Definition of Survivor Pool

What is the definition of the term "survivor pool"? How does the traditional survivor pool work?

The "survivor pool" is also known as "Survivor" or "Last Man Standing".

With the Survivor pool, participants need to pick ONE team that they think will win their game every week.

The catch?

You can only pick a team to win ONCE over the course of a season.

So, if you take the New England Patriots to defeat the Houston Texans in Week 1, and the Patriots win, you will be unable to take the Patriots again over the course of the season.

If you take the Patriots and they LOSE, you are out of the pool.

The winner of the survivor pool is the person (or people) that go the longest without making a losing pick.

So, if two people go to the end of the season without making a losing pick, they will share the first place prize.

Or, if one person makes it to Week 14 alone and then loses, they will be crowned the winner of the survivor pool, as they made it the longest without making a losing pick.

Or, if three people make it to Week 15 and all lose, these three people will split the first-place prize.

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There is a great deal of strategy involved in playing in a survivor pool.

You might want to leave "obvious" winning teams until later in the year.

For instance, 40% of your pool might take the Chiefs to win at home in Week 1 against the Houston Texans.

Maybe you take somebody else for a couple of reasons:

1) You save the Chiefs for later in the season
2) If the Chiefs lose in Week 1, 40% of the pool is immediately gone

Survivor is not just about making correct picks - it's also about fading picks that everybody else will be on, and using strategy to leave top teams for later in the season.