You can see the full gamut of wagers for this week HERE, complete with a fair amount of snark and commentary. I kept mine simple this week:
$15 - Pitt(+3) over Utah
$75 - Wisc (-20.5) over UNLV
$25 - UConn (+2.5) over Michigan
Here are the rules:
THE SEASON: The contest begins September 2 and will run for each week of the regular season (not including the week of the Army/Navy game). The entire bowl season will be the last week of the contest.
Thursday will be the start of each week. So for example, the ridiculous Wednesday night USF-Rutgers game could be bet on as part of the week that includes the previous Saturday's games.
THE SITE: We will use SportsBook.com for all odds.
ODDS: Whatever the odds are on SportsBook.com as of Thursday at noon Eastern time are the odds that will be locked in for all bets made.
ALLOWABLE BETS: You can make the following bets on individual games. (No prop bets, futures bets, or anything other than bets on individual games.)
- Point spread
- Money line
- Over/under
- 6 Point Teaser (two teams involved, must win both games to win the bet)
- 10 Point Teaser (three teams involved, must win all three games to win the bet)
- Parlays (based on money lines, must win all games to win the bet)
The money lines, teasers, and parlays are all ways you can win money quickly if you fall behind, or if you want to jump out ahead early on. There is no limit to how many teams you can have in a single parlay.
The SportsBook.com site lets you sign up for a free username, where you can place fake bets and figure out how much money you can win on them. This site also makes it easier for me to do the math if you come up with a really crazy bet and win.There's no limit to how many teams you can have in a teaser (which is based on point spreads). Also pushes in a teaser are dropped and the math is redone. Like if you do a 5-team tease and one game pushes, it becomes a 4-team tease and the amount of money you can win is then based on the odds for a 4-team tease.
Underbets will count as bye weeks. So if you only bet two games, or you don't bet enough money, that will be considered a bye week and your bets will not count.
BANKROLL: Everyone will start with $1000 in fake money. There is no limit to how much money you can win or lose.
MINIMUM/MAXIMUM BETS: You must have between 5% and 25% (or between $50 and $250, whichever is greater) of your bankroll in play each week. The dollar amount limits still apply no matter how far in the hole you go. So even if you're -$3000, you can still only bet up to $250.
There is no minimum bet on a single game. For example, if I want to place the Randolph and Mortimer Duke bet of $1 on UConn to lose every single week just to infuriate Andrew and Kevin, that is allowed.
MINIMUM/MAXIMUM NUMBER OF BETS: You must bet on at least three games in some form or fashion, whether it's individually or as part of a teaser or parlay. At least one of these games must involve a Big East team. There is no limit to how many games you may bet on in a given week.
During bowl season, you must bet on at least five games in some form, and at least two of them must involve a Big East team. I'll remind you of this when the time comes.
THE VIG: There will be a 10% vig taken off the top of all winning bets. (For instance, if you win a bet for $200, you will only actually win $180.) Collin insisted we add this touch of casino realism so that we can prove how hard it is for a gambler to finish an entire college football season ahead. Consider the vig when figuring out how much you need to bet to win a certain amount of money.
"BYE WEEKS": While it's more fun if you play every week, if you're just not feeling any of the games you are allowed up to two "bye weeks" where you don't place any bets. If you skip more than two weeks, you're not eligible to win the title but you may continue betting for fun and amusement.
You are not allowed to use one of your bye weeks during the bowl season.
ANNOUNCING BETS: You will need to e-mail your bets to me by before the first game's kickoff on Thursday of a given week. You can send them just to me, or to everyone. Trash talk, cheap shots, insults, and whatever else you want to say along side your picks is obviously encouraged.
POSTING TO VOODOO FIVE: I will post everyone's bets for the week (along with your editorials about them) to Voodoo Five on Thursday night. Once the games everyone has bet on that week are finished, I will try and have all the results posted within 24 hours.
Vegas image via fabandfru.com
