In poker, a bad beat jackpot is a jackpot that is paid when a sufficiently strong hand is shown down and loses to an even stronger hand held by another player. Not all poker games offer bad beat jackpots, and those that do have specific requirements for how strong a losing hand must be to qualify for the jackpot. For example, the losing hand may be required to be four-of-a-kind eights or better. There may be additional requirements as well. For example, in Texas hold 'em there is usually a requirement that both hole cards play in both the losing and winning hands. These rules vary from one card room or casino to the next.

Bad beat jackpots are usually progressive, with a small rake being taken out of each pot to fund the jackpot (this is in addition to the regular rake). When the jackpot is won, it is usually split among all players sitting at the table at the time of the bad beat (including players that folded their hands), with the largest shares of the jackpot going to the players holding the winning and losing hands. Because bad beats are rare, jackpots can grow to be quite large, sometimes reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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