Julie Jacobson\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
If you are like most football poolies or bettors, you struggled to stay above 50 percent picking winners in this wacky 2014 NFL season. <\/p>\n
That showing put you way behind the winners of the prestigious Westgate Super Contest, who hit a record 76 percent this year while pocketing a nearly $740,000 grand prize. <\/p>\n
CH Ballers, a four-member group that employed a team strategy to making five weekly picks in the Las Vegas contest (formerly the Hilton Contest and LVH Super Contest), hit 64.5 points out of a possible 85. <\/p>\n
The previous record for accuracy was 60.5, points and the previous record prize was $532,000 last year. <\/p>\n
Theres a lot of mathematics, and each of us kind of has our own little system, team member Justin Green said in an interview with Odds Shark. <\/p>\n
But we kind of brought that all together where it wasnt necessarily just throwing out games. There was a lot of texting, a lot of calling, a lot of power rankings, different things like that. <\/p>\n
Contestants pick five games against the spread each week and the top 30 collect prize money. The contest has soared in popularity in recent years with the number of contestants (who pay $1,500 entry fees) and the prize pool doubling in three years. <\/p>\n
It has the potential to push into a $1 million grand prize next year if the trend continues, Jack Randall of OddsShark.com said in an interview Wednesday. <\/p>\n
Odds Shark entered its super computer this year, and it finished well back in the standings. But one of the contestants sponsored by Odds Shark won the three-week mini contest (best record over the final three weeks of the season). <\/p>\n
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Westgate Super Contest Winners Hit 76 Percent of NFL Picks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Julie Jacobson\/Associated Press If you are like most football poolies or bettors, you struggled to stay above 50 percent picking winners in this wacky 2014 NFL season. Continue reading