I'm curious for those in poker leagues that give a bonus for best hand---is it only the best hand that is showndown?
I don't play in a league but last time I played I flopped a straight flush and took down the pot without showing down. Would that hand qualify for a league bonus if I flashed my cards afterwards?
When we have a high hand bonus in our home games it's always the best full house or better that goes to a showdown. I don't know what the convention is, but that's how we do it. I imagine you'll find that it varies.
When we do ours, it doesn't have to be shown down. In one case, I hit quad kings on the turn, but couldn't get any callers to my "please-call-me" bet. So I just had to flip them up and show then to qualify for the best hand.
One thing we didn't do that I will do in the future is put in a stipulation that both hole cards must play. We had a couple of winners with quads when trips were on the boards and we had a straight flush with 4 of them on the board.
When we do ours, it doesn't have to be shown down. In one case, I hit quad kings on the turn, but couldn't get any callers to my "please-call-me" bet. So I just had to flip them up and show then to qualify for the best hand.
One thing we didn't do that I will do in the future is put in a stipulation that both hole cards must play. We had a couple of winners with quads when trips were on the boards and we had a straight flush with 4 of them on the board.
We do the same thing. I wouldn't make a 2 hole card requirement tho.
I don't think you should have to use both hole cards, either. You don't need to use both cards to make the best Texas Hold'em hand, so why should it be a requirement for the best hand bounty?
Our home rule is this: a player who wants his hand to qualify for the best hand jackpot can choose to show his hand even if it isn't required in a showdown. After all, if you have the night's best hand, why should it matter that no one called your bet?
Guess I should clarify a little. I've got a jackpot set up for best hand. If a player has an aces full house or better, they win the whole jackpot. If it's less, they only win $10 out of the pot. We were having the jackpot won about every other game, so it never really built up any. If you're forced to use both of your cards, it should be tougher to meet the best hand requirement and should therefore lead to bigger jackpots.
Someone asked what the standard was for high hand jackpots. At the cardrooms I played in in Vegas that had them (surprisingly not all of them) the rules were that you had to use both your hole cards to make the hand and the hand had to go to showdown. Oh, and full houses weren't paid, just quads and straight flushes. My guess is to why they have such stringent requirements is that those rules probably decrease the number of payouts they make by a huge amount.
For home games though, when my game does it, we relax the rules to Aces full of Jacks or better (don't ask me why) but keep the other rules the same. Making a straight flush with four of the cards already out there just isn't as cool.
I'm pretty sure cardrooms do it for that exact reason, to minimize the payouts. I think at one of the online sites, you have to have a minimum of quad 8's to qualify. Otherwise, they'd face the same problem I was trying to avoid, paying out the jackpot all the time before it ever reaches a decent size.
For a one time deal as a sort of bounty, I suppose just using one card is fine. Like vanquish said though, I think it's kind of weak when a guy gets rewarded for playing K6o when the 2-3-4-5 hit the board to make the straight flush.
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