This article is the first installment in Armchair Pool's seven part series on how to organize a hockey pool. For a summary of the entire series, see the blog post entitled "How to organize a hockey pool. A seven part series".
Before you can begin to organize your hockey pool, you need to decide what type of pool you are going to run. Picking the format of your hockey pool can be a daunting task. There are so many different pool styles with different permutations that considering them all can be mind boggling. This article does not go into all the different pool formats in great depth. However, it gives a broad overview of the most popular types of pools that are out there and will help you get an idea of what pool style is best for you.
The most important thing to consider when picking the style of your hockey pool is time commitment. Different pool styles differ greatly in the amount of time commitment they require, so recognizing how much time you want to commit to the pool is the first step towards picking your pool style. Below is an overview of different styles of hockey pools, ranked by time commitment with the least committing first.
Box Style Pool
The hockey pool style that requires the least amount of time commitment is by far the box style pool. It is a series of "boxes" with a predetermined list of players. The lists are assembled so that players in similar positions and of similar skill levels are grouped together. Pool participants simply pick one player from each box to create their team and they are done. Because of it's simplicity, the box style is popular for big public hockey pools (ie pools run by newspapers, radio stations, etc..). It's also a good fit for office pools.
Armchair Pools provides a
box style pool that comes with the player lists already set up. You can create a pool, invite your friends and get them to pick their players online. It fast, free and easy to administer. Sounds like a plug for our website doesn't it? Well, it is. But seriously, if you want to start a box style pool, you should check it out.
Simple Draft Pool
If the rigidity of the box style pool isn't your thing, you should consider a simple draft style hockey pool. In this type of pool, pool participants take turns drafting players. Any player can be taken, but they can only be taken once. The nature of this format requires all the pool participants get together to pick their players at the same time. This beer and pizza laden affair is otherwise known as a hockey pool draft. It is also the main difference in time commitment between a draft style pool and a box style pool. Count on a draft taking about a minute for every player drafted - early picks will happen fast, later rounds will have people knawing on their pencils for minutes trying to decide between players. Small pools can take 2-3 hours for a draft, while pools with more participants and bigger teams can take upwards of 7 hours to finish picking players. While it may seem like a big commitment, remember that you only have to do it once at the start of the season. Once teams have been picked, there is nothing else to do except sit back and cheer on your team.
Complex Draft Pool
If the simple draft pool format is still not enough hockey for you, and you are single, crazy or unemployed, you may want to consider expanding on the draft style pool. Adding a reserve feature is one of the best ways to add complexity to your pool. With a reserve feature, you only "play" a certain number of your players each night. The others sit on the bench. You get points only from your active players so you need to be watching your pool daily and making adjustments based on schedule, hot players, injuries, etc. Another feature that can be added to is the concept of a "keeper" pool. In a keeper pool, you "keep" your players year after year. Teams can be altered by making trades and by having a "rookie draft" each year to pick a small number of new players.
A keeper pool transforms a seasonal hockey pool into a full time hobby. But It can also ruin a marriage. So pick wisely.
Tune in tomorrow for Part 2 of our series, "Deciding on draft logistics". It will discuss the different options for running a draft.
