Players win huge jackpot at The 101
By Barbara Engler

You may have heard the loud roar from The 101 Casino in Petaluma all the way to Fresno when their Progressive Jackpot was hit on March 25 to the tune of $215,500. “One of our slogans has long been ‘Everyday is a Payday’ and that day it definitely was. It was a fun, exciting day,” said gaming manager Michael Stan.

They were playing $4/8 with a half kill when Marin County’s Kevin Kehs, sitting on a short stack, looked down at 5h-6h. His recycling and debris business had suffered from several months of rain and he was looking at some tough decisions come April 1. That day he said, “I’m not going to worry about my problems. I’m just going to have fun. I took 60 bucks in and I said I’m just going to do with it what I can.”

He was down to his last $25 in chips with no plans to buy more, so he was looking to play tight. “I almost threw it [away] because I thought, if I flush up it still might not be good. Still, a small voice in my heart said, ‘that’s a bad beat hand.’”

Meanwhile Brian Tiewater from Santa Rosa was sitting across the table and was dealt the 10h-Jh. “I had a feeling when I got dealt [the hand] that that was the perfect bad beat hand. There’s been a lot of excitement at the casino because everybody there talks about the bad beat, with it being so long since it had been hit,” he said.

The flop came 7h-9h-x and the betting, with a couple other players still in as well, was capped. Then came the turn: the magical 8h. It didn’t take long for Kehs to get his last $5 into the pot. Meanwhile Tiewater and another player (holding the Ah) capped the betting again. After the river the other player folded to Tiewater’s bet, at which point Kehs showed his straight flush.

“When he turned over his cards I jumped up, tipped my chair over, pumped my fists in the air a few times before I turned my hand over,” said Tiewater. “It was surreal. I’ve never won anything substantial like that in my lifetime so it was kind of like hitting the lottery.”

Kehs said, “The whole building was in commotion—a lot of excitement and everybody was thrilled. I, on the other hand, was a little bit stunned and humbled. It really gave me a sense of humility just because of the fact that my prayers were answered. I had four days left before I had to make some tough decisions.”

For being the “loser” with a 9-high straight flush, Kehs received $96,975 and Tiewater’s J-high was good for $53,875. Meanwhile everyone at their table received $6,157 and everyone else playing in the room pocketed $898.

The excitement was even bigger, if possible, because this was the final progressive jackpot at The 101 Casino. It will now stand at a steady $101,000 (get it … The 101?) even after it hits, easily keeping it as one of the biggest bad beat jackpots around. After all that time waiting for some lucky winners, their jackpot has already hit again—on April 29.

“One thing we always hope for with the jackpots is that regulars be there to hit and that’s what happened,” added Stan. “The two big winners are regulars, the table share went to regulars and most of the room shares went to regulars too.”