PokerStars Spin and Go

PokerStars.com launched Spin and Go poker Sep 29, 2014, after the lottery style Sit & Gos were a big hit on the network’s dot.fr, dot.it and dot.es sites, and sister site Full Tilt had rolled out Jackpot SNGs.

PokerStars Spin & Go players can win six figures in minutes from one small buy in, or even take down five figures for losing. The Spin & Go concept was first seen on Winamax, known as Expresso Poker, and later on the iPoker network as Twister Poker. Compare all Lottery SNG types here.

How Spin & Gos Work – Cliffnotes

• 3 handed poker – hyper turbo SNG
• Winner takes all*
• 500 chip starting stack, 3 min levels
• Buy in $1, $3, $7, $15, $30 or $60
• Random prizepool of between 2 – 10,000 times your buy in

* Except for the 3 highest prizepool multipliers (see table below), in which 20% is shared between 2nd and 3rd.

PokerStars Spin & Go Lobby

Choose your buy in level under Spin & Go -> Real Money, observe or practice for play chips. Select the number of tournament tables to register and play – launch up to 5 at once.

Three players compete for a first place prize of up to 3,600 times the buy-in, depending on a randomly assigned prizepool multiplier (see table below). At the 3 highest levels (120x, 240x and 3600x) 20% is set aside for 2nd & 3rd place rather than first winning all. Hence at the $1 level you can win up to $3,000 (from a $3,600 prizepool), up to $9,000 at the $3 level (from a $10,800 prizepool) and so on.

The luckiest players will enter a $60 Spin & Go and be randomly assigned a 60 x 3,600 = $216,000 prizepool, with $180,000 for first and $18k for the two runners up.

Spin & Go PokerStars Probabilities & Prizepools

The table below shows how many times on average a Spin & Go will be assigned a given prizepool (in multiples of the buy in), and the first place prizes in each case. For example you have a 1 in 100,000 probability of hitting a 3600x prizepool multiplier.

* Exact probabilities 18,366 & 73,516 in 100,000 respectively at the $1 level, 19,866 & 72,018 in 100,000 at the $3 – $7 levels, and 21,366 & 70,518 in 100,000 at the $15-$60 levels.

Approximately 7 times out of 10 players will compete for a higher prizepool than they put in, e.g. a $4 first place payout when the three players bought in for $1 – effectively a value added tournament. 2 times out of 10 you’ll compete for a lower than normal prizepool, although being winner takes all you can still turn a profit.

The remainder of the time you will be freerolling for many multiples of the buy in.

The random prizepool is shown at the start of the Spin & Go, here $1200 in a $1 event

PokerStars Spin & Go Rake

• 7% rake at the $1 level
• 6% rake at the $3 – $7 levels
• 5% rake at the $15 – $60 levels

For example the $3 level is a $2.82+0.18 event. Rake is comparable to 6-Max hypers.

PokerStars Spin & Go Strategy

PokeriMania released a popular free Spin & Go poker strategy video on Youtube where they go over optimal play with a HUD:

[youtube src=”ABOKgqRWYHM” width=675 height=420]

Note previously PokerStars Spin & Go prizepool multipliers ranged up to 1200x, mentioned in the video. That limit was generously increased to 3600x on Nov 3, 2014.

For in-depth mathematics see IcmPoker’s article, again using the old multipliers.

$1 Million Spin & Go Promotion

From time to time PokerStars’ promotions schedule includes special $5 Spin & Gos where players compete for up to $1,000,000 (a 240000x prizepool multiplier).

As of Jan, 2015 three Spin & Go millionaires have been crowned, the first being Russian player sss66666. Later winner Tornádo111 released a video of the event he took down:

[youtube src=”IcBu_jTfTaQ” width=675 height=420]

PokerStars Spin & Go Review

Being able to take down many multiples of the buy in in minutes gives Spin & Gos a lottery type feel. That and the fast paced action with three minute levels and fewer post-flop decisions attracts recreational players who love to play ‘all in poker’.

The game also perfectly suits mobile and tablet play.

Site rep PokerStars Baard stated in a forum post that Spin & Gos have brought ‘tens of thousands of new and previously inactive players to the site’.

Team Pro and WSOP champion Jonathan Duhamel praised the format as ‘Perfect for whenever you have some free time. The most attractive aspect is the lottery-style prize pool, which means you never know how much you’re going to be playing for. Having the chance to win thousands of dollars from just a few dollars is great, considering you only have to beat two players to win the lot!‘.

A Reddit thread started when a grinder described the PokerStars Spin & Go competition as ‘probably the softest players you can meet right now’.