Running a “Thirteen” Pool

The sports betting industry has obviously really taken off over the past few years, and that has sort of taken something away from running a pool. Sports betting and running a pool can actually co-exist, and there are some great pools that you can run yourself.
The most common pools that people run are brackets or squares, but there are other terrific options out there. A “Thirteen” pool is one of those options, and this should actually be a game that is more popular than it is.
A Thirteen pool is extremely easy to run, but it can be a bit confusing when trying to explain the rules. Once you are able to fully understand how this pool works then you will be kicking yourself for not setting one up much sooner.
Instead of waiting for your buddy or coworker to set up a pool, you should take the initiative and provide a fun and exciting opportunity for your buddies. Not only will they thank you for it, but you can also make some additional money by running a pool of your own.
This might seem like a daunting task, but OfficeSportsPools is here to help. We will actually do most of the work for you, and you can simply sit back and participate and see how the game unfolds.
There are some great benefits to running your own Thirteen pool, and we will get into those a bit later on. Before we get into all of the great benefits of running this type of pool, we will provide an explanation of the game so you know what you are getting yourself into.
Explaining The Game
One of the biggest reasons that a Thirteen pool isn’t as common or popular as some other games might be due to the fact that it can be hard to explain. That doesn’t mean that it’s a hard game to play, but it will take some time to fully explain how it all works.
Baseball is the sport that is usually used when it comes to a Thirteen pool, and this should be the sport that you choose for your pool. There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball, and that is how many players you would ideally have in your pool.
After all 30 players have signed up then you will randomly assign each participant an MLB team. The team that is assigned really has on effect on the game at all, because there is plenty of luck that comes with this contest.
The object of the game is for your team to have a final score of 0-13 during and MLB season. Each participant will have a box, and a check mark will be placed under the score after every game is completed.
This contest ends when someone in the pool has gotten all 14 of the scores that are needed (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13). If the MLB season ends and one player has not gotten all of the scores then the person with the most numbers checked off would be the winner.
This is actually a game that requires absolutely no work after the season starts, as each participant will simply sit back and root for their team to hit on the scores. The best part for you is that you don’t have to check up on the scores each night as OfficeSportsPools will automatically pull the scores and update the grid for each player.
Baseball is the Best Option
As you can see from the explanation that baseball is the most logical sport to use when setting up and running your Thirteen pool. Even though baseball would be the best sport to choose, that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t set this game up for different sports.
Hockey seems to be the next best choice, even though you will have to make some adjustments to the rules. Hockey teams aren’t going to score 13 goals in a game, but you could cap this off at 7 or 8 and the contest would still work out extremely well.
It would be hard to adjust this game to fit an NBA or NFL schedule, but you would have the ability to customize your pool at OfficeSportsPools.
How to Plan For Your Pool
Once the Thirteen pool is off and running then there is really no work that you will have to do at all. OfficeSportsPools will take care of all of the hard work, and you can easily follow along with the action and the live scoring.
The work that you have to do takes place before the contest begins as you will have to determine how you want your contest to be run. There are some specific pieces of information that you will have to provide to OfficeSportsPools, but then we will take care of the rest.
Inviting Players
Since this will be your Thirteen pool then you will be tasked with inviting participants to sign up and play with you. This type of game is not like other pools as you can only have a maximum of 30 participants.
Start by inviting friends and coworkers to join your Thirteen pool, and sell them on the fun and excitement of this game. You will also want to explain how easy this game is to play, and explain how the scoring will work.
If for some reason you can’t get 30 people to participate, then capping the number at 15 participants is the other option. If you only have 15 players than each person could get 2 MLB teams, and the game would still be played and ended in the same way.
You can simply share the link to your pool at OfficeSportsPools and they can get all signed up to participate.
Figuring Out Payments
One of the most important pieces of information that everyone will want to know before signing up is how much you plan on charging to enter the contest. This is totally up to you, but you need to make a strategic decision here.
You obviously want to charge an amount that will make it worthwhile to participate, but you can’t charge too much to scare people away. Since you are running this pool to make some money as well, you have to take that into consideration.
You will need to collect all of the payments as well, and it will be up to you to payout the winners at the end of the contest. Setting up the payout amounts before the contest starts is another important piece of planning.
Picking the Teams
Picking the teams for each player in your pool can really be done in one of two ways. You can randomly select the teams after all 30 participants have signed up.
Most Thirteen pools will simply do this by random as that seems to be the most fair way to go about it. This is something that you will need to plan for though, and you are in control to make the final decision.
Determining the Length
The MLB season is extremely long, and there are times that people are going to get bored over the course of six months. The best Thirteen pools cover the entire season, but you don’t have to follow the traditional model.
Maybe you want to end the Thirteen pool after each team has played 100 games, or maybe you only want to require a player to get 10 boxes checked instead of 14 to win. This is another aspect of running a Thirteen pool that can be changed or adjusted to meet your preference.
Running it Back
After running a successful Thirteen pool, the only thing left to do is to run it back for the following year. Once you have your pool set up at OfficeSportsPools then this can easily be done, and all of your information will remain in the system.
You can also make any changes to the contest the following year, but you simply have the option to run it back year after year.
Reasons For Running Thirteen Pool
Now that you have a better understanding of how a Thirteen pool works, you are hopefully interested in setting up this contest moving forward. This is a type of contest that you really need to run to get the full effect, but there are some clear reasons for setting up a Thirteen pool.
Try Something New
One of the biggest reasons to set up a Thirteen pool is the fact that this isn’t usually a contest that you are going to find very often. Even though it’s a pretty easy contest to run, people have tended to shy away from it because it focuses on baseball.
This could actually end up being one of your favorite contests to even be a part of after you have given it a shot, because it really is fun and exciting. Not only will you be able to try out a new game, but you’ll be doing your friends and coworkers a favor as well.
Very Little Work
Actually running any sort of pool or contest can be hard work, and you might not have a lot of extra free time to set something like this up. Even if you plan on running the entire pool by yourself, you are going to be amazed with how little work is required throughout the entire contest.
Some of the other pools that are often offered require keeping track of scores or daily updates, but that’s not the case with a Thirteen pool. Even if you miss out on a day or two of MLB action, the board will still be updated with all of the recent winners.
Make Baseball Fun Again
Baseball is a sport that has definitely become less fun over the years, but running a Thirteen pool can actually make things exciting again. You and your other participants will now have a reason to watch baseball games again, and will have a rooting interest.
Even if everyone in your pool is simply checking out the final scores at the end of each night, they are still paying attention to the game more closely than they normally would be.
Make Some Money
We don’t want you thinking that you are going to make a living off of running a Thirteen pool, but this contest does give you a chance to make some money. You will have to set up your pool in a way to make this possible, but don’t be afraid to give yourself a nice chunk of the entry fee.
Another way that you can make even more money is by actually winning the Thirteen pool that you have set up. Since this pool is pretty self-explanatory, you won’t get harassed by your friends if you are the person that comes out on top.
Become the Cool Friend
If you are looking to score some brownie points with your friends or coworkers then this is the perfect way to do it. Even if those close to you have never heard of Thirteen before, you are still providing them with a fun contest that will keep them involved in sports.
Those same people will also appreciate the fact that you are willing to do the hard work in getting everything set up and established. You don’t have to share the secret that it’s actually OfficeSportsPools that is doing most of the work behind the scenes.
Let OfficeSportsPools Work
Running a Thirteen pool is actually one of the easiest contests to run, especially after the season gets underway. You can make this even easier for you though by letting OfficeSportsPools do all of the hard work.
You will be blown away by the tools and technology that are available to you at OfficeSportsPools and we will make this a pleasant experience every step of the way. Set up your Thirteen pool today and let OfficeSportsPools do all of the dirty work for you.