Why is Spin and Go the Best Poker Format Available Online

Are you wondering if playing Spin & Go's is worth your time? We can convince you. Learn about the biggest advantages of this poker format.

As you are probably aware, Smart Spin is the leading online poker school in the world. We’ve been coaching poker players for over a few years now, and our players are some of the top performers on all Spin and Go stakes. 

It should not be a surprise that we strongly believe Spin and Go’s are the most profitable poker games. In this article, we’d like to emphasize why we think so highly about Spins and why you should too!

A picture of CuAt69UsdSng, Spin & Go Head Coach and CEO of Smart Spin
CuAt69UsdSng – head coach and CEO of Smart Spin

Spin and Go games are the newest poker format 

We live in crazy fast times. Our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, we get bored more quickly, and our bodies receive many stimuli every day. These factors reflect on many areas of our lives, and poker is no exception. 

Spins are the industry’s answer to recreational players’ needs nowadays. The games are fast and accessible and offer a chance to win a grand prize in a matter of minutes. The occasional amateurs quickly came to love spins for all these reasons. 

At first, the professional players disliked spins, viewing them as a lottery format that is extremely luck dependent and almost impossible to profit off. It quickly became clear how wrong they were. 

Spin & Go poker table on PokerStars
Spin & Go is a relatively new and popular poker format

But what are Spin and Go games all about? 

It’s unlikely, but we are here to explain if you do not know how Spin and Go’s work. Although the games look similar on all major online poker sites, we’ll look at PokerStars Spin and Go rules, as that’s the most predominant platform when it comes to the format. 

First of all, the games are played three-handed, and at the beginning of every spin, a prize pool is drawn. Due to that last fact, spins are sometimes referred to as jackpot tournaments. During the draw, the possible prize pools range from 2 times the buy-in to a whooping 240,000 times the buy-in. 

The prize pool multiplier also affects the length of the levels. The lowest prize pool has two-minute levels, while the 120x and higher multipliers have levels of five minutes each. Regardless of the prizes drawn, the players start with 25 big blinds. 

And that’s all of the rules. Once the cards are dealt, the action gets fierce. 

So, why do we believe you should play Spin and Go’s? 

The most obvious answer is: because that’s where the recreational players are. However you look at poker, you must be aware that it’s a zero-sum game. If you are to win some money, someone else has to lose it. While it may sound brutal, remember that poker is a hobby or entertainment for the vast majority of the population. And for many people working long hours, playing Spin and Go games are the only option to play some poker in their limited free time. 

Recreational players are the backbone of every thriving poker format – without them, no game can exist. For the reasons we’ve already mentioned, Spin and Go’s are ideal games for casual players who can experience the thrill of winning big multipliers for just a few bucks. 

Importantly, the prize pool draws are random, so regardless of their skill level, every player can dream about an enormous score.

Spin & Go poker lobby in the PokerStars software
Spin & Go poker lobby at PokerStars waiting for you to join

While fast, there is a lot of poker strategy involved in Spin and Go games 

Given the random prize pool and fast pace, Spin and Go games may seem like an inferior, luck-based poker format. We can’t really blame you for thinking so, as many people have made the same mistake. 

In reality, a lot of strategy is involved in Spin and Go’s. Due to the games being played three-handed and heads-up soon after, the correct hand ranges are very wide. And there is hardly a more challenging poker strategy than correctly playing hands folded in other formats 90% of the time. 

Another counter-intuitive factor is stack depth. Even if you are a few levels into the game and the average stack shrinks to 15BB, there’s still much depth of strategy. Given that many pots will be limped ones, the SPR will often be around 5, which allows plenty of different choices to be made, not to mention that in heads-up, you are always on a small blind or big blind, which adds another incentive to playing wide hand ranges. 

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg of Spin and Go’s complexity, which allows you to create an edge over weak players. 

There is some variant of Spins on every online poker site 

That’s another great feature of spins. Due to their popularity, they are available on every major poker platform. So, even if you are a cash game or tournament player, you can try Spins without moving your money around. 

Different platforms set different rules for their jackpot Sit and Go variant, but the general idea is the same. However, the PokerStars Spin and Go games are undoubtedly the most popular, and that’s where the most traffic is headed right now. We believe this will not change in 2025. 

Spin and Go games offer you the flexibility the other games lack 

Poker is a time-consuming activity, especially when discussing multi-table tournaments (MTT). Of course, MTTs have a lot of appeal, but let’s face it, only some are able to find enough time to participate in such long events, not to mention how disappointing and frustrating busting just before the final table can be. 

The time aspect is not as severe if you play cash games, but unless you play Zoom variants, it usually is better to play for a few hours in one sitting. After all, if you are deep-stacked on a good table with weak players, there’s hardly a more profitable situation to be had. 

In contrast, Spin and Go games offer you more freedom with your time management. While we recommend playing in reasonable blocks of time (1-2 hours), nothing stops you from walking away from the tables at almost any time you prefer. In most cases, you can end your session without harming your bankroll in a few minutes after you realize you have to or want to do something else.

Proper bankroll management is not that hard 

Unless you are willing to battle the world’s finest poker players at the highest stakes possible, you do not have to invest a fortune in your Spin and Go career. Of course, the variance is always there, and you will receive the bitter end of it from time to time, but generally speaking, if you are good enough, the downswings on the low-to-medium stakes should not be very painful. 

Additionally, with the help of an online poker school, like Smart Spin, you can play without investing your money. That’s not all! We’ve prepared a EV deal service to ease the pain of unrealized EV and unpleasant downswings.

We can teach you how to profit from Spin and Go games 

We’ve been teaching how to play Spin and Go for years with great results. Our coaches created and are constantly improving leading spin strategies. Moreover, their students have won millions of dollars both in regular and flash games. Would you like to join our poker community?