After nine months of the jackpot building, a $924,780 CAD (about $675,000) bad beat jackpot hit at Playground Poker in Montreal.
The jackpot, which started churning on June 4, 2025, is the largest Omaha bad beat jackpot in the history of poker. Playground Poker is known worldwide for hosting the world’s largest bad beat jackpots.
This all went down in a game of $2/$5 five-card Omaha.
The hand
With the jackpot growing to exorbitant levels, Playground Poker had 16 Pot-Limit Omaha tables running concurrently the night before, which they claimed was a record for the casino.
However, the jackpot would hit the very next day over on table 35.
As relayed to Playground Poker via Poker.Org, the game was $2/$5 PLO5, and there was a $20 straddle on. Five players called the straddle and went to a flop.
Action checked to the straddler, who potted for $100. Mario S. and RamseyB. would make the call.
The turn was the , pairing the board, and all three players would check it down. The river brought the money card, the .
Ramsey B. bet $400, and the straddler called. Mario S. went all in for $490, and Ramsey B. called. Ramsey B. got too excited and turned over his hand, for a jack-high straight flush. Seeing this, the straddler folded and saved an extra $90.
It was then time to pop the champagne. Mario S. turned over [6] for a king-high straight flush, winning the hand and triggering the bad beat jackpot, much to the delight of everyone at Playground Poker.
Bad beat payouts
The “loser” of the hand, Ramsey B., was awarded 40% of the prize pool, which equated to just under $370,000 CAD. The “winner” of the hand, Mario S., was awarded 20%, roughly $185,000 CAD. The other five players at the table also split about $185,000 CAD amongst them, each receiving about $37,000 CAD.
In addition, all the other players who were present and playing PLO at the time of the jackpot divided the remaining 20%, $185,000 CAD, amongst themselves. It’s safe to say that everyone playing PLO at Playground Poker that night went home with a few thousand dollars.
Playground Poker bad beat jackpot history
It was just in October that a pair of straight flushes in a $1/$2 no-limit hold’em cash game triggered a massive CAD $1,595,087 bad beat jackpot (USD $1,136,668). A player named Bill K. won $630,000 CAD, roughly $450,000 USD at the time.
Unbelievably, that was only the fifth-largest bad beat jackpot ever recorded at the casino. This is the list of the five largest bad beat jackpots at Playground Poker. All figures are in Canadian dollars.
- 1st: $2,590,185
- 2nd: $2,275,388
- 3rd: $2,228,425
- 4th: $2,205,509
- 5th: $1,595,087
The $2,590,185 record-setting jackpot came in a $1/$2 game in August 2023, when quads “fell victim” to a straight flush.
After their most recent jackpot was triggered, Playground’s Omaha jackpot automatically reset to $100,000 CAD and is already back up to $113,542 at the time of writing.
Their Texas Hold’em bad beat jackpot was just hit on February 26th and is currently sitting at $112,558.
Playground’s High Stakes bad beat jackpot currently towers above them all at $403,695.
Andrew Johnson, Assistant Director of Poker Operations at Playground, has told Poker.Org in the past that “the bad beat jackpot remains one of our biggest, if not the biggest, drivers of attendance.”
Other big Playground Poker events
The Playground has made huge waves over the last two years to bring major tournament poker back to Canada.
They have hosted two WSOP Circuit stops a year for the last two years and are doing so in 2026. Their first one kicks off on March 23 and are hosting the WSOPC Super Circuit Canada on August 24, just after the 2026 World Series of Poker.
Playground also held a pair of WPT Championship events in 2024, won by David Ko and Michael Wang.
