SBR's annual 'Beat The Prick' contest is back, and the prizes are better than ever. Join us as we go over the format for our largest NFL handicapping contest, as well as share a few tips and pointers to help crown you as the king of NFL picks.

The NFL season is about to start and SBR's biggest contest of the year is ready to kick off as well. The yearly "Beat the Prick" contest not only gives us NFL bettors a chance to show off our football handicapping skills, but also to make a pretty profit in the process. 

This is the contest that most of our members look forward to each year, as points and cash will be flowing out to whoever can outwit, outplay, and outlast the NFL picks of SBR’s infamous Prick. I'm going to give you some tips on how to be successful.

Pro or Non-Pro?

Everyone is welcome, but you should know by now that by becoming an SBR Pro, you will have access to a wider variety of options. If indeed cash is awarded for this contest, becoming a pro is the only way to go.

Weekly and Non-Weekly Winners

NFL ContestSome people play for the small prizes, as they attempt to beat the Prick's weekly record, while others look for the chance to be the overall winner of the contest. The basic approach is to see how you progress week to week. If you're making poor picks, you always have a chance to win the smaller prizes with one strong round of picks. However, if you seem to be holding your own week in and week out, you might want to try your luck at the overall best season record.

There is a bit more to this than just making NFL picks however. For example, if there's a week left to play in the contest and you're 2 to 3 units behind the leader, you might want to wait for them to make their selections first so you know what you need to beat. Of course, only the times of games that your opponents are playing are disclosed rather than their actual picks. If you see 8:00 pm ET on your opponents pending picks, you know that they've picked the Sunday Night Football game. This will help you select which games to play in order to one up your competition.

The Basics

Both the competitor and the Prick are allowed to make four selections for the upcoming week’s action. The object of the contest is to top ‘The Prick’ by beating his picks and winning more units than he does. Three of your picks are worth one unit and your final pick is worth two units. In order to be a winner in this contest it's obvious that you need to nail the pick worth two units to maximize your profits week in and out. If there are ties, the winnings are divided by the winners and everyone that beat's the prick is awarded a prize according to their record. If you come in even with the Prick, you are handed the loss for that particular week.

An overlooked picking strategy

Units are accumulated and can be lost with the VIG included. In other words, if you and the Prick go 3-1 and all of his games are listed at -110 and you have one game that's listed at +100, you win. If you see value to edge out the Prick, then take it, as it can be just what you need to.

Never give up

If you happen to lose your "big bet", the two unit pick, don't give up on the week just yet. Remember that every pick that you make goes towards your seasonal record. Not only that, you can still be on the positive side of the week by winning your remaining three games. You could even come out on top if the Prick has an off week in where his units come out on the negative side. So never give up if you're a weekly player, and seasonal players know not to miss a pick

If in contention

I'm going to use SBR member CarpeDime (former 2010 winner) as an example. There's a limit on the picks that you need to make for a season. If you have already passed the limit and you have a big enough lead where if you don't make another pick and nobody can catch you, you can choose to not play the weekly contest and not make any picks at all in order to preserve your lead. CarpeDime knew that he couldn't be caught, therefore he elected not to make a pick in fear of losing units and letting contenders catch him, thus giving him the title. Mind you, this is a very late strategy, and you have to be at the top of the board.

Be selective

Sometimes bettors are impatient and just look to pick right away. There can be games all week and by the time they get to Sunday, they have no picks left and realized that there was a more preferable game left on the table. By all means, check out the schedule and have a plan going into each segment. You don't want to be hasty and make a pick for the sake of "action". Patience is key in this contest.

Anticipation is building as training camp has just open and The Prick has already mentioned in the forum that this will be a worthwhile contest. The prizes could be big. Don't miss out on the action. Make sure that you keep an eye out for SBR contests by checking the forum because starting at week 1 will give you the best chance to win the most that you possibly can.

Good luck everyone!