| Have you every went to your free football pick | | | | To win a on-line contest of any kind is quite |
| em contest site on Monday morning anticipating | | | | difficult because of the number of people you are |
| seeing your name in the #1 position in the | | | | playing against. But you can cut the odds by |
| standings only to find you are in 27,345 place? | | | | playing in the contests that have a small fee and |
| You picked 15 correct out of 16 possible | | | | you can cut it even further by playing against the |
| selections and you were so far down the list that | | | | spread. Either way the goal is to pick as many |
| you felt like hitting the delete button on the | | | | winners as possible and hope between your doing |
| contest site. Yep that is normal for the more | | | | your homework and a little bit (a whole lot of |
| popular contests like ESPN and the major sporting | | | | luck) you can get more winners than everyone |
| publications who draw hundreds of thousands of | | | | else. Here are a few tips for picking winners in the |
| contestants each year. But don't panic, if you | | | | no point contests: |
| really look at the above situation, you are really in | | | | You can determine which of the two teams is the |
| 2nd place and only 1 game out of being in first | | | | better team by just looking at the point spread at |
| place. If the maximum picks available were 16, | | | | one of the online books or sometimes in your |
| and you had 15, the most the leader could have is | | | | local paper. USA Today also posts point spreads |
| 16 thus putting you in 2nd place. | | | | on all games. The team that is showing the (-) |
| There is little doubt that going up against that | | | | minus before the number is the favorite. Example: |
| many people will make the contest closer to the | | | | New England -7 over NY Jets means the |
| odds of a lottery than a contest of skill. Some of | | | | oddsmakers believe the Patriots to be 7 points |
| these "free" contests offer some very nice | | | | better than the NY Jets in this particular weeks |
| prizes, but usually the big cash prizes come from | | | | game. |
| the contests that carry some sort of cash entry | | | | Once you determine who the favorites are, look |
| fee. Of course now your chances of winning are | | | | for the all the favorites with point spreads of 7 |
| enhanced as the number of participants is | | | | points or more and just automatically pick them in |
| drastically reduced, but then again these contests | | | | your contest. These teams will only lose the |
| are usually the ones that draw the very good | | | | game straight up about 20% of the time. You |
| sport handicappers, the ones who are the serious | | | | then want to look for those teams that are |
| players in sport betting and handicapping. | | | | playing at home and are either getting 3 points or |
| Personally I would rather take my chances with | | | | less or are favored. These should be automatic |
| fewer people and put forth a little effort to | | | | picks. Now the fun starts. Every week there are |
| research the schedule and pick the winners. | | | | 3 or 4 games that do not fall into these |
| There are two types of football pick 'em | | | | scenarios, and these are the games that usually |
| contests, the ones that require you to only pick | | | | make the difference between cashing in the |
| the winner of the game outright, and then the | | | | money and racking up the season as just having |
| type that are played "against the spread". Again | | | | a lot of fun. |
| you have a huge difference in the number of | | | | Finding those 3 or 4 teams to pull off the upset |
| entries you are up against and the odds of | | | | will take doing some research. Reading news |
| someone getting a "perfect" card on a given | | | | articles, reviewing injury reports, looking at game |
| Sunday are extremely remote. A very good | | | | situations, weather conditions etc.....Of course now |
| football handicapper is hard pressed to win 60% | | | | we are getting into hard core handicapping, and |
| of the games he picks against the spread. The | | | | unless you are experienced and have the time |
| spread is a number assigned to the weaker of | | | | try, your best and have fun. There is a sources |
| the two teams to even the score so to speak | | | | that can help such as sport services and betting |
| for betting purposes. The Sport Books in Las | | | | advisors, but you certainly don't want to pay for |
| Vegas would not exist if they allowed bettors to | | | | services for a on-line contest unless you were |
| just place wagers on who will win the game. So | | | | getting close to cashing in on a big win, but then |
| they establish a point spread to try to even out | | | | you came this far without them, why switch now. |
| the betting on each team as much as possible. | | | | |