Players Raising Their Voice Against Spin & Go's on PokerStars

Spin & Go tournaments are the latest addition to the games’ offering on PokerStars. In case you are not familiar with the format, players pay their buy-in but instead of the usual prize distribution, the prize for the winner in these three-handed games is determined randomly and can be anywhere between 2x and 1000x the buy-in. Of course, the double buy-in is the most frequent outcome.

TiltBook user ‘masuronike’ expressed his concerns about the introduction of this format a couple of weeks back as he believed that these would take away a significant portion of action from the hyper SNG tables and / or cash games. So far, his predictions seem to be well founded as the last week saw a 9% decrease on PokerStars cash game tables according to the Poker Scout reports.

This prompted ‘masuronike’ to start the petition inviting people to protest against the Spin & Go tournaments and ask for removal of the ‘potential gambling aspect of the game’. The two sample letters that he suggests the players who feel the same about the issue should send differ in one key aspect. One is intended for players who would like to see Spin & Go tournaments go away completely, while the other one is for those who generally like the idea but would like to see the maximum multiplier lowered to something like 100x, making them much less of a lottery.

Although ‘masuronike’ admits that the chances of success are slim at best, he feels like this is something that needs to be done in order to protect poker from turning into another form of gambling. PokerStars have always been recognized for their care for the players and listening to their wishes, but several events have indicated that things could be taking a slightly different direction under the Amaya.

While the launch of Spin & Go's may be something regs are dreading it may well be a well thought-out strategy for the company to attract new players and offer them a fast-paced games with potential huge returns resulting in, of course, big revenues from the rake. If that happens to hurt the ecosystem for the regular players, so be it – it is quite possible that the new PokerStars will not have a problem rolling with it.

PokerStars Launches Spin & Go Week

While players are gathering on TiltBook sending their petition emails, PokerStars initiates the promotion that should see these tournaments gain even more in popularity. According to an email sent out by the company, the format has become very popular and already 7.5 million of Spin & Goes have been played across different stakes ($1 - $30). This number strongly indicates that Spin & Goes are here to stay.

During the promotional week, players will be able to compete in daily Spin & Go challenges awarding Spin & Go tickets and cash prizes. Depositing players will also receive extra tickets to play with upon their deposit, while the first depositors who make a deposit of $20 or more will receive a bundle of Spin & Go tickets which can go anywhere from 10 x $1 tickets to 50 x $1 tickets.

This promotion is bound to bring even more players to the new format, potentially affecting the volume of other games offered. This would probably not be such a big deal for many grinders as they would adjust to this new format, if there wasn’t for the fact that the variance in these tournaments was extremely high and the luck factor plays a huge role.

It seems that this is the one where PokerStars and the regs will reach an impasse. With all the attention the company is giving to their latest creation, it is extremely unlikely that we will see them go any time soon (if ever). The only thing that has some slim chances of success is a plea to lower the maximum jackpot, but since the big payday is the main attraction of these tournaments, it is hard to see the Stars being very flexible on this matter either.