The offer of poker tournaments is usually concentrated in sit and go and multi-table tournaments. While MTTs are very focused on the diversification of games and strategies, spin tournaments offer an experience with much more pace, dizzying and ideal for lovers of fast-paced games, in which action takes precedence over everything else.

But that does not mean that strategy has less weight. In fact, one of the critical points of these poker competitions is that those who play them must know how to combine the characteristic rhythm of these games with the application of strategies based on calculations and probabilities.

Spin and go: what do they consist of?

Spin & go tournaments are three-player hyper-turbo sit and go competitions in which the total prize pool is affected by a multiplier just before the game starts. This is an incentive that allows to obtain large winnings and adds a plus of intrigue to the games, and the prize pool can be up to a thousand times the buy-in. Every three minutes, the blinds go up, and each player starts with 25 BB in his stack.

Cash players traditionally do well in these tournaments, partly because there is no difference between $ EV and Chip EV, helping to make the jump from cash games to spin tournaments much less abrupt.

The basis of the spins is not to pay opening re-raises, especially with speculative hands. Keep an eye on the implied odds, because if they drop too low, it is always better to discard. Normally, in a tournament spin game, investing more than 10% of the stack in the hand never pays off. Moreover, if you have less than 10 BB, it is convenient to fold or push. Keep in mind that with a 3bet you will not be able to fold, so your margin of maneuver will be reduced.

Whenever you have effective stacks of more than 9 BB, raising minimally is always a good idea, but from the BUTTON position. In the small blind this figure goes up to 2.5 BB. Stealing blinds in spin & go tournaments is fundamental, you have to be aware of this, and it is important that, if you do not manage to extract information from your opponents, that you resort to online tables to try to create an effective strategy.

How to play spin and go?

Multipliers are a basic element in spin & go tournaments. Multipliers of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x120, x240 and x12.000 can be applied. The rule establishes that in the multipliers of x120, x240 and x12,000, the prize is shared among the three players, with the winner taking 80% of the total, the runner-up 10% and the third place 10%.

One of the things that make these tournaments a unique type of poker games is that it is possible to win a millionaire prize even if you make a small play. Also, considering that the buy-in of these tournaments changes so often, the prizes are usually very attractive and the entry fee always suits all types of players and pockets. Even recreational players can enjoy these spin games, which encourages the oxygenation of the flow of players, something always positive that brings dynamism to the games.

Of all the things needed to win a spin & go tournament game, mental stamina is what matters most. The frenetic pace of the games, together with the huge size of the prize pool, requires a lot of coolness, something that can be trained and that is crucial to not make mistakes during the game. Given its high pace, any mistake can leave you out of the fight for the pot, so always thinking about the next move is elementary to minimize the margin of error of your moves.

Another point to keep in mind: work the mind to ignore external stimuli. That the mind is concentrated is something basic, but spin tournaments demand to go further and keep the mind focused solely and exclusively on the game. Here the rhythm plays tricks again: any distraction, however brief it may be, can have a high cost that prevents you from putting your name in the prize pool.

In this sense, avoiding attrition is something basic. Therefore, what many regular spin tournament players do is to schedule the games well in advance to avoid mental fatigue.

Spin and go vs MTT: elementary differences

It is clear that in online poker, spin & go is a very attractive alternative, especially for cash players looking for strong emotions. They are usually captivated by the pace of the tournament action and the amount that the prize pool can reach thanks to the multipliers.

However, if you are one of those who have not yet approached poker tournaments and are still not sure whether you prefer to start trying them with the multi-table games or with the spin & go, here are some fundamental differences for you to identify the basics of each type of online tournaments.

• Multi-table: Yes or no? In MTT tournaments, obviously, the game is based on the use of several simultaneous tables. But in spin tournaments it is better to leave this possibility aside, since with only one table the rhythm can already be difficult enough to follow to increase the difficulty even more.
• Fixed or variable buy-ins? In multi-table tournaments, the buy-ins are usually fixed, and usually not too high. In spin tournaments, on the other hand, the buy-in price is usually variable.
• Working with several strategies at the same time. This is precisely one of the advantages of multi-table tournaments: it allows you to diversify your strategies to widen your profit margin and possibilities. On the other hand, in a spin & go tournament it is impossible to diversify the strategies, due to the rhythm and the players’ own capacity, since the game does not lend itself to work with several strategies and the game usually goes in only one direction.