For the Players: The Inspiration for PokerStars to Create Live Spin & Go Events

In December, the first-ever Live Spin & Go Championship concluded at PokerStars EPT Prague. While it wasn’t the largest by any metric, it was certainly one of the most interesting tournaments on this year’s EPT schedule and the one that created a lot of buzz both in the media and among players.

This year’s event was of a closed nature, featuring players who prequalified online via PokerStars and a number of big-name invitees. As it turned out, there was a lot of interest from those watching from the sidelines, as many players were eager to join the action, but that wasn’t an option this time around.

The first Live Spin & Go event took place in Barcelona this past summer as a trial run of sorts to gauge the level of interest from the players and figure out some of the logistics. that event paved the way for the Spin & Go Championship in Prague.

According to Sebastian Pico, Associate Director of Key Account Management at at Flutter International (parent company of PokerStars) and one of the top organizers of the event, two of the key lessons learned from the Barcelona event were that the players wanted to play more hands, and they also felt more comfortable having the same chip denominations live that they play with in the online version.

Doing It for the Players

81 players took part in the Spin & Go Championship in Prague including a mix of the best at the game and recreational players that qualified via rake races by playing no higher than €5 Spin and never more than three tables at the same time for a few hours.

the most popular poker game right now is a game played by people that nobody knows In all, approximately 60% of the field were professional players, 30% were semi-professional and 10% were recreational according to Pico’s count.

Normally the measure of success of a tournament is total entries and/or prize pool, but with this small invitational we wondered what was the primary reason to hold a live Spin & Go Championship. During our exclusive interview with Pico, he was very clear when asked, “players’ satisfaction.”

Pico: This tournament was born from a meeting with players, and Spin & Go players mentioned how MTT players have all the attention of the poker world. They come here, there is a trophy, there are pictures, there are videos, and everyone knows them.

And the most popular poker game right now is a game played by people that nobody knows, you know their user IDs, but nobody has put a face to that the user ID. So they were looking for a platform; they were looking for visibility.

PokerStars is always striving towards innovation and developing successful products to keep players engaged and entertained and so bringing Spin & Go to a live environment felt like the right next step.

And then, months later, in a different meeting, the same concept came in and, at that meeting, without thinking too much, I said if we organize a tournament in Barcelona (and these were Italian players), if we organize a tournament in Barcelona with a small prize pool, would you go there?

One player told me: 'I would drive from Napoli to Barcelona even if there was no prize pool just for the opportunity to win a trophy and be there.’ And that’s what we did. So, we had the first event in Barcelona where we just invited players.

So, this is not about revenue; this is about giving these players a platform!

Clearly, this time around, the decision wasn’t motivated by profit or numbers. As Pico explains, it was about giving players what they wanted, providing them with an experience they were eager for. And, from everything we saw in Prague, the decision was spot on.

Lessons Learned & Challenges to Overcome

Being able to improve on the concepts and execution of good ideas is what can make them a great success. When asked what lessons were learned from hosting the first Live Spin & Go Championship, Pico was very clear.

The first thing I learned was that players loved it. Pico: The atmosphere at EPT Prague was a testament to the poker community — players who face off daily online, often without ever meeting, came together in person and instantly bonded, creating friendships that will last far beyond the felt.

The first thing I learned was that players loved it. So, we have to change things because everything can be perfected, but we have to do it again. They’ve asked for little things, and each of them for a different one, which tells me that there’s nothing that we obviously need to modify.

Another area of feedback from the players was around the structure of the tournament, which had already been tweaked by adding minutes to some levels after the Barcelona trial run. But after additional feedback on the event in Prague, Pico realized that simply adding time to some rounds wasn’t enough.

Pico: What I think we need to do is we need to move from levels based on minutes to levels based on hands. They were levels that were jumped within the same hand, so I think we need to move into a different structure where the levels are set by hands, and if you have a table where somebody is playing a bit slower, it will not influence the output of the game.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for the organizers of the Live Spin & Go Championship at EPT Prague 2024 was the mystery prize element that’s at the very foundation of Spin & Gos. Online, it is easy to implement, but in a live setting, things are a bit more difficult. This time around, players got to draw envelopes with mystery bounties, but there are other ideas in the works:

Pico: I have many ideas, and all of those ideas need to be reviewed by logistical, legal, and live events people. It is definitely possible to introduce a digital wheel. That digital will would be really easy to implement in some countries. In other countries, we will need to go through approval processes that may be shorter or longer based on the regulators. But we have to have that Spin & Go element, and we need to have a digital multiplier.

Another important hurdle with an event of this type is that it is 3-handed and uses the shootout format, with winners from each table moving on to the next round. This makes planning for the number of players essential. Plus, there are space constraints.

Pico: There is limited space we have here [in Prague]. This tournament could not have happened four days ago, or for this tournament to happen, something else would not have been able to happen.

Then you have the fact that it’s a 3-handed event. So, if you go from 81 players to more than that, you have to go to 243 or create a completely different qualification route.

While there is room for improvement and changes to the live Spin & Go format, the good news is that it seems that both PokerStars and players were quite happy with the Prague event and we can look forward to more of the same or similar in the future.

What the Future Holds for Live Spin & Gos?

With an overwhelmingly positive feedback from the players and everyone excited to see the first Live Spin & Go Championship, the question that comes naturally is — what comes next? Will this become a standard feature on EPT schedules or will it be a more of an occasional thing?

Pico: I think there is room, there is interest, there’s a demand, there’s an obligation from us to introduce a Spin and Go element in live events. I don’t know how that will happen. There are many things that I don’t know. The only thing I know is that everyone who we asked said, “I would like to play one of those,” and that if someone can do this, it’s PokerStars and the EPT, so we have to do it.

When we asked if live Spin & Go events could expand beyond the EPT and be included in other tours like the NAPT or the BSOP, Pico explained that it’s important to balance things properly for the players.

I think there is room, there is interest, there’s a demand, there’s an obligation from us to introduce a Spin and Go element in live events. Pico: There are players that play Spin and Gos professionally coming here. It’s an EV negative move for them. They would be making much more money if they were home. So, if we were to do this same tournament every two months, they would not come. If you do a special one, once per year, they will.

However, many EPT regulars expressed interest in getting in on the action while on tour. and indicated they would play if there were open events. So while a Championship event would need to be more exclusive, the format could find a way to be included on tour with MTTs.

Pico: A tournament with a buy-in catering to MTT players is a completely different story because everyone who is playing a tournament here would also play the Spin and Go event. They would like the idea, they would try it.

So, online qualifications for a World Championship with the best Spin & Go players, I don’t think that that can happen more than once per year. A Spin and Go tournament with buy-ins at EPTs and non EPT live events, I think that’s something that could happen.

We don’t need to force it. We probably just need to try it and see if there is interest from the qualification standpoint.

Adding a fresh aspect to the world of live tournaments can only be a good thing. Live Spins may not be appealing to all players, but there will be plenty of those eager to try them out, and we’re certainly excited to see what the next live Spin & Go tournament, wherever and whenever it may happen, will bring to the table.

So, it sounds like live Spin & Go tournaments will be making an appearance at future tournament stops, be it an EPT or a different PokerStars tour. It sounds like these future events may be open to the public as well, so everyone will have a chance to try this fun format in a live setting, and this is certainly something to look forward to in 2025.