Merge Poker Rooms Dropping Bad Beat Jackpot

Wednesday August 22,2012 :  BAD BEAT ABANDONED AT MERGE POKER
 
Trying to improve the network's ecology
 
In a move described by a company spokesman as designed to provide healthier poker room ecology, the Merge online poker network is to do away with bad beat tables and rewards once the current $300,000 jackpot has been won.
 
Merge's flagship skin – Carbon Poker – announced the move on its website, noting:
 
"Effective Immediately: This promotion is ending, the next time the Jackpot goes off. All of the tables will shut down automatically within a few minutes of the Jackpot being awarded. We will manually reimburse any BBJ rake paid between the time that the jackpot goes off and when the tables can be shut down.
 
"The 20 percent that would normally re-seed the next Jackpot will be spread amongst the players instead, making this ultimate Bad Beat Jackpot even more lucrative for the players involved now."
 
The advisory was confirmed in a company posting on the twoplustwo message board, advising players that the change is being implemented to: "Ensure healthier poker room ecology, while providing players with a better ring game selection and more players."
 
Merge is not the only network to abandon the once-popular promotional tactic – Party Poker dumped the bad beat concept earlier this year for similar reasons.
 
The last bad beat jackpot on Merge hit in January this year and was worth around a million dollars.