What are “Against the Spread” picks?

The one main difference with “against the spread picks” (vs. “straight-up” picks) is the favored team has to win by more than a certain number of points (the “spread”) in order to count as a win. For instance, if the Packers are favored by 7 against the Bears, they would need to win by more than 7 in order for it to count as a win against the spread. If the final score is 31-10, it would count as a win for the Packers. If the score is 16-10, then it would count as a loss against the spread. If somehow the Bears won, that would count as a loss. 

How to use CPP picks for both confidence and non-confidence against the spread pools

With the spread, we’re going to assume that it makes every game about a 50/50 chance of winning or losing. It takes the win probability out of the picture. So we’re just going to pick for or against how everyone else is picking. 

Here’s the chart that Premium Members get:  (sign up for a premium membership) 

The chart is sorted by how much the public is picking this team, highest picked to lowest picked. The base points is how many points you would assign to this matchup. The base pick is the pick you would make if you wanted the least risk (you’ll just be mostly going with the crowd). The colors show which picks to go with for upset picks. 

The first thing to do is figure out how many and which opposite picks (opp) you want to go with.  The green picks are high risk, high reward. The yellow picks are medium risk for medium reward.For bigger leagues, you want to go with more money picks. Our risk picks table gives you some suggestions, along with suggested picks if your pool doesn’t use confidence points:

Hope this helps! Of course, feel free to tweak it a bit and go with your own favorites. That’s what makes it fun. Good luck!