Pick 'Em Tiebreakers Explained: Which System Is Fairest?

Why ties are so common

Most players pick most favorites. In a typical week only three or four games are genuinely contested, so scores cluster tightly. The bigger the pool, the more players share the top number; in a 150-person pool a five-way tie for first is unremarkable.

That means a tiebreaker is not a footnote — it is often the real contest. Players should know it before the first kickoff, and it should be applied mechanically, without commissioner judgment.

Total points in the last game

The classic tiebreaker asks each player to predict the combined score of the final game of the week, usually Monday night. Whoever is closest wins the tie. It's simple, everyone understands it, and it almost always produces a single winner.

Decide in advance whether going over is allowed. 'Closest without going over' adds strategy but produces more cases where nobody qualifies; plain 'closest, either direction' is easier to explain. Also decide what happens if two players are equally close — a second tiebreaker such as the winning team's score, or a split.

• Require the guess when picks are submitted, not later.
• Lock it at the same time as the rest of the picks.
• If the tiebreaker game is postponed, name the replacement game in your rules now.

Margin of victory

Some pools ask for the winning margin of a featured game instead of the total. Margins are harder to predict than totals, which spreads guesses out and reduces second-level ties. The downside is that casual players find it less intuitive, and a blowout makes almost everyone equally wrong.

Season standings as a tiebreaker

For weekly prizes, another option is to award the week to whichever tied player has more total correct picks on the season. It rewards consistency and needs no extra input from players. It does, however, tilt weekly prizes toward the same few leaders, which can discourage players who are behind.

Split the pot or roll it over

Splitting a prize evenly among tied players is the least controversial option and the least exciting. Rolling the prize into the following week builds a bigger pot and keeps people engaged, but a pool with frequent rollovers needs clear rules for what happens at the end of the season if the final week also ties.

Many pools combine approaches: a win target (for example nine of twelve correct) decides whether anyone wins at all, the total-points guess separates tied winners, and the week rolls over if nobody reaches the target.

Write it down and publish it

Whatever you choose, write the full order — first tiebreaker, second tiebreaker, then split or rollover — and post it where every player can see it before week one. The worst tiebreaker is one invented after the tie happens.