My absolute favorite week of the year (BY FAR. More than Xmas, Chinese New Year, Thanksgiving, Super Bowl, Festivus, whatever. Probably more than all those combined) is upon us. In approximately 12 hours the games will be underway. I've been getting crushed at work but am seriously considering buying a last minute ticket from LA to Vegas on Friday night. Tickets are close to $400 roundtrip on Southwest but it's so worth it to be there on the first weekend. If you have not tried it please do give it a try.
Anyways, you may find yourself asking "how is this post finance related?" Well, if anyone's ever worked for a decently sized institution, March Madness office pool is probably the only time an office will come together as one and do something where everyone is passionate about it. A quick primer for the different games you can play during March Madness:
1) Bracket: The most popular one and what most offices use for their office pool.
Strategy: Depending on how many players enter, your strategy should differ. If you are in a pool with a lot of people (100+), chances are people will pick IU/Louisville/Kansas/Duke to go all the way, and in that scenario you almost have to go a different route to have a shot to win. A good one this year is picking Florida to go all the way IMO. Another word of advice: take a look at the scoring system. Some systems will deviate toward picking the # of winners whereas other pools will be won if you choose the latter games right (back-end loaded).
2) Calcutta: The most fun game I've ever played in terms of March Madness. Straight up chaos. For those unfamiliar with this, take a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcutta_auction. Basic gist: you draw teams randomly and people will bid on each of them. Payouts are % based on the games they win in each round. The one I played in last year had a total pool of over $100k and Kentucky went for well over $10k. (Using this as an example, Kentucky would have had to make it to the final four to break even and make it to the championship game to make $).
Strategy: Teams that are drawn in the beginning are almost always bargains when you look back. I've done this in the last 4 years and it's always the case. My only explanation is as people drink more into the auction and people start settling in. Also, you should be projecting how much the pool is as bids go along. You don't need a spreadsheet but you should use your intuition, as this determines the expected value of each team.
3) Draft: You can do this with a small # of people, where the # has to be a factor of 64 (2, 4, 8, 16, 32). Each person drafts teams based on snake style. Scoring system varies. This is a lot of fun because people tend to be more competitive when the # of players is smaller, and the trash talk is more direct (bro, I can't believe you drafted Gonzaga as your first pick).
Strategy: sort by odds in Vegas and try to pick as many of the top teams as possible, unless scoring system favors taking risks.
Anyways, here is the info to the WSO NCAA Tourney Pick Em Group. Hope to see you there!
Group ID: 127747
Password: madoff
//www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/official-wso-ncaa-tournament-pick-em-gro…
Fucking love this week as well!!! My spring break starts in approximately 20 hours with Vegas coming in 5 days. Can't wait to spend racks on racks of student loan money and credit on booze, blow, and strippers. And also can't wait to crush all you ivy league noobs in this bracket.
Masters week is better.
Agreed. Masters week, Ryder Cup, Stanley Cup, and Rugby World Cup finals week top march madness any day.
Can someone explain why it would be a sub-optimal strategy to pick the favorite for every game? Even if it has never happened, a bracket with all the favorites would still has the highest probability of happening, correct? I'm not sure I agree with the logic of picking an underdog, even if your pool is large.
This is a classic example of why picking the favorite would fuck you over for 12 consecutive games.
As an IU alumn - Wisconsin was probably favored in many of these. There were some lean years for the Hoosiers.
I'm in a pool with dumb coworkers ( people picking their school or based on colors) I basically went chalk and likd my odds. I am also in a pool with about 60 actual sports fans. There are probably 40+ with IU or Louisville I'm not interested in competing or splitting winnings with all these people. I'll choose another team and hopefully get 1st if that team wins.
The OP is right Calcutta is awesome! The Calcutta is my favorite form of gambling. We have about 8-10 guys that do a sweet 16 Calcutta every year at work.
This is the best week ever. 3 years ago I did my bachelor party in Vegas during opening weekend of march madness - probably the best decision of my life.
If it actually goes down with all the favorites winning, everyone who brainlessly filled out their bracket with favorites will be in fierce contention. Picking upsets differentiates your bracket in that if you actually correctly call some upsets, you're now winning points no one else can get.
Superbowl Week(end)!!!!
Y'all in the WSO bracket right?
Too bad, I'm not around anymore. We usually make a pool.
Picking top seed also isn't a great strategy if your pool adds seed number to your winning bets. fun way of playing - incentive's risk taking and betting on underdogs
Made at pool at the office and already found multiple ways around the IT system to watch my games and check bracket without labelled as "Gambling". Brought my Ipad in for a second screen for games...Im ready for a solid week
Louisville for the gold.
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