Rules
Your house rules
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 Playoff Confidence Pools
Make every playoff pick count.
Give your group a playoff pool where the picks they trust most are worth more. Members can assign points to new game picks each round, or rank all 14 teams once and score their wins through the Super Bowl. The highest total wins.
Members assign points to their game picks. Reset the values each round or use one points bank across the postseason. Correct picks earn their assigned values.
$1 per entry for the playoffs. Nothing upfront.
Let’s make Picksheet work for your pool.
Already have pool rules? Paste them in. Still figuring it out? Tell us what you have in mind.No account needed.
Tell us about itConfidence formats
Choose what members rank.
Confidence points can go on individual game picks or stay with a team throughout the playoffs.
One bank for the whole playoffs.
For example, with all 13 games included, use each value from 1 to 13 once. Spend 13 on a Wild Card pick and it’s gone for the rest of the playoffs, whether that pick wins or loses.
A fresh set of points each round.
Rank the games within each round. For example, use 1 through 6 in the six-game Wild Card round, then start over with 1 through 4 for the Divisional round.
Rank the teams once.
Each entry assigns the 14 teams a value from 1 to 14 before Wild Card weekend, using each value once. A team scores its assigned value for every win. A team worth 12 points that wins three games earns 36 before any round multipliers.
Your pool’s rules
Playoff confidence rules for your group.
For confidence on game picks, choose the points bank, deadlines, and scoring rules. Team ranking uses a separate set of rules because points belong to teams.
Format and season
- Starting round
- Wild Card weekend, or a later playoff round.
- Where it ends
- The Super Bowl, or an earlier round you choose.
- How picks resolve
- Straight up, or against the spread.
- Entries per person
- One each, or a cap you choose.
Confidence points
- Whole-playoff points bank
- One bank across all included games. A full 13-game pool can use values 1–13, each once.
- Points reset each round
- A fresh range for each round. For example, 1–6 for Wild Card, then 1–4 for Divisional.
- Custom point values
- A standard consecutive range, or values you choose, including repeats if that is how your pool plays.
- Value reuse
- In a once-only bank, each value is spent whether the pick wins or loses. If your pool allows reuse, specify how many times each value can be assigned.
- Unassigned confidence values
- Define whether automatic or unweighted picks take the lowest or highest available values.
Deadlines
- Pick deadline
- For each round, use the first kickoff, each game’s own kickoff, or a day and time you set.
- One round’s deadline
- Use a different cutoff for a particular round, including the Super Bowl.
- Per-game lock
- Always on. A game that kicks off early locks early. Values assigned to a locked pick stay committed.
- Entry deadline
- Set when new entries must join, separately from when their picks are due.
Scoring and ties
- Correct picks
- Earn the confidence value assigned to the pick.
- Incorrect picks
- Score a wrong pick as zero, or subtract its assigned confidence value.
- Pushes against the spread
- Half-point lines avoid pushes. Whole-point lines need an explicit rule for scoring a push.
- Tiebreaker
- Use a declared tiebreaker, such as a Super Bowl total-points prediction, or allow tied final standings.
Picks
- Round-by-round picks
- Pick the actual matchups as each round becomes known. Unused values carry forward when your points bank spans the playoffs.
- How many games
- Every game on the slate, or a number you choose. The points bank needs to match the pool’s pick requirements.
- A missed pick
- Leave the game unpicked, or auto-pick an available home team, road team, favorite, underdog, or random team.
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. Unused for straight-up pools; the time is ignored in manual mode
- 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
- Rules text
- A rules page generated from your settings, plus a note in your own words
- Audit markers
- Commissioner picks are flagged “C”.
- Advance picks
- Make picks ahead of time once the round’s matchups are set.
- 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
People
Your pool.
Your people.
Your members won’t be added to a marketing list or shown sportsbook promotions. You decide who joins.
Support
Get help from
a real person.
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 playoffs. Nothing upfront.
Pay only for the entries you keep.
- No credit card to start
- No minimum charge
- Set up before inviting anyone
Before Wild Card weekend.
The choices that make the biggest difference to your playoff pool.
Is this the version where we rank all 14 teams?
That is team ranking. Some hosts call it playoff power ranking or playoff confidence. Members rank every team before play begins, and the values stay with those teams for the whole postseason. In game-pick confidence, a value belongs to one game pick and can score only for that game. See the team ranking guide.
Do we pick every round before the playoffs start?
In a round-by-round confidence pool, you make picks as the actual matchups become known. A whole-playoff points bank still works this way. You keep your unused values for later rounds. Predicting the full playoff path upfront is a bracket pool.
Can we play against the spread?
Yes. Confidence pools can use straight-up winners or picks against the spread. In an ATS pool, a correct pick covers the pool’s posted line. Agree on when lines are set and how pushes score before play begins.
Do I have to save 13 points for the Super Bowl?
No. In a once-only 1 through 13 bank, you choose where to spend each value. Your highest value can go on any included game. The value left for the Super Bowl depends on your earlier choices.
What happens if the final scores are tied?
The pool’s rules decide. Predicting the combined Super Bowl score is one tiebreaker. Set your rule before the first picks lock.
For your group
Already have your playoff rules?
Send them over. A rules sheet, a spreadsheet, or a quick explanation of how your group plays is a good place to start.