Implementing High Hand / Bad Beat Jackpot at Home Game – Looking for Input (3 Viewers)

[David251999]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been kicking around the idea of adding a high hand bonus or bad beat jackpot to my home games and wanted to get some feedback from those who’ve tried it before.

I’ve talked it over with a few of my regulars, and they’re actually pretty into the idea as long as it’s done right. The plan would be to pull a small “rake” but 100% of it goes back to the players (no house profit), strictly funding either a high hand payout (hourly or nightly) or building a bad beat jackpot.

A few things I’m trying to figure out:

• Has anyone here successfully run something like this in a home game?
• What structure worked best for you—high hand, bad beat, or both?
• How much did you “rake”? (flat per pot, per hand, timed drop, etc.)
• Did it affect the vibe or action at the table at all?
• Any good software or apps you’d recommend to track:
  • High hand of the hour?
  • Current bad beat qualification / leaderboard?

I want to keep things fun and fair without slowing the game down or making it feel too “casino-like,” but I also think it could add a cool extra layer of excitement.

Appreciate any insight, setups, or lessons learned!

 

[meatshield]

I made a tool that does exactly this. Also has a tournament mode.

www.thehouseedge.net

I've run with it for 2 years and get lots of compliments on it. I basically take $5 off the first buyin only (so I give $45 in chips when they give me $50). And that funds the High hand ($4 per person) and $1 for BBJ.

For high hand I have "mystery" envelopes which the high hand winner draws every hour. Ranging from 0 to 40 bucks based on how many people are playing

In the tool, I also have options for displaying chip values for non denom chips, and when the 7-Deuce, Nit, or squid games are on and their bounties.

 

[Rhodeman77]

I have run a HH bonus. I would take $2/hand for pots that hit $30 (so most pots). It was paid out at midnight and the player had to be there to collect it. Players liked it a lot but once I got automatic shufflers and am the one loading it every hand it was too much to also collect the HH as well. I’ve offered to let other players collect it if they want it, but none have said yes lol. BBJ I’m not a fan of. They can take a long time to hit and if players that regularly play don’t get it they can get cranky when some newer player gets it. And if new players aren’t eligible they get cranky because they are paying into it still.

 

[Tonystark137]

We do a flat pay in for a high hand bonus. $5 per player. Minimum qualifier is full house. Has to hold for an hour. If besten the new one has to hold for an hour. Usually get 1-3 payouts a night.

It's only weird if someone doesn't want to pay into it.
If the last one of the night doesn't hit we use the money as a splash towards a bomb pot.

 

[BEANO52]

For more than twenty years, our Friday night poker tournament has run like a well‑oiled machine. Same faces, same banter, same rituals. One of those rituals is the weekly High Hand bonus — a simple, friendly system where we set aside about half a buy‑in and award it to whoever hits the best hand of the night. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it works.

If someone busts out early and leaves, no problem. Someone holds their payout until they’re back the next week. I’ve personally held onto two separate high‑hand payouts for months without a single complaint. That’s the kind of trust our group has always had.

We used to run a Bad Beat jackpot too. Each week, a little money came out of the prize pool and went into a fund that would eventually go to the unlucky soul who lost with a monster hand. One hundred percent to the loser — a nice little consolation prize. Over the years, different people have taken turns running the game, handling the money, and being the final decision‑maker. I’ve done it myself several times.

It was shortly after COVID. One of our regulars — let’s call him G — hit the bad beat. The jackpot had grown to just under $400. G also busted out of the tournament early that night. The guy running the game at the time kept the jackpot money at his house, about twenty minutes away. Not unusual. The tournament often runs until 1 a.m., sometimes later, and that night was no exception.

But G wasn’t having it.

Instead of waiting until the next week — like literally everyone else has done for decades — he insisted on hanging around until the tournament ended so he could follow the host home, who btw lives about 20 mins. away, at one in the morning to collect his bad beat payout right then and there.

It was absurd.
It wasn’t rent money.
It wasn’t life‑changing.
It wasn’t even urgent.

The whole thing rubbed the group the wrong way. After twenty years of trust, IOUs, literally 100s of thousands of dollars moving around and smooth sailing, this sudden lack of faith — especially from someone who’s already known for being a real pain — was the final straw.

The very next week, we killed the Bad Beat jackpot entirely. Haven’t run it since.

So now the rule is simple for us:

High Hand: great.
Bad Beat: never again.

Funny how one person can end a tradition that lasted decades.


I don't do "Ben books" often but the bad beat question reminded me of this story.

 

[bunsonthegrill]

We take 5BB from the initial buy in (people just top up immediately usually) for the HH.

We also tried running a variant with a minimum HH where if the minimum wasn't hit (in our case, Jacks full) then the player with the highest hand got the button on their choice of a bomb pot game to play. This worked somewhat well but definitely favors people that stay till the end of the full night.

 

[TheYeti]

Here is a snippet of my "Promotions" page from my House Rules. This is how I've been doing it for about 5 years now and my players seem to enjoy it. We play from 6pm-12am but don't start the high hand until 7 to accommodate late arrivals and pay out (in chips) at 11pm so it has the chance of going back to the table. Our Bad Beat hasn't paid out in about a year (longest ever) and is sitting at a little over $900.

 

[CraigT78]

I run a bad beat in our circus games. It's $1 per hand when we remember to collect it, and it averages around $120 a night collected.

Qualifier is quads beaten. We've hit it several times in one night, and it's gone as long as a year without being hit.

It's currently $564 and I have no problem with anyone being cranky if they aren't here when it hits, or if some new guy wins, as we are always happy to see new people try out our game.

It pays 50%/25% and the table shares the other 25%. I pay it out in live chips, and the chips are immediately in play the next hand. The winner of the bad beat does not typically take the winnings home I highly suggest this "feature"

 

[4SUMERZ]

Cash game, 4.5 hour session. $25.00 buy in. $0.25/$0.25 blinds. It's a sociable event, no one loses or wins a morgage payment. My guys put in $2.00 each for the high hand of the night. We don't pay the bad beat hand, but it would be easy to toss in another $2.00
That amount can be what you want. I don't take a rake at my home game, so it isn't an option in my case to pay for the high hand or BB hand.