The worst possible thing to happen to you?

[TajaUk]

Tonight at my local casino playing caribbean poker against the bank.

A funny thing happened.

The ever increasing jackpot for a royal flush had just hit $300k, to be entitled for any part of the jackpot ($200 for flush, $1000 fullhouse, 10% str8 flush etc) you needed to cover the anti with another $1. Not much I admit when your betting around $10 on any hand you wish to play against the bank.

An old lady is playing next to me and has about $50 in chips total, all of a sudden shes like starts shouting and shaking after seeing her cards. She puts her cards down and covers the bet. We wonder wtf is happening, she says she has a decent hand.

Bank has pair of fours and turns over everyones hand. Gets to the old granny and it reveals a royal flush. Pays here about 600$ for the hand, and nothing else becasue she didnt put a $1 anti down for the jackpot.

The old lady was gutted, she lost the plot. She couldn't believe she hadn't covered the anti and not won the $300k jackpot. The staff had to take her to lay down.

If that had happened to me, I dont think I would ever forget it.

[eddo31]

that would be absolutely awful. to actually hit the hand, and then not get the jackpot is brutal.

was she usually playing the jackpot bet, or was she leaving it blank? if she was foregoing that bet, then it is a risk that you take on your own, but if she just forgot for that hand, that is just awful

[TajaUk]

She wasnt covering the bet on the night but she has done before on previous visits..lol

[rchamberlin]

That's the main reason I play Carribean Stud. The thought of hitting the jackpot is what drives me to the game.

[2Tone]

Since I got (semi) serious about poker, I can't bring myself to play blackjack or any of the other games. Once you (mostly) understand the concept of +/- EV, it's no fun sitting at a game where you KNOW the more you play, the more you will eventually lose. The possible exception is craps, just because it is so much fun.

[Windbreaker]

The progressive jackpot is one of the worse bets at the casinos. Depending on the size of the jackpot, I've seen sites that say the EV of playing the progressive is -26% or so. The lady is pretty lucky that the dealer even qualified for that hand, because she would have only won the ante if the dealer didn't even hit AK or better. Everyone knows the lottery is a suckers bet, but all those big numbers make people want to take the chance to hit the jackpot

[rchamberlin]

Correct, except that when I'm playing Carribean Stud, it's for the fun factor, and not the dollars factor. At that point it's entertainment, with an added (albeit minute) chance to hit it big.