Ahh, taking a second look just now I think I see why the mistake was made in Hamlet’s post. Sorry, I should have clarified this earlier.
The maximum amount of money that you may potentially lose on a given bet is $500, and all potential losses must be in multiples of $100. On wagers in which he was laying odds, Hamlet set up his bets so that his profits would be in multiples of $100. I set it up this way to force people to diversify their bets – otherwise, one could have bet all $5,000 on the Patriots to win the AFC East (-1000 in the initial odds) and been within the limit, since their potential profit is only $500.
Anyway, it’s an understandable mistake; for instance, in some online sportsbooks, when betting on a side with odds of -101 or worse, you enter the amount you’re trying to win, not the amount you’re putting at risk.
#1) Which conference will have a better record in inter-conference games? $100 AFC
#2) Which division will have the best cumulative record? $500 AFC East
#3) Which division will have the worst cumulative record? $400 AFC North
#4) Name six teams that will not make the playoffs (all six must be correct). -140
$100 Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Titans, New York Giants, Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins
#5) Name three teams that will win their division (all three must be correct). -120
$100 San Diego, Pittsburgh, New England
#6) Name four teams that will win their division (all four must be correct). +160
$100 San Diego, Pittsburgh, New England, Indianapolis
#7) Will a Head Coach be fired before the start of Week 17?
$100 Yes
#8) Will the largest point spread of the season by OVER or UNDER 19.0 (as per the Friday NY Post)?
$100 UNDER 19.0 -130
#9) Will the average number of total points scored in 2008 regular season games be OVER or UNDER 43.4?
$100 OVER 43.4 -105
#10) Will the number of TD Passes thrown by LaDanian Tomlinson be OVER or UNDER 0.5?
$100 OVER 0.5 -125
#11) Who will win the AFC East?
$100 New England -1000
#12) Who will win the AFC North?
$100 Cincinnati +500
#13) Who will win the AFC South?
$400 Houston +1600
#14) Who will win the AFC West?
$100 San Diego -400
#15) Who will win the NFC East?
$100 Philadelphia +325
#16) Who will win the NFC North?
$100 Detroit +650
#17 Who will win the NFC South?
$100 Tampa Bay +200
#18) Who will win the NFC West?
$100 St. Louis +550
#19) Where will the New York Giants finish in their division?
$100 3rd +225
#20) Where will the Pittsburgh Steelers finish in their division?
$100 2nd +220
#21) Where will the Arizona Cardinals finish in their division?
$100 3rd +250
#22) Week 1, Washington @ NY Giants; who wins?
$100 NY Giants -3.5 -115
#23) Week 9, New England @ Indianapolis; who wins?
$100 Indianapolis +2.5 -115
#24) Who will have the most passing yards in the NFL?
$100 Drew Brees +500
#25) Who will have the most rushing yards in the NFL?
$1000 Willie Parker +1200
#26) Who will have the most receiving yards in the NFL?
$100 Calvin Johnson +3500
#27) Which team will have more regular season wins, NE or NYG?
$100 New England -3.5 wins -115
#28) Odds to make the playoffs:
$200 Tampa Bay +100
#29) Which team will win the most regular season games?
$100 Philadelphia +2400
#30) Which team will win the fewest regular season games?
$100 Kansas City +1150
#31) What will be the average amount of “money” lost by the participants in this contest?
$100 OVER $450 -125
Where did this come from?
RNATB, it seems you missed Odds Revision #1 (post #18). We can just go ahead and void that entry. Feel free to repost with the proper odds. (When you do, please make sure to post the odds next to each selection.)
#4) Name six teams that will not make the playoffs (all six must be correct).
$300 Miami, Atlanta, Oakland, KC, SF, St Louis
#6) Name four teams that will win their division (all four must be correct). $100 SD, NE, SEA, GB
#8) Will the largest point spread of the season by OVER or UNDER 19.0 (as per the Friday NY Post)?
$100 Over
#12) Who will win the AFC North?
$400 Baltimore
#13) Who will win the AFC South?
$100 Jacksonville
#14) Who will win the AFC West?
$400 SD
#15) Who will win the NFC East?
$300 Philly
#16) Who will win the NFC North?
$400 Green Bay
#23) Week 9, New England @ Indianapolis; who wins?
$100 Indy
#25) Who will have the most rushing yards in the NFL?
$500 Lynch
#26) Who will have the most receiving yards in the NFL?
$100 A Johnson #29) Which team will win the most regular season games?
$300 SD
#31) What will be the average amount of “money” lost by the participants in this contest?
$100 Over
**#33) Who will finish the season with more passing yards: Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers?
$200 Favre
Ok, I decided to take a shot at defending my prize money. Wish me luck.
#1) Which conference will have a better record in inter-conference games? $100 – NFC +160
#3) Which division will have the worst cumulative record? $200 – NFC West +280
#4) Name six teams that will not make the playoffs (all six must be correct). $300 – Atlanta, San Fran, Oakland, Detroit, Miami, Kansas City, -130
#5) Name three teams that will win their division (all three must be correct). $500 – New England, San Diego, Seattle, -120
#8) Will the largest point spread of the season by OVER or UNDER 19.0 (as per the Friday NY Post)? $200 – UNDER 19.0 -125
#9) Will the average number of total points scored in 2008 regular season games be OVER or UNDER 43.4? $300 – UNDER 43.4 -125
#12) Who will win the AFC North? $300 – Baltimore +800
#15) Who will win the NFC East? $300 – Philadelphia +350
$200 – Washington +600
#16) Who will win the NFC North? $500 – Green Bay +190
#17 Who will win the NFC South?
**$400 – Tampa Bay +200
** #20) Where will the Pittsburgh Steelers finish in their division? $100 – 3rd +330
#24) Who will have the most passing yards in the NFL?
**$100 – Tony Romo +650
$100 – Derek Anderson +2000
** #25) Who will have the most rushing yards in the NFL? $100 – Ryan Grant +1500
#26) Who will have the most receiving yards in the NFL? $100 – Calvin Johnson +3500
#28) Odds to make the playoffs: $200 – Baltimore +350
#30) Which team will win the fewest regular season games? $300 – Atlanta +475
$200 – San Francisco +660
#33) Who will finish the season with more passing yards: Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers? $500 – Aaron Rodgers +120
I only have a few minutes to complete this so I may get this wrong. I didn’t have time to read the rest of the thread. If I goof at the format, correct it if you can with whatever you can figure out my motivation to be.
$200 AFC North at +540
$500 on Baltimore, Cincinatti, Atlanta, Miami, Oakland, Kansas City at -130
$300 on Patriots, Chargers, Seahawks, Cowboys at +160
$100 yes at -230
$500 cleveland at +175
$100 NYG at +275
$300 MIN at +150
$100 St. Louis at +550
$300 2nd at +250
$500 2nd at +220
$100 Drew Brees at +500
$100 Derek Anderson at +2000
$100 Darren McFadden at +4000
$100 Braylon Edwards at +900
$500 New England at +180
$100 Oakland at +900
2nd $200 at +165
$300 Favre at -150
Edit: You guys might want to try wagerline.com. You bet monopoly money on the NFL and you compete against other players, and you can become recognized as one of the best bettors on specific teams, etc. I think there are real prizes too even though it’s free but I’m not sure… maybe we can get some sort of league going later. I’m going to go sign up now.
There were only 8 valid entries, so I’ll try to power through and do them all tomorrow, though it’s possible I won’t be done until Wednesday or so. RBATB’s entry was invalid, but I’ll check it anyway and throw him a little something if he happens to have won the most money.
#1) Which conference will have a better record in inter-conference games? AFC -195 – The AFC was 34-29-1 in inter-conference games.
#2) Which division will have the best cumulative record? NFC South +730 – The NFC South was 40-24 (or 28-12 in inter-division games), just edging out the NFC East, which went 38-14. In head-to-head play, the NFC South was 0-4 against the NFC East.
#3) Which division will have the worst cumulative record? NFC West +280 – The NFC West was an embarrassing 22-42 (or 10-30 in inter-division games).
#7) Will a Head Coach be fired before the start of Week 17? Yes -230 – Jim Haslett (StL) was fired after Week 4; Mike Nolan (SF) was fired after Week 7.
#8) Will the largest point spread of the season be OVER or UNDER 19.0 (as per the Friday NY Post)? UNDER 19.0 -125 – Largest point spread was Indy (-17) vs. Detroit, Week 15. Seconds largest was NE (-16) vs. KC, Week 1.
#9) Will the average number of total points scored in 2008 regular season games be OVER or UNDER 43.4? OVER 43.4 -105 – In an upset, the average number of total points per NFL game jumped from 43.4 to 44.06.
#10) Will the number of TD Passes thrown by LaDanian Tomlinson be OVER or UNDER 0.5? UNDER 0.5 -125 – The only LdT prop bet to go OVER was “number of fantasy teams destroyed by.”
#11) Who will win the AFC East? Miami +2500 – By far the biggest long-shot to win a division. Second largest was Atlanta (+1800), which came up 1 game short.
#14) Who will win the AFC West? San Diego -400 – The only odds-on favorite to win a division (out of 5) that actually did so. You would have had to lay odds to take NE, Ind, Dal, or Sea, but they were all losers.
#22) Week 1, Washington @ NY Giants; who wins? NY Giants -3.5 -115 – NYG won 16-7
#23) Week 9, New England @ Indianapolis; who wins? Indianapolis +2.5 -115 – Indy won 18-15
#24) Who will have the most passing yards in the NFL? Drew Brees +500 – The next four names on the yardage list (Warner, Cutler, Rodgers, Rivers) weren’t listed as options and so were included in “Any Other (+100).”
#25) Who will have the most rushing yards in the NFL? Adrian Peterson +210 – The next seven names on the yardage list (Turner, D. Williams, Portis, T. Jones, Slaton, Forte, Chris Johnson) weren’t listed as options and so were included in “Any Other -140.”
#26) Who will have the most receiving yards in the NFL? Andre Johnson +1200 – Only seven of the top twelve weren’t listed as option, and so were included in “Any Other -275.”
#29) Which team will win the most regular season games? Tennessee +1400 – The NY Giants were +1350. Five of the top ten teams in wins weren’t listed as options, and so were included in “Any Other +200,” including two 12-win teams (Pittsburgh and Carolina).
#31) What will be the average amount of “money” lost by the participants in this contest? OVER $450 -120 – Not including the results of this question (which three people got right), the average amount lost by the eight valid entrants was $1,534.
#33) Who will finish the season with more passing yards: Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers? Aaron Rodgers +120 – Rodgers: 4,038 yards. Favre: 3,472 yards.
I set up questions 4, 5, and 6 (name six teams not to make the playoffs, name three or four teams to win their divisions) to be the biggest sucker bets on the board, but even I could resist wasting a total of $800 on questions 4 and 5.
When asked to name 6 teams that would not make the playoffs, four entrants out of nine (including RNATB) attempted it (and layed odds of -130 to do so). All four picked Miami to miss the playoffs. Three picked Atlanta. **SenorBeef **picked Baltimore. RNATB, in addition to Miami, picked the Giants and Titans, the #1 seeds in their respective conferences!
When asked to name either three or four teams that would win their divisions, eight out of nine entrants attempted at least one of the questions (three attempted both questions). Everyone who placed a bet on either question lost it. New England appeared on all 8 ballots, Seattle on 6, Indy on 4. If not for San Diego’s improbable comeback in the AFC West, five entrants would have gone 0-4 while an additional two would have gone 0-3.
There were a total of nine guesses (on seven ballots) as to the identity of the leader in passing yards. Three entrants correctly identified Drew Brees (+500). No one picked the Field.
There were a total of 10 guesses (on 8 ballots) as to the identity of the leader in rushing yards. Only one entrant correctly identified the favorite, Adrian Peterson (+210). No one picked the Field.
Seven out of nine entrants attempted to guess the leader in receiving yards. Two correctly identified longshot Andre Johnson (+1200). No one picked the Field.
The most amount of money won on a single bet was $4,500, by MadTheSwine; he bet $500 on Detroit (+900) to finish the season with the fewest wins.
The average amount put at risk among the eight valid entrants was $4,337 out of $5,000. Four entrants risked the maximum, one risked $4,900, and one risked the minimum ($3,000).
Sorry for the delay; I wanted to build suspense (and also take a break and do other things for a while).
Hamlet, $5,292
MadTheSwine, $4,500
Jules Andre, $3,990
Hawkeyeop, $3,770
Taber, $3,280
VarlosZ, $3,140
Cyberhwk, $2,554
SenorBeef, $1,868
RNATB, $1,841
That’s right, only one entrant turned a profit, and it was a mere 6% of his bankroll at that. Our second place finisher, meanwhile, won only a single bet (out of 10). The third place finisher won only 3 wagers (out of 13), but when combined with the $2,000 he chose not to risk they were enough to put him into the top three.
It’s possible I made a mistake somewhere, so everyone is encouraged to double check their total.
I admit that I envisioned more participants when I volunteered cash prizes, but ultimately I suppose it makes no difference. PMs will go out to the top spots and, barring any corrections of my math, money should be on its way promptly.
