WoV Picks Game 2014 (Discussion Thread)

Any questions about the game should be posted here.

I will be sending PM invites over the next three days, apologies if you get more than one, but I'll try to avoid that. You are free to announce you want to play in-thread to receive PM reminders, and you may also play even if you do not receive an invite.

The Rules will be as follows:

Format:

Winner Take All (w/exception)

Participation:

You will not need to announce that you are participating in-thread or via PM in advance. The Lines will be posted on Thursday, September 4th, so simply PM me your picks and you are in the game. You MUST make Week 1 Picks to participate, or participate as of Week 2, but Week 1 shall constitute your, 'Skip,' Week. If you wish to receive a reminder, however, please announce you are playing in-thread.

Rules:

1.) The winner will be determined by having the highest winning percentage. In the event of a tie, the winners will have the option of either splitting the take, or they may agree to PM me a Super Bowl pick prior to the Super Bowl, but after the combatants are known, consisting of the winning team, spread and TD's thrown; the winner will be determined in that order. If two Members PM me the same thing, they will BOTH be asked to change at least one aspect of their picks.

2.) The procedure for this will be that at some point on Thursdays, I will post the point spreads and Over/Unders from one source per week. I will likely use VegasInsider and the Spreads & Over/Unders I post will be constant and may be picked at any time prior to 11:59p.m. EST the Saturday before the game.

3.) Sunday/Monday games will be the only games considered. Every player must pick exactly five winners against the Spread, exactly five Over/Unders, or a combination totalling exactly five.

4.) Players may, "Skip," one week without making any picks, but they don't have to. If a player accidentally fails to submit picks, that will constitute the, "Skip," week.

5.) If a player fails to make picks for more than one week, he/she forfeits and will owe any monies lost to the winner(s).

***Any player missing two weeks will have the option of EITHER forfeiting immediately or accepting a record of 0-5 for the second missed week. If the player misses a third week, the forfeit is automatic.

6.) Picks will be PM'ed to me at any point prior to 11:59p.m. Saturday, all picks will be openly posted by me between midnight Sunday and kick-off.

***The exception to this Rule is that I will accept E-Mail Picks from banned Members, but only if they are banned. If you are banned, you can still receive PM's, so I will PM you my E-Mail address.

7.) At some point on Tuesday the picks, results and updated Standings will be posted by yours truly.

8.) CONFIDENCE PICK: You may make one, "Confidence Pick," per week, though you don't have to. Your, "Confidence Pick," must be made expressly clear in your PM. The CONFIDENCE PICK result will count either as two wins or two losses, if made.

PAYS

1.) If you are not the winner, then you will pay $0.10, with a minimum of $1.00, for every one-hundredth of a percentage your winning percentage is off from that of the winner. (i.e., if you batted .000, and the winner picked perfectly, you would owe $100)

2.) In the event that you forfeit the game, you will automatically owe the sum of $25 if you forfeit prior to Week 10. If you forfeit after Week 10, then you will owe the greater of $25 or $0.10 for every one-hundredth percentage point you are away from the winner.

3.) I will not be handling any money. Everyone participating is on the honor system. I am not responsible for non-payment or under-payment. The winner(s) and loser(s) will be responsible for determining privately and amongst themselves how the transaction is to be handled. The winner(s) may post the name(s) of any loser(s) who has AGREED on a method of payment yet failed to pay the winner within sixty (60) days of said agreement being established.

4.) Just to give this thing +EV, I will be paying the winner $25 within thirty days of the SB being played. I will pay by sending a Money Order. I will be defending the $25, but am incapable of winning any prizes.

TIME

1.) The first Sunday of the Season is September 7th, Lines will be posted on Thursday, September 4th.

Pick Format

I'm not really going to enforce this, but the thing that took me the most time in previous years was actually re-formatting the Picks when moving them to the results thread and/or EdCollins' program that he so graciously designed for this game. It would be appreciated if Picks were formatted in a uniform way, so here is how I would strongly (but respectfully) prefer it:

1.) No Line Breaks

2.) For Spread picks, simply put the team nickname and the spread. (Ex: Bengals +5)

3.) For Over/Unders, simply put the team nickname for EITHER team, and the Over or Under amount. (Ex: Bengals OVER 25)

4.) To designate a Confidence Pick, simply put a hyphen and, "Confidence," after the pick. (Ex: Bengals OVER 25-Confidence)

So, a full set of picks might appear:

Patriots -15
Patriots OVER 52
Jaguars +12
Jaguars UNDER 42
Jets +4-Confidence

Let's have a great time, again!

When I win this thing, I intend to give the proceeds to Mission, even if I have to drive there and kick his ass to make him take the money !

I am in and likely "dead money" but it is a whole lot of fun during the season. Thanks for putting in the work to run this again, Mission!

Quote: Paradigm

I am in and likely "dead money" but it is a whole lot of fun during the season. Thanks for putting in the work to run this again, Mission!

I plan on being in last place. I suck at sports betting.

I did real well till the final week last year so I want to play again this time as well. :)

I'm in! Hopefully I can keep my good results going.

2012: 62-24
2013: 51-43
Combined: 113-67

Quote: Mission146

...

Participation:

You will not need to announce that you are participating in-thread or via PM in advance. The Lines will be posted on Thursday, September 4th, so simply PM me your picks and you are in the game. You MUST make Week 1 Picks to participate, or participate as of Week 2, but Week 1 shall constitute your, 'Skip,' Week. If you wish to receive a reminder, however, please announce you are playing in-thread...


PAYS

1.) If you are not the winner, then you will pay $0.10, with a minimum of $1.00, for every one-hundredth of a percentage your winning percentage is off from that of the winner. (i.e., if you batted .000, and the winner picked perfectly, you would owe $100)

2.) In the event that you forfeit the game, you will automatically owe the sum of $25 if you forfeit prior to Week 10. If you forfeit after Week 10, then you will owe the greater of $25 or $0.10 for every one-hundredth percentage point you are away from the winner.

To be very clear, IF YOU ENTER, AND DON'T WIN, YOU WILL NEED TO PAY BETWEEN $1 AND $100. THERE IS NO GRACE PERIOD.

How many people did not pay up last year?

WELCHERS NOT WELCOME AND WILL BE DEALT WITH ACCORDINGLY !

Quote: kmumf

How many people did not pay up last year?

Two. One claimed to not know that he would be obligated to pay if he bailed after a poor first week. The other is making alternate arrangements for payment. Overall, very very good. However, I would like to avoid the drama by making sure anyone new to the game is clear on what they are getting into.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Two. One claimed to not know that he would be obligated to pay if he bailed after a poor first week. The other is making alternate arrangements for payment. Overall, very very good. However, I would like to avoid the drama by making sure anyone new to the game is clear on what they are getting into.

both of those people should be listed here and both excluded from playing this year.

Also, a rule that says no Mario ;-)

I'm in and reminders are very welcome, Pierce!

Ayecarumba, I'm sorry to hear that you were not payed in full.
Let's hope this year we get 100% players paying up their debts.
As for Mike, I really think that 6X-2X is a hell of a score to beat...

i guess I got the best deal then last year- thanks ayecarumba , maybe we can split it again

Please include me, Pierce.

I'm in Pierce

I have got $25 that says I finish ahead of the man behind the curtain.

Even money, if you want to be spotted, you should have been born a leopard.

Me too. I'm in.

Quote: strictlyAP

i guess I got the best deal then last year- thanks ayecarumba , maybe we can split it again

I would be quite happy to be in a position to even consider the opportunity to chop the championship this year. It is going to be tough. The Wizard is looking to repeat his 2012-13 smackdown.

I'm in. Please out me on the reminder's list. I wonder how many of my picks will be made with less than 5 minutes to spare?

Okay Mission (and anyone else who wants a copy), here's the link to this year's Ed's Wizard of Vegas NFL Forum Contest Grading Calculator.

It's unchanged since last year, other than this year's NFL schedule for the year has been entered. I hope it makes things easier again.

With a program the size of this, I do expect another bug or two to crop up. My apologies in advance. As before, I'm a little nervous in uploading it since I don't want it to crash and burn over something stupid, but I guess I shouldn't be. Maybe we got all of the bugs out of it last year!

As before, just cut an paste everyone's picks into the Summary and Picks worksheet tab. The format is player name, followed by an optional empty line, followed by a mandatory five lines of picks, folowed by another optional empty line before the next entry.

Enter the Contest Line and Contest Over/Under Line in the NFL Lines and Results worksheet tab.

When the NFL games have finished, just enter the final scores in this same tab.

Once the scores have been entered, swap back over to the Summary & Picks tab and click the Grade Player Picks button.

That's pretty much it.

Note that you can "grade" the picks, even with no NFL results yet entered. Although there are no results, the program will still check each player's picks for potential errors.

I will play this season. The contest ends after week 17, right?

Quote: Mission146

may be picked at any time prior to 11:59p.m. EST the Saturday before the game.

Considering that the majority of this contest will be played during daylight savings time, I propose this language in the official rules be changed to 11:59 p.m. EDT

Quote: sodawater

I will play this season. The contest ends after week 17, right?



Considering that the majority of this contest will be played during daylight savings time, I propose this language in the official rules be changed to 11:59 p.m. EDT

It's pretty close to half and half isn't it?

Quote: wudged

It's pretty close to half and half isn't it?

Maybe it should be "Midnight whereever Mission is"?

Quote: wudged

It's pretty close to half and half isn't it?

Yes

I'm not very active on this site, but I like the sound of this contest. Count me in.

Looks like we have alot of interest.
Just to be Crystal clear to alot new people here, there is a 98% chance you will lose money.
This contest costs money but its an honor system settled at the end of the season.
on the positive, if you lose, it wont be alot.
Its alot of fun.

I will be playing again this year and appreciate the reminders. Thanks for your work on this.

What time and where do the lines get posted? Is tonight's game "off the board"?

Quote: GenWyzgy

What time and where do the lines get posted? Is tonight's game "off the board"?

Rule 3 says only Sunday/Monday games are considered

I am dead money, but I am in

Dead Money is always welcome !

Buzz, if I do win, you better not tell me to go find my hat when pay time comes.

I never welch. I might include a hat in the payoff though. Do you own a strainer ?

Greetings!

It gives me great pleasure to say:

Quote:

The Week 1 Lines have been posted!

https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/sports/19451-wov-picks-game-2014-official-thread/#post393415

Picks are due by Saturday 9/6/2014 at 23:59 EST.

Good luck to all, and let's have another great year!

Silly question Line is posted by City or State. Pick has to be by team name ?

Anyway my pick is in. Opening week is always tuff for me, probably 4-1.

The computer program allows for either, so even though Mascot is still my preference, it's not as important as it was when I was doing this manually.

my picks are in. I am willing to sell my picks since you would be able to bet the opposite and go at least 4-1

Quote: Mission146

The computer program allows for either, so even though Mascot is still my preference, it's not as important as it was when I was doing this manually.

Since you normally post the lines with the city names it is natural for people to submit them that way.

The contest ends after week 17, right?

I'm back this year after taking 2013 off. I finished above .500 in 2012 so I hope to make a run at this. Let's GO!

If a member is suspended and unable to make his picks this week, it will just be his skip week ? Becaise I belive someone is about to get suspended.

Quote: Buzzard

If a member is suspended and unable to make his picks this week, it will just be his skip week ? Becaise I belive someone is about to get suspended.

Are you really in favor of a policy that anyone who trolls should be suspended, and any suspended member loses the chance to post picks for that week? Are you sure you've thought this through?

Absolutely.

Quote: Buzzard

Absolutely.

As your attorney, I must advise against this.

My exwife has an in with the judge.

Quote: sodawater

The contest ends after week 17, right?

Yes. It ends with the close of the regular season. If there is a tie, the rules state that Superbowl predictions will be used to break it (unless the tied players decide to chop).

You know the official thread does not state it in the rules that i can find.. but im pretty sure we had to make 5 picks for a full 'ballet' correct?

Quote: Malaru

You know the official thread does not state it in the rules that i can find.. but im pretty sure we had to make 5 picks for a full 'ballet' correct?

Correct.

3.) Sunday/Monday games will be the only games considered. Every player must pick exactly five winners against the Spread, exactly five Over/Unders, or a combination totalling exactly five.

Quote: Buzzard

If a member is suspended and unable to make his picks this week, it will just be his skip week ? Becaise I belive someone is about to get suspended.

A suspended Member can still receive (just not send) PM"s. If this were to happen, I would PM a Member my E-Mail address with which that Member could submit his/her Picks, but E-Mail picks will ONLY be accepted in the event a Member is Suspended.

Who is going to get suspended?