As a nit-reg, I always hated things like the Bad Beat Jackpot.  I guess it seemed like it was just flushing money down the drain.  The players contribute 100% and the casino takes 10% of the BBJ, so this *has* to be -ev for the players AS A WHOLE.

This is the first time I've really played predominantly on BBJ tables so I thought I would get more details on it.  I sent Carbon an email asking how much I paid last month into the BBJ.  They replied $1,315 (after 9 days).  Yes - contrary to popular opinion, Carbon *does* have a support staff.  Umm...  I paid $2,921 in rake, and I paid 45% more into the BBJ?!?  Apparently $0.50 from every flopped pot is added to the BBJ, regardless of size!  Last month, my winnings were only $3,999, which was a win rate of 2.43BB.  The rake I paid is 1.76BB (of which I got about half back), and my BBJ contribution was 0.80BB (of which I got nada).  That's a huge chunk of my win rate that's rake and BBJ.

I hadn't really paid attention to the little details on my play on the small stakes tables before.  I mean I paid 2.73BB in rake at 0.5/1!  What the hell?!?  (later post) But I digress...

I guess I should have asked for my BBJ contribution by stake, but I don't feel like waiting another 9 days to get the reply.  Because it's all irrelevant to me.  At the end of the day, it's all about the bottom line.  And the bottom line is...

I know this sounds like the BBJ structure at Merge sucks, but in a future post, I'll show you why playing on BBJ tables is +ev.  That's right!  It's POSITIVE EV!