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have a home.
Your scoring, your tiebreakers, the traditions your group has built. You decide how the pool runs. We help you make it work.
NFL Confidence Pool Hosting
Run a pool where confidence counts.
Members put more points on the picks they trust most. Choose the weekly values, decide how losses score, and give your group both weekly and season standings to follow.
$1 per entry for the season. Nothing upfront.
How NFL confidence works
Being right is only half the game.
Choose the picks your group makes.
Members pick every game or the number your pool sets. Use straight-up winners or picks against the spread.
Members assign confidence points.
In a common 16-game setup, members use each value from 1 to 16 once, with 16 on their surest pick. Values start fresh the next week.
Confidence changes the standings.
Correct picks earn their assigned points, so two members with the same winners can finish with different scores. Your group competes on which games they trust most as well as who wins.
Running yours on paper? Print a confidence pick sheet. Free, no account. Choose a week, then turn on the Confidence column.
Confidence scoring formats
Four ways to assign confidence points.
Rank every pick, put extra weight on a few key picks, or bring your group’s own numbers. Members assign the values you choose each week.
Match the pick count.
Use 1 through the number of required picks. A 14-pick week uses 1–14; a five-pick pool uses 1–5. Every value is assigned once in this setup. Weeks with fewer picks have fewer points available.
Weight a few key picks.
Give members a few higher-value picks, with the rest worth one point. For example, one three-point pick and two two-point picks add a confidence element without asking members to rank every game.
7-5-3-3-3 confidence.
Give each entry one seven-point pick, one five-point pick, and three three-point picks each week. If your pool includes more than five games, the remaining picks are worth one point. Members choose where to use the bigger values.
Custom point values.
Choose the values and how often each appears. Your pool might use 10, 5, 5, and 2, or repeat the same value on several picks. Bring over the scoring system your group already uses.
Your pool’s rules
Weekly confidence rules for your group.
Confidence is a pick’em scoring choice in setup. Choose that format, then set the values, schedule, deadlines, and tiebreakers. Values go on individual game picks and refresh each week.
Confidence scoring
- Points per loss
- Incorrect picks score zero, or subtract their assigned confidence value
- Confidence scale
- Start at 1 and top out at that week’s pick count, or keep the same top value all season
- Custom point weights
- Choose values such as 7, 5, 3, 3, 3, with additional picks worth 1. Unassigned values go to picks left without a value when they lock
- Auto-pick confidence
- Automatic picks, missed required picks, and picks left without a value use the lowest or highest remaining value when they lock
- How picks resolve
- Straight up, or against the spread
- Over/Under
- Allow picks on game totals as well as teams. A totals pick counts toward the pool’s pick requirement and carries a confidence value in a confidence pool
- Game ties
- Worth half the pick’s value for ties or pushes, when allowed by your rules. An 8-point confidence pick earns 4 with half credit
Deadlines
- Pick deadline
- At the first kickoff, at each game’s own kickoff, or a day and time you set
- One week’s deadline
- First kickoff, each kickoff, or a day and time for one week only, like Thanksgiving
- Postseason deadline
- First kickoff, each kickoff, or a day and time, separate from your weekly rule
- Per-game lock
- Always on. A game that kicks off early locks early
Standings and tiebreakers
- Standings
- Both, always. Weekly standings for weekly prizes, season standings for the season race
- Dropped weeks
- Off, or drop each player’s worst 1-10 weeks from the season standings — weekly standings still count every week
- Weekly tiebreaker
- Average score margin; closest guess to the last game’s combined score, including overtime, typically Monday night; or none
- Season tiebreaker
- Average score margin — against the spread in spread pools, margin of victory in straight-up pools; most wins (correct picks) in confidence pools; or none, leaving season ties for you to settle
Picks and season
- How many games
- Every game, a set number each week, a weekly minimum, or a season-long pick budget members use across the weeks. With different pick counts, set how points are assigned and standings are compared
- A missed pick
- Is scored as an incorrect pick, or auto-picks an available home team, road team, favorite, underdog, or random team. For Over/Under picks the side is chosen randomly
- Starting week
- Any week from 1 to 18, or start in the playoffs
- Where it ends
- Any week from 1 to 18, any playoff round, or the Super Bowl
- Entry deadline
- Close the pool at your first week’s deadline, keep taking late entries until a week you pick, or leave it open all season
- Entries per person
- One each, or a cap you choose
Visibility and control
- Seeing other picks
- As each game locks, or all at once at the deadline
- Point spreads
- Shown on the pick sheet, or kept off it. A pool that plays against the spread always shows them
- How ATS spreads get set
- Automatically from the market at any day and time, or manually. Straight-up pools use the time only for Over/Under totals; manual mode ignores it
- Half-point ATS spreads
- Automatic spreads always use half-points, so games cannot push; manual spreads are not guaranteed to use half-points
- Commissioner picks
- Enter and fix picks for a member, or turn that off
- Commissioner visibility
- Always off. Nobody sees a pick before it locks, you included
- Audit markers
- Always on. Commissioner picks are flagged "C"
- Rules text
- A rules page generated from your settings, plus a note in your own words
- Entry management
- Keep track of who has joined, how many entries they have, and who still owes their dues.
Don’t see your house rule? Tell us what it is.
Your house rules
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Your members won’t be added to a marketing list or shown sportsbook promotions. You decide who joins.
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A setup question, a scoring issue, a house rule you want to try: you’ll hear from the people building Picksheet.
Football pool pricing
$1 per entry. For the season. Nothing upfront.
Pay only for the entries you keep.
- No credit card to start
- No minimum charge
- Set up before inviting anyone
Before your first confidence week.
The details that matter when some games carry more points than others.
Is the highest number the strongest pick?
Yes. A correct pick earns its assigned value. In a 1–16 week, members put 16 on the pick they feel best about and one on the pick they are least sure about.
Can members reuse a value next week?
Yes. Values refresh each week, including those assigned to losing picks. Within one week, a 1–16 range uses each value once; custom values can include repeats if that is how you set up the pool.
What happens when there are fewer games?
Choose how the point range adjusts. Matching the pick count gives a 14-pick week values of 1–14. Keeping a top value of 16 uses 3–16 instead, so shorter weeks stay closer to a full week in available points. Custom values follow the set you choose.
When do picks and values lock?
Each pick and its value lock when that game starts, or at your pool’s deadline if it comes first. With a first-kickoff deadline, the whole week locks when the first game starts. With individual kickoff deadlines, Sunday picks stay editable after Thursday’s game begins.
What if a member leaves a value blank?
The pick gets the lowest or highest remaining value when it locks, according to your rule. The same rule handles values for automatic and missed required picks. If your pool requires Thursday’s game and uses the highest remaining value, a missed Thursday pick could use up a member’s 16 before Sunday starts.
Can our pool continue into the playoffs?
Yes. Values refresh for each playoff round, just as they do each week. A separate playoff pool can also use that format, or use one set of values across the entire postseason. Ranking teams once and scoring their values whenever they win is another format. Compare playoff confidence formats.
Can we drop a bad week?
Yes. When configuring the pool, you can turn on dropped weeks and choose how many of each entry’s lowest-scoring weeks to exclude from season standings. Leave the setting off to count every week. Weekly standings always keep that week’s full results.
How should we handle tied standings?
Set weekly and season tiebreakers before the first picks lock. You can use different rules for each, or allow tied standings. If you award prizes, specify how any remaining ties affect prize splits.
How do I set up a confidence pool?
Start a pick’em pool and choose Confidence as the scoring format. Then choose your values, pick counts, deadlines, and tiebreakers.
Ready to run your pool?
Set up your pool and make sure everything looks right before inviting your group.
Need a hand with your rules? Get in touch.