$5 SPINS Tournament See partypoker Player Win $1 Million


Imagine sitting down to play online poker, entering a $5 buy-in tournament and only 19 hands later you were sat with $1 million in your account. It sounds like a dream scenario. This is exactly what happened to a British player called James “James23C” Carmichael at partypoker on June 11th.

Carmichael, a London-based recreational poker player, bought into a $5 SPINS tournament at partypoker at around 12:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday 11th June. Only 19 hands later, Carmichael became the first SPINS millionaire.

SPINS are partypoker’s take on so-called “jackpot sit & go” tournaments. partypoker’s first foray into jackpot sit & go games were called “Sit & Go Hero” and they were different to other online poker sites’ offerings in that the tournaments were played on four-handed tables with one of the players having a cash bounty on their heads. partypoker swapped to a three-handed format and removed the bounty player following feedback from its customers.

The prize pool in SPINS is randomly determined before the first hands are dealt. Once each player has bought in, a prize pool multiplier spins around the table before settling, and that is the prize pool the trio of players will compete for. Prize pool multipliers range from twice the buy-in up to, in the case of the $5 SPINS, 240,000 times.

Multiplier 1st place 2nd place 3rd place Frequency per 1M games
240,000x $1,000,000 $100,000 $100,000 1
1,200x $5,000 $500 $500 6
120x $500 $50 $50 20
25x $125 200
10x $50 1,000
6x $30 15,000
4x $20 218,927
2x $10 764,846

A $1.2 Million Prize Pool For a $5 Buy-in

It was the 240,000 times multiplier that Carmichael and his two opponents triggered, meaning they were playing for a share of $1.2 million for only a $5 investment. Instead of a winner-takes-all format, this prize pool was distributed among all three players, with second and third place securing a $100,000 payout and the eventual champion adding $1 million to their partypoker account.

It only took 16 hands before the first elimination occurred. Carmichael and a Peruvian player known as “nilverlobo” entered a raising war that resulted in nilverlobo being all in with a pair of nines against the ace-king in the hand of Carmichael. The nines remained best on the flop, but Carmichael paired his ace on the turn and his king on the river to soar into a significant chip lead and resign nilverlobo to a $100,000 consolation prize.

A few hands later, Carmichael locked up the seven-figure top prize. Mexico’s “elielalbiter” moved their short stack all in with what turned out to be a pair of sixes and Carmichael called with the king-nine of diamonds. The Mexican flopped a set of sixes, but the first three community cards showed two diamonds, giving Camichael a flush draw. That flush draw came in with the arrival of the eight of diamonds on the turn before the king of clubs completed the board, busting elielalbiter in second-place for $100,000 and leaving a delighted Carmichael to collect $1 million.

Carmichael now plans to invest some his newfound wealth to secure his long-term future in addition to extending his planned two-month stay at Camp America in the United States, according to a partypoker press release.

partypoker Could Be Heading to Nevada

partypoker used to be the largest online poker site in the world until they withdrew from the United States in 2006 when the U.S. government passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The company still operates in the United States, although currently only in the state of New Jersey.

Residents of Nevada could soon also be playing at partypoker because GVC Holdings, the parent company of partypoker, recently secured a gaming license in the gambling haven through a partnership with the U.S. casino and hospitality giant MGM Resorts International.

A meeting on Thursday 23rd May saw four members of Nevada’s state gambling regulator vote unanimously in favor of awarding a license GVC Holdings. GVC will, however, have to return to the state regulator in 2021 and show them how it has reassessed some of its operations. This term has been applied due to Ladbrokes Coral, a gambling company GVC Holdings bought in December 2017 for $5.35 billion, offering its services to gamblers living in Turkey, a “grey market” when it comes to online gambling.

Matthew Pitt

Matthew Pitt



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