Barker's NFL Pick'em Pool 
 

News & Info | Official Rules | Prizes | How to Join | Promotions

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE COLLEGE BOWL POOL

Barker's Pools has not been updated lately, but the pools continue!

I have been very busy lately, but I am still running more pools than ever through our
new hosting site, and right now, we are taking new entries for the latest competition:

2008 College Bowl Pool

To join, just send me an email, and I will get back to you with the details.

Get in-depth sports gambling information from Doc's Sports!
 

News & Info
 

 
Latest News
 

September 1st (12:00 p.m.):  I have FINALLY uploaded the entire website for football season, so everything is up-to-date!  I deeply apologize for the long delay entering the season, but we still have a week before the competitions begin, so that should give us enough time to get everyone in!  Now, the main reason for the delay is the fact that I have moved all of the pools to a third-party host.  This site will remain up, because I still generate some revenue from it that helps keep the pools running, so I ask that everyone visit here as often as they can to keep the traffic up, even though you will be playing the pools from another site (now, even though this means less work for me, the new host charges a fee, so I will still have to take 10%-20% from each pool fund).  The Barker's Pools site will contain all of the details and rules about our pools, you will use it to sign-up for the pools, the prize winners, Hall of Fame, and Pool Archives will still be listed at my site, and there will be a few pools that will be entirely ran from here.  However, I know everyone is tired of delays, and the last 2 weeks should be the end of them.  The players that tried out the college pool test run this weekend really loved the new site, including the real-time updates to the standings (and right when a game begins, you can see all of the other player's picks for that game). 

Basically, once you fill out the Join form, I will email you your confirmation with the details on paying your entry fees, and you will also receive an invitation email to the Office Football Pool site.  This is where the pools are being hosted, and you will use the link and password in your invite email to add your entries to this new site.  As far as the entry fees, I am allowing PayPal payments this year, but if you are able to mail a check/money order, I ask that you do that so that we can keep the PayPal activity to a minimum.  I will need PayPal payments by next weekend, and if you are using a check, please try to have it postmarked by this Saturday, September 6th.  (Since we are running late, I will accept payments a few days late if you are a regular pool player.)  Now, let's get to the pools for this football season:

Barker's NCAA Football Pool - Our classic weekly college football pool!  Pick the winner of 20 games each week, rank them confidence style, and earn points for your correct picks.  We start in Week 2 (which will be our Week 1), and there will be 14 weeks in the pool.  We will have weekly and yearly cash prizes, 20 in all!  Each entry is $5 per week or $70 for the whole season (this year, there is a 4-week minimum).

Barker's NFL Pick'em Pool - This is just like the college pool, but with the 17-week NFL season (it also uses confidence scoring).  There will be a cash prize each week, and the Top 8 players overall at year's end will also win cash prizes!  We start this week (you can join up until the games begin on Sunday, but there is an early game on Thursday... if you miss it, you will receive a random pick for that game, and it will be ranked 1).  It is $5 per week/$85 for the season (it also has a 4 week minimum).

Barker's NFL Survivor Pool - Our most popular football pool is back!  Pick one NFL team each week that you think will win their game (you cannot pick each team more than once!).  If they win, you keep playing; if they lose, you are eliminated!  Each entry will be $20, and you are encouraged to purchase multiple entries.  Instead of having a winner-take-all prize like last year, this year we have 3 cash prizes!

Barker's Cappers Challenge - This is for those that like to gamble on sports!  With your entry, which costs $40 (multiple entries are allowed), you will receive a "play" wagering account with $5,000.  You will wager on NFL and college games, sides or totals, and you can bet up to $1,000 per wager (you can place a maximum of 25 bets per week, but there is no minimum).  Throughout the year, you will receive an additional $5,000, in case you lose it all at some point.  After the Super Bowl (yes, you can wager on bowl games and playoff games as well), the Top 5 cappers will win cash!

That is a total of 53 cash prizes!  I am also going to have 1 to 3 fantasy football leagues, and each team for it will be $100.  When you are ready, check out each pool page, the rules for each pool, and go to the Join page to request your entries!  You need to join the NCAA Pool by Saturday, the Pick'em and Survivor pools by Sunday, and the Cappers Pool by Monday!  On each pool page, you will find a link to our Promotions.  You can take advantage of those for free pool credits (we have our usual Bodog promo for 2 free Survivor entries, we have a new Refer A Friend promo, and starting in a couple of weeks, we have Barker's Trivia starting up, where you can visit each pool page once a week for a trivia question, and at the end of the year, those with the most correct answers will have a shot at $100... this is something I came up with to keep people coming to Barker's Pools during the year).  I hope everyone joins us for football season... let me know if you have questions or comments!  (I will be a bit busy tonight, so do not expect your entry confirmations until Tuesday, but the rest of the week, you should have it quickly).

You need to sign-up ASAP, so do not delay!
 

Looking for a reliable sportsbook/casino/poker site?  Check out BodogLife.com!
 

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Official Rules
  

POOL FORMAT
Barker's NFL Pick'em Pool is a weekly competition covering the grueling 17-week NFL regular season.
Using a confidence-style scoring format, you will predict the winner of all 16 NFL games each week.
You pick your 16 winners straight up (no point spreads) and then rank them from best pick to worst.
Correct predictions earn points equal to your ranking for that game.  The top player each week will win
a cash prize, and at year's end, the top 8 players in the overall standings will win a cash prize as well!
 

JOINING THE POOL
This year, we are using another website to host this competition: www.officefootballpool.com
You will still use this site to access the official rules, the join form, the prize winners, etc.  However, the
new site will make the pool more organized, with real-time updates to the pick sheets and standings.
After you have read all of the Rules, go to the Join area to sign-up for your entries in this competition.
Once I receive your entry information, I will send you a confirmation by email within 12 hours.  It will
contain the details on paying your entry fee, along with instructions on creating an account at the new
pool webpage (your email will have the link and password you will need to add your entry to the pool).
If you have more than one entry in a pool, and you would like to keep them under one account, you can
add an Alias to your account at the Office Football Pool site, go to My Aliases under the Home menu.
Note:  If someone referred you to Barker's Pools, when signing up for your account, place the person's
name in the Reference field (you can find this at My Pool Settings under the Pools menu, if you
forget when joining).  If you refer someone to play, have them do the same, and you can earn pool
credits that you can use to join future competitions.  You can find the details in the Promotions area.
 

ENTRY FEE & DEADLINES
The pool begins on Thursday, 9/4/08, and ends with the last regular season game on Sunday, 12/28/08.
The pool entry fee is $5 per week, however, you must sign-up for a minimum of four weeks for $20.
If you would like to sign-up for the entire 17-week season, the total entry fee would be $85.  Multiple
entries per person ARE allowed.  You can pay your entry fee in payments throughout the season, but
you must pay a minimum of $20 every four weeks.  Also, if you would like to skip certain weeks during
the season, you ARE allowed, although doing so will greatly hurt your chances in the overall competition.
To skip a week, you MUST email me and let me know before the pick deadline, or you will be charged
the $5 entry fee that week!  When you are ready to resume playing, please let me know that as well.
You can join at any point during the season, or even add an extra entry at any time... again, miss too
many weeks, and you will fall behind in the Overall Standings, but you can still play for weekly prizes!
 
The deadline to join the pool, pay your entry fee, and submit your picks is ALWAYS on
Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central each week, regardless of when the first game is played!
 
About submitting your picks...  Again, you have until the deadline each week to submit your picks,
but keep an eye out for weeks with early games, as you will want to pick and rank those games also.
       -- Week 1 has a game on Thursday, September 4th, at 6:00 p.m. Central.
       -- Week 10 has a game on Thursday, November 6th, at 7:15 p.m. Central.
       -- Week 11 has a game on Thursday, November 13th, at 7:15 p.m. Central.
       -- Week 12 has a game on Thursday, November 20th, at 7:15 p.m. Central.
       -- Week 13 has three games on Thursday, November 27th, beginning at 11:30 a.m. Central.
       -- Week 14 has a game on Thursday, December 4th, at 7:15 p.m. Central.
       -- Week 15 has a game on Thursday, December 11th, at 7:15 p.m. Central.
       -- Week 16 has a game on Thursday & Saturday, December 18th & 20th, at 7:15 p.m. Central.
If you do not submit a pick for a game, your pick sheet will be filled out with random Autopicks (all
of the info on Autopicks can be found below).  If the game you missed was an early game, you can
go back in and change your remaining picks before the deadline, but once the deadline has passed,
the pick sheet will lock.  So basically, you have until the kickoff of a game to make/change your pick,
up until the deadline on Sunday, when you must have your final picks for all of the games in.  I will
allow players to sign-up after an early game has passed, up until the regular Sunday deadline.  For
any early games that you miss, you will be given a random pick (it may be a win or a loss).  You can
then fill out the pick sheet for the games that have not been played yet.  You will receive 0 points for
any weeks that were played prior to you joining.  It is YOUR responsibility to make the deadline each
week, but email reminders will be sent twice per week, including once 24 hours before the deadline!
 
About paying the entry fee...  You can pay by mailing me a check or money order, or you may be
allowed to use PayPal, however, I would prefer a check/money order.  We sometimes have trouble if
we use PayPal, as they do not like sites such as this, but if you live out of the country and cannot send a
check easily, or if you just really need to use PayPal, you can select it on the entry form when joining.
If you pay with PayPal:  I MUST receive your entry fee BEFORE the deadline has passed that week!
(When using PayPal, always wait for me to send you an invoice from PayPal before sending payment.)
If you pay with a check/money order:  You must have your check POSTMARKED on or before the
deadline of your first week in the pool, and I must RECEIVE the payment within 7 days of the deadline!
Once I receive your payment, I will mark your entry as PAID, and you will be eligible to win a prize.
In the Standings, you can see which players have not yet paid; if they win a prize while their payment
is in transit, they WILL still receive it as long as it arrives within 7 days and is postmarked correctly.
(Even if a player isn't eligible for a prize, they can still earn points while their payment is in the mail.)
If a payment hasn't arrived within 10 days, the entry will be disqualified and removed from the pool.
 

HOW TO PLAY
Early each week, the pick sheet will be available on our new pool site (REMEMBER, you will not use the
Barker's Pools website to submit your picks; instead, the pool will be hosted from a third-party website).
The pick sheet will feature all of the NFL games (usually 16 games, but sometimes only 13 or 14).
To submit your picks, follow the instructions below:
 
To begin, navigate to the pool page.  (When you sign-up for the pool, you will receive the link to the pool
page at the Office Football Pool site; I will also post the link in the News & Info section for you to use.)
You will need to login to your account and make sure you are switched to the NFL Pick'em Pool page.
Once there, click on Picks to access the pick sheet, and now you can submit your picks for the week!
First, you will pick the winner of each of the 16 games that week, straight up (with no point spreads).
You will then rank your winners from 16 to 1, based on the level of confidence you have in your choices.
For example, the pick you have the most confidence in would be ranked 16, your second best pick would
be ranked 15, followed by 14, and so on, until you reach 1, the pick you have the least confidence in.
Only use each confidence ranking one time.  When finished, your rankings should add up to 136 points.
(Some weeks only have 13 or 14 games.  For those weeks, you will rank your picks 16 to 4 or 16 to 3.)
Finally, you will make your tiebreaker predictions.  Each week, the Monday Night Football game will be
used for the tiebreaker, and you will try to predict the winner and the total points scored by both teams.
 
After you submit your picks, you can review them on the site or in the picks confirmation email that will
be emailed to you.  You ARE allowed to change your picks as much as you like before the deadline.
Also, when you submit your picks, you have to fill out all of them... however, if there is an early game
one week, after it has ended, you CAN change the rest of your picks before the remaining games begin.
Remember, you only have until 12:00 p.m. Central on Sunday to submit your picks each week!
It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that your picks are in the system, exactly the way you want them.
 

AUTOPICKS
With our new pool host, we have a helpful feature to assist those that forget to submit their picks prior
to the deadline.  It is called Autopicks, and it is automatically switched to RANDOM whenever you
create your account/entry at Office Football Pool.  With the random autopicks, if you miss the deadline
one week, you will receive random picks, rankings from 1 to 16 down the schedule, and a tiebreaker
answer from 20 to 50 (on your Pool Settings page, you can type in your preference for a tiebreaker
answer, and that tiebreaker will be used if you ever have to use the autopicks).  If it is an early game
that you miss, you will still receive autopicks for all of the games, but you ARE allowed to change the
picks for any of the games that have not been played yet, until we reach the deadline for that week.
Players that receive the autopicks will be flagged in the standings, so you can identify those players.
Those that receive Autopicks ARE NOT eligible for the weekly prize if they happen to win that week.
(Again, if you miss an early game, you receive autopicks for ALL of the games, but as long as you go
in and submit picks for the remaining games before the Sunday deadline, then you WILL NOT be
marked as having Autopicks... this only happens if you miss ALL of the games in a given week.)

 

SCORING & WINNING
At the pool page, you can access the player picks by clicking the Standings button on the main menu.
You can view your own picks at any time, however, you can only see the picks from other players once
each game has started.  In other words, at kickoff of each game, you will be able to see all of the picks.
The Standings menu contains several informative reports, including the weekly and yearly standings.
With the new pool host, the standings will be updated in real-time throughout each day of games.

The confidence scoring system we use requires a lot of skill and a little luck, but it's actually quite simple:
 
If a team that you predicted to win LOSES, you receive 0 points, regardless of how you ranked the team.
If that team WINS, however, you receive points equal to the confidence ranking you chose for that team.
For example, let's say you pick Tennessee to defeat Dallas, and you feel quite confident, so you rank
Tennessee 14.  If Tennessee loses, you were wrong, so you receive 0 points... but if Tennessee wins
the game, you were correct, and with a confidence ranking of 14, you will receive 14 points!  In the rare
case of a game ending in a TIE, you receive HALF the value of your confidence ranking, rounded down.
 
After all of the games have ended, the top player in the weekly standings will receive a cash prize!
Each week, the points are reset to 0 in the weekly competition.  However, total points are also tracked,
and at the end of the regular season, the top 10 players overall will receive one of the year-end prizes!
To see the prize breakdown, go to the Prizes area.  This is where the winners will be listed as well.
To see the cash prize amounts with the current number of pool players, go to the News & Info area.
Cash prize winners will receive their winnings within a maximum of 35 days from the date in which they
won their prize (I will mail out a new batch of prize money at the beginning of every month).  I usually
pay the winners with a check or money order, but on request, I may be able to pay a prize using PayPal.
 

TIEBREAKERS
In the event of a tie in the weekly standings, the following tiebreakers will be used:
     1.  Player with the highest number of wins for the week (not win percentage, but number of wins).
     2.  Player with the correct pick for the Monday Night game (so it is key to pick this game correctly).
     3.  Player with the closest total points prediction for the Monday Night game (going over IS allowed).
If the weekly standings are still tied after the tiebreakers are enforced, then the prize money will be split
evenly among the tied players, unless they wish to use the next week's results as an extra tiebreaker.
 
At the end of the season, if there is a tie in the overall standings, the following tiebreakers will be used:
     1.  Player with the highest number of total wins for the whole season.
     2.  Player with the highest number of total wins for all 17 Monday Night game match-ups.
     3.  Player with the lowest cumulative difference for all 17 Monday Night total points predictions.
If the season standings are still tied after the tiebreakers are enforced, then the prize money will be split
evenly among the tied players, unless they wish to use the Super Bowl Pool results as a final tiebreaker.
 
Note:  For Week 1, there are actually two Monday Night Football games, but we will be using the later
game as the Tiebreaker Game.  For Week 17, the Sunday Night Football game will be used.
 

OTHER RULES
You must provide a full name and email address in order to join the pool.  Don't worry though:  These
will never be displayed on the site.  Only your anonymous username/alias 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, let me know.
On each pool page, we have a message board called the Trash Talk Board where you can chat with
other players and do a little bragging/trash talking, but please keep it clean, fun, friendly!  If you go
too far and attack or harass another player, you will be removed from the pool without a refund!
Also, do not use this board for your complaints/problems with the pools; please email me instead.
 
IMPORTANT:  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.  This could include adding new rules, doing
away with rules, and making changes to incorrect results or standings.  Changes will only be made if
absolutely necessary, and we will hold a vote for any major issues, if possible.  Any changes to the
picks or results will be flagged in the Standings, so you will know if any changes are made.  Finally,
in order for everyone to know I run honest pools, I had a policy that I would not play in the pools.
However, with the new pool host, they automatically give the pool creator an entry, so I will have
entries in the competitions from now on, under the name of BARKERS POOLS (I will be paying for
my entries like everyone else).  Like I said above, the site shows any changes that are made to the
standings after the results are in, so you do not have to worry about anything suspicious going on.
In fact, I am not even able to see anyone's picks until AFTER the deadline, just like everyone else.
 
By joining this pool, you are stating that you have read and understand the Rules entirely.
If you have any problem with the rules, you can request a refund BEFORE the games have been played,
and your entry will be removed from the competition.  If you have any questions or comments, do not
hesitate to contact me at barker@barkerspools.com.  You can also call 801-790-4236 - just leave
a message, and I will get back to you ASAP!  Most importantly, have fun this season and good luck!
 

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Prizes
  

Below, you will find the prize breakdown we will use for the pool this season.  The
first chart shows the prizes we will have if we have the same number of players as
last year.  If we have more entries than last year, the cash prizes will be increased,
both in number and in the amount of each prize.  Below the prize breakdown, you
will find a list of all of our prize winners so far this season.  Once the pool is over,
you can find all of the winners in from our 10-year history in the Pool Archives!

With 100 players and $8,500 in entry fees, the following prizes would be awarded:
  
The top player in the Weekly Standings each week would receive $250.
 
The 1st Place player in the Overall Standings would receive $1,500.
The 2nd Place player in the Overall Standings would receive $500.
The 3rd Place player in the Overall Standings would receive $350.
The 4th Place player in the Overall Standings would receive $250.
The 5th Place player in the Overall Standings would receive $150.
The 6th Place player in the Overall Standings would receive $100.
The 7th Place player in the Overall Standings would receive $75.
The 8th Place player in the Overall Standings would receive $50.
The 9th Place player in the Overall Standings would receive a $20 pool credit.
The 10th Place player in the Overall Standings would receive a $10 pool credit.
   
The remaining 15% of the prize pool will be used to support and expand this website.
Unfortunately, running this site takes time and money, so a small portion of each pool's entry fees
will be used to offset my expenses.  This portion will be between 10%-20% of the collected entry
fees, depending on the pool.  The administrative costs include: domain registration, hosting fees,
PayPal & banking fees, pool software, web design software, and other miscellaneous expenses.

The prize winners will be listed here throughout the season!
 

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How to Join
  

Below, you will find the instructions on joining one of the football pools for 2008.
Remember, there are three other football pools for you to join, along with fantasy
football leagues.  You can use the same entry form to sign-up for all of the pools.

•  The entry fee for Barker's NFL Pick'em Pool is $5 per week (per entry).

• You can pay one month at a time ($20) or for the entire 17-week season ($85).

• The Week 1 deadline is Sunday, September 7th, at 12:00 p.m. Central.

• Remember, Week 1 has an early game on Thursday, the 4th!  If you miss
  the early game, you can still join before the Sunday deadline (you will receive
  a random pick for the early game, and it will be ranked 1).  You can then go
  in and submit your picks for the remaining games before they begin.

     Click here to join!    
 

After you have completed these steps, all that is left to do is kick back and enjoy
the games, root your teams to victory, and hopefully win some cold hard cash!
Don't forget, there are three other football pools for the regular season, so check
them out on the other pages of this website and go to the Join page to sign-up.
Also, the Promotions area has information on how you can earn free pool credits!

If you are interested in Fantasy Football, I am running 2 or 3 leagues
with available teams, so email me for all of the information on joining!
 

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Promotions
 

This football season, Barker's Pools is offering three BIG promotions!

Check them out below and see how you can earn pool credits that you
can use to join the current competitions or save to play in future pools:

PROMOTION #1

~ BARKER'S BODOG PROMOTION ~
  
Would you like a $40 pool credit for the 2008 football pools?
  
Barker's Pools has partnered with BodogLife.com to bring you this special offer:
  
  1.    Open a new Bodog account by clicking on one of my Bodog links/banners.  
2.    Within 30 days, deposit $20.00 or more into this new gambling account.      
3.    Then email the date & amount of your deposit to me, and I will validate it. 
4.    Within the next 24 hours, I will email you and confirm your $40 pool credit! 
  
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.