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PTHistoric Bad Beat Jackpot Hits at The Lodge Card Club
Summary:
- The Lodge Card Club in Round Rock, Texas, witnessed a massive $290,000 bad beat jackpot.
- It was the largest in the state’s history, and it was hit in a $1/$2/$5 pot-limit Omaha game.
- Two players flopped straight flushes, triggering the club’s much-anticipated progressive bad beat jackpot.
On Tuesday night, a historic bad beat jackpot finally hit at The Lodge Card Club in Round Rock, Texas, delivering an eye-popping $290,000 payout—the largest in the state’s history.
The thrilling hand took place in a $1/$2/$5 pot-limit Omaha game, where two players astonishingly flopped straight flushes.
The result triggered the room’s progressive bad beat jackpot, a long-awaited moment for Texas poker enthusiasts.
Nothing Ruined the Moment
Back in August, a bad beat jackpot at The Lodge nearly paid out $118,000, but a technicality in the rules voided the payout.
The unique house rules at The Lodge specify that in no-limit hold’em, a player must lose with quad tens or better while using both hole cards.
The conditions in pot-limit Omaha and Big-O are even stricter: the best hand must be made on the flop, and a straight flush must be the losing hand.
In that near-miss last summer, one player indeed flopped a straight flush but was ultimately beaten by a royal flush that completed on the river.
Since the winning hand wasn’t made on the flop, the jackpot didn’t qualify, turning the moment into a true bad beat in more ways than one.
This time, there was no heartbreaking river card to ruin the moment. The long-anticipated bad beat jackpot finally paid out at the Texas poker hotspot co-owned by well-known poker personalities Doug Polk, Brad Owen, and Andrew Neeme.
A Dealer Broke the News
Kim Fortini (Stone), a dealer at The Lodge Card Club, was among the first to break the news on X, learning about the historic hand from her husband, Hayden Fortini.
The decisive board ran out 3♣ 4♣ 5♣ J♥ 5♥. One player held A♣ 2♣ K♠ 6♠, only to be outdone by another with A♦ K♦ 7♣ 6♣, creating an unbeatable straight flush.
Despite losing the hand, the unfortunate player still walked away with the biggest portion of the prize—50% of the jackpot, approximately $145,000.
The winning hand took home 25% (about $73,000), while the remaining 25% was split among all other players actively in the room at the time.
The Lodge’s BBJ operates differently from most poker rooms. Since Texas law prohibits jackpot growth through rake, the club funds the promotion itself, adding $1,000 per day until it hits.
The jackpot resets at $100,000 each time it is won. A video of the record-breaking hand quickly went viral on X.
While this was Texas’s largest bad beat jackpot, it pales compared to some global records.
The biggest bad beat jackpot ever was paid out in August 2023 at Playground in Quebec, Canada, at CAD $2.6 million (USD $1.9 million at the time).
Another massive jackpot followed at the same venue in October, this time for CAD $2.2 million (USD $1.7 million).
The Lodge Championship Series is preparing to kick off on February 16 with 11 tournaments. The highlight will be the $3,000 buy-in Main Event, which will start on February 26, guaranteeing a hefty $1 million prize pool with seven Day 1 flights.
