Detroit, Michigan is more than just the car making capital of the world -- it has the largest bad beat poker jackpot of all time.
One million dollars.
That's right. At the time of this writing, the bad beat jackpot at Motor City Casino, a 100,000-square foot casino in downtown Detroit, had reached the $1 million level. To collect it, four of a kind must be beaten by four of a kind or a straight flush, with both cards playing in Texas Hold'em.
To say the waiting list for cash games in the casino is long would be an understatement.
Before I get into this mammoth bad beat jackpot, let me tell you a few things about the Motor City Casino. It is part of an $825 million complex with convention facilities and a 400-room hotel.
The casino has 2,800 slot machines, 59 table games and two poker rooms. The complex has 67,000 square feet of meeting and convention space and has a 2,400 seat live theater that has featured such celebrities as B.B. King, Jay Leno, Tony Bennett, Bill Cosby and Diana Ross.
On May 21, 2016, the casino made the front pages of Detroit's major daily newspapers when a bad beat jackpot totaling $569,000 was hit when quad fours lost to quad sevens. The loser received $227,000 while the winner won $114,000. The seven other players in the game received $32,000 each.
A previous high bad beat jackpot hit in 2011 totaled $380,000.
Many poker players are crowding into Detroit to try for the million dollar bad beat jackpot. The casino has even been forced to cancel tournaments because the players don't want tournament action -- they want a chance at the million bucks up for grabs.
I have a suggestion. Since bad beat jackpots are financed by the players themselves, why not include the bad beat jackpot in the tournaments? The House could take part of the entry fee out to add to the jackpot and everybody would be happy. Some casinos already do this and it hasn't harmed their action or the jackpots one bit.
Detroit has three other casinos besides Motor City, but they don't get near the publicity Motor City does. Money talks and everything else walks.
I hope this is a lesson for poker room management all over the United States. If you build it, as the line went in 'Field of Dreams,' they will come. Make your perks like bad beats big enough, and you will get more aspiring poker players than you can handle.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
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