Five unique Ryder Cup pools for obsessed and degenerate

There are certain sporting events that lend themselves to games of chance and others that do not. March Madness is the capital-K King. There are a thousand and one brilliant ways to exploit this tournament for your degenerate kicks, including the classic choice of racks. The world series? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh … there is not much there, and all off-the-wall ideas end up feeling like a stretch.

In golf, the majors do not really lend themselves to fun, interactive and dynamic pools. Of course, you can do what you choose if you choose a player or two in different world ranking categories, but for a sports nut like me, it feels a bit empty, a little dull. The Ryder Cup, meanwhile, is this rare event whose format is so unique that it almost requires you to design sophisticated games of chance. In addition to being one of the best sporting exhibitions in the world, it is also fertile ground for zealots like me.

I intend to engage in my mania at this year's Paris event, and since the Ryder Cup basin is an underdeveloped market, I'm about to give you five ideas for your golfing friends. . FREE. Real fans will play them all … are you a real fan? Are you?

Made of strong chicken noises to increase peer pressure.

1. The pod pool

This pool, invented by yours for the 2016 incarnation, is proven and very fun. I lead with that because if you participate in a single pool, it should be that one. It would take more space than us to explain the rules, so I'm going to refer you to this post the Hazeltine Ryder Cup that details everything. The pod pool is a real joy, and it works better with at least 10 people (we had about 35 last time). The new modules for 2018 are below … feel free to edit if you do not agree:

Pod 1: Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy
Pod 2: Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Ian Poulter, Jon Rahm
Pod 3: Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods, Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson
Pod 4: Bryson DeChambeau, Rickie Fowler, Francesco Molinari and Alex Noren
Pod 5: Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton
Pod 6: Webb Simpson, Tony Finau, Sergio García, Thorbjorn Olesen

2. The auction

Very simple idea, that I tried in 2014 and that I will call this time. It works best with six for fewer people, and the idea is that after the buy-in, each participant receives 100 fictitious currency units. From there, the 16 golfers of the Ryder Cup are auctioned one by one. The participant whose final list accumulates the most points in the Cup wins the group. There is no limit to the number or number of players that each participant can acquire. The strategy is what makes it an explosion: do you spend a lot of money on a guy like Reed and hope he goes to H.A.M. or are you trying to make as many cheap players as you can and diversify yourself? You can run the auction as you want, from best to worst, in alphabetical order, and so on. I prefer a random order to keep things sharp and use this site, which reveals the peaks one by one. All auctions start at 5 units.

The real joy of it, of course, is to watch the guy waiting too long, outbid his favorite player and spend 60 units on Thorbjorn Olesen. I personally intend to intimidate someone to spend too much on Webb Simpson, and then get stuck with him when I press him too much.

3. The survivors' pool

The rules are simple: you choose one golfer per session and to survive, your golfer must WIN. According to my rules, half is not a good thing – it's win or go home – but you can certainly change that, especially if you have fewer participants in your mana pool. In Sunday's singles, you divide the 12 matches into two sessions (the first six games, the last six) to add a round. Obviously, you can not choose the same player twice. If several people are still alive at the end of the six sessions, divide the pot or give the win to the participant whose six players won by a larger cumulative margin. I am a supporter of the latter.

(The first thing here is that selections must be made before the start of the session and that the afternoon sessions in Paris will start soon enough in the United States, especially on the west coast (4:50). full of fanatics who will be ready to make their choice in real time, let the latecomers pick a list of three or four golfers ranked by priority in advance to make sure they get an active player.)

One last note: I hatred Buyouts in survivor pools, but you must do so if you wish.

4. The geist-poulter

The basic version of this pool is as follows: Before the queues are set (before Thursday around 11:00 am Eastern Time), each participant chooses five players, one for each session, without repetition . Points are earned or lost by the way that player performs his session, depending on the hole where the match ends. If the player wins at the 16th hole, that's +3 points. Lose on the 18th? It is -1. Stop his match? Zero points. And if the selected player does not actually play in the session in which it was selected, it is a penalty of -3. At the conclusion of Sunday, the participant with the most points wins.

Do not get me wrong – the basic version is good and could end up being very dramatic on Sunday when you need Rory to win the 15th hole and Bubba to lose in the 17th. But as I like to complicate things and aim with your brain, here are some wrinkles to add a disconcerting strategy to the choices. These will work particularly well in a larger pool:

-All golfer not selected by a single participant becomes a demon spirit known as "geist-bird". If one of these hen giants beats your golfer in the session you have chosen, you are eliminated. (Personally, I'm looking forward to having my weekend ruined by Tyrrell Hatton.)

-The most selected player comes from the "Gardner Dickinson Curse" (holder of the absolute record of the Ryder Cup among the players having played ten matches), where his points of defeat are doubled and his winning points halved.

5. The investment pool

After the buy-in, each participant has 100 units to invest in 16 golfers before announcing queues. You can go long or short on a player. If you are long on someone, you sort out your initial investment for each win, win half for each half and lose the triple for each loss. If you short a player, he is returned: you sort your investment for each loss, lose half for each half and lose the triple for each win.

I like to impose a limit of 15 to 20 units on any player to impose various investment strategies, but this remains at your discretion.

Here. If some of you end up playing the five groups – I plan to do it, but I could go to number five – send me a tweet and I'll bow to your obsession with the Ryder Cup. Enjoy!