NATIONAL PUNTING LEAGUE (Spring 2008)

Okay, firstly, we're not actually starting the comp this week. It doesn't officially start until next week. This is just a way of making sure that everyone understands how it works and is actually ready to go next week.

Here's how the comp works. It's 16 tipsters going head to head each week over 15 rounds in an effort to reach the final series conducted over the week of the Melbourne Cup carnival, with the champion to be decided on November 8.

Please read the rules carefully........


RULES

Everyone is to make 5 selections each week. These selections can be either $20 win or $10 each way.
Please include in your post whether you want any or all of your selections each-way. If you don't say that you want them each-way, they will automatically be counted as win bets.

Everyone must make a selection in the feature race of the week.
Each Thursday I will post a feature race that we all have to tip in. Simply post a selection for this race and also make sure to include a reserve selection in case of a scratching.

Tipsters must then choose 4 more selections from any other gallops races in Australia covered by Unitab.
Simply post these four extra selections and also please include 2 reserve selections (in order of preference) in case of scratchings. So, in all, you should have 8 selections, 5 first selections and 3 reserve selections.

Apart from the feature race, the tipster who posts second in each match, isn't allowed to pick any of the horses chosen by the tipster who posted first.
So, if you post your selections after your opponent, please check to see what they've already picked. It is okay to choose the same horses as your opponent in the feature race, but you can not pick the same horses as your opponent in any of the other races that day. That even includes reserve selections.

Deadline for posting your tips is 30 minutes prior to jump time in the feature race of the day.
Please make sure you get your tips in by this time. The feature race usually isn't on until somewhere between 3 and 4 o'clock, so this really gives you plenty of time to get your tips in.

HOW IT WORKS:

Points will be scored on the basis of money returned. In other words, if your selections returned a total of $115, then you score 115 points. If that's more points than your opponent scores, you win the match.

Now, for the competition points........

Firstly, to get any competition points, you must score. When I ran this comp previously, some people were awarded points when they had a nil all draw, so effectively they were being rewarded for tipping very poorly or not even tipping at all in some cases. Not this time. If both tipsters fail to score in a match, then they'll both miss out on getting any competition points in that match. Otherwise, the points will be awarded like this:

2 points for a win
1 point for a draw
1 bonus point for a score of 150 or more

At the end of the 15 rounds, the 8 tipsters with the most competition points will go into a final series using the same format as you would find in the NRL or AFL final series. The finals will be conducted over the 4 days of the Melbourne Cup carnival.

As for the teams competition, it will work this way. Each week, the 3 highest scores from each team will be added together to get a team score. These team scores are added together for all 15 rounds and the team with the highest total at the end is the winner.