The Race Pool
Posted 06-17-2009 at 08:29 PM by Believe
Before the season started, me and some friends decided to get together and have a weekly racing pool. There's a total of 8 of us and we agreed to put up $50 apiece into the pot. The pot will pay out three winners at the end; $50 for third, $100 for second and $250 for first place. Racing, money and friends. How could I say no? :thrasher:
So anyway, we're what, halfway through the season now? I've been in first place since week 2 or week 3 and have controlled it pretty well. Our points system is unlike anything I've done with racing before, but here's the lowdown. We each get three drivers per week. We get a point for whatever position they finish in. If Driver A finishes third, we get three points. Also, if Driver A leads a lap, that's a -2. If Driver A also leads the most laps, that's another -2. To greatly reward picking the winner, the winning driver actually gets us -10, although it's really -12 because that guy obviously led at least one lap. We also get -5 if one of our drivers gets the pole. It slowly evolved as we got used to it, but basically we have three rounds where we each get one pick. Each round is randomly picked by a random member. That way, no one has the first pick in each round unless they get pulled that way. The order is pulled on Monday and picks are made on Tuesday. Unfortunately, we don't get see any practices, but that's okay. Like I said, there's 8 of us. First off, there's me, no need for further description. Then, we have Caesar, a long time friend of mine, works for Pepsi and is a Jeff Gordon fan. Next is Joaney, wife to Caesar, bit airheaded and loves Kasey Kahne, could have been in those Allstate commercials easily. Next is McCall, longtime friend of Caesar, all around good guy, big time Junior fan. Then we have Lisa, also known as Doc (pharmacist), childhood friend of Joaney and a fan of Jimmie Johnson. Then we have Steven, boyfriend of Lisa (known as Smurf now because of his height) and fan of Kyle Busch. Then we have Jimmy, brother of Lisa, Junior fan I believe. Last we have Butch, father of Lisa and Jimmy and also a Junior fan.
Having this pool going on has made the races a lot more intense and interesting while watching it with one or more of my fellow competitors. Bad luck for some driver makes for a lot of trash talk among us. Those are the basics and I'll update each week.
So anyway, we're what, halfway through the season now? I've been in first place since week 2 or week 3 and have controlled it pretty well. Our points system is unlike anything I've done with racing before, but here's the lowdown. We each get three drivers per week. We get a point for whatever position they finish in. If Driver A finishes third, we get three points. Also, if Driver A leads a lap, that's a -2. If Driver A also leads the most laps, that's another -2. To greatly reward picking the winner, the winning driver actually gets us -10, although it's really -12 because that guy obviously led at least one lap. We also get -5 if one of our drivers gets the pole. It slowly evolved as we got used to it, but basically we have three rounds where we each get one pick. Each round is randomly picked by a random member. That way, no one has the first pick in each round unless they get pulled that way. The order is pulled on Monday and picks are made on Tuesday. Unfortunately, we don't get see any practices, but that's okay. Like I said, there's 8 of us. First off, there's me, no need for further description. Then, we have Caesar, a long time friend of mine, works for Pepsi and is a Jeff Gordon fan. Next is Joaney, wife to Caesar, bit airheaded and loves Kasey Kahne, could have been in those Allstate commercials easily. Next is McCall, longtime friend of Caesar, all around good guy, big time Junior fan. Then we have Lisa, also known as Doc (pharmacist), childhood friend of Joaney and a fan of Jimmie Johnson. Then we have Steven, boyfriend of Lisa (known as Smurf now because of his height) and fan of Kyle Busch. Then we have Jimmy, brother of Lisa, Junior fan I believe. Last we have Butch, father of Lisa and Jimmy and also a Junior fan.
Having this pool going on has made the races a lot more intense and interesting while watching it with one or more of my fellow competitors. Bad luck for some driver makes for a lot of trash talk among us. Those are the basics and I'll update each week.
Total Comments 6
Comments
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Most weeks, I don't get to pick very high in the first round. My second round is usually pretty good and the third is generally thought of as finding someone who could make a pole run. Last week though, I got first pick and talk about some pressure. I took Carl Edwards because of how well he runs at Michigan. I also took David Reuttimann in the second round and took David Ragan in the third round. I ended up middle of the pack on the day with 17 points, but Caesar had 36 points so my lead over him expanded to 50 points. I'm now the only competitor under 200 points. Next up is a road course and a few of my competitors will probably not be as prepared as I "think" I'm going to be. Most of us know that some of the better drivers are not good picks for the road courses. I was hoping for a top 3 pick in the first round this week, but we'll see how the luck of the draw goes.Posted 06-17-2009 at 08:35 PM by Believe
- I'm hoping for some better organization in the weeks to come. Most weeks, I don't even know the picking order until I get the phone call Tuesday evening. Doc and Smurf are the ringleaders/money holders of this shindig and Caesar, McCall and myself would like things to be more streamlined than they usually are. Sometimes other people can't be reached so the "draft" can be done quickly and it pisses me off. It's a game, but there's a lot of money on the line, ya know? So anyway, I find out Tuesday morning that my draft order is 8, 8 and 7. Are you fucking KIDDING me?? That is almost as BAD as it can possibly get. Talk about changing up a draft strategy. I guess my strategy was going to have to be prayer. I pooled up my driver list and broke it down into three rounds based on when I would pick people. I actually had Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jr in the third round. I've had Dale Jr in the third round pretty much every week since Week 3 except for Talladega. I've yet to pick him this year, actually. Anyway, someone took Jimmie in the first round like I figured they would. Since I was last in the first and wouldn't pick again til last in the second, I had to reach, sorta. I took Juan Pablo in the first. When my second choice came around, I took Kevin Harvick. I've had Harvick as a third round talent for several weeks now as RCR can't seem to get out of their own way most weeks. Harvick over the years has become a pretty decent road course guy and picking #16, you want someone who's got more than enough potential to finish better than that number and I feel Harvick will be top 10 this week. Last round time and Brian Vickers was still sitting there. I'm pick #23 and I feel like Vickers is a top 15 guy at a road course race. I failed to mention in the first blog that out of the three drivers we select, we only get points for the top 2. We do however get laps lead credits for all three, but our worst finishing driver does not count against us. I could have taken Ron Fellows at this point as he has top 10 potential, but I couldn't afford to pick someone who might not qualify. While my third worst wouldn't count against me, I would score points based ONLY on two drivers and that's not a sound strategy. Someone actually took Boris Said, so it should be interesting. Here's to hoping Juan, Harvick or Vickers gets the pole!Posted 06-17-2009 at 08:44 PM by Believe
- Standings after Michigan:
Bill 168
Caesar 218
Butch 249
McCall 272
Jimmy 320
Steven 341
Lisa 349
Joaney 349Posted 06-17-2009 at 08:49 PM by Believe - Oh yeah! Vickers is on the pole, so I'll take that -5! Not a bad start for the guy having the worst draft position!Posted 06-19-2009 at 08:56 PM by Believe
- Well, after having almost THE worst draft position a player can have, I managed to scrape out a VERY respectable 15 points, which was second best on the day. I've increased my lead, so I can't really complain.
Bill 183
Caesar 249
Butch 271
McCall 287
Steven 333
Jimmy 336
Lisa 367
Joaney 389Posted 06-23-2009 at 10:01 PM by Believe - Today was draft day. Yesterday I drew the order and did a lot better than last week, but I wasn't too thrilled with picking 6th in the first round. Really wanted to be top 5 for this one, but I targeted Denny Hamlin and no matter what happened I was going to take him 6th, which would shock most of the competitors. One problem though. Butch took Biffle number 3 and Kyle Busch actually fell to me. DAMN, what to do. I looked at the next few people who would be picking and decided to stick to my gameplan. I picked number 2 in round 2 and actually had Mark Martin fall to me, so nabbed him I did. Third pick in the third round for me and I took Clint Bowyer. All three drivers have won here before and I stand a decent chance at a pole. We shall see. My closest competitor Caesar had some bad positions to draft from, but as I showed last week, you do the best with what you've got.Posted 06-23-2009 at 10:04 PM by Believe
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