The Millionaire Maker: PokerStars player wins $1 million in a $5 Spin & Go
PokerStars player “dillerfar19” from Denmark turned $5 into a cool $1 million in minutes via a Spin & Go.
There are a few moments in poker where the anticipation of what might be is almost electric.
Like peeking at your first hole card before the second is dealt… and seeing an ace.
Or knocking a player out of a Mystery Bounty tournament on PokerStars and waiting to discover the prize you’ve won.
But the most common, for Spin & Go players at least, is finding out which top prize you’re playing for. Prize pools in the rapid-fire, three-handed tournaments are randomly drawn, so you never know whether you’ll be playing for double the buy-in or seven figures.
We can only begin to imagine how it must feel to enter a $5 Spin & Go, then see the prize spinner land on $1 million up top, $120,000 for second, and a guaranteed payout of $80,000 for third.
But last week, three PokerStars players discovered exactly how that feels.
THE SPIN BEGINS
Those three lucky players who entered the $5 Spin & Go and saw the epic prizes on offer were:
- “KuCoH” (Belarus)
- “dillerfar19” (Denmark)
- “malakaio300” (Brazil)
It’s worth remembering that $5 Spin & Go’s most commonly offer a single prize of $10, $15, or $25, with nothing for second or third. So suddenly having $80,000 locked up must have been a huge shock to the system.
But the trio held it together and play began.
"KuCoH" from Belarus took a blow to their stack early on at the hands of "malakaio300" and could never recover. It folded to "malakaio300" in the small blind and they moved all in with J♣2♥. "KuCoH" had 7♦K♥ in the big blind and made a correct call, but the board had other ideas, pairing the deuce.
With that elimination, the other two were guaranteed at least an additional $40,000.
HEADS-UP
That pot meant Brazil's "malakaio300" took an almost 2:1 chip lead into heads-up, but that lead switched immediately.
In the first hand of heads-up, "malakaio300" jammed with 5♣5♥ and Denmark's "dillerfar19" called with K♦Q♥. This flip was worth hundreds of thousands, and it went the Dane's way as two kings hit the board.
The lead changed just a few hands later, though, when "malakaio300" called all in with A♠4♦ against K♣J♣ and held. Stacks evened after a few small pots, but "dillerfar19" eventually moved in front.
THE FINAL HAND
All the money went in when "malakaio300" jammed the button with K♦8♣ and was called by 7♦7♠. "dillerfar19" was 57% to win with their pair, compared to the 42.5% of the two overs.
The 3♠7♥6♣ flop gave the Dane a set and left the Brazilian drawing very thin, with only runner-runner straight cards available to save them.
The J♠turn meant they were drawing dead, and it was all over. But just in case there was any doubt, the river was the 7♣ to give "dillerfar19" quads.
It was an incredible end to what is surely a life-shaking victory for "dillerfar19", a player who usually dabbles in $0.50 - $5 Spin & Go's.
The Spin & Go dream is alive and well, folks. You never know when what might be will be.
FURTHER READING
SPIN & GO CHAMPIONSHIP LIVE PARIS
POKERSTARS ANNOUNCE SPIN & GO MERGE TO IMPROVE PLAYER EXPERIENCE
SPIN & GO VS SIT & GO - WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
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