BEGINNER’S GUIDE.
Feed the word “Pools” into a search engine now and you will learn all about the different lengths and widths you can swim. With football pools you can have just as much fun and the aim here is to get you in the swim as soon as poss.Although the idea of pooling the stakes, then sharing them out amongst all the winners after the operator has kept a percentage or commission is much older, the Pools Companies we know began after World War One, with Littlewoods kicking off in February 1923.
What people mean now by “doing the pools” is doing the “TREBLE CHANCE”, a pool that started on August 10th, 1946. It was called “Treble Chance” because each bet on eight matches to end as draws gave you three chances of winning, the top dividend going to lines that were all-correct, the second dividend going to lines with seven score-draws plus an away win, and the third dividend going to lines with seven draws plus a home win.
Although this particular game has gone through dozens of variations over the years – there have been six- and seven-match pools and up to seven dividends on Littlewoods at one stage - it’s now back closer to its origins, the main difference being that you have to line up eight score-draws (1-1, 2-2 etc) instead of any old draw.
THE SCORING SYSTEMSA points system is used to make things easier to follow on weeks when there are less than eight score-draws. So at present, a score-draw = 3 points, a 0-0 draw or a VOID game = 2 points and home or away win = 1 point.
Most weeks, the Top Dividend will be paid to lines scoring 24 points (i.e. eight scoring draws) with Second Dividends going to lines with 23 points (seven score-draws plus a 0-0 draw or Void) and Third Dividends being paid to lines with 22 points (either seven score-draws plus a home or away win or six score-draws plus two 0-0s)
The same points system is applied to the half-time results so your lines are always checked to see if you have scored the highest possible totals at half time as well.
Finally, you can also win a prize if you line up the 8 highest scoring games in a winning line.
Every week, the unique Classic Value service will here will tell you how many points your best lines have scored in the Treble Chance as well as the Half Time and Highest Scores games, so you no longer need to worry about checking and claiming. We do all the hard work for you.
WHAT HAPPENS IF GAMES ARE CALLED OFF OR BROUGHT FORWARD?
There is sometimes confusion in newspaper lists between postponed and void games. There is no need for it!
As a rule of thumb, if a game is moved from a Saturday forward to Friday or even earlier in the week it becomes a VOID worth an automatic two points on the Treble Chance Full Time and Half Time pools. A void match is awarded 3 goals on the Highest Scores Pool. VOIDS most often occur on weekends with a big international program, and they will always be announced in advance on the Classic Value site.
If a game is postponed until Sunday (usually when it is being televised, or because one team is involved in Thursday night UEFA Cup action) or if it is called off because of the weather, then the POOLS PANEL decide the result. The Panel never adjudicate void games, but they do decide what the game is worth for Full Time and Half Time pools. Panel results for the Highest Scores Pool works out as follows; - A Home or Away win gets 3 goals, a Score Draw gets 2 goals and a No Score Draw obviously gets 0 goals.
POOLS v BETTING WITH A BOOKIE.It’s important you understand the difference. If you do Individual Odds, Spread Betting or Asian Handicap betting, your “enemy” is the bookie’s employee who set the prices. “Beating the bookie” is a matter of beating him, and it is completely irrelevant to you what all their other customers do. Bet this way and you are going head-to-head with the layer – whose firm can lose a lot if he gets things badly wrong.
With POOLS betting of any description, your “enemy” is ALL THE OTHER PUNTERS. Pools operators prefer there to be a small number of big winners, because administration is then easier and because publicising big wins entices more customers. In the heyday of Pools, Littlewoods would receive 250,000 extra coupons the following weekend after a big splash of publicity in the national papers. That’s why they paid celebrities big money like £10,000 to present the cheques!
It makes no difference to the Pools Companies how many winners they have, because they themselves cannot lose: they collect a commission before they pay a single winner.
The key point for punters is this: whatever the pool, if you want to scoop it by being the only winner you have to make sure that your entry is UNIQUE TO YOU.
DO’s AND DON’Ts FOR THE TREBLE CHANCE1. DON’T rely ONLY on the birthday numbers 1-31 (the maximum days in the month). When the score-draws fall mainly against the lower numbers, the dividends are usually lower too.
2. DO take care to include batches of consecutive matches amongst your selections. Pin-sticking Pools players tend to leave gaps between all their selections, so when there are clusters of draws and gaps between them, dividends are usually higher. However, when there are two big clusters of score-draws with four or five in each, then dividends will be hit by those punters perming two groups of games for cover by a full perm.
3. DON’T rely ONLY on form when picking games. Soccerlotto.com provide you with a free form guide here, but Jackpots are usually won only by lines containing shock results. That’s why the Soccerlotto Stats/Previews feature has a few “numerological” stats. Go by one of those for some of your selections and you are more likely to get the right mix. Try to use exactly the same numerological twist each week. In time it’s bound to catch a surprise draw or two.
4. DO remember that if you use a small full perm like any 8 from 10, and get just one void, 80% of the lines become incapable of scoring 24 points.
5. DO use a plan. They are much more fun, especially now you don’t need to worry about checking them! However many score-draws there are, a column of 16 selections covered by a plan is 286 times more likely to catch eight score-draws than a single column of ten Xs. Of course, you still have to trust to luck that the plan will line them all up, but unlike perms, plans can do better than they are guaranteed to do.
6. DO, if possible, try to devise your entry so that it’s suited by the typical distribution of score-draws. See the Soccerlotto.com Treble Chance charts. Both the Soccerlotto plans in the Top Ten all time winners list are block perms which do this (Soccerlotto 1 and Soccerlotto 2). One of those big winners is a Soccerlotto.com subscriber, by the way!
7. DO switch to the Littlewoods Classic Value coupon here because that way you get a 20% discount on smaller entries and a further 10% off if you subscribe to Soccerlotto.com. Their members are paying 1.2p a line whereas standard “8 from 10” punters are paying 1.6p
8. DON’T stop doing the Pools during the summer! Aussie soccer follows form more closely. There are fewer draws, but Pools Plans are more likely to win when there are six score-draws or less.
9. DO the Pools now, via this site!
ONE OTHER POINT……While small full perms are not the smartest way to tackle the Treble Chance games, they can be used to try and win the 8 Highest Scores Pool, especially during the summer when Aussie Games often have stacks of goals – even by half time!
So if you are looking at a makeweight entry why not use an 8 from 10 (45 lines) or one of the hundred or so plans costing less than £1 to cover games where you think there could be goals? You never know, if it lets you down on the goals front, it could still win you a Half Time or Treble Chance prize!
CONTACT DETAILS
LITTLEWOODS POOLS, Liverpool L68 1AA. There’s no point in giving you the full postal address because Pools Companies are not allowed to have customers on their premises by law – you can never just hand an entry in, for security reasons. Postal correspondence to a Pools Company using only their postcode will always reach them. Main No.: 0151 525 3677. General Helpline and Customer Services: 0800 500 000. Classic Value postal coupons: 0800 490 000. Collector Services (esp. if you miss your collector – OR WANT TO BECOME ONE!) 0800 316 2486. Littlewoods Lotto Enquiry Line: 0800 731 7575. Other Pools Website: www.Littlewoodspools.co.uk - they only allow 8 from 10, 8 from 11 and 8 from 12. You can play their Lotto games via this link however.
