Bad Beat

Side bets · Rules & payouts

A bad beat can pay a side bet—but the exact version matters.

Bad Beat Blackjack is an optional wager settled separately from the main hand. This guide examines Olympian Gaming’s rules revised December 10, 2012, hosted by the Washington State Gambling Commission. It does not confirm that a venue currently offers this version.

Check which two-card hand qualifies

The documented wager rewards qualifying two-card 19 or 20 losing, or two-card 19, 20 or 21 tying. Option 1 uses the initial hand and requires standing. Option 2 can use the first split hand. Hitting or doubling to a total does not qualify.

The name alone is insufficient. Read the exact game help and layout; do not apply these rules to a progressive or another similarly named side bet.

Compare examples from the published rules

The document includes P and L paytable families. A qualifying 19–21 that wins the main wager pushes the bonus under P; it loses the bonus under L.

Selected P-family paytables: profit odds
Qualifying outcome P1 P4 P5
20 loses 20:1 30:1 25:1
19 loses 15:1 10:1 15:1
21 ties 5:1 10:1 5:1
19 or 20 ties 5:1 5:1 5:1
19–21 wins Push Push Push

For Option 2, six decks, dealer hits soft 17, the document gives house edges of 9.03% (P1), 4.21% (P4) and 2.51% (P5). Those figures are specific configurations, not a range applicable to all Bad Beat bets.

Keep the two wagers separate

Assume a 10-chip main bet and a 1-chip side bet under P4. You stand on an initial king–queen 20; the dealer makes 21.

Main wager

−10 chips

Your 20 loses to 21.

Side wager

+30 chips profit

At 30:1, settlement returns 31 chips including the 1-chip side stake.

The combined net result is +20 chips. This constructed example illustrates settlement; it says nothing about how frequently it happens. A visible large payout is not the same as a favourable expectation.

As another arithmetic illustration, a 4.21% edge applied to 1,000 one-chip side wagers means 42.1 chips of long-run expected loss under that model. It is not a session forecast or a guarantee of how much a player will lose.

Before choosing a side bet

  • Read the game name, version and complete posted paytable.
  • Check whether the first split hand can qualify.
  • Check what happens when the main hand wins.
  • Keep the side stake within your session budget; it is additional exposure.
  • Keep main-game strategy and side-bet settlement separate. A side bet can change the mathematical decision problem; this page does not supply an optimized combined strategy.

Understand house edge →Plan a session budget →

Is this an insurance bet?

No. Insurance is a different wager with its own trigger and payout. Do not transfer a rule or strategy from one bet to the other.

Does the largest advertised payout identify the best paytable?

No. All qualifying events, payouts and losing outcomes matter. Compare a complete ruleset with a calculation that uses the same assumptions.

Sources checked: November 3, 2026. Olympian Gaming Bad Beat Blackjack rules (PDF), revised December 10, 2012; WSGC archive. Tables are selected examples; the document contains additional P and L schedules.