Can Spins work in live poker?
Following the news of a live event for Lottery SNGs, Barry Carter looks at why the format is ignored by live operators.
At the end of the year, EPT Prague will host a live Spin & Go Championship. The first big marquee event for the popular online format.
Lottery SNGs have been around for the better part of a decade now, but it's taken this long for a viable live variant to offer itself to the market.
This is great news for Spin grinders. It must be very frustrating to see tournament players get all the glory, and live cash game players get TV time on streams, yet nothing for arguably the most popular online format.
I can emphasise. My early poker play was in SNGs, a very unsexy format that never really had its day in the live poker sun, barring a brief event called the Sit & Go Championships in Tallinn, which looks very much like the EPT Spin & Go event. I always wished there were live opportunities for SNG grinders.
So is there a market for live Spin & Go, or is this a novelty event?
Speed & convenience don't work in live poker
There are a few reasons why I doubt we will see live Lottery SNGs take off. They are expensive to run would be the first one. Three players to a table is costly for an operator when you factor in dealer costs. This is also why Six Max is a rarity live when it is a mainstay online.
Secondly, the games are too fast if they are to replicate the online format. It's a big ask to get players to travel to play 25bb poker from the get-go. This is why the EPT Prague event is a leaderboard format with multiple rounds. You have to give the players table time.
The real shame is that Spins grinders don't get the community aspect of live poker that everybody else does. This is why I love the idea of a Spin & Go event, but sadly I think it's a novelty.
It probably works best a couple of times a year, as part of another festival like EPT Prague (Or maybe even better, Lex Live), with it being viewed very much as a loss leader for the operator.
Lottery SNGs might be the most popular format online, it's a shame it can't be replicated in a brick-and-mortar card room, but perhaps their biggest selling point online is their speed and convenience. Two things you can't exactly duplicate in live poker.
Do you like the look of this format? Let us know in the comments:
