Spin & Go Strategy Guide – How to Beat the Spin & Go Format

An Introduction to Spin & Go’s

Spin & Go’s have essentially the same format as Texas Hold’em Sit & Go’s, but are more appealing to many due to the possibility of a truly huge payday. Here’s what you need to know about how the Spin & Go format works.

• Every Spin & Go is played with three players.
• Each player starts with 500 chips and blinds increase every 2-5 minutes (depending on the multiplier).
• The prize pool is revealed before play begins, in the form of a buy-in multiplier (e.g. a 10x multiplier in a $1 Spin & Go means the prize pool is $10). This can be anything from 2x to 240,000x the buy-in. Lower multipliers are statistically more common.
• It’s a winner takes all format at the lower multiplier levels. No deals can be made between players.
• Players finishing in 2nd and 3rd receive a smaller payout if one of the higher Spin & Go multipliers is hit (two players are paid for a 10x multiplier, three players for anything higher than that).
• The most common prize pool is 2x buy ins and you will see this payout more than any other (i.e. around half the time).

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Basic Strategy

Spin & Go strategy will be easier to pick up if you have some experience playing short-handed, either in cash games or in the late stages of tournaments. Due to the short levels and players starting with as few as 25 big blinds (BBs), having a concrete strategy will help you play optimally when a lot of your opponents may just be trying Spin & Go’s out for the first time.

By following some of the key points below, you should be able to develop an edge over your opponents despite the shallow starting stacks.

Building a Stack Early

A common mistake inexperienced players make in this format is waiting for a good hand and not taking the initiative in the first few levels. Remember, you only have 25BBs and the blinds are increasing at turbos speeds; if you wait too long for a good hand you might only have a few big blinds remaining in your stack when it comes. This doesn’t mean you should be opening 100% of your range, but controlled aggression is definitely optimal, especially from the button and small blind.

It’s important that you try and find out as much information as possible during the early stages, such as:

• Are players not defending their blinds properly?
• Are all of your button raises getting through?
• Are your opponents playing too passively?
• Do your opponents seem like weaker opposition?

Once you have a feel for your opponents, you’ll be able to gauge how aggressive you can be and adjust your opening/shoving ranges around that.

Calling Becomes Shoving (from the Small Blind)

Due to the shallow stacks, calling an open raise becomes a lot less profitable in this format. You’ll be playing 25BBs effective poker in the first level and even then, you should only really have a calling range from the big blind.

The problem with calling raises out of the small blind is that you’ll be out of position every time and you’ll struggle to realize the full equity of your hand when post-flop. Therefore, a lot more hands are added to your 3-bet jamming range, which is going to be so much more profitable than calling.

The table below shows a typical 3-bet jamming range from the small blind in the early stages when stacks are around 20BBs deep.

For 20BBs Effective

• +EV Open Jam

This specific range can be adjusted depending on the opponent opening from the button. If the player has been relatively tight, or extremely aggressive, you can adjust the range accordingly.

In addition, this range can also be applied to the big blind, but considering you have already invested 1BB into the pot, the majority of the time you’ll be getting the right price to call with most of your range, even off a short stack.

Raise-Sizing

Preserving your stack at all times is something that will go a long way in Spin & Go’s. So, When opening from the button a minimum raise (‘min-raise’) is often ideal, as you don’t have anything invested in the pot, so risking the least amount of your stack is going to be much more profitable.

As for opening from the small blind, considering you already have half a big blind invested you have more incentive to fight for the pot and try to take down the hand. Therefore, upping your sizing to around 2.5x BBs is fine from this position as you’re increasing fold equity and giving the big blind less incentive to call.

A common mistake people make from the small blind is min-raising, as you give your opponent a great price to call and they then have the advantage of position. Also, the shorter your stack, the more you’ll start to open-shove from the small blind and raise-sizing won’t be an issue.

Button and Small Blind – Jamming Ranges

After the first few levels of a Spin & Go, more often than not you’ll find yourself playing a ‘push or fold’ strategy with fewer than 11 BBs. You’ll no longer have the stack to play post-flop poker and 3-bet/folding becomes a less favorable option as well.

If you’re struggling to build a +EV jamming range from the button or small blind, the following charts will give you an idea of what your range should look like.

Note that as your stack becomes even shorter you can add a few more hands into your jamming range, but using this table is a good way to build your range and gain some experience by using a set strategy.

11BBs: Button Range

• +EV Open Jam

11BBs: Small Blind Range

• +EV Open Jam

As you can see, your small blind jamming range becomes a lot wider as you only have to get one player to fold. Similar to the button, the shorter you are the wider you can open-jam. Additionally, if the player in the big blind seems like an extremely tight player, you can widen your jamming range as they won’t be calling with the correct range.

Once you’ve started getting a feel for your opponents, you can adjust your ranges accordingly and start to build a strategy of your own.

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Advantages and Disadvantages

The introduction of jackpot sit & go’s in general, and Spin & Go’s at PokerStars specifically, caused a divide in the online poker world. Whether you’re a professional or recreational poker player, you’ve almost certainly got an opinion about Spin & Go’s and what they offer to the game. Understandably, not everyone agrees with this new format of poker. So, the following advantages and disadvantages will show you the ins and outs of Spin & Go’s and why they have divided opinion in the poker world.

Advantages

• By playing Spin & Go’s and experiencing the thrill of online tournament poker in a fast, digestible format, new players learn the game and will eventually explore other games.
• The games are affordable, attracting a wide range of players to Spin & Go’s and giving recreational players a fun and cheap poker experience that may grow their passion for the game.
• Compared with games of chance like roulette or blackjack, recreational players will lose at a much slower rate playing Spin & Go’s. Also, with a much bigger element of control and skill than casino table games, players can learn, improve and ultimately have a better chance of making money.
• Ultimately, online poker has the potential to grow by attracting players from more chance-based casino games, and the randomized prize pools in Spin & Go’s may help bring those players into the world of poker.

Disadvantages

• Spin & Go’s are possibly reducing the skill element of the game due to the quick format and how little play there is during each game.
• The ‘jackpot’ element of Spin & Go’s is the same hook that attracts gamblers to roulette and blackjack games, which downplays the skill necessary to become a successful poker player.
• Due to the high amount of rake that is charged, recreational players won’t be able to sustain the combination of rake and variance at these games, which has implications for everyone in the longer term.

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