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How Sleazy is Pre-Title Game Pot-Splitting?


staniels12
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You know - when you and your opponent agree BEFORE the matchup to divy up the prize pool half and half? Some of my peers think its a total sham, but others view it as a prudent business decision. Cases in point this year: In one of my two leagues I was offered the pot split before the weekend, but declined on principle. Also influencing my decision was the fact that I held a 15 PPG advantage over his team. But I was offered the same deal again on Monday when I held a 19 point lead and had to withstand Shiancoe and Forte all night. Even with no real advantage any more it just didn't feel right. Good decision it turned out, as I eeked out a 1.4 point victory. The kicker was there was no second place prize money, so the final was winner-take-all for a grand. What would you have done?

 

The other case study is my finals matchup this week in my other league, where I hold a 6 PPG advantage over my opponent. The same deal has been offered, but now we have a $250 runner-up prize in play as well as the grand for the champion. So we are talking about a split pot of $1250 rather than just the grand. Funny how the extra cash involved has more folks advising me to take the money and run. Can't do it, though. Every fiber in my being tells me this is wrong on so many levels and the Fantasy Gods will reign down vengeance upon me for many, many seasons to come if I cave. Agree or disagree? Curious if anybody else has been getting these back-room offers as well.

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I like a split personally. I know that in some leagues it does cause hard feelings but if you are in the finals and can make an agreement with a buddy on a split I see no problems with it. Loser has to buy wings and beer or something cool to still have a competition while agreeing to both make a nice pot. Most leagues there is several hundred bucks difference hinging on a fluky week of football as well. But if you don't want to then don't split. If you have a good lineup going and don't want to be a samaritan then don't. Don't look back and wish you had if you don't win....

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I see no problem at all with doing it if both players are game. If you still want some fun for the championship, make it a 70-30 split or something.

 

It's definitely NOT sleazy.

 

(I'll note that I also see nothing wrong with an owner rejecting an offer to split.)

Edited by wiegie
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I was in a league that was really two leagues. Both leagues were made up of ten teams and whoever won the championship in that ten team league faced the champion of the other ten team league. It was a local league and I didn't know any of the people except one guy from work who had gotten me into the league. I was offered the same deal to split the pot with this commissioner's wife, who had made it to the championship.. I really didn't want to split the pot because I thought I had the better team and would win. However, I went ahead and took the split because I didn't know these folks, and I didn't want to cause any tension. I ended up winning the final game as I thought I would.

 

The next year, I was not invited back to defend my title. Again, I didn't know these folks and I don't think they wanted me back in it beating them. I regret splitting the pot because the reason I did it was to try and make friends and be accepted in their group. Fat chance. I realized then that I will always be hated. It's lonely at the top.

 

Don't do it. Go for all the money and glory.

Edited by electricrelish
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All of my leagues are winner take all. But, the 2 teams in the final usually come to some agreement on a split. It's never 50 / 50, but there is some kind of split. Usually the loser walks away with a hundred bucks or so.

 

I don't see a problem with it. The money is nice, but it's the championship and bragging rights that I really want.

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I see no problem at all with doing it if both players are game. If you still want some fun for the championship, make it a 70-30 split or something.

So why not just make that the prize money split anyway?

 

I was offered this my first year playing FF when I made the final. Turned it down flat and went on to win. It's not sleazy but I don't like it personally.

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I see no problem at all with doing it if both players are game. If you still want some fun for the championship, make it a 70-30 split or something.

 

It's definitely NOT sleazy.

 

(I'll note that I also see nothing wrong with an owner rejecting an offer to split.)

 

+1

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yea there is nothing wrong with it at all...there is no reason for other owners to be swoll about the deal because they werent getting any of it anyways....50/50 seems kind of dumb cuz then there is no point of even paying attention to it...i like the 70/30 for the most part..also consequently in the past 2 years in all the leagues ive been in,,...

ive done the side deal twice and i would have won both games .....im 0-1 when rejecting the side deal cuz i thought i had great matchups compared to him but i lost....and im 1-3 just playing it out with no side deal...so perhaps karma comes into play?

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In leagues where there's a big difference between first and second (say, >$300) I'll offer to split. Did that in two leagues this year, both fellow finalists agreed, and I went 1-1 in those. In two other finals I was in the split was less significant (<$100) so I didn't offer in one and made a half-hearted offer in the other that was turned down. I didn't win either of those. While bowing to the karma gods is always good, I don't think they were listening this year; either that, or they have a sick sense of humor in making me watch Jay Cutler take me down on Monday night. I will say that not losing $300 on top of losing the trophy and the bragging rights was a mild balm to picking shards of Cutler out of my backside.

 

That said, I agree with the post above that I don't see anything wrong with turning down the offer. I've been offered the split (and taken it), offered the split and had it taken, and offered the split and had it rejected. No matter how it shakes down, I want those bragging rights to bring to the next year's draft. The money's just a nice side perk.

 

2V

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In leagues where there's a big difference between first and second (say, >$300) I'll offer to split. Did that in two leagues this year, both fellow finalists agreed, and I went 1-1 in those. In two other finals I was in the split was less significant (<$100) so I didn't offer in one and made a half-hearted offer in the other that was turned down. I didn't win either of those. While bowing to the karma gods is always good, I don't think they were listening this year; either that, or they have a sick sense of humor in making me watch Jay Cutler take me down on Monday night. I will say that not losing $300 on top of losing the trophy and the bragging rights was a mild balm to picking shards of Cutler out of my backside.

 

That said, I agree with the post above that I don't see anything wrong with turning down the offer. I've been offered the split (and taken it), offered the split and had it taken, and offered the split and had it rejected. No matter how it shakes down, I want those bragging rights to bring to the next year's draft. The money's just a nice side perk.

 

2V

Didn't Shards of Cutler open for Kings of Leon on their last tour?

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I see no problem at all with doing it if both players are game. If you still want some fun for the championship, make it a 70-30 split or something.

 

It's definitely NOT sleazy.

 

(I'll note that I also see nothing wrong with an owner rejecting an offer to split.)

 

 

+100

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I am always willing to split any pot with my oponent in a finals game. I was in 4 finals this year and split 2 of them. I won 2 out of the 4 and they were both ones I split in. Splitting is a good business decision cause you never know what's going to happen. I've never offered or been offered to split in a BoTH league and from my vantage point didn't offer cause I felt it would be frowned upon.

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I took a split (about 60-40) for the first time this year. The kid I was playing in the finals was a college kid home for the holidays and he needed the money to get gifts for his family and such. I was pretty heavily favored but accepted anyways. For just about anybody else, I probably wouldn't have, but he's a good kid. Of course I ended up losing the game so I came out ahead anyways. As a nice little perk, when you play your champoinship game in week 16, and you decide on a split, you can get the money before Christmas.

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I played poker professionally for a period of time, and in tournament play (which FF playoffs are miniature version of) splitting is very common, especially at the higher levels. Splitting is worthwhile in any contest that involves chance. It's a tool to mitigate risk. In poker, splits often involve many more variables than just 50/50 splits (chip stack, skill level, etc.) and are often more than 2-way.

 

Going into my local final, I felt I was a dog, and my opponent probably felt the same. If I had offered a split, I would have offered a 60-40 split to my opponent regardless of outcome. However, I do feel that FF is more about winning than money, unlike poker, and that splitting takes a good deal of fun out of it. Of course, I don't play in big money leagues (my local is my biggest money league, with the buy-in being $150). Also my leagues are not winner-take-all. In that situation, I feel about a 70-30 split is appropriate, but it should vary based on expected outcome.

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I took a split (about 60-40) for the first time this year. The kid I was playing in the finals was a college kid home for the holidays and he needed the money to get gifts for his family and such. I was pretty heavily favored but accepted anyways. For just about anybody else, I probably wouldn't have, but he's a good kid. Of course I ended up losing the game so I came out ahead anyways. As a nice little perk, when you play your champoinship game in week 16, and you decide on a split, you can get the money before Christmas.

 

I assume that the 60-40 was in your favor being the better team on paper prior to the matchup? Otherwise how could you split the winnings before Christmas? Which makes me wonder... If you don't split 50/50, are most people out there splitting before the matchup based on who is favored (like in Seahawks21's case) or waiting to see who the winner of the SB is and then giving that person the larger chunk of the split?

 

On a side note, I've never offered a split before or been offered one before. I seriously considered it this year though... There is a significant difference in prize money from 1st to 2nd and even though I was total points leader going into the SB, I just had a bad feeling about the matchup. Sure enough, my opponent scored a season high total, even though my point total was high enough to beat him pretty much any other week. In the end, I really only cared about getting my name on the trophy. Money comes and goes.

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I see no problem at all with doing it if both players are game. If you still want some fun for the championship, make it a 70-30 split or something.

 

It's definitely NOT sleazy.

 

(I'll note that I also see nothing wrong with an owner rejecting an offer to split.)

 

also agree

 

No different then splitting a poker tournament like the Cat on Fire said

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Years ago I was always against the split but now I am not. I lost a superbowl last week. The total pot was 2350. The guy we played against offered the split. He owned his team solo .I had a partner. The regular split in this league is 70/30 (1645 winner 705 runner up) We split the 2350 then I split my half with the guy I shared the team with. We owed 90 bukcs for free agents. we ended up with about 545 each. If we didnt split we would have ended up with about 300 each.

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Gotta go with the majority here.

 

Nothing at all wrong with it. Some may think it diminishes what you play for, but in my mind, splitting the money doesn't affect that at all. Both squads are still going to field their best lineup and try to win for the sake of being called "champion".

Edited by Cunning Runt
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I can understand it even though I've never been offered it.

 

FF can cause people some extremely undue stress and sharing the pot takes that burden off a hobby that is meant to be fun.

 

I don't like leagues where it's mostly a "winner takes all" league. A contest, sure, but a league of friends - no.

All play-off teams should get a shot at making thier entry fee (or half) back.

 

As a commish, there's nothing you can really do if two owners split the pot. It's not collusion since they both are trying to win.

I agree that the leaue rules should probably be voted for a change to make the difference between first and second into something more reasonable.

 

Most importantly is that only 1 name can be on the trophy. Nobody remembers 2nd place (except the Buffalo Bills).

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I think the difference maker here is that you are splitting the pot, not the championship. One team is going to be the best and is going to own the crown and title of champion. The money aspect is just a side issue and has nothing to do with the competition you just went through. It's a way to make the #2 guy feel a little better about getting so close.

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