Least Bad Beat Online Poker Sites

The staff here at MyPokerBasics all think they’re pretty darn cool to be seen a celebrities around the net because of their huge casino wins and their expert advice columns, but as a humble staff writer I’m here to tell you that they’re really just a bunch of computer nerds with a passion for statistics. In fact, to prove my point I’m going to walk through the office right now and issue a challenge to everyone- I’m giving $20 to whoever finds me the best no bad beat poker room. Now, a level-headed person with places to be and friends to meet after work would think to themselves, “Hmm…This data would take at least 5-6 hours of research and we earn $15 per hour…I think I’ll pass on the $20 bet.” If there’s one thing I’ve learned to count on at MyPokerBasics over the years, however, is that these guys can never turn down any type of wager…even if it’s a sucker bet.

Anyway, after my boss told me to crunch some numbers throughout the day to find some of the poker sites with the least bad beats, I issued my little challenge to the office and headed out to grab an early lunch. This probably wasn’t the smartest move to make in my situation, but I have faith that our MyPokerBasics “celebrities” will cover my butt just the same. I only mentioned that because if this happens to be where the article ends, then that means I was either fired for goofing off at work or that they have me tied up in the basement…neither of which sounds too appealing.

Getting back to the topic at hand, the best no bad beat poker rooms really are not that hard to find. Take this hand at Sportsbook Poker for example-

The Miracle Hand at Sportsbook Poker

A veteran player at Sportsbook had been in a high stakes game for almost an hour and he had lost the majority of his chip stack to the opposition. He was down to just $32 and some change when he caught the 7 and the 8 of hearts in the hole; without any raises on the table he limped in the pot from the small blind. The flop showed the 3, 9, and J of hearts, which instantly caught his attention. He called the only bet on the table instead of raising; with 4 to the straight flush he did not want to spook away his sole opponent. The Q of spades on the turn didn’t help but then he caught the ultimate hand on the river when the 10 of hearts showed up…and his opponent pushed in his entire chip stack.

Since we’re talking about bad beats, you’ve probably figured out the rest of the story already. The veteran player called and showed his straight flush to the jack; the opponent then showed his Q/K of hearts which gave him an even bigger one. Our veteran lost the $110 pot but he also won the SportsBook Poker bad beat jackpot…which paid him just a hair under $600,000! The player with the winning hand also took a big chunk of the total Bad Beat pot (around $300,000) and the remainder was split between the others at the table and those with qualifying hands under the Bad Beat promotion at Sportsbook Poker.

Of course, we’re here to talk about the poker sites with least bad beats, but in my opinion that hand definitely qualifies. In fact, getting nailed on the river like that would be a nightmare at most poker websites, which is why so many players are searching for the best no bad beat poker rooms in the first place. If you’re playing at reputable casinos like Sportsbook Poker, Players Only, Ultimate Bet, or Absolute Poker, then getting caught on the river on a bat beat could be your most profitable hand ever.

Sportsbook Poker Bad Beat Restrictions

You know there has to be plenty of rules involved when we’re talking about over a million dollars in prize money, so here’s the legal stuff to ensure that a hand qualifies for a Bad Beat Jackpot-

– The losing hand must be at least four 7’s; the winning hand must be at least four 8’s
– Both hands must use both hole cards and both players must remain in the hand
– At least four players must be involved at the start of the hand
– The hand must take a jackpot rake
– Players may not work together to influence the outcome of the hand

Poker Sites with the Least Bad Beats

Well, since we’re nearly to the end of this article and I’m still sitting here typing, you’ve probably also figured out that I wasn’t fired today after all. I had three takers on my $20 bet to find the poker sites with the least bad beats, but it turned out that the laugh was really on me. It turns out that it was not nearly as difficult as I thought for our MyPokerBasics superstars to set up an index that would organize and sort through all of the hands around the net where players have lost with four of a kind or better; here’s what they found-

Of the two hundred forty six billion hands played across the internet since 1994, there have been a mere nine hundred and ninety-two hands where a player lost on a bad beat. Now, the numbers may be a little bit high than that because some websites do not post that type of statistical data, but needless to say that it’s very rare for two players to both have four of a kind or higher during the same hand. The overall chances are less than 1/1000th of 1%, so it definitely does not happen very often.

Our search also showed that the online poker rooms with the smallest number of bat beats happened to be the ones with the least amount of overall players, which makes perfect sense statistically. Once we factored in the average amount of hands played per month against each casino’s total amount of players, it turns out that every legitimate poker site had very comparable odds for the best no bad beat poker rooms; well under one percent. The difference, of course, is that four websites in particular give you hundreds of thousands of dollars when you defy those tiny odds, so stick to Sportsbook Poker or one of the others that were mentioned.

By the way, in case you were keeping tabs on our inner-office gambling pool; the intern Kevin was the first to come up with the statistics that we used above with a total search time of 41 minutes. Jessica was a close second by providing almost identical statistics at the 54 minute mark, which earned her a thank you and a free cup of coffee that she had to make herself in our office coffeemaker. So to Kevin, this week’s office champion and the winner of $20, we salute you! Just don’t tell our boss, okay?

Related Entries