Lac-Leamy)
- September 2024 – $2,275,388 (Playground Poker Club)
- June 2022 – $2,228,425 (Playground Poker Club)
- July 2025 – $2,205,509 (Playground Poker Club)
Outside of Canada, the record is held by Rivers Casino Pittsburgh (USA), where a jackpot of $1,227,765 was hit in August 2022.
How the Latest Jackpot Was Born
Two names that will be remembered at the Playground for a long time after yesterday evening are Bill K. and Darin H. Both players faced off on the flop of a $1/$2 NLH table with a straight flush draw – Bill with 4 c 3 c and Darin with 9 c 8 c.
The entire table, and indeed the whole poker room, exploded with excitement when the turn revealed 7 c, giving both players a straight flush. At the time of the hand, the jackpot stood at $1,595,087, and according to Playground's rules, it was split following a predetermined distribution after security verification:
- 40% to the loser - Bill K. ~ $638,035
- 20% to the hand winner - Darin H. ~ $319,017
- 20% shared among other players at the table - each ~ $45,000
- 20% distributed among all active players in the room
🚨 Bad Beat HIT during the @msptpoker Canadian Poker Championship! 🚨
— Playground Poker (@PlaygroundPoker) October 14, 2025
At 11:29 PM on Table 19, a straight flush beat a straight flush in a $1/2 NLHE game…
💰 $1,515,332 exploded across the room.
It always seems to happen when the spotlight’s on. 👀 pic.twitter.com/qDC2E3gsiJ
After this hit, the Bad Beat Jackpot at the Playground was reset to $170,000, with quads aces being the new minimum hand required to win it.
Sources - X, PokerNews
