An increasingly popular way to bet on the NFL and stay involved for most of the season is a survivor pool (pick one winner of an NFL game each win, but you cannot use the same team twice). Some pools with a hefty entry fee or many participants can have prize pools in the tens of thousands.
Depending on the size of the pool, one may employ different strategies. For example, if a pool does not have many contestants, one may use a less risky strategy and pick a big favorite each week. On the other hand, if one is trying to best a pool of thousands of people, they may employ a contrarian style. A way to be contrarian is to pick teams that are less likely to be selected by others and save the better teams for later in the season while others may already have used them.
Each week I will be providing advice for which teams are best to select in survivor pools. Bettors that don't enter these types of pools can still use this information from a betting perspective if they are comfortable laying big odds on money lines.
Here is a list of odds for all the favorites to win their matchups in Week 1 ().