PokerStars Changes Spin & Go Structure, Eliminates Flash as a Separate Format

PokerStars announced important changes to its Spin & Go format this week, phasing out Spin & Go Flash and creating a variable-speed structure for regular Spin & Go games. The company said it made the change to improve player experience.

Spin & Go games are three-handed sit-and-go tournaments with a randomized prize pool. Although it was the French site Winamax that pioneered the concept, PokerStars was first to bring the “jackpot sit-and-go” format to a global audience in 2014.

Even in its basic form, Spin & Go is a fast-paced game. Traditionally, the starting stacks were just 500 chips and the blinds escalated quickly. Before play starts, the prize pool is randomly determined as a multiple of the buy-in.

However, there have also been Spin & Go Flash games since 2019. These are even faster version with only 300 chips and blinds increases every minute. The Flash structure created games that were over in the blink of an eye, making the understanding of poker odds and probabilities more important than postflop strategy.

The change merges the regular games with the Flash games. In the new hybrid format, the structure depends on the prize pool. Small multipliers result in a Flash-like structure. Conversely, the format slows down when there’s more money on the line. Full details of the format are available below.

Not All Players Are Happy With the New Spin & Go

While PokerStars has made changes to game integrity in their live poker events, this is their first significant change to their online poker offerings in some time.

The move has not been popular with everyone as a few comments on X claimed that the change “ruins the Spin & Go experience.” One user on reddit’s r/poker was extremely critical of the change, saying:

“Pokerstars in their ever quest of chasing after GG poker and thinking that copying them is better, have now removed the regular spin structure and replaced it with the flash structure. They used to lead from the front in the world of Poker, now they are just some pathetic copycat.”

The PokerStars X account indicated that they may be willing to reconsider this change due to feedback. There could be tweaks still to come. The PokerStars team will likely continue to monitor the change and how it is received in its early days of implementation.

New Spin & Go Structure Table

Here’s how the new Spin & Go format depends on the prize pool. At the minimum 2x multiplier, it resembles the now-defunct Flash format. However, at higher multipliers, it resembles the original Spin & Go with 500-chip stacks and longer blind levels.