Table of Contents
The NFL season is quickly approaching, and fans everywhere are getting ready for another year of action. Football is one of the most popular sports in the United States, and the NFL is the pinnacle of professional football. Each year, the best teams in the league compete for the coveted Super Bowl title.
The NFL season is split into two parts: the regular season and the playoffs. The regular season consists of 16 games, and each team plays every other team in their division twice. The top six teams from each conference then advance to the playoffs, where they compete in a single-elimination tournament.
The NFL season culminates with the Super Bowl, which is the biggest sporting event in the world. Every year, millions of fans tune in to watch the championship football game, and the winner earns bragging rights for life.
With the National Football League season just around the corner it means that it’s time for office pools (or pools with friends and family)! If you’ve never participated in an NFL pool before, don’t worry – it’s easy to get started.
Simply put, an NFL office pool is a pool where participants wager on the outcome of each week’s games. The person who correctly predicts the most games wins the pool prize. Office pools are a great way to add excitement to the season and earn bragging rights of your own.
But before you jump into a pool, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First, make sure you understand the rules of the pool. Second, do your homework. Take some time to research the teams and players before you make your pool picks. Finally, remember that NFL pools are meant to be fun. Don’t take them too seriously – make sure to take time and enjoy the experience.
What is a Confidence Pool?
In a confidence pool you pick the winner of every game. After you make your picks, each pick is assigned a certain number of “confidence points”. The number of points assigned to each pick is equal to the total number of picks made by all members minus the pick’s ranking.
In an NFL Confidence pool participants must not only pick the winning team in each matchup, but they must also assign a “confidence” ranking to each pick which will indicate how confident they are that their choice will prevail. For example, a member might give their most confident pick a “4” and their least confident pick a “1.”
So, if you are very confident that the New England Patriots will win their game, you might assign them a point value of 16. But if you are less confident in the outcome of another game, you might only assign a point value of 3. The goal is to accumulate the highest point total as possible over the course of the season. Standings are typically updated each week and for the year-to-date.
Points in a confidence pool are made straight up, not using a point spread. This means that it simply awards points for correctly picking the winning team in each game. The point spread system, on the other hand, is more complex. In this system, points are awarded based on how correctly you pick not only the winning team, but also the margin of victory. For example, if you correctly pick the Green Bay Packers and they won by 10 points, you will earn more points than if you correctly picked the Carolina Panthers that won by 7 points.
This added level of strategy makes for a more exciting and challenging pool format. So in order to maximize your chances of winning, you need to not only make correct picks, but you also need to correctly rank how confident you are in each pick.
Let’s Talk Strategy
When participating in an NFL confidence pool, it’s important to have a strategy. There are a few different ways to approach making picks for a confidence pool:
- One strategy is to choose all your favorites. This means that you think your favorite will win every game. So, if your favorite teams are the Cowboys, Bengals, and the Eagles you’ll pick them and roll with what results the season brings. While this is certainly the safest approach, it also means that you’re likely not going to win if there’s an upset or two.
- Another approach is to choose a mix of favorites and underdogs. This can help increase your chances of winning, but it also means that you have to be more strategic in your picks. You’ll need to weigh factors like how confident you are in each team’s ability to win and what the point spread is.
- Some people choose to go with all underdogs. This is obviously the riskiest strategy, but it can pay off if there are a lot of upsets. Do your homework after the season’s draft and see what underdog teams have the most promise. For example, 2021 saw upsets when the New York Jets beat the Cincinnati Bengals, the Denver Broncos beat the Dallas Cowboys, and the Detroit Lions beat the Arizona Cardinals.
- One popular approach is to choose a mix of heavy favorites and underdogs. This strategy maximizes your chances of picking winners, while also giving you a chance to accumulate extra points with upsets.
- Another common strategy is to focus on divisional games. These tend to be more predictable than non-divisional games, making them a good choice for pool participants who want to avoid taking too many risks.
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to NFL confidence pool strategy. It depends on how much risk you want to take! Regardless of which strategy you choose, remember that the key to success in any confidence pool is to do your homework and make informed picks.
Run Your Confidence Pool With RunYourPool.com
If you’re interested in starting a confidence pool, there’s no better place to do it than RunYourPool.com. The website makes it easy for participants to login and make their picks directly, without having to go through a paper pick sheet. This helps to prevent errors and ensures that everyone makes their picks on time. Additionally, RunYourPool automatically updates standings and reports in real-time, so you’ll never have to worry about number crunching or delays in getting information. Your poolies will even be able to login to see their standings whenever they want! Sign up today and add some excitement to your NFL Sundays!
