World Cup Calcutta Pool

[digamma]

Gauging interest for a World Cup Calcutta Pool here on FOFC.

It would involve real units of currency, so if that's not your thing, feel free to skip the rest.

At its most basic level, a Calcutta pool is an auction where teams are bid on and the auction winners of those teams hold them for the tournament and receive any proceeds the team wins from the pool.

More specific rules:
-Teams are drawn at random and put up for bid.

-Auction order is not announced in advance. The next team up for bid is drawn only prior to the next auction starting.

-Since we would be doing this online, we would have a set time limit for bidding, say one hour (we could adjust depending on feedback). You can also expect to have the bidding be done during the business day in the United States.

-Minimum bids are $1 and must increase in at least $1 increments.

-Payouts are as follows:
0% for losing in the group stage;
2.5% for losing in the round of 16;
5% for losing in the round of 8;
10% for losing in the semi-finals;
15% for losing in the final;
25% for winning the World Cup.

FOFC specificities:

-Looking for 6 to 10 participants. More than that, it becomes unwieldy and probably not that attractive unless the bidding gets crazy.

-These could be individuals or "syndicates." If you go in with a group, you will have to appoint a single bidder to avoid confusion.

-To do this with ample time, I think the latest we could start the bidding is on Thursday.

-Syndicates/Participants will need to paypal auction amounts to me to be paid out as part of the pool.

-I will run this and participate and use the whole benevolent dictator thing to settle any disputes.

Fire away with specific questions or let me know if you are interested (but do not feel compelled to tell me why it doesn't work for you--I trust you.).

Do it for Donovan! USA!

[Subby]

Great idea.

[Chief Rum]

I am down.

[cartman]

I'd probably be down for this.

A couple of questions:

Are all 32 teams put up for bid?
Is the bidding going to be blind, or live auction?

[Karlifornia]

Damn this sounds fun....I want a piece of this pie

[digamma]

Live auction in the thread was my thought.

If we have time, I would like to do all 32, but there could be an argument for bucketing certain teams (though that may also entail revamping the payout table). In an NCAA Tournament Calcutta, for example, many times the 15 or 16 seeds are bucketed together.

[hahnkim]

I'd be interested. Would there be a budget for this? Or spend as much as you want?

[digamma]

No budget, so part of it is budgeting bids on the favorites vs. the pot size.

(I believe there are auctions where you pay a set entry fee and get to allocate or bid a set $ amount.)

[QuikSand]

Yes yes

[Critch]

Yes yes yes

[digamma]

So looking to firm this up or just go our separate ways.

I have:

IN
Quik
Critch
digamma
Karlifornia
Chief Rum

Maybe or sounds interesting:
Subby
carman
hahnkim

And all playing for themselves--no syndicates?

I'd like to get 6 to make the bidding a little interesting. If we can firm that up, I'll post some more detailed auction rules/protocols and we can get going maybe Thursday morning.

[cartman]

count me in

[MalcPow]

In

[hahnkim]

In

[digamma]

Alright, so we are set with 8 participants.

1. digamma
2. cartman
3. QuikSand
4. MalcPow
5. Critch
6. hahnkim
7. Karlifornia
8. Chief Rum

Not necessarily a hard stop there, but enough of a critical mass to proceed.

After giving this some thought, here is what I propose. In order to provide some, well, order to the madness and to make sure we finish in a timely manner, I'm going to randomly pick eight teams for auction on Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday.

The daily auction will run from Noon Eastern (9 AM pacific--hey MalcPow has to have a chance to wake up) until 4:30 Eastern. At 4:30 Eastern, the auction will close--like a hard stop on a silent auction. No Ebay last minute chicanery please.

Bidding will start for each team at $1, and bids must be in increments of at least $1.

Though the teams are presented each day in a group, you are bidding on teams individually.

So, Thursday we might draw Russia, Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, Brazil, Germany, Spain and Portugal. All teams are open for bidding during bidding hours on an individual basis.

I will reiterate this again in the morning bidding thread, but to bid, you would do something like:

GERMANY $7

If your bid ends up being the highest, you add Germany to your portfolio.

No limit on the number of teams won. No minimum either. If you want to make a big play on a single team, go for it. If you want to be a slum lord over the Concacaf and Asian teams, go for it.

First auction pool goes up tomorrow morning.

Complain away.

[britrock88]

May as well count me in...

Staggered ending times would be sweet.

[Landshark44]

I'm interested.... Got room for me?

[Karlifornia]

So, bids will be made through pm I'm assuming, and then we just paypal you combined amount?

[digamma]

No, silent auction style in the thread.

Welcome, britrock and Landshark.

[britrock88]

Getting mah spreadsheet ready... :)

[cartman]

uh, how is a 'silent auction style in the thread' supposed to work?

Iffuns we post in the thread, it really isn't silent. And if we stay silent, then we can't post a bid. :D

http://www.fofc-bbcf.com/ariz10.jpg

[cartman]

Dola,

Not sure if it is feasible at this late hour, but a way to avoid the last second sniping would be to tell a non-interested 3rd party of an arbitrary closing time between 4 and 4:30. That way we wouldn't know just exactly when the bidding closes.

[digamma]

I have a meeting this morning, so I'm going to go ahead and put the Day 1 bidding thread up. If the hard stop of the auction is problematic today, I reserve the right to consider adjusting.

Let's get ready to rumble.

[digamma]

Day 1 Auction Results

URUGUAY $15 -- digamma
GHANA $5 -- MalcPow
PORTUGAL $15 -- britrock88
BRAZIL $73 -- MalcPow
JAPAN $8 -- hahnkim
CROATIA $12 --hahnkim
CAMEROON $4 -- digamma
NIGERIA $10 -- cartman

[digamma]

There was a mention of staggering times. How do people feel? I'm sensitive to tomorrow in particular since it is Friday.

Alternatively, we could skip tomorrow and go Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday.

[digamma]

One final note: secondary market purchases or trades are certainly allowed, if not encouraged, though nothing additional will go into the pot.

[cartman]

I'm fine either way. I have no problems with drafting tomorrow

[britrock88]

I brought up staggered times, but I definitely didn't mind the full stop today.

[digamma]

Let's keep the momentum from today going and start again tomorrow. Same time, same place.

[Landshark44]

keep it going... that kept me entertained all day.. thanks for putting it together,,,

[Landshark44]

anyone know of a credible sports betting site, I can make small world cup bets on?

[panerd]

anyone know of a credible sports betting site, I can make small world cup bets on?

Any offshore site will definitely have world cup. Bovada is my suggestion. Stay away from youwager they will not stop calling you once you cash out.

[Landshark44]

Any offshore site will definitely have world cup. Bovada is my suggestion. Stay away from youwager they will not stop calling you once you cash out.

thanks, panerd... i'll check it out..

[Landshark44]

bovada doesn't accept registrations from NJ.... can anyone recommend a different site?

[Karlifornia]

5dimes

I have no idea if they allow nj tho

[digamma]

Through two days:

URUGUAY $15 -- digamma
GHANA $5 -- MalcPow
PORTUGAL $15 -- britrock88
BRAZIL $73 -- MalcPow
JAPAN $8 -- hahnkim
CROATIA $12 --hahnkim
CAMEROON $4 -- digamma
NIGERIA $10 -- cartman

USA $13 -- digamma
Ivory Coast $30 -- Chief Rum
Switzerland $19 -- britrock88
Honduras $7 -- cartman
Greece $11 -- Critch
Spain $65 -- Landshark44
South Korea $13 -- hahnkim
Algeria $5 -- cartman

[digamma]

By player:

digamma
URUGUAY
CAMEROON
USA
COSTA RICA

MalcPow
GHANA
BRAZIL

cartman
ALGERIA
HONDURAS
NIGERIA
NETHERLANDS
BELGIUM
ITALY
COLOMBIA

hahnkim
JAPAN
SOUTH KOREA
ARGENTINA
CHILE
FRANCE
BOSNIA
GERMANY
AUSTRALIA
(sold croatia to landshark)

britrock88
SWITZERLAND
IRAN
(sold portugal to Landshark)

Chief Rum
IVORY COAST
ECUADOR
MEXICO

Critch
GREECE
RUSSIA

Landshark44
SPAIN
PORTUGAL (purchased from britrock)
CROATIA (purchased from hahnkim)

Karlifornia
ENGLAND

[Landshark44]

I have acquired the rights to Portugal from britrock88, for an undisclosed sum...........


britrock88 to confirm...

[britrock88]

I confirm!

[HomerSimpson98]

This has been fantastic to watch on the sidelines. What a cool idea and best of luck to all those participating.

[cartman]

So two groups have been sold. Group D (Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy) and Group H (Belgium, Algeria, Russia, South Korea).

[Landshark44]

I have acquired the rights to Croatia from hahnkim for an undisclosed sum...


hahnkim to confirm..

[Toddzilla]

By my calculations you're nearing $400 in the pool so far

[Landshark44]

I think we are over $500

[cartman]

I think we are over $500

I'm showing $589 in the pool

[hahnkim]

Confirmed!

I have acquired the rights to Croatia from hahnkim for an undisclosed sum...


hahnkim to confirm..

[cartman]

By my calculations, there will be $851 in the pool

WC winner pays $212.75
Runner up pays $127.65
SF losers pay $85.10
QF losers pay $42.55
Round of 16 losers pay $21.28

[digamma]

I agree with that cartman.

[digamma]

almost..the runner up pays 127.65

[cartman]

ah, yes. Typo on my part. That is what is showing on my spreadsheet.

[cartman]

Lemme know if this looks correct:

Bid
Group A
Brazil $73.00 MalcPow (25% owned by digamma)
Croatia $12.00 hahnkim (rights sold to Landshark44)
Mexico $20.00 Chief Rum
Cameroon $4.00 digamma

Group B
Spain $65.00 Landshark44
Netherlands $28.00 cartman
Chile $27.00 hahnkim (50% owned by digamma)
Australia $3.00 hahnkim

Group C
Colombia $43.00 cartman
Greece $11.00 Critch
Ivory Coast $30.00 Chief Rum
Japan $8.00 hahnkim

Group D
Uruguay $15.00 digamma
Costa Rica $6.00 digamma
England $35.00 Karlfornia
Italy $50.00 cartman

Group E
Switzerland $19.00 britrock88
Ecuador $20.00 Chief Rum
France $53.00 hahnkim
Honduras $7.00 cartman

Group F
Argentina $77.00 hahnkim
Bosnia $24.00 hahnkim
Iran $4.00 brtirock88
Nigeria $10.00 cartman

Group G
Germany $88.00 hahnkim
Portugal $15.00 britrock88 (rights sold to Landshark44)
Ghana $5.00 MalcPow
United States $13.00 digamma

Group H
Belgium $42.00 cartman
Algeria $5.00 cartman
Russia $26.00 critch
South Korea $13.00 hahnkim

[britrock88]

That's what I have.

[digamma]

I agree.

[Landshark44]

Brazil - - 3/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 73$
Argentina - - 9/2 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 77$
Germany - - 11/2 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 88$
Spain - - 6/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 65$
Belgium - - 18/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 42$
England - - 20/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 35$
France - - 25/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 53$
Italy - - 22/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 50$
Netherlands - - 25/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 28$
Uruguay - - 25/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 15$
Colombia - - 33/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 43$
Portugal - - 25/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 15$
Chile - - 40/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 27$
USA -- 100/1 13$
Russia - - 100/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 26$
Mexico - - 125/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 20$
Switzerland - - 125/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 19$
Ecuador - - 150/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 20$
Ivory Coast - - 125/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 30$
Croatia - - 150/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 12$
Japan - - 150/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 8$
Bosnia - - 150/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 24$
Ghana - - 200/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 5$
Greece - - 200/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 11$
Nigeria - - 250/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 10$
South Korea - - 300/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 13$
Australia - - 500/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 3$
Cameroon - - 500/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 4$
Algeria - - 1000/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 5$
Costa Rica - - 1000/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 6$
Honduras - - 1500/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 7$
Iran - - 1500/1 (http://record.bettingpartners.com/_ydhaNj_zEu3SWHEZFVgelGNd7ZgqdRLk/15/) 4$

[cartman]

Here's the per bidder breakdown:

britrock88
Switzerland $19.00
Iran $4.00
$23.00

cartman
Netherlands $28.00
Colombia $43.00
Italy $50.00
Honduras $7.00
Nigeria $10.00
Belgium $42.00
Algeria $5.00
$185.00

Chief Rum
Mexico $20.00
Ivory Coast $30.00
Ecuador $20.00
$70.00

Critch
Greece $11.00
Russia $26.00
$37.00

digamma
Cameroon $4.00
Uruguay $15.00
Costa Rica $6.00
United States $13.00
$38.00

hahnkim
Chile $27.00
Australia $3.00
Japan $8.00
France $53.00
Argentina $77.00
Bosnia $24.00
Germany $88.00
South Korea $13.00
$293.00

Karlfornia
England $35.00

Landshark44
Spain $65.00
Portugal $15.00
Croatia $12.00
$92.00

MalcPow
Brazil $73.00
Ghana $5.00
$78.00

[Landshark44]

cartman,


can you just put Croatia and Portugal under my name.... part of the deal was that I pay Digamma for them...


So- landshark44 owes Digamma


Spain 65$
Portugal 15$
Croatia 12$


the other guys (hahnkim and britrock88) are off the hook for those purchases..

[cartman]

Ok, change made

[Landshark44]

thanks, buddy...

[digamma]

I have purchased 50% of Chile and 25% of Brazil. Just FYI.

[cartman]

Now that we are getting into the 2nd games for each group, teams will start to qualify for the knockout round as well as start their journeys home. I'll keep this post updated with teams that have advanced, and what their minimum payout will be.

Brazil $85.10 (75% MalcPow, 25% digamma)
Netherlands $85.10 (cartman)
Argentina $85.10 (hahnkim)
Germany $85.10 (hahnkim)

Eliminated:
Belgium $42.55 (cartman)
Costa Rica $42.55 (digamma)
France $42.55 (hahnkim)
Colombia $42.55 (cartman)
Uruguay $21.28 (digamma)
Chile $21.28 (50% hahnkim, 50% digamma)
Nigeria $21.28 (cartman)
Algeria $21.28 (cartman)
Mexico $21.28 (Chief Rum)
Greece $21.28 (Critch)
Switzerland $21.28 (britrock88)
United States $21.28 (digamma)
Australia
England
Bosnia
Cameroon
Croatia
Italy
Japan
Ivory Coast
Iran
Ecuador
Honduras
Portgual
Ghana
Russia
South Korea

Amounts won by bidder:

hahnkim $223.39
cartman $212.76
digamma $117.03
MalcPow $63.82
Chief Rum $21.28
Critch $21.28
britrock88 $21.28

[Vince, Pt. II]

Been following this thread intently as the bidding strategy is crazy interesting to me. Napkin math gives me $852 for the total pot, for the following payouts:

$21.50 - losing in the round of 16
$42.60 - losing in the round of 8
$85.20 - losing in the round of 4
$106.70 - losing in the final
$213.00 - Winning the World Cup

[cartman]

The payouts are on the previous page of the thread, towards the bottom.

[cartman]

digamma is almost in the black with his Costa Rica buy

[hahnkim]

Hey Guys,

I'm interested in selling off France. Anyone interested should PM me offers.

[britrock88]

I was really liking my chances with Iran today...

[cartman]

With Costa Rica and Uruguay through to the knockout round, digamma is playing with house money going forward.

[cartman]

Critch happy with the penalty call, Chief Rum is gutted.

[Critch]

Stonewall penalty, never for a moment doubted that Greece would be going through.

Hopefully I have some luck left over for Russia on Thursday.

[cartman]

Updated with the conclusion of the group stage. As always, review of my calculations is much appreciated.

[digamma]

And then there were four.

cartman has Holland, Belgium and Colombia.
hahnkim has France, Germany and Argentina (so one guaranteed semifinalist).
MalcPow has most of Brazil.
digamma has Costa Rica and a little Brazil.

[MIJB#19]

hahnkim's Germany-Argentina combo is looking good right now.

[digamma]

And with the Argentina win, we are done. hahnkim has both of the finalists.

All amounts have been paid to the winners.

Final results:

Winnings Costs Per $ Total won/(lost)
MalcPow $63.83 $58.00 $1.10 $5.83
digamma $117.01 $73.00 $1.60 $44.01
Chief Rum $21.28 $70.00 $0.30 $(48.73)
Karlifornia $- $35.00 $- $(35.00)
cartman $212.75 $185.00 $1.15 $27.75
Landshark44 $- $92.00 $- $(92.00)
hahnkim $393.59 $278.00 $1.42 $115.59
britrock88 $21.28 $23.00 $0.93 $(1.73)
Critch $21.28 $37.00 $0.58 $(15.73)

[digamma]

Sorry the table is such a mess.

[cartman]

if you put it in code /code (with brackets) it will keep the formatting. Like this:


Winnings Costs Per $ Total won/(lost)
MalcPow $63.83 $58.00 $1.10 $5.83
digamma $117.01 $73.00 $1.60 $44.01
Chief Rum $21.28 $70.00 $0.30 $(48.73)
Karlifornia $- $35.00 $- $(35.00)
cartman $212.75 $185.00 $1.15 $27.75
Landshark44 $- $92.00 $- $(92.00)
hahnkim $393.59 $278.00 $1.42 $115.59
britrock88 $21.28 $23.00 $0.93 $(1.73)
Critch $21.28 $37.00 $0.58 $(15.73)

[digamma]

fixed. Thanks.

[cartman]

Thanks for the idea and running this. It was a lot of fun!

[digamma]

A few other funnish notes....

Best buys:
Costa Rica returned $7.09 on the dollar
Algeria $4.26
the Netherlands $3.04

The FOFC market also proved to be a pretty good predictor, whether intentionally or not. The two highest priced teams are playing on Sunday and the third highest priced team lost in the semis. Spain, the fourth pick, crapped out, obviously.

Belgium and Colombia went for 42 and 43, respectively, and paid out 42.55.

[cartman]

Belgium and Colombia went for 42 and 43, respectively, and paid out 42.55.

Woohoo! I made 10 cents! Now just need to do that a few hundred million more times, and I'm set!

[hahnkim]

Thanks digamma for running the whole shebang.

[britrock88]

:welcome:

[digamma]

I'm up for it again.

[Critch]

I'm in like Flynn.

As in I'm interested, not that I'm going to prison.

[cartman]

Me too!

[Landshark44]

me too

[cartman]

World Cup is about a month away. Do we have an interested group to run this again?

[digamma]

I don't think I have the time to run the pool this year, but I'm certainly up for participating.

[QuikSand]

want

[kingfc22]

Want

[Critch]

make it so

[cartman]

I should be able to run it. I'm thinking we do the auction like last time, over 4 days, likely the Tu-Fri after Memorial Day. We'll bid on 8 random teams each day.