March Madness 2008: Fill out your NCAA tournament bracket and compete for 21 cash prizes!

March Madness 2008 - Information

Entry Fee: $20 per entry
Current number of entries: 385
Current amount in prize pool: $7,700
Entry Deadline: March 20th - 9:00 a.m. Central

Current Prize Amounts
1st Place - Overall Standings: $2,050.00
2nd Place - Overall Standings: $750.00
3rd Place - Overall Standings: $550.00
4th Place - Overall Standings: $400.00
5th Place - Overall Standings: $300.00
6th Place - Overall Standings: $250.00
7th Place - Overall Standings: $200.00
8th Place - Overall Standings: $150.00
9th Place - Overall Standings: $125.00
10th Place - Overall Standings: $100.00
11th - 14th Place - Overall Standings: $75.00
15th - 18th Place - Overall Standings: $50.00
19th Place - Overall Standings: $20 Pool Credit
20th Place - Overall Standings: $10 Pool Credit
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1st Place - SECOND CHANCE Standings: $850.00
2nd Place - SECOND CHANCE Standings: $200.00
3rd Place - SECOND CHANCE Standings: $75.00
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Last Place (Overall): A Barker's Pools mousepad

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To start Step #1 (open a Bodog account), click here!

To qualify for this promotion, be sure to read the following requirements:
A) This promotion is ONLY available to those that are new players at Bodog.
B) Your initial deposit MUST be $20 or more and made within 30 days of signing up.
C) Fraudulent behavior, such as opening a second account, requesting a chargeback,
or immediately withdrawing your deposit, will result in you being banned from this site!
D) You will not qualify for this offer if you fail to use one of my links to open your account.
E) If you do not follow these instructions properly, I will not be able to verify your deposit,
and you will not receive your entries, so email me with any questions you have beforehand.

Pool Format
The March Madness Pool will follow the exciting Division I - NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament for 2008.
We set an all-time site record last year with an impressive 369 entries. With so many players, the prize
amounts continue to grow, so we will have 21 cash prizes this year, as our goal is to have 400 players!
We use the traditional bracket-style format, which you may recognize from other pools you've played in.
You pick the winner of all 63 tournament games (the March 18th Play-in Game is NOT used in the pool).
Correct predictions earn you points, and after the Championship Game, the top 18 players will win cash!
Barker's Pools adds a twist to the classic March Madness pool format: At the Sweet 16, everyone will
get a fresh chance at winning by submitting a 'Second Chance' bracket for the other 3 cash prizes.

Joining, Fees & Deadlines
The pool begins with Round 1 on March 20th and ends with the National Championship on April 7th.
(The Tournament Play-in Game that takes place on March 18th will NOT be included in the competition.)
The pool entry fee is $20 and multiple entries per person ARE allowed (additional fees apply of course).
The deadline to join, pay, and submit your bracket is 2 hours prior to the beginning of the Round 1 games.
The Round 1 games tip-off at 11:00 a.m. (Central) on March 20th, so the deadline will be at 9:00 a.m.
This year we are doing things a little differently with the deadline, so read the following carefully:

1) You MUST sign-up to play and submit your bracket before March 20th at 9:00 a.m. Central.
2) Your entry fee MUST be postmarked by Thursday, March 20th, to be eligible for March Madness.
3) You need to send a check or money order for your entry fee; PayPal can only be used sparingly.
(I have limited PayPal access this year, so I do not like to use it very much. However, I will allow those
that live outside the U.S. to use it to make paying easier on them. If you are a regular player that really
wants to use PayPal, email me and we will discuss it. New players MUST send a check/money order.)
4) Again, your entry fee must be postmarked by March 20th, however, I will only wait 7 days beyond the
deadline for your entry fee to arrive. If it does not arrive by Thursday, March 27th, your entry will be
disqualified! Once I receive your fee, your entry will be ACTIVATED and eligible to win prize money. If
you look in the Standings and see an ^ by your name, it means your entry fee hasn't arrived yet. Once
the ^ is removed from your entry name, then your entry fee has arrived, and your entry is ACTIVATED.

If you enter and pay on time, but fail to submit your picks on time, your entry fee will not be refunded!
DO NOT FORGET: You have an opportunity to submit a Second Chance bracket for a new chance to win!
The Second Chance pick deadline will be 2 hours before the Sweet 16 games tip-off on March 27th.
If you do not submit your Second Chance bracket before this deadline, you forfeit your second chance.
It is YOUR responsibility to submit your bracket before the two pick deadlines, but an email reminder to
make your picks will go out twice: when the pick sheets are posted and one day before the deadlines.
After reading the rest of the Rules, go to the Join area to purchase your entries for March Madness!

How to Play
The tournament teams and brackets will be announced on Sunday, March 16th, so the pick sheet will be
posted that evening, and you will have until 9:00 a.m. Central on March 20th, to submit your bracket.
When you are ready, please submit your bracket via the website, by email, or by phone (801-790-4236).
To submit your bracket through the website, follow these instructions:

After the tournament schedule is set on the 16th, you only have a little over 3 days to submit your picks!
To begin, navigate to the pick sheet and enter your name, your entry name, and your email address.
You will see 4 sets of 16 teams, separated into the four regions: East, West, Midwest, and South.
Need a quick refresher on how the brackets work? In Round 1, the #16 seed (worst team in the region)
plays the #1 seed (best team in the region), #15 plays #2, #14 plays #3, #13 plays #4, and so on.
First, you will pick the winner of all 32 Round 1 games by clicking on each team that you think will win.
After clicking on your winning teams, you will notice that they moved over on the bracket to Round 2.
Now, we have your 32 teams facing off in Round 2, so click on the 16 teams that you think will advance.
You now have your Sweet 16 teams, so click on the 8 teams that you think will win each of these games.
Keep going and pick 4 Elite 8 winners. You have a team winning each region and your Final Four is set!
Pick the 2 winners of your Final Four games, followed by your winner of the National Championship!
Then, for your tiebreaker, predict how many total points will be scored in the final game and type it in.
IMPORTANT: Before submitting your bracket, be sure to 'CHECK' the box that says "Email Me a Copy".
Finally, to send your bracket in, click the Submit Picks button located at the very bottom of the page!
Congrats! You picked 63 winners and painted a picture of how you think the tournament will play out.

After you submit your bracket, an email will be sent to you, displaying all of your choices... assuming you
chose the option on the pick sheet. (If you did not check the box, email me for your picks confirmation.)
This email ensures your bracket is in the system, so if you do not receive it, I may not have your picks!
Be sure to keep a copy of your confirmation email! The selections that you see in the email are your
official picks, so be sure that your bracket is the way that you want it before the Tournament begins.
It is YOUR responsibility to ensure your bracket is in the system, exactly the way you want it. If you
see any problems or you do not receive the picks confirmation, BE SURE to let me know via email.
You ARE allowed to change or re-submit your picks as many times as you like before the deadline.

The Play-In Game
Our pool covers 63 of the 64 '08 tournament games. It does not include the Tournament Play-in Game.
What's a Play-in Game, you may be asking? For the last few years, the NCAA has held a "Play-in Game"
two days before the tournament (on March 18th this year), between the 64th & 65th ranked teams, who
basically play to determine the last team to make it into the tourney as the 64th team and the final #16
seed. On the pick sheet, both of the Play-in teams will be listed together as the #16 seed in their region,
and you will get credit if either team advances to the 2nd Round (assuming you pick a #16 to beat a #1).

Scoring & Winning
Each player's completed bracket will be posted in the Standings when the tourney tips off on the 20th.
(This is a one-man operation, and while I expect to have everything posted before the first game begins,
please be patient if the Standings are not updated on time, especially if we have around 400 entries.)
The Standings will be updated throughout each day of games with the current & projected standings.
The scoring system is quite simple in that you earn points for every game that you correctly predict:

Once the tournament ends, the points will be tabulated, and the Top 18 players in the Overall Standings
and the Top 3 players in the Second Chance Standings will win cash prizes! The Last Place player in the
Overall Standings and the 4th Place player in the Second Chance Standings will receive a $20 pool credit.
To see the prize breakdown, go to the Prizes area. The cash prize amounts are estimates based on the
pool having 300 players and $6,000 in entry fees. If we receive more than 300 entries, more prizes may
be added, and the top prize amounts will be increased. One week after the deadline, I will know which
players paid their entry fee, so I will post the official number of entries and the final cash prize amounts.
To see the prize amounts with the current number of players, go to the News & Info area. If you are a
cash prize winner, you will have your winnings within 30 days from the end of the pool (usually in 2 to 3
weeks). I pay winners with a check or money order, but I may be able to pay using PayPal on request.

Your Second Chance
Don't you hate it when you only win 7 out of 16 games on the first day and ruin your tournament bracket?
During March Madness at Barker's Pools, when you stink up the standings, you still have a Second Chance!
Once all of the Sweet 16 teams have been determined on Sunday, March 23rd, an updated pick sheet
will be posted, and you will have until 10:00 a.m. Central on March 27th to submit a second bracket.
Fill out these picks just as you did the original ones; the only difference will be the shortened bracket.
Your main Field of 64 bracket and your Second Chance one are entirely separate; in essence, you will be
playing in two pools at once. In the Standings, you will see links to the two separate sets of standings.
Again, at the end of the tournament, the Top 3 Second Chance players will receive a cash prize!

Tiebreakers
In the event of a tie after all of the tournament games have ended, the following tiebreakers will be used:
     1. Player with the best pick percentage out of all 63 tournament games.
     2. Player that correctly predicts the most number of teams advancing to the Final Four.
     3. Player with the closest Total Points tiebreaker prediction in the National Championship Game.
NOTE: These tiebreakers will also be used for the Second Chance Standings, but the first tiebreaker
with the pick percentage will only be calculated from the start of the Sweet 16 round (the last 15 games).
If the standings are still tied after the three tiebreakers are enforced, then any prize money that needs to
be awarded will be evenly split among the tied players.

Other Rules
You must provide a full name and email address in order to join the pool. Do not worry though: These
will never be displayed on the site. Only your anonymous entry nickname will appear in the standings.
Barker's Pools will NEVER sell or distribute the contact information of our members to a third-party.
I do send occasional emails regarding our upcoming pools. To stop receiving these, just let me know.
I reserve the right to make changes to the Rules midway through the competition in order to maintain
the integrity and fairness of the pool. Any changes will be discussed with all of the players beforehand.
Finally, and most importantly, have lots of fun and enjoy March Madness! Good luck to everyone!

By joining this pool, you are stating that you have read and understand the Rules entirely.
If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to contact me at barker@barkerspools.com.
You can also call 801-790-4236 with questions - just leave a message & I will get back to you ASAP!