If you’re not familiar with them, in PokerStars Spin & Go tournaments, the prize pool isn’t known by the players until registration has completed. They were thought to have more of a “luck” factor than skill with their winner-take-all format. However, a notable high-stakes sit and go player has, through a lengthy test, possibly shown that skill trumps luck in Spin & Gos.

High-stakes sit and go player Bighuslatook up a challenge in January to play 5,000 $30 Spin & Gos within a month time frame at PokerStars, stating he believed he could maintain a chip expected value of 8.5%. To make things interesting, Bighusla made a prop bet out of the proposal, giving those who wanted to bet against him 3-1 odds for their money. Bighusla recently completed that challenge and the numbers proved that, at least for Bighusla, his skill was able to defeat the game for a profit.

After playing 5,054 Spin & Gos, Bighusla was able to exceed his cEV goal of 8.5%, eventually finishing with a cEV of 8.8%. More importantly, Bighusla was able to rack up nearly $11,000 in profit from playing these events.

Previous to this, many thought that the Spin & Go tournaments were not beatable by players due to several factors. Because of the nature of the tournaments, which are hyper-turbo with only three other players and a winner-take-all format, it would be difficult to turn a profit. There is also a significant rake for these tournaments – for Bighusla it was 5% – which would make it difficult to turn a profit.

In an interview with Jocelyn Wood, Bighusla pointed out some aspects that allowed him to be successful. “The most important thing to remember when playing these games is to treat every game like there’s a huge jackpot to win,” he stated. “Winning the two times (2X) tournaments proved to be just as important as winning the six times (6X) multipliers in the long term.”

Bighusla also found that straight game theory wasn’t always the best way to go about attacking Spin & Gos. Bighusla changed to a more exploitative strategy that proved to bring about better results for him.

Spin & Gos have long been a point of contention in the online poker community for several reasons. While many like them because they are quick and can be played easily on a smartphone or a tablet, there are those who dislike them because they draw away from the normal Sit & Go player pool. Add in the potential for a big payday if a player were to win one of the tournaments with a significant multiplier and it is easy to see why they have become popular.

So what will Bighusla do with his prop bet profits? “I’m looking for some charity advice on what to do with some of the money,” he commented to Wood. “I’d rather give directly to those in need rather than donating to charitable organizations since I don’t trust them.”

Some of the money Bighusla has already designated to donating 20 laptops to foster children in his hometown of Brooklyn, but other contributions have yet to be determined.

Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook.