Golden Nugget Friday Football Showdown

The Golden Nugget has made some significant changes to its Friday Football Showdown that are beneficial to the contestants.

First, Stage 1 of the contest has been expanded from 8 weeks to 10 weeks. This is welcome news for those who had their contests end after week 8 last year.

Topic: Golden Nugget Friday Football Showdown. 40 Replies 9316 Views. In CFB Forum Quicklink to Main Forums (Latest) Topic Starter Brady Kannon. Joined: Posts: 868. The Golden Nugget’s original football handicapping competition was known as the Friday Football Showdown, and players paid $2,000 to submit seven NCAA or NFL picks per week. The old Friday Football Showdown was unique in that it used an actual tournament bracket format, pitting players against one another week by week until only one was left. Ultimate Football Challenge – The entry fee is $1,000. Top 20 contestants win cash prizes. Must sign up by September 8th, 10 PM PST. Contestants can have up to 3 entries into the Ultimate Football Challenge. ‍ Contestants don’t have to be Nevada residents to enter but ALL registrations must take place in person at the Golden Nugget Casino.

Second, it appears that they have done away with the designation of a weekly Best Bet – except for during Stage 2 where it will be used as a tie breaker.

Third, the folks at the Nugget have tinkered with the format a bit to allow a Wildcard entrant to advance to Stage 2. During weeks 9-10 of the newly expanded Stage 1, contestants will now select 9 picks each week (instead of the usual 7). The top scoring entrant over weeks 9-10 will win the Wildcard and advance to Stage 2. So…. for those who had given up hope last year because they fell too far behind the leaders – this year everyone will still have a chance to win the Wildcard over weeks 9-10. Get hot at the end of Stage 1 and how you picked during weeks 1-8 may not matter – you can still advance with just 2 great weeks of picks.

Fourth, in another effort to keep people involved in the contest, the Nugget has added a “mini-contest” which will run through weeks 15-17. ALL contestants may submit picks for the mini-contest. This is a great change which gives those who have been knocked out a second chance to make some money. The contestant with the highest score over weeks 15-17 will win the mini-contest.

Fifth, the payout percentages have been adjusted. The 8 entrants who advance will now receive $3,000 (instead of 2k); the winners of the quarterfinals will receive $2,000 (instead of 1k); the losers of the semi-final round will each receive 5% of the remaining funds (instead of zero); the Second Place finisher will still receive 25% of the remaining funds (same); and the Winner will now only receive 60% of the remaining funds (instead of 75%). The last 5% of the remaining funds will be awarded to the winner of the mini-contest.

We think the Nugget has done a great job in trying to make the contest more exciting by keeping all entrants involved through the end of the season. The payout is still a 100% return of the entry fees and the Nugget has done a nice job by allocating a % to the winner of the mini. The overall winner will still take home nearly 60% so he/she will not be suffering any hardships.

Golden Nugget Friday Football Showdown Odds

We are looking forward to this year’s version of the Friday Football Showdown. Best of luck everyone!

LAS VEGAS -- The Friday Football Showdown at the Golden Nugget is down to the semifinals after the top four seeds all lost their quarterfinal matches.

The first semifinal match, pitting Anthony Curtis against Michael Wright, will take place on Friday, Dec. 16, with picks being made from 2-3 p.m. PT on The Las Vegas Sportsline radio show (ESPN AM-1100 here in Vegas and online at lvsportsnetwork.com). Each competitor will give their seven best bets on NFL and NCAA sides and totals (with games though Wednesday, Dec. 21 available). We'll post their plays Friday night in the Comments section below. Joe Gaffney meets Christopher Kozak in the second semifinal, which is similarly timed and covered on Friday, Dec. 23; both semifinal winners meet in the finals on Dec. 30.

There were 96 entries in the Friday Football Showdown this year, for a total prize pool of $192,000. All entrants made picks through the first 10 weeks of the season, with the top seven records advancing to the head-to-head playoff format along with a 'wild-card chase' winner from Weeks 9-10).

Wright, playing under the alias 'BBQ Guy,' was the wild-card winner at 13-4-1 ATS, which was best among players who hadn't already qualified for the playoffs. He faced No. 1 seed Randy McKay (aka 'RoughRider39') over Thanksgiving weekend and both went 4-3, but Wright won the tiebreaker as both won with their top two plays while Wright won his third-best bet (the Chiefs +3.5 in their 30-27 overtime win at the Broncos) and McKay lost with Toledo +9 in a 55-35 loss at Western Michigan.

Golden Nugget Friday Football Showdown Bracket

His opponent, Curtis, is the owner of Huntington Press book-publishing house and the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter (lasvegasadvisor.com), who uses his own name on the contest entry along with his partner Frank Betti, the sports betting expert on the LVA sports blog. They were the No. 6 seed and went 5-2 to defeat No. 3 seed Chris Zeniuk (3-4), and they are now the top seed -- giving them the right to pick which weekend to compete.

Next week's semifinal features Gaffney, who was part of the 2007 Hilton SuperContest-winning team of 'Ptshverj Gaffney.' His entry at the Nugget was called 'Hell's Kitchen' and was in the name of Nancy Clark, his proxy. He went 4-3 in the first quarterfinal match as the No. 5 seed to eliminate No. 4 Derek Stevens, the owner of the D Hotel-Casino in downtown Las Vegas. Kozak, the No. 7 seed, went 4-3 games from Dec. 2-5 and beat Frank Perez on the second tiebreaker.

All of the playoff qualifiers earned $3,000 apiece and then the quarterfinal winners each won $2,000 for a total of $32,000 out of the purse. The remaining $160,000 is split up with $96,000 to the eventual champion (for a total haul of $101,000), $40,000 to the runner-up, $8,000 each to the semifinal losers and $8,000 to the winner of a bonus mini-contest held in NFL Weeks 15-17 for all contestants (even those eliminated earlier, so don't forget to put in your seven plays this weekend if you entered).

SuperContest heads into final three weeks

It's crunch time in the Westgate SuperContest, with three weeks remaining in the NFL season for the top contenders and those trying to finish in the top 50 of the famous contest that drew a record 1,854 entrants this year at $1,500 apiece, with first place worth $895,482.

The SuperContest also has a mini-contest with $20,000 (aggregate) for the best record over the last three weeks.

The contestant using the alias Mac Sports Inc. is the leader for the second straight week at 46-23-1 (66.7 percent) with 46.5 points, as players receive one point for each win and half a point for a push. Orange Crush is in second place with 46 points with the sextet of Greybeard, Just Cover Baby!, Unclebobn4brothers, Vegasportsline.com and former leaders Mark Davis and Janknation (who is actually the same person with two separate entries that has been using mostly identical plays all season) at 45.5 -- meaning that the top eight is separated by just one correct pick.

Golden Nugget Friday Football Showdown Schedule

The top five most selected teams -- a point of reference that, when used, usually fares well as SuperContestants play the stale lines that are posted on Wednesday afternoon with final picks not due until 11 a.m. PT Saturday -- were ridiculed as a great fade this year when they were below 30 percent. However, they went 4-0-1 ATS last week (with the push coming on the Ravens +7 on Monday night), and they are 15-4-1 ATS the last four weeks to silence those critics; they're up to 30-37-3 (44.8 percent) on the season.