Chapter 10: Where to Start?

You now have a solid understanding of how Spins work and how variance affects your results.

Let's quickly recap the key points:

• It is possible to make money in Spins, but it requires work and discipline.
• The breakeven threshold is around 36 to 36.5% ITM, depending on the room. With rakeback, this percentage can be lower.
• Short-term variance is huge: a winning player can string together losses, while a losing player can run good over several hundred games.
• A bankroll of at least 100 buy-ins is necessary to handle the swings without risking going broke.
• Tilt is inevitable: knowing how to manage it and putting anti-tilt strategies in place is essential.

Now that you have these foundations, the question is: where do you start to grind Spins?

1. Choose your poker room

If you haven't already, start by selecting the room where you'll be grinding. To maximize your profits, compare:

• The rake (the fee taken from each tournament).
• The effective rake (the more a room offers big jackpots, the higher the effective rake tends to be).
• Rakeback offers (partial refund of the rake in the form of rewards).

2. Select your starting stake

If you're just starting out, begin at the lowest stake available (€0.25 or €0.50). Even if you already have poker experience, it's recommended to prove yourself at the lower stakes before moving up.

3. Deposit an appropriate bankroll

Following the bankroll management recommendations from chapter 8:

• For €0.25 Spins, a bankroll of €25 to €50 is enough.
• For €1 Spins, plan for €100 to €200.

4. Install a tracker

A tracker is an essential tool for analyzing your game. I strongly recommend Poker Spin Tracker. We specifically created this tracker for Spin players, and you'll find a lot of (very) interesting information about your game if you play this format.

5. Start your first sessions

When starting out, play just one table, or two at most, to properly understand the dynamics of the format.

Be aware of your emotions and variance: don't draw any conclusions after just a few dozen or hundred games — you might lose or win a lot quickly without it meaning anything.

6. Start improving

Playing is good. Studying your game alongside it is essential.

However, balancing volume and study isn't always easy:

• When you're winning, you tend to want to keep playing.
• Similarly when you're losing, to try to recover as quickly as possible.
• When you're comfortable in your comfort zone, you may rest on your laurels and neglect learning.