Spin & Go players don’t generally get to see their names in lights. There are no final tables, raucous rails of supporters, or winners’ photos for those who grind these high-variance, super-quick tournaments. There are no trophies for the Spin & Go elite.
Or at least, not yet. That’s going to change though, and soon, as PokerStars will be shining a light on this oft-overlooked segment of the poker world at the upcoming European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Prague.
The Spin & Go World Championship is real, and it’s happening this December.
What is a Spin & Go?
Spin & Go is the name PokerStars adopted for a particular type of single-table tournament, sometimes known as a Jackpot Sit & Go: short-handed, hyper-turbo and winner-take-all, with a randomized prize drawn at the start of play.
Many online players are restricted more by time than money. When these tournaments debuted a decade or so ago they filled a very useful niche, giving players the chance to win big money, playing real poker, but crucially within a much quicker time-frame than traditional tournaments. In a similar vein to ‘fast-fold’ poker, which had been a game-changer a few years prior, they aim to reduce downtime and create more winning moments, faster. And as with fast-fold poker, they found their way onto just about every online poker platform, under one name or another.
It’s a lineage that continues to drive innovation in poker to this day, with flipout and mystery bounty tourneys among the latest formats to attempt a similar acceleration of the game.
The fast nature of these tournaments makes them a tricky way to build a bankroll, or indeed earn a living, and those who dedicate time to their mastery can feel they’re doing so in an area of the poker world that seldom attracts attention. But Spin & Go professionals do exist, and their time on center-stage, live under the lights, is coming.
The Barcelona test run
PokerStars aims to communicate regularly with its players, and the idea for a live Spin & Go event came about during some of these conversations. The lack of a platform to demonstrate their skills more widely was a frustration to many Spin & Go specialists, and so PokerStars management came up with an idea to trial a new live format during EPT Barcelona last month.
27 Spin & Go players - largely from southern Europe - were invited to Barcelona to take part in a trial run. Split across nine 3-handed tables, they played according to Spin & Go rules: short stacks, fast levels, one winner. Each table would continue playing until one player had reached five wins, at which point they would advance to round 2: three 3-handed tables. The process repeated until a final table of three was reached, with the ultimate winner crowned after accumulating the required number of wins.
The trial was a success in that the players enjoyed being able to take their skills to the live arena, but the randomized prize element was still missing. PokerStars went back to the lab, and the results are in.
What to expect in Prague
When the first Spin & Go World Championship takes place, at the upcoming EPT Prague stop (December 4-15), the randomized prizes that are so integral to the game will return. Here’s the plan as it stands:
- 81 players - drawn from online qualifiers - will contest the tournament, starting on 27 3-handed tables.
- The first on each table to reach five wins will advance.
- The next round will feature nine 3-handed tables, and players will again attempt to reach the required number of wins to advance. This time, however - and for the rest of the tournament - players at each table will draw envelopes revealing the prize on offer for the table’s winner.
- The total prizes available, drawn, and remaining, will be shared in a similar fashion to how mystery bounty tournaments operate. Larger prizes will be added as the tournament reaches the deeper stages.
- Three 3-handed tables will contest round 3, followed by the 3-handed final table.
The tournament will take place over two days, with the exact dates still to-be-confirmed.
While the qualification route to participate is also still to be announced, it is likely to take the form of a volume-based promotion in order to give those professionals who focus on these tourneys - and are more likely to travel to play the live event - a good chance of making the 81-player cut.
Using the selection of envelopes to determine the randomized prizes - rather than, say, a spinning prize wheel - was a choice made due to the potentially lengthy regulatory process that would be involved if using a mechanical device such as a wheel. It also, as with mystery bounty tournaments, adds an extra layer of interest by making the number and dollar amounts of each prize available to players.
PokerStars has stressed this is the start of a process rather than a finalized offering. Players will continue to be canvassed for their opinions during the event, with the possibility of further tweaks to the format for future tournaments still on the table.
We’re keen to see how this traditionally online format plays out at the tables of the Hilton Hotel Prague. Is this something you’d be interested to see roll out to other live events? Let us know in the comments.
Images courtesy of PokerStars/Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.
