One Savvy Bet And A 300 SCR March Madness Pool Update. The Drama Continues (A Correction)
Have you ever made a bet knowing that it was so far fetched that you would probably never win it? We have all taken a chance on that underdog team and hoped that the ticket would come through at some point but how much would you stake? $5? $10? $20? How great would it be if that ticket came in and you won a few hundred dollars? What if you threw $1500 down on that underdog? That is exactly what someone did back in November!
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Back in November, some guy made the above bet on Texas Tech to win the NCAA National Championship at 200-1 odds. A great bet for someone who has some confidence in the Red Raiders to make a run in March but to throw $1500 down on it is absolutely amazing. If the ticket comes through it will pay out over $300,000. WOW!!! I can't imagine putting an entire mortgage payment down on a sports bet that has very little chance of coming through. Maybe I could see myself throwing $50 or even $100 on the bet and that would be if I was super confident in that team which would be so hard to do back in November as the season was just getting started. $50 would have scored the guy $10,000 and that would be epic. Obviously, this person has a big pool of expendable cash and in less than a week it could pay HUGE dividends for him.
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Now, to make things even more exciting, the bet slip is now available for purchase. The owner of the ticket has offered it up on a resale website for a modest $65,000. Here we are with only two games left for the Red Raiders to win and for a mere $65,000 investment, those two wins could net you $235,000 profit. WOW!! This guy could possibly get out right now with a huge win and the person who buys the ticket would be taking on such a MASSIVE risk. All this for a #3 seed who was not expected to be in the Final 4 let alone win a National Championship.
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What is the biggest bet you have made? What is the biggest bet you have won? Would you have dropped $1500 on a 200-1 underdog? I know that I could never do it. It is just way too much coin to risk on a sports bet. I tend to save my bigger betting for my fantasy leagues. Between my different football leagues alone I spend about $400 a year in entry fees. At least with fantasy sports, I feel like I have some control over how my team does. I know that I will be watching very closely to see if this person wins the big money!
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As you might know, the 300 SCR March Madness Pool is fast approaching its epic climax this weekend in Minneapolis. I posted the standings and laid out the scenarios in my most recent post:
The Final Four Is Set And March Madness Pool Drama!!
As I was going through the teams again last night and looking at how the entire bracket has played out, I saw that I had overlooked a small item when tabulating the points on Monday. I had made an ERROR.
In that post, I announced that thesportsguru and bamamama were tied for the lead going into the final four weekend with 132 points. This scenario meant that there was a possibility of them ending up tied and having to go to a tiebreaker to determine the winner.
Unfortunately, I missed a bonus point that should have been awarded to Auburn for their win over North Carolina. Auburn is seeded #5 and therefore there was a 4 seed gap when they beat #1 NC. This means that Auburn should have been awarded 1 bonus point.
*** Bonus Points***
Bonus points will be awarded to teams that beat seeds that are higher than themselves in any game. This could happen in any round of the tournament.
Bonus points will be added as follows:
One point for an upset where the seed differential is 4-7
Two points if the seed differential is 8-11
Three points if the differential is 12-13
Five points if a 16-seed beats a 1 seed. (**This could only happen in the round of 16 after that the above rules would apply)
What does this mean for the pool?
Well, the same possibilities apply in terms of Texas Tech and Auburn winning games. If Texas Tech wins and Auburn loses then bamamama will be the winner. If Auburn wins and Texas Tech loses then thesportsguru will be the winner. If they both lose then thesportsguru would be the winner.
The same scenario applies to the battle between mikey, ronaldo420, and agfnzn10 for third. Mikey has Auburn and they both have Texas Tech.
Now there is an epic bet. I really think that he has the ticket up for sale is a cool bonus.
It is a real world chance to see some current economic theory in practice. That people don't always (maybe don't often) do the thing that is in their best interest in a case where 'free money' is available. An interesting case, to be sure.
Would I place that bet. Nope. No chance. Zero. I can admire gamblers, but I am much more of a player, concerned with best odds and likelyhoods.
The biggest % I have ever collected was at a horse race in a small city. My first ex wife and I were suffering a miserable day in the rain. Actually I was suffering a miserable day, she was just along for the fun. In the 9th (feature) race she picked a horse by it's name. Spider Legs Bill, was an 'added' selection that had no business in the race. She gave me a $5 bill to put on it's nose. I was having a really bad day and considered booking the bet as I went to the window just before the race. Far as I was concerned she'd made a really bad choice and I could use the fiver for the 10th race.
I didn't, I bought the ticket. It was the only winner in the place. Paid out just over $1000 on a $5 ticket when $2 was much the norm. I had to listen to a lot of crap out of that deal but she did buy me a steak dinner on the way home.
The scary part is that I seriously considered booking the ticket. Had I done so it would have taken hours to figure out how much I owed her as there would have been no winning ticket on the race.
I learned a lesson there, I just don't remember what it was now. I do remember the year, it was 1974.
God it's hard to figure out how Auburn was a 5 seed now.
I'll never truly understand the seeding lol. The biggest win for me was about $500 on a parlay bet on a few NFL games. It was on the last week of the season and I took a few upsets because I knew starters would be sitting. That was a fun day. Only bet $5. Pretty sweet win on the horse race. I never have any luck at the track. I am the one who has no business being in the race when it comes to that. I am just roling dice and taking guesses but it is always fun. LOL