# Best Bet Pool — NFL Rules, Scoring & Hosting

> Best Bet pool rules: pick every NFL game, flag your best bets, and earn bonus wins when your locks land. Scoring details, strategy, and hosting.

Source: https://piksheet.com/pools/bestbet
Last updated: 2026-07-13

**Best Bet:** Pick every game. Mark your locks. Bonus wins for locks that land.

Pick every game for a win each. Mark your best bets — when they land, they count extra.

Sport: [NFL](https://piksheet.com/nfl)

## How it works

1. Pick a winner for every game on the slate.
2. Mark your best bets — the pool's configured number each week (1–5).
3. Correct pick: 1 win. Correct best bet: 1 win plus the pool's bonus.
4. A wrong best bet counts as a normal loss — no extra penalty, just a bonus chance spent on the wrong game.
5. Highest season win total takes the pool.

## Week 5 example

1. Your pool plays 3 best bets per week with a +1 bonus.
2. You pick 12 of 16 games correctly — 12 wins.
3. Your best bets go 2-1: two bonus wins, no penalty for the miss.
4. Week total: 14 wins. The locks that landed are your edge.

## How to win

- A wrong best bet costs nothing extra — the real cost is opportunity. Flag the games you're most likely to win, not the ones with the best story.
- Bonus wins decide close races, but volume still wins seasons: the ordinary wins across a 16-game slate are most of your score.
- In against-the-spread pools your 'lock' is a coin flip by design — look for spots the line undervalues rather than the biggest favorites.
- Track your lock accuracy honestly. Most players hit a lower rate on their flagged locks than on their overall card — if that's you, make your best bets your most boring picks.

## What the commissioner controls

Every setting is configurable at pool creation and editable until the pool opens.

- Best bets per week (1–5, default 1)
- Best bet bonus value (1–5, default 1)
- Straight-up or against-the-spread
- Auto-pick for no-shows (optional)

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a Best Bet pool?

A pick'em variant: you pick every game, each correct pick counts one win, and you flag a set number of best bets each week. Correct best bets earn bonus wins on top; wrong ones simply count as normal losses.

### How is a Best Bet pool scored?

Correct pick: 1 win. Correct best bet: 1 win plus the pool's configured bonus (1–5 extra wins, default 1). Wrong picks — best bet or not — score zero, with no extra penalty.

### How is Best Bet different from a confidence pool?

Confidence makes you weight all 16 games 1–N. Best Bet keeps flat scoring and adds weight to just a few flagged games — fewer decisions, and the only downside to a missed lock is the bonus you didn't earn.

### Do I have to use all my best bets each week?

Yes. The pick sheet requires exactly the pool's configured number of best bets each week, so every entry plays the same game.

## Related

- [Best Bet walkthrough](https://piksheet.com/help/pool-types/bestbet)
- [Compare every pool format](https://piksheet.com/pools/compare)
- [Pricing](https://piksheet.com/pricing)

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