Worst BBJ winner

[Siegmund]

Pooh-bah post! Woof, woof!

I have spent the last few weeks investigating how often different starting hands win bad beat jackpots, with a view to seeing how much this changes one's play at a BBJ table. Details to follow later... but to introduce the topic, here's a brainteaser for you all:

What's the worst starting hand that can take down a bad beat jackpot at Party or Absolute (eights full or better loses)?

[Paul2432]

3s2s

For example, 3s2s on a board 4s5s6sTcQd vs 7s8s.

Paul

[DarkMagus]

42o should be able to do the trick.

Board 22233
Opponent 33

You have 22224
Opp has 33332

I'm not 100% sure whether this qualifies, but it should, since both hole cards do take part in the losing hand - the kicker is part of the hand, after all.

edit: this also works for 72o, if you want to work in terms of worst full table hand rather than worst actual hand value.

[Siegmund]

I apologize for a typo in my original post - the Party/Absolute jackpots require *quad eights*, not eights full. Got sloppy since assumed a lot of people would know that.

(And yes, if the qualifier is 2222 or lower, every hand except 32o can qualify.)

[chopchoi]

Paul has it, but what's the worst offsuit hand?

[rufus]

[ QUOTE ]
Paul has it, but what's the worst offsuit hand?

[/ QUOTE ]

97 offsuit (4 nines) - 96 might also work here.
vs
87 suited (straight flush)
with a board of
99965

-9 necessary for 4-9's, using both hole cards means the back card must be at least as strong as the strongest non-9 on the board.

Alternatively:
23 suited (straight flush)
vs
9t suited (straight flush)
on
45678
all the same suit.

Whether 97o or 23s is worse depends on context.

[Siegmund]

There are worse offsuit hands than 97o. I actually was convinced I had a bug in my evaluation program because it claimed certain hands were winning BBJs, for awhile.

[metsandfinsfan]

absolute you need 8888 or better to get the jackpot

[rufus]

[ QUOTE ]
There are worse offsuit hands than 97o. I actually was convinced I had a bug in my evaluation program because it claimed certain hands were winning BBJs, for awhile.

[/ QUOTE ]

Party poker requires
1. Both cards in the holding to be used
2. The losing hand to be 4 8's and an ace or worse.

This gives us the following off suit possibilities:
A8o
Pocket pair (clearly stronger than A8o)
9x

Now, A8o is stronger than 9K-92o, so we can concentrate on the 9x case.

The board must have three 9's to make the hand. In order to have both cards in the holding used, the x must be at least as high as any of the non-nine cards on the board (or 'cards speak' will prevent the use of both hole cards).

Finally, to make a hand that beats four nines, the opponent must have a higher 4-of a kind (which means the board has to have cards higher than 9), or a straight flush (which means the board must have, at minimum, a 6 in addition to the nines). That means that 96o or 97o (depending on how the 6 is chosen if there is an option) is the minimum holding that can produce 4 9's and a bad beat.

[Siegmund]

If 8888A is the rules at Party, rufus is correct.

At Absolute, 8888 with a playing kicker is good enough, and in the event of a tie between the board and your hand, your kicker players -- so, by rufus's same argument, 85o, with a board of 88854 and an opponent holding 76s, works.