Tips for NFL Survivor Pools in Week 1 and prizes being offered by Kansas betting sites
NFL survivor pools are sort of like a reverse NCAA Tournament pool held for 18 weeks.
Rather than picking all the winners, players chose just one winner each week of the NFL season. That sounds easy, but if your team loses, you’re out of the tournament, Oh, and once you pick a team to win you can’t pick them again the rest of the season.
With gambling now legal in Kansas, the sportsbooks are offering a survivor pool betting option. FanDuel and DraftKings (each with a $100,000 prize) are among your options.
Here are some insights on participating in a survivor pool from The Lines website.
“Successful survivor players don’t just blindly pick teams each week. There’s delicate strategy in place that greatly increases the odds that a prepared player will win. Of course, that doesn’t eliminate bad beats and the luck factor — but it minimizes it,” the website notes.
“First, look at all 18 weeks. Do you go with the 49ers in Week 1 even though they are on the road versus the Bears? Perhaps you ‘save’ the 49ers for the following week when they play at home against the Seahawks?
“Hand-picking weeks where mediocre teams play the worst teams in the league also offers an advantage. ... Basically, selecting the more difficult teams earlier on allows you to hold onto elite teams like the Chiefs, Packers and Bills for when the pool thins down and things get tougher.”
Week 1 tips
Here is what national experts are saying about making survivor pool picks for the first week of the NFL season.
CBS Sports said the Bengals could be upset in their home game against the Steelers), largely because Super Bowl losers often struggle the following season.
The Action Network’s Billy Ward contradicts CBS Sports and says the Bengals (and Colts, who are at Houston) are his two picks for Week 1. ”Indianapolis has the slate’s best implied win probability in our model at 75.7%, which is enough to make them a worth play in Week 1,” he wrote.
Betting Pros’ Mike Spector sees the Colts, Titans (home vs. Giants) and Ravens (at Jets) as the safest picks. “Tennessee was without All-Pro running back Derrick Henry for half the season last year but still steamrolled to the No. 1 seed in the AFC,” he wrote. “Meanwhile, New York was tossing around the idea of getting more extended looks at Tyrod Taylor as its starting quarterback, as the team does not seem fully confident in Daniel Jones.”
Pro Football Network’s BJ Ruddell sees the Titans and Ravens as safe choices.
FanDuel’s Jason Schandl thinks the Colts, Ravens and 49ers (at Bears) are the top picks. “If (quarterback Trey Lance) proves to be a bust, this is still a team that is strong at almost every other position taking on a Chicago Bears team that they blew out 33-22 last year. And if Lance does live up to the hype, this game shouldn’t be remotely close.”
