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2023 NFL Survivor Pool Primer: What to Expect with Weekly Picks

by Joey House - 6/27/2023

NFL survivor pool primer Kyler Murray Arizona Cardinals

Welcome to Doc's Sports, your destination for expert NFL Survivor Pool picks! If you're a football fan looking to create more excitement for your weekend football viewing pleasure without risking little Johnny's college fund, a Survivor Pool could be the perfect balance of excitement and risk.

Doc’s Sports offers NFL picks for every game on our NFL predictions page.

Survivor Pools have grown in popularity over the past few seasons, and it's easy to see why. Instead of the traditional sports wagers involving point spreads and over/unders, Survivor Pools require the contestant to make a single pick for the entire week. Win, and you advance to the next week/round. Lose, and you must wait until next season (unless you can find another Survival Pool that starts halfway through the season). You don't have to worry about point spreads; there is no vigorish or "juice" to pay a sportsbook; you simply pay an entry fee at the beginning of the contest and pick until you lose. Sounds simple, doesn't it?

Here's the catch. Once you pick a team, they are done for the rest of the contest. So, if you choose Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs when they play the Detroit Lions to kick off the NFL season, you cannot pick them for the rest of the season. It's not so simple now, is it?

But that's why you're here at Doc's, to get sneaky wins here and there, saving the big guns for later in the season after everybody has already used them. With over 51 years of being a sports betting and information industry leader, Doc's has a team of handicapping professionals who analyze the stats, trends, injury, and weather reports to give you the best opportunity for success. And the best part: IT'S FREE !!

Each week, I will give you a quick rundown of the analysis that the team has done and give you the selection, but just as importantly, I will share the rationale for making the selection. Here at Doc's, we believe in not just making you a winner but a "sports investor," showing you the tools and techniques to create a winner.

Because every Survivor Pool is different, you must familiarize yourself with the contest rules. I will make my selections based on the teams winning the game outright without worrying about a point spread. However, make sure that your pool makes its selections in the same manner.

Here are a few basic strategies I will employ throughout the season in selecting my weekly picks:

Fortune favors the bold: Many Survivor Pool players try to pick the team most likely to win that week. While that sounds good in theory, in reality, the picks each progressing week get harder and harder as the pool of available teams has been depleted of quality squads. Taking some risks early on is necessary to set up a strong endgame. If you lose in the second week because your risk went south, it's the same as losing in the tenth week because all of the solid squads are gone.

Ruffling feathers can be good: A term often used in gambling and fantasy sports, particularly DFS, is "contrarian." This term can lead to intense philosophical discussions in game theory, so I'll summarize. If you always pick with the majority, getting a lead or gaining ground is challenging because your winning team is their winning team. However, this doesn't mean you should pick the biggest underdogs every week because they are dogs for a reason. Finding the perfect balance between the contrary and the popular is daunting.

Know the lay of the land: Sun Tzu stated, "He who knows the terrain and the weather will never be defeated." The terrain, in this case, would be the overall season. Analyzing the overall schedule can help you spot potential letdowns and also plan where you might strategically plan to take a risk. Accounting for the weather can also make a difference, but that is also more of a week-to-week tactical decision versus a long-term strategic decision.

Decoding Rivals- Know your opponents: This pertains to more than knowing your opponent's tendencies. It means keeping track of their selections, which can give you an idea of their overall strength. Midway through the season, if the rest of the remaining contestants in the league have used up their best teams, you don't need to be as aggressive in your selection. However, if a few still have some strong picks, you might need to take a calculated risk to save some of your strong picks a couple of weeks down the road.

These are just a few of the many strategies and tactics we employ at Doc's to help you conquer your Survivor Pool and emerge victorious. Best of luck to everyone.... is it September yet?

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