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The National Football League (NFL) season is about to begin! The NFL season is one of the most popular sporting events in the United States, with millions of fans tuning in to watch each week. The league is also one of the most profitable, with television rights and ticket sales generating billions of dollars in revenue. The NFL is widely considered to be the most popular sport in America, with millions of fans tuning in to watch every week.
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). Each team plays sixteen regular season games. The NFL playoffs will then begin in January, with the top two teams from each conference vying for the ultimate win in the Super Bowl.
The NFL season comes with all kinds of fun ways to make your fandom even more fun, like watch parties, tailgating, and NFL pools. NFL pick’em pools are arguably the most popular way to create a little competition amongst fellow fans.
How Do NFL Pick Em Pools Work?
One way to make your football season even more enjoyable is to participate in an NFL pick ’em pool. In a football pick’em pool, each participant, or poolie, tries to predict the outcome of each week’s games.
The Basics
So, it’s time to start planning your NFL pick’em pool! If you’re new to the game, here’s a quick rundown of how it works. First, you’ll need to choose a group of friends, family members, or coworkers who are also interested in playing.
There are two ways to start your pool, straight up or using point spread:
- Straight up means that you will make your decisions based on the actual outcome of the games (who wins or loses).
- A spread means that you will make your picks based on the difference in points between the two teams. For example, you might predict that your chosen team will win by at least a 5 point margin.
Next, you’ll each need to make your picks for each week of the season. You can use any method you like to make your picks depending on which kind of pick’em format is most appealing and enjoyable to you. Once you’ve made your picks, you’ll just need to sit back and enjoy the games!
Every poolie will receive a single point (or a customized amount of points) for every correct pick during the football season. Your standing in your pick’em football pool will be calculated each week and for the year-to-date for each poolie’s total points. And if you’re lucky enough to have the most correct picks at the end of the season, you’ll be taking home the prize!
Pick’Em With Best Bets
In a pick ’em pool, participants try to predict the winners of each NFL game. They can either select the team they think will win outright or choose a “spread” that gives one team a points advantage. A common way to increase the stakes in a pick ’em pool is to select one or more of your picks as a “best bet.” A best bet is worth a certain amount of points, and it usually pays out more if you correctly predict an upset.
For example, if you think the Dallas Cowboys are going to beat the Kansas City Chiefs by more than 6 points, you might choose them as your best bet. If the Cowboys win by 7 points or more, you would receive extra points.
Pick’Em With Confidence
In a pick’em pool with confidence points, participants try to predict the winner of each NFL game and rank their team picks based on their level of confidence. Each week, you’ll pick the winner of every game and rank your picks 16-1 based on your level of confidence.
For example, in a confidence pool, if you think the Cleveland Browns are going to beat the Buffalo Bills, you might choose them as your best bet. If the Browns win and you ranked them as 10 (out of your 16-1) points or more, you would receive 10 points.
The higher you rank a team, the more points you’ll receive for a win. In order to pick winners with confidence, it’s important to do your research and know the matchups inside and out. Pay attention to which teams are hot and which are cold, and don’t be afraid to make a bold pick when you’re feeling confident. With a little effort, you can give yourself a leg up on the competition.
Gaining the Advantage
Pick ’em pools can be a lot of fun, but they can also be quite competitive. If you’re looking to give yourself an edge over the competition, there are a few things you can do:
- Familiarize yourself with each team’s strengths and weaknesses. Pay attention to which teams are playing well and which are struggling.
- Don’t be afraid to make bold predictions. Although it’s always possible for an underdog to win, most pick ’em pools are won by picking favorites.
- Don’t get too discouraged if you have a bad week or two, standings are likely to fluctuate.
- Take note of the location of the games. Home Field advantage is a real thing in the NFL, and it’s worth considering when making your picks.
- Look at the weather forecast. Games played in cold or wet conditions can often be decided by which team is better equipped to deal with the elements.
- Check the injury report. Some key players may be inactive for their team’s game, which could have a significant impact on the outcome.
- Remember that the smaller your pool is, the less risky it is to take larger risks.
Things like weather conditions, recent injuries, and even which team is playing at home or on the road can all have an impact on the final score. By taking these factors into account, you’ll be able to make more informed picks that are more likely to win you the contest. So don’t just blindly choose your favorite team each week – take a little time to do your research and give yourself a better chance to come out on top.
Even the best predictors sometimes have off weeks. But by taking all of these factors into account, you’ll give yourself a much better chance of correctly picking more winners each week.
Consider This When Commissioning A Pick’Em Pool
Making picks for your NFL pick’em contest can be a fun and exciting way to stay involved with the league all season long. But if you really want to up your game, it’s important to consider all of the contextual factors that can affect the outcome of each matchup.
- How you want to structure your pool’s scoring system
- Your pool size
- The number of weeks left in the season to run your pool
- Your pool’s stakes
Customize Your Pool With RunYourPool
RunYourPool has an easy to use pick’em pool set up to set up traditional pick’em pools, automatically setting the most popular format and keeping your pick sheet. But, if you want to take your pick’em pool to the next level, your commissioner can set your pool format to a standard pick’em, a pick’em with best bets, or a pick’em with confidence points. To customize your pool even further, you’ll be able to choose whether you want to consider spread points (and if your commissioner wants to set them manually). RunYour pool makes the experience easy to run by allowing your poolies to login to the website directly to make their picks and then sending them to you using automation, automating pool standings, and making it impossible for your poolies to make errors when submitting picks. Whether you want a standard pick’em pool to compete with your friends, or a challenging customized pool to make your competition even more exciting, RunYourPool can help you get started and carry you all the way across the goal line!
