PokerStars Spin & Go’s Shown Beatable By Skilled Player

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Wednesday, March 4th, 2015 | Written by Shane Larson

In 2014, PokerStars introduced its new Spin & Go tournaments and since then the format has proved a great success amongst recreational players, a group deemed vital to the healthy development of a poker ecology. However, these games caused an instant backlash from the site’s legion of regular grinders, many of whom opined at seeing their game of skill turned into a lottery, and of particular concern for them was that the so-called “fish” were now spending their money playing Spin & Go’s, rather than losing it to them playing formats in which the regulars held an advantage.

Now, online grinder “Bighusla” has thrown a spanner in their argument after completing a challenge he announced in January to complete more than five thousand $30 Spin & Gos within one month, whilst achieving a chip EV (cEV) return on investment of at least 8%. In fact, “Bighusla” was able to attain a cEV of 8.8% from 5,054 tournaments, making a healthy profit of $11,000 along the way. The results of his challenge would therefore seem to indicate that Spin & Go’s should still be considered real poker in which skill trumps luck, rather than just another gambling game. As TwoPlusTwo forum poster Nefirmative, wrote:

“Going to be hard for people to claim these games aren’t beatable for a while.”

Spin & Go Format

PokerStars‘ Spin & Go’s are mini hyper-turbo tournaments consisting of three players, who subsequently compete in a winner takes all game for a randomly determined prize of between x2 and x3000 their initial buy-in. Soon after their introduction, however, regular players protested that the combination of variance caused by the randomized prize pool, and the 5% rake meant that these games were unbeatable, no matter how skilled the player.

Shocking The Doubters

When “Bighusla” first announced his belief Spin & Go’s were beatable he found plenty of doubters on the TwoPlusTwo forum, many of whom were prepared to bet against him successfully completing his challenge at odds of 3.5-1 against. Rather than basing “Bighusla” results on a dollar profit figure, however, a chip EV (cEV) return on investment metric was used instead as a fairer method of ensuring one big jackpot win did not scew the overall results. The 8% cEV goal, therefore, meant “Bighusla” then had to win at least 37.9% of the three-handed games he played over 5,000 Spin & Go’s, which he not only managed to do, but also further surprised his detractors by providing valuable insights into how he was able to achieve such a remarkable feat.

Strategy Advice For Spin & Go Players

After his successful challenge, “Bighusla” was willing to share some of his learning and experiences with other players, and one such piece of advice was as follows:

“The most important thing to remember when playing spins profitably is treat every game like there is a huge jackpot to win, winning the 2x multipliers are just important as winning the 6x multipliers longterm.”

The online grinder also said he found it beneficial to divert away from optimal game theory play when competing against an opponent with easily exploitable weaknesses. However, most players will find it difficult to follow in his footsteps as “Bighusla” is a highly accomplished regular who makes a living competing at $100 to $300 hyper-turbo sit and go tournaments, and as he explains about Spin & Go’s:

“There are really a ton of dynamics to consider at all times from all positions. Not to mention the fact that in combination to being a good 3 max player u must be a good [heads up] player as well in order to really crush these games.”

Donating Money To Charity

Not only has “Bighusla” and the poker community as a whole profited from the knowledge gained from his experiment, but charity is also set to win too. After all, “Bighusla” said he intends to donate some of his prop bet winnings directly to charity, but not via a charity organizations, though, as he said he does not “trust them”. As he explains:

“Also I will like to donate particularly to children in need, I’m currently considering donating 20 new laptops to foster children back home in Brooklyn. Do you guys have any other suggestions on ways I could give back? I will be sure to film and upload everything when I do it.”