Pool Rules

To enter, fill in the entry form by making your pick for each game. The goal is to pick the winning team, based on the point spread (see below).

You will also be asked to guess the total points scored in the Monday Night Football game (or whatever the last scheduled game of that week is). This will be used as the 2nd tiebreaker.

The winner for each week will be the player with the highest score. In the event of a tie, the player with the most games picked correctly will win the tie. The second tie breaker goes to the player who guessed closest to the actual point total of the tiebreaker game. Should any players still be tied after applying the tiebreaker, the winnings for that position will be divided equally among those players.

For the tiebreaker, it does not matter if your point total is over or under the actual score total. It is only the difference that counts.

Weekly: There will be 3 weekly winners, as we ran it last year. The pot will depend on how many people we have playing…..but the goal is to at least match last year’s numbers, $200 for first, $100 for second, and $50 for third.

Season: Last year we paid out to the top 10 spots. The number of positions we pay depends on how many participants we have, so we cannot determine that until later in the season. Last year 1st was $5,000, and 10th was $200 -- so we'll see what happens!

Scoring

When making an entry, you must assign confidence points to each game. The point values range from one to however many games there are that week and you may use each number only once. You should assign the highest point values to the picks you are most confident about.

Your score will be the total of the confidence points assigned to each correctly picked game. If you pick a game correctly, you get positive confidence points. If you pick incorrectly, you get negative confidence points.

Point Spreads

You must consider the point spread for games when making picks. The Administrator will set the point spread for each game every week. Typically, the spread for the Thursday Night Game is input on Tuesday, and the rest of the spreads are input on Wednesday.

The point spread is also referred to as the line. On the entry form you'll see this next to favored team. If the line as not been set for a game, it will not be displayed.

The value shown always applies to the favored team. A negative point spread means that the team is favored by that many points. All spreads will be in .5 point increments, to eliminate the possibility of ties.

You want to pick the team that will win "against the spread." For example, if a team is favored by 6.5 points, they must win by 7 points (or more) to be considered the winner. As another example, say a team is a 3.5 point underdog but they lose by only 3 points, they would be considered the winner.

Making and Changing Weekly Entries

When filling in an entry form, you do not have to make a pick for every game. All that is required is that you enter a point total for the tiebreaker. This is helpful if there are early games scheduled for a given week (games played on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday). You may make your picks for these games beforehand and complete the rest later.

Note that when you make a pick, you must also assign a confidence point value to it as well. Valid point values are 1, 2, 3 and so on, up to the number of games scheduled that week. Remember that each number can only be used once.

Locked Games

Games are automatically locked out on the entry form according to their scheduled date and time. Early games, such as Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or London games, are locked at the start of the individual game. All remaining games (including any Monday night games) are locked at the scheduled start time of the first regular Sunday game.

Times displayed on the schedule are Eastern.

You may change your pick for any game up until the time that game is locked. This includes changing your confidence points. You may also change your tiebreaker point total up until the time that all entries are locked on Sunday.

You can delete your entry, if desired, provided no games for that week have been locked.

Entries must be completed on time. Once a game is locked, you may not change your pick for it.

If you forget to make your picks for a week, you will be given the lowest score that was recorded for that week. If you forget to pick a team, but have a point value assigned to the game, you will then receive the negative value you assigned. If you forget to assign a point value for a game, but picked a team, then the missing point value will be assigned. All other situations will be up to the discretion of the pool management. NOTE, an error message will appear to let you know you have incomplete picks, but the picks you have made will be recorded.

The Administrator may make exceptions for extenuating circumstances on an individual basis. By participating you agree to abide by the above rules and accept any decisions made by the Administrator.

Changing Your Picks

You will always be able to change your picks as many times as you want up until the games lock.

Waiting Until the Last Minute

If you’re one of those people who likes to make their picks at the last minute, you run the risk of getting cut off at game time. It’s your responsibility to get your picks in on time, so if you get cut off, you’ll be given the lowest score recorded for that week. – Advice is to get picks in early, then go back and change any that you want later.

Payment

The total cost for the season is $180.00 ($10.00/week). NEW POLICY: Please note payment for the pool is due no later than Saturday, September 23rd. This means money must be in my hands by that date, not in the mail. This gives you over a month to get me the payment so no excuses. Anyone who has not paid by that date will be removed from the pool. If you are someone who would like to break the payments up then I will accept the following method: you can send me 3 checks by 9/23 – one for the first payment of $80 by the 9/23 cutoff date, a second check for $50 post-dated for no later than October 31st, and a third check for $50 post-dated for no later than November 30th. Some of you have done this in the past and it has worked fine. By agreeing to be in this pool, you are agreeing to the fact that you will be participating for the full season, 18 weeks, will pay for the full season, and will not back out at anytime during the season. The payment records will be kept on a separate sheet, it will not be linked to the website. Please keep in mind that it is also your responsibility to make sure that your payment has been recorded. TWaz will always let you know once he has received your payment. If you make a payment and 4 weeks later tell me it hasn’t been recorded, what is recorded will stand, so please keep track of your payments to make sure they’ve been recorded.

If you have trouble accessing the site, logging in or otherwise completing your entry, please contact the Administrator for help.

To make picks, view results and find additional information, see the site map.