Video:Understanding Football Picks and Point Spreads

Transcript:Understanding Football Picks and Point Spreads

Before you put your money down in your office pool or place your bet, here are some basics to understanding picking football teams and point spreads. 

Football Picks Predict the Winning Team

When choosing a team in a pool or contest, you are selecting them to win the game. One important item to consider is their history with the team they are playing and also any injuries to key players that may affect the game.  Another thing to consider is how they have been playing their last four games, this will show if the team has been playing well together.  Individuals get stats, teams win games! The concept of football picks pools/contests is to reward the person that predicts the most winners. 

Point Spreads Evaluate the Football Teams' Chances

Sometimes Vegas point spreads can be very helpful in determining which team has the better chance to win as point spreads let you know what experts think. Let’s consider some point spread basics: if a team is favored, they will have a negative number beside their team name, let’s say (-3), this example would mean they would need to win the game by more than 3 points.  If the team wins the game by 1 or 2 points, the person that placed the bet will lose.  If the team wins by 3 points, the game is a tie and this is called a “push” no one wins. When a team has a plus in front of their number, the team is receiving additional points and is considered the underdog.  The bettor’s team starts the game with a point advantage.  For example, a team that has +7.5 pts, the opposing team will need to score at least 8 more points to win the wager. Half points keep bets from ending up as ties.

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