A credit pool is a handicapping contest played with play money. You wager credits on the week's spreads, totals and moneylines, a winning wager adds to your balance and a losing one comes off it, and the biggest balance at the end of the season wins. Credits can't be cashed out; they only keep score. This page covers how a wager is priced, what locks and when, and each setting a commissioner can change.
For how credit compares to the other formats, see Pool Formats: Explained.
The standard rules
- Every entry starts the season with the same starting balance of credits.
- Each week, the board lists the games with their spreads, totals and moneylines. You wager credits on any of them.
- You can wager on as many games as the pool's weekly rules allow, and the commissioner decides whether you can wager more than once on the same game.
- Once you confirm a wager, it is locked in and can't be cancelled. The one exception is a pool with static lines, where you can take a wager back until its game starts.
- A game locks when it starts. Once a game has started, you can't bet it.
- When the game ends, a winning wager adds its winnings to your balance, a losing one subtracts the credits you risked, and a push returns your stake.
- You have a running balance for the season, and it never resets from week to week. The highest balance at the end of the season wins.
The three markets
The commissioner chooses which markets are offered. Any combination is allowed.
- Spreads. Bet a team to cover the point spread. A favorite has to win by more than the spread; an underdog covers by losing by less than the spread, or by winning.
- Totals. Bet Over or Under the game's combined score.
- Moneylines. Bet a team to win outright, at its real price. There is no point spread, so the price carries the risk.
The glossary defines ATS, the spread and the moneyline if you need a refresher.
Juice: what a winning wager pays
The juice (or vig) is the price built into a line. The commissioner chooses between two settings:
- Include Juice. Spreads and totals are priced as the book has them. A −110 favorite risks 110 to win 100, so a 55-credit wager wins 50.
- No Juice. Spreads and totals pay even money. A winning 50-credit wager returns 50.
Moneylines are always paid at their real price, whichever setting is on. A +150 underdog wins 150 on a 100-credit wager, and a −200 favorite risks 200 to win 100.
| Price | You risk | A win pays |
|---|---|---|
| −110 (a typical spread) | 100 | 90.91 |
| Even money (no juice) | 100 | 100 |
| +150 underdog moneyline | 100 | 150 |
| −200 favorite moneyline | 100 | 50 |
With juice on, a bettor who is right 52% of the time on −110 lines only just breaks even, which is why a pool with juice rewards the entrants who find real edges and a pool without it rewards the ones who are simply right more often.
Weekly requirements and penalties
Left alone, an entrant could skip every week and sit on a lead. Commissioners prevent that with the Selections per Week setting, which has three modes:
- Variable. You play between a minimum and a maximum number of wagers each week.
- Specific Number. You play exactly this many wagers each week.
- All Games. You play every game on the week's slate.
The cost of falling short depends on the mode. In Variable and Specific Number pools, the commissioner can charge a flat Failure to Hit Minimums Penalty, charged once for a week that misses the requirements. They can also set a Weekly Minimum, the total credits you must have at risk each week. In an All Games pool the penalty is a Missed Pick Penalty instead, charged for every game left unplayed, as soon as that game ends. A game that never had a betting line is never charged.
All Games is an “at least” rule: it requires a wager on every game and says nothing about a second one. To require exactly one wager per game, the commissioner sets Max Wagers per Game to 1.
Stake limits and both sides
A commissioner can set a Minimum Wager and a Maximum Wager for a single wager, with no maximum if it's left blank. Credits work like dollars, so a stake can carry cents.
Max Wagers per Game caps how many wagers you can place on one game across every market, and 0 means no limit. Allow Both Sides decides whether you can take opposing sides of the same market on one game. Betting across markets, such as one team's spread and the other team's moneyline, is always allowed. With juice off, holding both sides of a market is a guaranteed push, so an entry could satisfy a weekly requirement at no risk. That is why the setting is off by default and why the wizard warns a commissioner who turns it on in a no-juice pool.
Static and live lines
The commissioner chooses how the lines behave, and it changes how the game is played more than any other setting.
- Static. The line and price are frozen when the game first posts, at the opening line or at a scheduled time each week, and the board does not move all week. Everyone sees the same number, and you can take a wager back until the game locks.
- Live. The board follows the betting market all week. A wager is final once you confirm it.
Either way, the line and price on the board when you click are stamped on your wager, and that is what grades it, not the number the game closes at. In a static pool that makes no difference, because the board never moves.
How live lines work
A live pool adds a layer of handicapping that a normal pool doesn't have. Two entrants can back the same team in the same game and hold different bets, because they wagered at different moments. If Kansas City opens −2.5 on Tuesday and is −4 by Sunday, the entrant who took them Tuesday needs a win by 3 to cash, and the one who took them Sunday needs 5. Prices move too: the same −2.5 can be −110 early and −125 late, and that changes what a win pays.
The rules that make it work:
- You keep the number you took. Your wager is graded on the line and price you confirmed, whatever the market does afterwards.
- Confirming is final. You can't take back a live wager, because you could otherwise bet early, watch the market and undo it for free. The slip tells you so before you confirm.
- A moved line is never booked silently. If the line or price changes between your click and your confirm, you are shown the new numbers and asked to confirm again.
- Markets post independently. A spread can appear before its total or moneyline, so the first look at a game may not offer every market.
- Early lines depend on the pool. Sportsbooks post lines for future weeks long in advance, and a soft early number is an easy edge for anyone who bets it. A live pool's Lines Posted setting decides what happens: Always Synced puts a game on the board whenever a real line exists, and Block Lookahead Lines keeps it off until the market re-opens for it, after both teams' previous games are finished. Check which one your pool uses before you plan around early weeks.
The result is that timing becomes part of the skill. Betting early captures a number before the market moves, and betting late lets you use injury news and the information the market has absorbed. The right moment depends on the game: a line that has crossed a key number like 3 or 7 is worth more to you than the same half-point somewhere else.
Open wagers on games in progress show a live would-be gain or loss next to your balance, so you can see where you stand before the games end.
Running out of credits
The Exceed Credit Balance setting decides what happens at zero:
- No. You can only wager what you have available. If you run out you are done for the season, unless the pool allows a rebuy.
- Yes. You can bet past zero and finish the season in the red. Nobody busts.
A rebuy is optional. If the pool offers one, an entrant whose balance hits 0 can buy back in with a fresh starting balance. The commissioner decides whether to offer it.
Play a credit pool
ALA hosts credit pools for the NFL and college football. For a version with a fixed stake on every game, see Battle the Bookies. To set one up, see Pool Settings, or go straight to Create a Pool.
Keep reading
Ready to set one up? Create a pool. Creating one is free, and the commissioner's pool fee is due 7 days after the pool starts.