Golden Nugget $1500 Friday Football Showdown

Golden Nugget $1500 Friday Football Showdown This is the contest that replaces the Cantor deal that has taken place the last two years. It is an invite event with part of the entry being you have to do the radio thing. At Cantor I had Bryan Leonard to do the radio portion but he has his own entry here so I will do it myself for this one. Drew Big Al McMordie as a round one opponent on Sept 27. The way this is set up is that you really are just trying to be one of the top 8 after round one so it is not actually head-to-head. After making the finals both years and not being able to close the deal, just hoping third times a charm. The money is a lot less than at Cantor but getting guys to put up 5K was very difficult so they went with $1500 and had no problem filling the spots. [url]https://www.thelasvegassportsline.com/[/url] FRIDAY FOOTBALL SHOWDOWN Presented by the Golden Nugget sports book and Las Vegas Review-Journal Hosted by The Las Vegas Sportsline and airing on ESPN Radio (1100 AM, 98.9 FM) [url]https://www.thelasvegassportsline.com/FRIDAY_CONTEST.html[/url] Each Friday throughout the football season, two handicappers go head to head in a bracket contest. A video version of the contest for reviewjournal.com will be shot at 12:15 p.m. Fridays at the Golden Nugget sports book. The radio version will be held from 2 to 3 p.m Fridays at the ESPN Radio (1100 AM, 98.9 FM) studio. FIRST-ROUND MATCHUPS Friday, Sept. 6 Chuck Edel/Ken Thomson vs. Erin Rynning/Ted Sevransky Friday, Sept. 13 Steve Fezzik vs. Cris Zeniuk/Frank Perez Friday, Sept. 20 Dave Tuley vs. Paul Stone Friday, Sept. 27 “Big” Al McMordie vs. Frank Betti Friday, Oct. 4 Ron Boyles vs. Scott Kellen Friday, Oct. 11 Scott Pritchard vs. John Kwan Friday, Oct. 18 Richie Baccellieri vs. “Fat” Jack Ross Friday, Oct. 25 Bryan Leonard vs. Kenny White

Looks like this contest is now down to 14 as the two that participated in Week 1 could only muster a couple of wins between them. This Friday it's Fezzik vs the duo of Chris Zeniuk and Frank Perez. FIRST-ROUND MATCHUPS Friday, Sept. 6 Chuck Edel/Ken Thomson 1-6 1) Texans -4.5 (L) 2) Rams -4.5 (L) 3) New Mexico State +16.5 (L) 4) Packers +5 (L) 5) Falcons-Saints over 54.5 (L) 6) Toledo-Missouri over 66 (L) Best Bet) New Mexico +6.5 (W) Erin Rynning/Ted Sevransky 1-5-1 1) Bengals +3 (P) 2) Western Kentucky +13.5 (L) 3) Raiders-Colts under 47 (W) 4) Oregon State -27.5 (L) 5) Giants +3.5 (L) 6) San Diego State +28.5 (L) Best Bet) Patriots-Bills over 51 (L) Friday, Sept. 13 Steve Fezzik vs. Cris Zeniuk/Frank Perez

Fezzik did well going 5-2 and won Best Bet. Chris & Frank went 3-4 but will lose all tiebreakers so tough path there. This week LVA member Paul Stone is on with Dave Tuley By MATT YOUMANS LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FRIDAY FOOTBALL SHOWDOWN Presented by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Golden Nugget sports book Each Friday throughout the football season, two handicappers go head to head in a bracket contest. Sixteen contestants were invited to enter for $1,500 each. The Golden Nugget added $1,000 to the prize pool for a total of $25,000. Each handicapper makes seven selections against the spread, from all college and NFL sides and totals posted on the Golden Nugget board at noon Friday. The seventh selection is designated as the Best Bet for tiebreaking purposes. Week 2 picks, Sept. 13 Steve Fezzik (Pregame.com) 1) UNLV -7 2) Army +30.5 3) Kentucky +14.5 4) Giants +4.5 5) Rams +6.5 6) Bills +3 Best Bet) Buccaneers +3.5 Cris Zeniuk/Frank Perez (@lasvegascris) 1) Texas-San Antonio +26.5 2) Steelers +7 3) Vikings +6 4) Buccaneers +3.5 5) 49ers +3 6) Bowling Green +2.5 Best Bet) Giants +4.5 Friday Sept 20 Paul Stone vs Dave Tuley

Good Luck Paul. All 7 picks go Saturday. Have to think a 4-3 puts you in decent shape. Tuley is on the Jags, Chargers and Cards. Three teams on the road that can't see winning outright so those points will tell the tale. FRIDAY FOOTBALL SHOWDOWN Presented by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Golden Nugget sports book Each Friday throughout the football season, two handicappers go head to head in a bracket contest. Sixteen contestants were invited to enter for $1,500 each. The Golden Nugget added $1,000 to the prize pool for a total of $25,000. Each handicapper makes seven selections against the spread, from all college and NFL sides and totals posted on the Golden Nugget board at noon Friday. The seventh selection is designated as the Best Bet for tiebreaking purposes. Week 3 picks, Sept. 20 Dave Tuley (ViewfromVegas.com) 1) Chargers +3 2) Tennessee +16 3) Western Michigan +16.5 4) Jaguars +19.5 5) Lions-Redskins over 49 6) Cardinals +7.5 Best Bet) Giants +1 Paul Stone (VegasSportsAuthority.com) 1) Louisiana-Lafayette -6.5 2) Rutgers -1.5 3) Utah State-USC under 49.5 4) Rice +2.5 5) Georgia Tech -6.5 6) Kansas State +5.5 Best Bet) Middle Tennessee-Florida Atlantic under 47.5

One week left in the qualifying round and an interesting situation has come up. The first round was supposed to be one where no player had an advantage over any other. The top 8 records from round 1 advance to round 2 where the contest then becomes head to head. Here are the picks for all thus far and the results: [url]https://www.thelasvegassportsline.com/CONTEST_BRACKET.html[/url] With 14 players done and two remaining the standings compiled by Computer Bob are as follows: Final update after Week 7, Richie Baccellieri went 6-1 and Fat Jack Ross went 1-6. Combined 39-56-3, 41.1%, 4 of 14 with a winning record. Top 6 are into the 2nd Round, bottom 6 are eliminated. Next week, Bryan Leonard vs Kenny White, wraps up the first round (3-4, 2L1T or better will advance). Richie Baccellieri: 6-1-0, 1W Steve Fezzik: 5-2-0, 2W Scott Pritchard: 5-2-0, 1L1W Scott Kellen: 4-3-0, 1L4W Ron Boyles: 3-4-0, 1W1L Frank Betti: 3-4-0, 2L2W ________________________ Paul Stone: 3-4-0, 2L1W Cris Zeniuk/Frank Perez: 3-4-0, 3L ______________________ John Kwan: 2-5-0, 1W1L Big Al McMordie: 1-5-1, 3L Erin Rynning/Ted Sevransky: 1-5-1, 4L Dave Tuley: 1-5-1, 5L Chuck Edel/Ken Thomson: 1-6-0, 1W Fat Jack Ross: 1-6-0, 3L So it's LVA friend Paul Stone sitting in the 7th spot and the team of Cris Zeniuk/Frank Perez in the 8th and final spot. What is interesting is that the two contestants this week can lock up a spot by merely picking opposite sides on three games and then just taking a random side for their 7th pick. As long as they make their best bet one side of a game and next best bet the opposite side of the same game and use games that are all sitting on 1/2 pt spreads (no whole numbers to avoid ties) they will both advance to the next round. Worst they could do would be go 3-4 1L1W, the 1L1W meaning they lost the first tiebreaker of Best Bet but won the next Best Bet (opposite side of Best Bet). Now I would never bring this up publicly except for the fact that it's already been discussed for weeks now. The question is, will the Golden Nugget allow this strategy to be employed when the intent was that no one have an advantage over any one else in the first round? We will find out Friday when Ken White and Bryan Leonard go at it at 2pm on ESPN1100. One has already said they will do it if allowed. Although concerned that this tactic will not be well-thought of it is clearly the right move if they allow it. It's a classic tournament strategy lock-out move that doesn't have to be liked by all but has to be appreciated in a truly AP sense.

This is a classic tournament play that I would not hesitate to use. Anyone who'd criticize a contestant for doing it doesn't understand what a tournament is about. That said, I wouldn't take issue with the contest administrators if they decided to disallow this tactic, and for PStone's sake I'm hoping that they do.

I really feel strongly that the Nugget should have told the contestants that betting opposites was forbidden. By stating that it was allowed according to the rules, but that it would be frowned upon, puts Bryan and Ken in a bad spot. Now you have to choose between a 60% advancing strategy (7 independent picks and going 3-4 1W1L) vs a 100% strategy (betting opposites and locking in 3-4 1W1L). If it were me in that spot and they said it's within the rules then as an advantage gambler I would have had no choice but to do it. As it is now, at least one contestant went against what they wanted to do and now if they don't advance will probably regret not just executing the highest EV strategy. I hope it works out and Bryan advances because you never want to be in a position where you end up saying to yourself that you made the wrong move. Here are the selections from Ken White and Bryan Leonard: Bryan Leonard VIKINGS +9 .................................. UTAH +6.5 .................................... CLEMSON -16 ............................... BUFFALO ''P'' ................................. MIAMI -24 ..................................... LIONS -3 ....................................... LIONS/COWBOYS ov51 ................. Kenny White UNLV/NEVADA ov67 ...................... UAB/UTSA ov59.5 .......................... IDAHO/MISS ov58.5 ...................... BALL ST/AKRON ov54.5 ................. STANFORD/OREGON ST un56.5 ..... VANDY/TEXAS A&M ov69 ............... RICE/UTEP ov59 ............................

[QUOTE=frankb22;58658]I really feel strongly that the Nugget should have told the contestants that betting opposites was forbidden. By stating that it was allowed according to the rules, but that it would be frowned upon, puts Bryan and Ken in a bad spot. Now you have to choose between a 60% advancing strategy (7 independent picks and going 3-4 1W1L) vs a 100% strategy (betting opposites and locking in 3-4 1W1L).[B] If it were me in that spot and they said it's within the rules then as an advantage gambler I would have had no choice but to do it[/B]. As it is now, at least one contestant went against what they wanted to do and now if they don't advance will probably regret not just executing the highest EV strategy. I hope it works out and Bryan advances because you never want to be in a position where you end up saying to yourself that you made the wrong move. Here are the selections from Ken White and Bryan Leonard: Bryan Leonard VIKINGS +9 .................................. UTAH +6.5 .................................... CLEMSON -16 ............................... BUFFALO ''P'' ................................. MIAMI -24 ..................................... LIONS -3 ....................................... LIONS/COWBOYS ov51 ................. Kenny White UNLV/NEVADA ov67 ...................... UAB/UTSA ov59.5 .......................... IDAHO/MISS ov58.5 ...................... BALL ST/AKRON ov54.5 ................. STANFORD/OREGON ST un56.5 ..... VANDY/TEXAS A&M ov69 ............... RICE/UTEP ov59 ............................[/QUOTE] I enjoyed the radio show yesterday

Ken White is in after going 5-2. Bryan is 1-3 after Saturday so must win 2 of 3 plays today to advance. If Bryan makes it then he will face Fezzik next round and I would get matched vs Rich Baccielleri. If Bryan does not make it then I would end up vs Fezzik and Paul Stone would go vs Richie B.

Worst case scenario for Bryan Leonard last week. Chose to make 7 independent picks instead of using the lockout strategy and went 2-5. That eliminates him and advances Paul Stone to round 2. Had the contest been head-to-head in round 1 only two names would have changed for round 2. Ron Boyles (3-4) would have been eliminated and the team of Erin Rynning/Ted Sevransky (1-5-1) would have advanced. The other 7 2nd round players all would have won had it been head-to-head. Pairings and dates for round 2 head-to-head match ups starting this Friday with Ken White vs Ron Boyles. #1 Baccellieri vs #8 Stone ........... November 22 #2 Fezzik vs #7 Frank B. ............ November 8 #3 White vs #6 Boyles ................ November 1 #4 Pritchard vs #5 Kellen ............. November 15