Uncle George is toast.
For the last several years, my wife’s uncle has racked up a nearly 0.750 winning average in the weekly family football pool — besting the rest of us by a solid 60 points, while claiming to devote little attention to the process.
As of this week, I’m taking him down. At least I’d better. With a $90 app and a pair of free ones that hold some promise, even weak prognosticators like me should be able to challenge N.F.L. sharps like him.
Of those apps, Pro Football Picks Insider ($90 for iPad, $60 on Android) is the most ambitious. It is the creation of Pro Football Weekly, a publication that is well known to more ardent football fans.
Picks Insider featured by far the most information, with analysis of the teams that drew the most bettors this week, for instance, as well as a “Consensus Lock” pick for the week as voted by the publication’s editors.
Last week it was the Chicago Bears getting three and a half points versus the San Diego Chargers. (My family pool doesn’t use a point spread, but the Consensus Lock still helped me, as the Bears won by 11.)
For the price, though, the app could be better.
For one, it should offer results, analysis and betting lines that are updated more frequently. last Friday evening, for instance, Picks Insider had yet to acknowledge in all sections of the app Denver’s victory the previous night over the New York Jets.
At that point, the app had updated the weather forecast for Sunday’s games, but here I would have expected some analysis. Partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-30s were forecast for the game between the Buccaneers and the Packers in Green Bay, the app said. do Florida teams show any statistical tendencies when playing in near-freezing temperatures?
For people who participate in friendly wagers, maybe the most helpful feature is the weekly “confidence pool picks” page, which shows the picks for each of the publication’s nine editors, along with an indication of how confident they are in each pick.
It also shows the editors’ success rates for the season, so you can copy the picks of the ones with good track records (as I essentially did).
It’s like watching Uncle George make his picks. almost.
Is it worth $90 — or even $60 on Android? It probably depends on how much is at stake. If, by this point in the season, you stand a decent chance of winning significant cash or prestige in your office pool, it’s at least worth considering.
And mobile access to this sort of information may be especially meaningful if you work outside an office, or you like to make picks while tailgating outside the stadium.
If, however, you spend enough time on a desktop computer, you can get nearly as much good information from Football Outsiders, which offers free, and closely watched, statistical analysis to bettors and fans. (The site also offers picks for $40 annually.)
And there are good free apps to consider as well.
IOdds (free on Apple), for instance, is the creation of Geoff Kulesa, a well-known online sports handicapper and a regular contributor to ESPN.
The app, which will appear on Android next year, provides current odds and scores for major sports, including professional and college football and basketball, the N.H.L. and Major League Baseball, among others.
If you believe in the wisdom of crowds, iOdds also publishes the percentage of bets being placed on each team. (Of course, that strategy backfired on those who picked the Ravens to beat the Seahawks two weeks ago.)
As with Picks Insider, iOdds is geared more toward bettors who incorporate the point spread (the number of points given to underdogs).
Because it is intended more for bettors than casual pool participants, some of the terminology will puzzle recreational gamblers, and iOdds offers no help. Quick tip: “ATS” refers to “Against the Spread,” while the “Moneyline” refers to the amount of money you must bet to win a specified amount.
If you can understand such concepts, though, iOdds offers great value.
Virtual Bet (free on Apple) is similar in its reliance on more sophisticated betting vernacular, but it, too, is worth checking. It isn’t nearly as comprehensive as iOdds, but it scores points for simplicity.
From one page, you can select the N.F.L. match-ups for the week, and check the moneyline, fractional and decimal betting lines for each game. (Fractional and decimal lines are more popular abroad, while the moneyline is the dominant format in the United States.)
The foreign flavor extends to other parts of the app, where you can find odds on international soccer, rugby and cricket leagues, among others.
Android users who want a free alternative to Picks Insider should look for ScoresAndOdds, which offers at-a-glance information on odds and betting trends. Plus, you can easily track your own picks, which is a feature lacking in the other free apps I tried.
After my first week of app-aided football picks, the results were mixed at best. I correctly picked nine of 14 games, while Uncle George picked 11.
Maybe he should build an app of his own.
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First published on November 24, 2011 at 12:00 am