How to Set Up a College Basketball Tournament Pool

Known as March Madness or the NCAA tournament, this event is the highlight of college basketball. Go a little "mad" yourself in March by joining with friends and putting your college ball expertise to the test.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Televisions
• Beer
• Beer Mugs
• Basketballs

1. Find and copy the expansive bracket from a site such as ESPN.com.
2. Familiarize yourself with the 65 teams, which are broken into four regions: West, East, Midwest and Southeast.
3. Pick someone knowledgeable (and trustworthy, for goodness sake) as the grand tournament administrator.
4. Assign point values for each round: 1 point for teams reaching the second round, 2 points for those making the third, 4 points for those reaching the fourth, 8 points for teams entering the Final Four and 12 points if a team enters the finals. Award 16 points for choosing the tournament champion.
5. Distribute two copies of the bracket to anyone interested in playing, and instruct everyone to pick winning teams for every round.
6. Fill out the bracket in pen, placing the name of each team on the appropriate line.
7. Guess the total score of the final game (both teams' points combined) as a tiebreaker and write this number below the bracket.
8. Collect a copy of each participant's bracket (leaving the other copy with the participant for his or her own reference).
9. Collect money from each participant - $5, $20, $100 or whatever -- if you're living in a state that doesn't consider such an action illegal. If you'd prefer to stay on the good side of "Johnny Law," just go for the glory of being annointed a Basketball Guru.
10. Rearrange the TV area at the end of February: Move fridge near couch, rent a portable sanitary unit, bar doors leading to living room, etc., and watch basketball.
11. Call your friends and gloat after every win. (Turn off the phone when your team loses.)
12. Keep track of your points as the tourney progresses (and make sure the administrator is grading each entry).
13. Award winnings to the participant with the highest number of points.

Tips & Warnings

• In case of a tie, choose a winner based on the closest guess for the championship game's point total.
• If you are, in fact, betting in a legal manner, make things more enjoyable by splitting the pot: 70 percent for first place, 20 percent for second and 10 percent for third.
• Or split the money between two people: the overall winner and the player who picked the most correct first-round winners - which may reward those who chose a few upsets.
• Don't double the points each round (i.e., 16 points for the finals and 32 points for the champion). Although picking the national champion should be important, it shouldn't be worth as much as the whole first round combined. And if you're wrong, it doesn't kill your chances at winning.
• Betting money in pools is considered illegal in many states, and we'd never suggest that you do something illegal.