888 Blast Spin and Go

[RockEliteSS]

I have to admit they are fun. The question I have is: has anyone ever won long term playing them?

As with any form of poker you have to beat the rake which is exceptionally high but not much higher than a low stakes MTT.

Is it a complete waste of time or can it be done?

 

[Canaldo Kao]

In very rare times spin and go or Blast will win very high prizes, there I use it more for fun!

 

[Newzooozooo]

I have to admit they are fun. The question I have is: has anyone ever won long term playing them?

As with any form of poker you have to beat the rake which is exceptionally high but not much higher than a low stakes MTT.

Is it a complete waste of time or can it be done?

Hi
For some it is a waste of time, for others it is an opportunity to make money. Everything is relative. But, in my opinion, tournaments of this format are the same as a lottery.

 

[pentazepam]

Doesn't help that there are a lot of teams/stables that give out HUDs and charts, and teach the members an almost perfect strategy. Since the stacks are so short and players only 3 at the start and soon HU solvers can come close to giving almost perfect advice.

On the lower levels, there are still a lot of bad and/or impatient players who have won free tickets and just gamble.

Probably best to play them just for fun. The variance is sick even without the multiplier-spin part.

 

[Tanamita]

I only won with a rate of 10 cents, in an hour of 2 bucks 3 it turned out, very few good factors, as soon as I switched to the headquarters, I lost more

 

[successlaw]

I think on long term you be a bit above breakeven if you don't hit something big

 

[Magical]

I think the rake naturally programmed in to the software is very profitable for them, so without a huge bit of luck, going to come out at a loss even if you're a good/winning player

I.e. you may win 40% of the time vs 3 player spins which if not rake involved, would be a 20% profit. But you'd find most spins are 2x value and put you at a loss

 

[Arturio999]

Seems like bingo

 

[bowserdon]

Lots of fun but hi rake

 

[Poker Orifice]

the ones on 888 at the micro buyins seem pretty bad imo. High rake, bad structure.

 

[fundiver199]

As with any form of poker you have to beat the rake which is exceptionally high but not much higher than a low stakes MTT.

In most MTTs you start with at least 100BB, which leave lots of room for play. If you run even a bit deep, you play at least 200 hands, and during each of those 200 hands some players will make better decisions than others. In an 888 BLAST you start with 7,5BB, which mean, that often the tournament is over after just 1-3 hands, and your only move is to push or fold preflop. In order for anyone to beat the rake long term in such a format, the opponents have to be absolutely terrible.

sharkscope has leaderboards, and for 888 Poker SnGs the 2023 leaderboard is topped by a player called lavrusha1982. Among his last 8 played games are some $1 BLAST games as well as some MTTs. However if we look at his Breakdown, then he made the vast majority of his money ($64.009 life time profit) playing regular speed 6-9 man SnGs. Only in place 19 do we find a BLAST game, which is the $1 version. He has played 458 of those and lost $31. 458 is a small sample but still a pretty good indication, that even the best SnG regs can not make any money in BLAST.

Is it a complete waste of time or can it be done?

This format is a complete waste of time. If you are going to play Spins, then at least play them on sites, where they give you 25BB to start with.

 

[dreamer13]

I don't recommend it, it's a waste of time.The most common multiplier in all versions of this format is x2, the winner gets a double buy-in.

 

[deucefactory]

not a big fan, alot of these games are dedicated towards shorter game times and max rake

 

[BillyR23]

I'm not a big fan of this format as the variance is pretty crazy even if we don't consider the multiplier part* where most of the time we'll get x2/ x3... I still play some blast from time to time but mostly for fun and if possible with tickets won from free games/ loyalty program/ Twitch giveaways...

 

[kaynbergo]

I used to play blast a lot, for 10 cents, mostly a plus for an hour, but this was to finish off the necessary amount for the tournament, maybe you can play plus over the long distance, but I'm breaking my nerves more

 

[Rachidao]

If you play for fun it's ok I guess, but this is not profitable. Almost every one Is a X2 prize and if you win you just double, then if you lose next you're even, hard to win money.

 

[Fivefor]

Given the breakdown of how often to expect the higher multipliers, it seems that Blast tournaments should be beatable if you are winning at least 38% of the time. It helps if you also play the daily leaderboards so that you can win some free tickets which should also be considered part of your overall ability to turn a profit at Blast games.

In a sample of 300 $2 Blast games I played, for example, my average multiplier was 2.72x which means an average prize pool of $5.43. So if the average win is $5.43 and my cost over 300 games is $600, this means that I need to win 111 games to break even ( 111 x $5.43 = $602.73). 111 wins in 300 games is a 36.8% win rate. So if you are not winning at least 37% of the time then you will be a losing Blast player. Surprisingly, it is actually tougher than I thought it would be to win up near the 38-40% win rate range. I do play an aggressive style and am currently sitting at around 34% win rate so I am adjusting my strategy to see how best to bump those numbers up so that I can run +EV instead of just being a donor.

Would appreciate it if anyone had some specific strategy for the Blast format and if they are actually running profitable at those games.

 

[pancho_1954]

I have played blast a little, a couple of times I tried to play 10 for $1 to see what result I got, sometimes it ended the same as it started and other times in negative, I only remember one time I was able to finish in positive but it wasn't much, it was almost I don't play them, well from time to time I play the 10 cent ones, I think that apart from the knowledge and strategy that you must have to play them, you must be very committed and have a lot of seriousness when playing, not just playing for the sake of playing