How to Play Football Pool

The NFL is filled with over 20 teams that millions of fans root for every week. Even if your favorite team is not playing a certain week, you can participate in a football pool to make the action more exciting. Football pools are set up multiple ways, and each way features different benefits and options. Knowing how to play them will give you an advantage and help you choose the correct teams.

Instructions

  1. Team-Based Football Pools

    • 1

      Choose a "team-based football pool." These football pools are the simplest to complete; each player's sheet features a list of every game and a number assigned to each team to keep track of the selections.

    • 2

      Choose the teams that you want to win each game. While going through each game, consider different stats, including injuries, team records and who the home team is. There are upsets every week, but the favorite wins more often than not.

    • 3

      Circle each team using a pen so that you do not confuse the picks or have your choices tampered with. Fill in your selections on the submission portion of the picks and make sure that you double check your choices for any mistakes.

    • 4

      Choose a tie-breaker score. This score is usually selected for the last game of the week and decides a winner if there is a tie. For this score you choose the total amount of points the two teams will score on the Monday night football game. Typical guesses range from 30 through 50 points, but the guesses can be higher or lower than those numbers.

    • 5

      Submit your picks to the organizer of the football pool before the first game begins. If you wait too long, the picks could become voided or canceled all together.

    Situation Football Pools

    • 6

      Choose a "situation football pool." These football pools are more involved football pools and actually break down each game that is played. These pools take a little longer to fill out; the player sheets are usually made on grid paper and feature a row for each game that is played.

    • 7

      Choose the team that is going to win. This section is usually worth the most points within these football pools.

    • 8

      Choose which team will win the coin toss. This is a pure luck guess, but can add a lot of points to the end of the pool.

    • 9

      Choose which team will score first. No matter what the team scores, you receive points for making the correct selection. Some pools also offer the option of what type of score will be made, and you can select either field goal, touchdown or safety.

    • 10

      Choose the total score for every game or just for the final game, depending how the football pool is formatted.