Spin&Goes - from Beginner to Winner - a course with Collin Moshman

Originally posted by 8runo
I feel like I'm profitable up to $5 spins (knowing I have no evidence from my history due to sample size) - but as soon as I hit the $7 games, I'm clearly out of my depth, and I'm finding a HUGE difference between the $7 and $5 spins .... I really hope that after the beginners course is finished, there will be something that can get me over the line in the $7 games (unless the beginners course will go that far?).....

Don't play the 7s until the 5s disappear - you find a huge difference because the 7s are temporarily (well, for ~1/3 of the year, it seems) more reg-packed than usual. Problem solved.

Cheers Tony - yes, that's part of the solution ... but ultimately I'd like to improve and beat the regs too!! (or at least, not be totally crushed by them)

For the first lesson - our basic push&fold Strategy - we have now a PDF and JPEG version:

as Picture:

as PDF: Download

Course: Spin & Go Beginner Strategy – Improved pre-flop play

In the last lesson you've learnt how to play your hands post-flop. Now we will discuss how to join a hand pre-flop without going all-in right away.

You're on the button
If the effective stack size is 10 big blinds or more, play the following range:

Raise to 2 big blinds with any red and blue hands.
If you're subsequently confronted with a raise, only move all-in with red hands and fold any blue hands.

You're in the small blind
If the effective stack size is 10 big blinds or more, follow these strategies:

Case 1: The player on the button raised
In this case, simply move all-in with the following hands:

Any other hands must be folded.

Case 2: The player on the button folded
In this case, raise to 3 big blinds with any red and blue hands:

If you're subsequently confronted with a raise by the Big Blind, only move all-in with red hands and fold any blue hands.

You're in the big blind
If the effective stack size is 10 big blinds or more, follow these strategies:

Case 1: The Button raises to 2-3 big blinds and the Small Blind folds
Stick to the following range:

Call with blue hands and move all-in right away with red hands.

Case 2: The Button raises and the Small Blind calls
Stick to the following range:

Call with blue hands and move all-in right away with red hands.

Case 3: The Button folds and the Small Blind limps
Stick to the following range:

Raise to 3 big blinds with any red and blue hands. If you're subsequently confronted with a raise by the Small Blind, move all-in right away with any red hands.

Case 4: The Small Blind raises to 2-3 big blinds
Stick to the following range:

Call with blue hands and move all-in right away with red hands.

If there's any other constellation, simply stick to the push or fold tables of the first lesson.

You should now play roughly 100 Spin & Gos with the new strategy you've learnt so far. The best of luck!

- Is there also a chart possible for this situation: BU limps, SB completes or BU limps, SB raises?

- In case 3: are the blue hand being folded or called after a reraise?

I didnt watched the training yet, but this course really seems like "made with love" hahaha
Will look in depth later.
A note I think its good to share: actually, the BRM should be more like 200+ buy ins if playing this format full time.
I know that its a beginner course, and its hard to have this amount right away... but the reason for that is cause we are just facing a second kind of variance, besides that one mentioned of the cards (enhanced for shallow stacks, fast blinds, 3 handed, etc...).
By my own experience, being a solid player, having the aimed 37%+ ITM does not means ur life ll be easy. In fact, even winning the sngs, u can still have big losing times when u look to ur cashier.
At the time I thougth it really strange and searched to see what was happening... and, the answer was: I was hitting too many 2x, while being sucked out in bigger ones. Not to mention u can just have long streaks without having a single decent multiplier to hit.
All things together makes a good (and proven winner) face downswings way more often than other formats. Making me really think a conservative BRM is the way to go.

The BRM really depends on the stakes. $1s are so soft that 90 BIs are fine even if you spew in a few rare spots. For the $30s, 200 BIs are not enough unless you've already crushed the $15s (chip EV wise) or the $30 HU hypers.

which hands i will play in HU?
Which hands i will play with less 10BB?

Thanks for help

With less than 10 bb HU, just use the famous push/fold Nash equilibrium chart* (right-click on the image and save it locally; don't forget to read the 'Using the Nash Charts' section on the left).

When you're in the BB facing BTN's limp, the general consensus is that you should play according to the push chart (of course check and play postflop when it tells to fold), unless you know that BTN limps primarily with strong hands as a trap. When you're in BB facing a minraise, push when the call chart tells you to call an all-in, and fold otherwise.

* Mind that it's approximate (optimised for use at the tables), and it's the 'default' strategy against unknown regs and those opponents whose style you can't figure out. It should be altered as you get reads on the opponent.

tonypmm thanks a lot!

I have another question, before HU when the efective stack is 10bb which ~hands i will play?
Thanks in advice

Likewise, you can use a Nash calculator when you're not at the tables, memorise the ranges and apply them in play - it's not too bad when the stacks are 10 bb and below.

Nice tip!

Originally posted by 8runo
Wooohoooo ... I was having the day off today, being the end of the month and having already got my Pokerstrategy Points (Ipoker) and silverstar (Pokerstars) - but I couldn't resist and just opened up my first spin of the day - hit my biggest spin - 25x (@ $5) and took it down .....

Self congratualtion aside - the serious point is that it really shows the extreme of variance that the spins add...
- prior to this single spin, I had played 467 Spins (varying stakes from $0.50 to $7) so far this month, for a chip ev of 35,682, but an EV profit of just $27.97 (I ran a bit good on the tables, so actual profit was $75)
- Now after one Spin, my results are 468 Spins for an EV profit of $147.97

My average EV profit per spin has increased from $0.06 per game to $0.32 per game.

Thinking about it, I suppose its not as bad as MTTs (but I dont play MTTs ... so I'm not used to that kind of variance)

I feel like I'm profitable up to $5 spins (knowing I have no evidence from my history due to sample size) - but as soon as I hit the $7 games, I'm clearly out of my depth, and I'm finding a HUGE difference between the $7 and $5 spins .... I really hope that after the beginners course is finished, there will be something that can get me over the line in the $7 games (unless the beginners course will go that far?).....

Double Woooohooooooo

This is why Spins are so much fun, and so exhilarating (in comparison to other forms of poker).

I just spun a 120x at the $5 tables (so $600 prize pool) and took it down - so I'm now 2 for 2 in the larger spins For a low stakes player, like me, to get the opportunity to play a 3 handed turbo spin for $600 is just so massive..... I was surprised how nervous I was with some of my decisions - I didn't expect it - I thought I'd be a bit cooler - I was always of the view that if I spun a million, I'd be surprisingly calm, relaxed and rational - now I'm not so sure.....

I quickly worked out that the player acting after me was a pretty poor recreational player, and the player to act before me was a more scary player - so I was relieved when the weaker player sucked out on the stronger player, and then started to fancy my chances.

I got a bit lucky with the final hand when I shoved for 9 BB effective with A6s, and got called by 99 but hit the Ace, however that would make it sound like my win was exceptionally lucky, and I dont feel it was - for the whole game my all in chip ev was 462 - so I did some stuff right (at lower blind levels, I picked up a lot of chips by min raising pre flop from my button).

To follow on from my previous post with overall results At $5 spins, I've played 395 in total for an ROI of 38.5%!!! My all in chip ev is now 21,928 (55.5 chips per game).
Overall, I've played 871 spins for an EV profit of $730.54, meaning my EV profit per spin has surged to $0.84 per spin. My all in chip EV is 56,828 (65.2 chips per game).

Needless to say, I'm quite pleased (erm...thrilled) with how its going at the moment.... I confess I'm greedy though ... I wont million!

EDIT... Ah ...sob ...just seen my prize was "only" $500 - I presume the other 2 players got $50 each.

gratz 8runo!

You with Spin&Goes:

Course: Spin & Go Beginner Strategy – Opponent-specific play

Welcome back to the last theory lesson of this course! So far, you've worked out a general game plan for Spin & Gos and refined it in a way that also allows you to make good decisions post-flop.

However, up to now, you're following the exact same strategy against any opponent. In reality, though, you should have noticed that your opponents play very differently. Some are highly aggressive, while others are extremely cautious, even folding hands when they only have 2 or 3 big blinds left.

You can further increase your expected value by adapting your strategy specifically to your opponents. The basis for this approach is the following article:

This topic is also covered in the following video:

4 tips for opponent-specific play in Spin & Gos

1) Limping with mediocre hands against aggressive opponents
Observation: Your opponent is a maniac who really likes to play aggressively. You were able to notice that because he has shown several weak hands at showdown. Hands that you would have folded without blinking were played very aggressively by him.

Adjustment: Your opponent is looking for weakness and way too aggressive once he finds it. Start limping with strong hands (e.g. AK, AQ, TT) and mediocre hands (e.g. ATo, 88, A5s). Your opponent will go all-in with a lot of weaker hands.

If you would enter the hand with an open-raise, your opponent is likely to fold hands like K6o etc. When you limp, there's a much higher chance that he will go all-in because he expects you to fold.

2) Slow-play against very aggressive opponents
Observation: Your opponent plays a lot of unnecessary bluffs, especially once he notices weakness.

Adjustment: Start checking strong and mediocre hands on the flop, thereby giving your opponent the opportunity to lose more money with weak hands. Wait for the river to go all-in.

3) Directly betting strong hands and draws against passive opponents
Observation: Your opponent often skips continuation bets and doesn't bet often enough with made hands.

Adjustment: Start betting strong hands directly yourself instead of waiting on a continuation bet from your opponent.

4) Going all-in with any hand when your opponent is way too passive
Observation: Your opponent still folds a lot of hands with a small stack.

Adjustment: Simply start going all-in with any hand. In this particular case, the unexpected fold equity will make this playing style profitable.

Hi collin, what about an Open Limp Chart (Button and SB)?

another question: I am a 20bb cap reg 6 max, can i play the same way that cap when i have 15-25bb on spins?, the only difference i see on postflop game(with ur vids) is cap is more aggresive (no open limp regs), and Cap have a lot of blufcatch with hands like A high type in dry boards, otherwise is pretty similar what i see.

The charts provided in here are great! Very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Originally posted by itaba
Hi collin, what about an Open Limp Chart (Button and SB)?

another question: I am a 20bb cap reg 6 max, can i play the same way that cap when i have 15-25bb on spins?, the only difference i see on postflop game(with ur vids) is cap is more aggresive (no open limp regs), and Cap have a lot of blufcatch with hands like A high type in dry boards, otherwise is pretty similar what i see.

Come on, openlimping is too advanced

The main differences between CAP and Spins is that 1) pots in CAP are raked (which gives an incentive to end a hand preflop more often when facing a reg), 2) CAP tables have a bigger proportion of regs than low stakes Spins.

You're right about A high on dry boards, it does have showdown value (which has been known since Collin's HU book).

Case 1: The player on the button raised
In this case, simply move all-in with the following hands:
Where is BU raised and SB call?

Yeah, of course the charts lack many scenarios, like the one suggested by you, or limps, or the distinction between BU's minraise and all-in... either the creators think the leaks stemming from this misunderstanding won't be that grave... or they just want beginners to turn into net depositors instead of winners.