One of the most anticipated events during the NFL football season is the Las Vegas Hilton Super Contest which is billed as the premier NFL handicapping contest in the world and is the brain child of the Las Vegas Hilton. With its growing popularity it has been compared to the World Series of Poker. Steve Fezzik, who is the only man to win the Super Contest twice in back to back years in 2008 and 2009 told CalvinAyre.com that it has followed a similar path as the WSOP Main Event. Really for years no one paid much attention with the exception of a few diehard handicappers. In recent years the Super Contest has grown to a record 745 entrants and it is expected to continue to grow.
For beginners the contest isn’t really as complicated as it appears as the rules are pretty simple. With an entry fee of 1500.00 and you must enter in person so if you aren’t from Vegas you need to add a little jaunt there on your schedule prior to the NFL season. Once you are registered and the season starts you have to submit 5 NFL point spread picks each week using the lines provided by LVH. You can’t submit your picks online which means if you are not from the area you will have to use a proxy to submit for you. There are several services available that offer this in the Las Vegas area.
The scoring is very simple, for every cover you successfully pick you will receive a point. If your pick pushes you will receive ½ a point. The person who finishes the season with the most points wins the contest!
These are the mechanics of the contest, however making the right picks consistently isn’t quite as easy as you would think. Some of the best NFL handicappers in the world compete in this contest and have yet to win it.
It’s very important to understand line movements throughout the week in making your final decisions for your picks so don’t be in a rush. There are several other handicapping angles you can look at that are offered at various online handicapping websites. It might be handy to take a look at some of them.
Once you think you have an effective strategy in place and you are confident that you might get far in the contest it’s not necessary to win it to win money. The Super Contest has an expanded cash prize pool that awards the top 30 finishers.