Online vs. Live Poker Bad Beat Jackpots

The rules in online and live poker are identical but there are enough differences in the way the games flow that it’s worth mentioning in this article. The bad beat jackpots for live cash games are also usually a little bit different live than they are when played online.

Bad Beat Jackpots

The basic idea behind bad beat jackpots is the same whether it’s live or online but there are still two major differences between the two:

• Online bad beat jackpots are usually larger
• Online bad beat jackpots have higher qualifying requirements

At online poker sites there are way more people playing at the same time than you’ll ever see in a live poker room. With so many people playing online, the quantity of hands being played is exponentially larger than those played in live poker rooms. As a result, online poker sites have to make their bad beat jackpots harder to hit to avoid them being hit every day.

In online bad beat jackpots, the minimum qualifying losing hand usually has to be four of a kind 8’s or better. When you think about all the hands being played 24/7, it makes sense that the poker sites would need to make it harder to qualify for the bad beat jackpot.

The jackpots at online poker sites also grow larger because of the sheer numbers of people playing and contributing to the bad beat jackpot. A $1.2 million jackpot at Carbon Poker was recently hit, making it the largest bad beat jackpot to date.

Live bad beat jackpots are typically smaller but they are easier to hit. But just because they are easier to hit, it doesn’t mean you are more likely to hit one while playing live. You play far fewer hands in live play so the odds of hitting a bad beat jackpot during any given live poker session are very small.

Cash Games

The differences between live and online cash games are minor in themselves but they make the experience completely different. Here are the major differences between live cash games and online cash games:

• You can play many more hands per hour online than live
• Live cash games have easier competition
• Live cash games are more social

Online cash games move at a much faster pace because the software automatically deals and shuffles the cards and it limits the amount of time players get to make decisions. In addition to that, you can play multiple tables at a time when playing online. Those three factors combine to make it possible to play many more hands per hour when playing online.

But live cash games still have their own advantages. The biggest one is that live cash games are usually much easier to play in. For whatever reason, live games attract more tourists and more people unfamiliar with poker.

Cash games are also more fun to play in because of the social atmosphere. Sure, you can chat with people online but it’s not the same as being able to talk to people face to face. The social aspect draws many people to live play and it’s also probably one of the reasons why live cash games are easier than online cash games.