Pick ‘Em Against The Spread (ATS) Game Settings
All games are picked against half-point spreads – that prevents a “push”, even if a game ends in a tie, the ATS will produce a winner.
You get 1 point for each correct pick.
How it works: Picking Against the Spread
Picking against the spread is where you try to determine which team will cover the spread; not necessarily which team will win.
While certain teams will win their game, they will not “cover the spread”, and thus if the team is selected it will count as a loss.
Example
The home team is favored by 16.5 points (-16.5)
The home team beats their opponent by 8 points (31 to 23), but, the home team’s spread was (-16.5), so, when picking against the spread, the home team’s score was 14.5 (31 minus 16.5), which is less than their opponent’s score of 23.
This means anyone who picked the home team to win by 16.5 points or more was incorrect, since they only won by 8 points
Tie-Breakers
It is possible, and often happens, the two or more people end up in a tie, with the same amount of correct picks. Each week, RIGHT NEXT TO THE BUTTON YOU CLICK TO SUBMIT YOUR PICKS, is a box to enter your Total Points prediction. This applies to the LAST GAME OF THE WEEK. Important distinction, because the NFL has this new filthy habit of scheduling TWO Monday Night Football games. NO MATTER HOW THAT SHAKES OUT, the LAST game listed in the Picks form is THE TIE BREAKER GAME. Total Points means, add the final score, e.g., 14 to 10=24. You think the game will end 14-10, you enter 24 as your Total Points.
You may ask yourself, “Chunky, couldn’t the tie-breaker end in a tie too?” Yes, Grasshopper. You are very clever. So in that case, we look to the veritable TIME-STAMP. EVERY TIME you press the “SUBMIT” button, the website records the day and time; so whoever submitted their final picks earliest (you can edit them all week long, up until game time for each line), will win out in the tie-breaker tie-breaker. Algebraically, this is expressed as tb2.
Let’s Talk Money, Honey
How we calculate how much each week and the STPC wins is a little complicated, because the NFL added an extra week of Regular Season; we offer those recruiting rebates; AND because I don’t like chump change, so it’s not just an even split. It USED to be easy, it was simply 5% of the pool for each Regular Season week, and 10% for the Season Total Points Champion (STPC). Now it’s a cluster fuq mess.
LEST WE NOT FORGET – there are 4 weeks of post-season/playoffs. That’s a total of 13 games (including the Super Bowl), so we use the entire play-offs as a final Picks week. The Super Bowl then becomes the ONLY relevant tie-breaker game. Get it? Got it? Good.
In short: We round down to the nearest $5, and that means there is money left over each week. All the loose change goes in a money jar, and is added to the STPC payout. DYK? You can win the STPC without ever winning any single week. STPC counts all your correct picks for the entire season. You could lose every week by a point or two or get bounced on a tie-breaker. But if you have the most correct picks all season, you win the STPC!
Another fun fact: If you can average just one game over .500 each week, you will have a real shot at winning STPC. WEEKLY WINNERS usually average 65%-85% correct. That’s why you should never quit on the game, all season long. Any week could be the week you’re on fire.
Last point regarding STPC – it’s never happened, but IF there were a tie at the end of season, we have two options to distribute the money, and ALL eligible winners must agree on the same solution. They can either:
- Fight to the death in a no-holds-barred cage match; or
- Split the prize money evenly.
If you REALLY want the formula(s) for payouts, just ask, I’m happy to share my maffs with anyone.