Mike (Jun 16): Since a very high % picked Italy to finish 1st, not very much change in the standings.

Mike (Jun 16): First points are out! Italy is guaranteed to get through, so if you picked them 1st in Group A, then you got 3 points. Will be upgraded to 5 points if they are still in 1st after facing Wales on Sunday.

Mike (Jun 16): We could have our first points handed out today. If a team is guaranteed to finish at least 2nd in their group after their second match, then I will give the minimum points earned for that selection.

Mike (Jun 12): Quite the start with dominating wins by Italy and Belgium, and a huge scare in the Finland-Denmark game. Big one in the morning, England-Croatia.

Mike (Jun 11): And away we go!

Mike (Jun 11): Well we blew past 1,500. 90 minutes!

Mike (Jun 11): Last day! We might get north of 1,500 entries. Eastern time zone people we've got a 3:00 pm start, Turkey vs. Italy.

Mike (Jun 10): In the last World Cup pool we had 10,000 entries and a single winner https://www.myofficepool.ca/soccer/worldcup/results.php?p=807

Mike (Jun 10): Hey Vik. Depending how the games go, there is usually a pretty good spread of points because of the different points for picking who finishes 1st/2nd and those annoying 3rd place spots. For private pools, I tell people if they want to have a tie-breaker, either use something each person doesn't have to add to their entry (like most Group points), or if it something to add, have each person in the pool post a comment with their choice (like final score). In my pools - this pubic one and my $22 pool - there is no tie-breaker, we'll do a split if necessary.

Vik (Jun 9): Hey Mike, do we need to put a final score in as a tie-breaker? I didn't see a place to enter it. There may be 2 individuals that end up with the same point total at the end. I guess you could split the winnings with the 2 entrants.

Mike (Jun 8): When a friend told me yesterday he had trouble figuring out who to pick for the third-place teams, it gave me the idea to assign random teams for anyone who doesn't make those picks. The trick will be figuring out how to do that.

Mike (May 31): A couple people asked, so I created a $22 entry Euro pool for those interested. Link in the commish message for this pool.

Mike (May 31): Mike updated the pool

Mike (May 29): Some confusion with the 3rd place finishers, understandably. Note, you will earn points for picking a team to advance to the next round, regardless of who they are playing. So, picking a team to win a Round of 16 game earns points for that selection if they win. No worries about them being in the "wrong game" because they finished 1st in the group instead of 2nd. That should help alleviate a lot of potential matchup issues.

Mike (May 25): I find the best way to fill in the picks form is to start by picking each group winner and runner-up, then the third-place finishers (without picking a team you already selected). Make sure no blanks in your opening round, and then Round of 16 through to the Final.

Mike (May 21): Mike updated the pool

Mike (May 21): Mike created the pool