3in! PL FAQ - Chris Griffin Says...

So, what is the 3in! Prediction League? Basically, each player in the league chooses just three matches from the weekend’s fixture list and predicts whether they will be a home win, an away win or a draw. You score points based on how correct your three predictions turn out to be and the match odds published by William Hills.

How does the scoring actually work? Your three predictions are entered as a Patent bet, which means you get three singles, three doubles, and a treble. So, you have seven bets in total. (If you went into a bookies and placed a £1 patent bet it would cost you £7, £1 for each bet). What you would stake and win with a real bookie with this bet, we convert to virtual money, or points, in the Prediction League.

Then what? Basically, you total the decimal odds of all your winning bets and that becomes your points score for the week. The more of your three predictions you get right, the higher your win will be and so will your score. Also, if you pick matches with higher odds and predict the correct result, you will score more points.

Hmmm, I’m still not really getting it! Right, here’s an example below. The fractional odds are converted to decimal – for example, the 9/4 for a Bristol City draw becomes 2.25 to which you add your virtual £1 stake, so 3.25. Do the same with the other two bets to calculate the three single bet values. The bookie calculates the odds for the three doubles and the treble but I am not sufficiently geeky to know how they do that.

The table below shows what you would score if you predicted all three matches correctly; add up the 7 bet scores – 59.99 – and subtract the £7 stake to arrive at 52.99.

Here’s what happens if you get the Bristol City prediction wrong…

… and if you get you only get the Sunderland one right, your score gets even lower, into negative numbers…

… and if, like me in most weeks, you get all three wrong, then you score a big fat -7.00…

OK, got it. So, when does it start and how long does it last? The 3in! season lasts for 20 weeks. We have two PL seasons in one regular football season, one before Christmas and one after. The weekly schedule is published on the website.

Which fixtures can I choose from? Each week you will receive an email listing the fixture list. This will normally be the fixtures from the top four English leagues played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes, there list may also include international matches or FA Cup matches. There will be between 40 and 46 matches to choose from.

How do I submit predictions? If you are predicting a win, I just need the team name exactly as it appears in the fixture list. If you are predicting a draw, I just need the home team name exactly as it appears in the fixture list plus the word “draw”. In fact, just as you can see in the examples above, with each of the three predictions on a separate line.

Why do you need the team name to be exactly as it appears in the fixture list? Because, it helps me to cut and paste them directly into my system and if you give me anything different I have to start typing things manually. With up to 80 sets of predictions to deal with each week, that becomes a pain in the arse. So, just do it right, please! Do not get creative with the names of the teams or the format of the predictions submission. If it says “Tottenham” that’s what I want to see – not “Tottenham Hotspur” or “Spurs” or “Tott’ham” or “Tottenham H”. Just plain old “Tottenham” please.

Can I send them via WhatsApp instead? Only in an emergency, please don’t make a habit of it! There is more chance of me not missing your entry if you reply to the original email fixtures list. If you lose the email, the fixtures are always on the Next Odds page of the website.

Is there a deadline by which I have to submit each week? No, not specifically. You have up until a match kicks off to predict its result so you could miss all of Saturday’s main fixture list and rely on the Sunday games. You just have to hope that there are at least three games on the Sunday or your chances of scoring big are reduced accordingly.

What if a cup game goes to extra time and penalties? Bookies odds are generally based on the score at 90 minutes so we go with that.

What if a game is postponed? If one or more of your three selections is postponed then your Patent bet permutations are again reduced accordingly. Again, I don’t pretend to understand exactly how the bookies calculate this but I have a formula that does it for me. Basically it means that your maximum win or loss will be reduced. If all three of your selections are postponed, you should give serious consideration to packing it all in.

Can I change my predictions after I have submitted them? It’s a brave man (or woman) that does so but yes, provided the new matches you select haven’t yet kicked off you can change your mind. I will always take your latest submission – you’ll be amazed how many people send in three picks, completely forget that have done so and the send in three completely different new ones. I never ask questions, I just take your most recent predictions in good faith.

Will I receive a confirmation that you have received my predictions? Definitely not! With 90 sets of predictions to process I don’t have the time. But, if you reply to the official fixture list email and you don’t receive a failure, you can safely assume I have got it.

Will you send me a reminder if I haven’t sent you any predictions? Er, what do you think? No, I won’t. You’re a grown adult, sort your life out.

How much does it cost to enter? It’s £1 per week, so £20 for the season. Then we start again in January if you’re still with us.

How much can I win? There are weekly prizes of £25 to the highest four score of the week – £10 to the highest scorer and three times £5 to the next three highest. The top 25 players at the end of the 20 weeks share the rest of the fund between them. 100% of entry fees are re-distributed as prizes. The breakdown of the prize fund is listed on the Diary page of the website.

Do I have to pay my £20 before I can join? Yes!! No pay, no play!

How can I find out how I am doing as the season progresses? Update tables and stats are published on a weekly basis on the News section of the website and you will receive an email notifying you when the updates have been made. There is also a Facebook and a WhatsApp group.

Can I change the email address you send the updates to? Yes, you can unsubscribe your existing email address or add a new one here.

For as long as I can remember, certainly since the advent of email, the end of the working week has always been marked by someone circulating a joke, or an amusing picture or article – the Friday Funny, as it became known. I have now evolved this into a regular blog that I call 5-4-Friday, a light-hearted list of 5 favourite things or 5 pet hates ideally related to some burning issue of the day or week.

View From the West is a regular football-based blog with the subject matter normally focusing on events at the club I support, Wigan Athletic, as I see them unfold from my vantage point in the West Stand of the DW Stadium. For non-Wigan fans, wider football issues and talking points will also be given an airing. For a bit of fun, I will scour social and digital media and various fan forums to identify a Hit of the Week, a Miss of the Week and a Pic of the Week.

54T is an occasional variation on 5-4-Friday in which a friend of the site, a minor celebrity (or, god-willing, if it takes off, a not-so-minor celebrity) will tell us which four famous people they would invite round to share a Friday evening chippy tea. We will learn what they would feed them, what drinks would be chilling in the fridge and, when the stimulating conversation dries up, what music they would listen to, what films would they stick in the DVD player and what entertaining games they would play.

3in! is a friendly football prediction competition that has been running for around twelve years now. Participants have to predict the outcome of just three fixtures from the weekend’s football programme with bigger rewards available the more off-the-wall you are prepared to go. It’s my type of gambling – all hypothetical, no real money involved. All the news for the 3in! players can be found on Chris Griffin Says…

Dream League is now beyond its 30th year. It is a fantasy football competition with a difference. Each of the 16 Owners (who should be old enough to know better) buys a squad of players and pits their team against the other 15 Owners in a traditional, home and away league season. Goals your players score are netted off against goals your defenders concede. Out-perform your opponent in the week and you win. Simples! Again, all the up to date news can be found here.