🏈 How the Jim Olah Survivor Pool works
Sign up & pay
Each NFL season opens with a signup window. Pay the buy-in via Venmo and you're entered once the admin confirms your payment.
Pick one team every week
Each week, pick one team you think will win. Picks lock at the first game of the week (usually Thursday ~8pm ET). After lock, everyone's picks are revealed.
The two-time rule
During the regular season you may use any team at most twice — for the whole season. That cap follows you everywhere: picks you burned in the winners pool still count against you in the losers bracket. Choose wisely.
Win or you drop
Pick the winner and you survive. Pick a loser — or a tie, or forget to pick — and it counts as a loss. A loss in the main (winners) pool drops you into the losers bracket. Lose there and you're out for good.
No fresh slate in the losers bracket
Dropping into the losers bracket does not reset your team usage. If you already used a team twice, it stays off the board for the rest of the regular season.
Playoffs
If players are still alive when the playoffs start, everyone keeps picking weekly — but the two-time limit is lifted. Pick any team, any number of times, until a champion remains.
Super Bowl tiebreaker
Entering the Super Bowl, each remaining player guesses the total combined score. If more than one player is still tied for the win, the closest guess decides it.
Payouts
80% of the pot goes to the last player standing in the winners pool, 20% to the last standing in the losers bracket. If the winners pool empties in a week with no survivor, the entire pot goes to the losers bracket champion. Players may negotiate splits among themselves off-site.