I hate bad beat jackpots because it takes a $1 drop out of each hand, which bleeds you to death. I've also never been at the table for one... until now.
Setting: Commerce 60/120 at about 3am today. The bad beat jackpot is a flat $100,000, going $60k to the losing hand, $20k to the winning hand, and $20k split for anyone else dealt in. Aces full of tens or better has to lose, with both hole cards playing on both sides.
During my last Commerce session, I made a 2-card royal flush against a set of aces (with KQ suited), but the board didn't pair on the river with the J or T, so no jackpot. Would've been 20k for me if we got that.
Today, flop was AAA. Preflop 3-bettor (SB) bet, original raiser (Cutoff) called. Turn 7. SB checked, Cutoff bet, SB called. River 4. Check/bet/call.
Cutoff showed down A9. The table wondered if we were lucky enough to see TT-KK for the SB, to hit the jackpot. He paused, then tabled KK!
Entire table jumped up and cheered. Was only 5-handed, so fortunately the table share for me was 1/3 of $20k, meaning I got $6667 just for being there.
What does suck is that the guy with the KK, who got $60k, had just moved to that seat a few minutes prior. He was to my direct left before that, but now he was to my direct right, essentially swapping places with me. That KK could have been mine! Then again, the shuffle probably would have been different, as a butterfly effect happens with poker, where every slight change in how fast you act, how you fold the cards, etc, changes how the shuffle goes.
Anyway, lucky for all of us that the turn and river were not T or higher, or the 9 wouldn't have played with the A9 hand. Here's a picture of the hands, and also a picture of my share of the jackpot.