Picklive: The future of Fantasy Football?

I first stumbled upon Picklive when it was under its previous moniker, Football3s.com, after reading about it in a magazine article or forum (don't ask me where that article/forum post is, because I plain can't remember!) but noticed it had been re-branded as Picklive in time for the 2010 World Cup.

[caption id="attachment_105" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Future: Could sites like Picklive be the future of football betting and fantasy football?"][/caption]

The basic idea of Picklive is simple, it's a way of combining fantasy football, with betting, with your own forecasting of the game.  Often used in conjunction with live televised games, Picklive enables you to pick 3 players for a 7 and a half minute period (they've also recently released a full 90 minute version of the game too, more on that later), with 3 potential substitutes to use too. Those chosen players then score points, in a fantasy football-esque way, but in a much more live, real-time environment.  For example a simple completed pass nets your player 1 point, whereas a goal would get them 20.  However, where there is a positive, there is a negative.  If your player was to fail a pass they'd lose 1 point, if they were to get sent off they'd lose 20 points.  Full details of the scoring can be found here.

Over the 7 and a half minute period the points accumulate up and at the end come the spoils! This is where the betting element comes into play.  Picklive offers two main types of game "mode".  Classic and Big Game.

Classic mode consists of 7 and a half minute games, with the aforementioned scoring, and requires a £1 stake on entering.  The game will not start with less than 6 players, and once at least 6 have joined within the given time limit the game begins.  This accumulated stake is then spread among the podium finishers, who come first, second and third.  First place gets 70% of the pot, second gets 20% and third gets 10%.  There's a maximum of 25 players in the room too, so a win could win you up to £13 just by showing "you know your stuff".  25% of the pot is taken as a rake, but the Picklive staff need a salary after all!

The Big Game mode is something I haven't dabbled in yet, but do intend to.  It's £2 entry as opposed to £1 and the game lasts the full 90 minutes.  Same scoring rules apply, and same win percentages apply for first, second and third.  However, there is no restriction in how many people can join in and those lovely folks at Picklive also add an extra £10 to the pot.  There's a lot more foresight required in this version and it truly does mirror fantasy football but with a much more accurate and detailed view of the whole game instead of the standard "2 points for staying on the field for 90 minutes" malarky.

[caption id="attachment_106" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Choices, choices: The main Picklive user interface"][/caption]

In addition to the standard game modes, there are also weekly promotions ran.  "Cardiff Wednesday" (where "we make nothing and are blindly giving away all of our money in the pursuit of promotion." - which certainly gave Swansea fans like me a chuckle) see's the person who scores the top cumulative score across all Picklive games on a Wednesday wins a tidy little pot of their rakes from the nights games.  Plus, there's a weekly jackpot for the cumulative highest score over all games in one week, often totalling over £100 mark - not bad for £1 entry.

So, is it the future of Fantasy Football?  It may well be.  It certainly is a great addition to the match day experience when you're watching from home, it gets a good bit of banter going especially when your player pops up from nowhere with a goal and you get the classic "told you so" moment.  Even if this scoring system was implemented into the more popular fantasy football games, it would definitely make a difference on some players scores no doubt.

Another interesting aspect is that it truly shows you who is working on the field and who isn't, or rather who isn't being given the chance to work.  Once you see certain players amassing huge amounts of points due to the amounts of passes, interceptions or tackles they make in a game, it really shows you how good a game they had.

I've seen the site develop a fair bit over the past few months and it certainly seems to be going places. If this article has got you interested, head over to their site and sign up, especially now as they're offering a £5 bonus!