World Cup Pick'em: How It Actually Works (We're 9 Rounds In)
A World Cup Pick'em is dead simple: pick one side in every game, against the spread, before kickoff. Win the pick, get the points. Forget to pick and it counts as a loss. Points stack into a leaderboard, the winner takes the chip pot, and nobody risks real money. Here's what each screen does and how to start your own in about two minutes.
Right now there are six of us fighting over the World Cup in a group chat. Not for money — for chips, and for the right to talk trash until the final whistle. We run it as a Pick'em on ValueBet, and we're nine rounds deep. So instead of explaining it in theory, let me just show you what it actually looks like and how you'd set up your own.
So what is a Pick'em, really?
Every game that round, you pick one side. That's the whole thing. Get the pick right and you bank the points. Get it wrong and you don't. Do that across the tournament and the points stack up into a leaderboard, and whoever's on top at the end takes the chip pot. You're not building parlays or sweating live odds. You make your picks before kickoff, then you sit back and watch your guys.
Round 9, all locked in. Four games, four picks, and the bar tells you you're covered.
Picking "against the spread" (don't let that scare you)
Soccer scores are low, so just picking who wins would be lopsided — everyone would take Brazil and France every week. So each game comes with a spread, which is really just a head start or a handicap. The favorite has to win by enough; the underdog gets a cushion.
It clicks the second you see real games. USA -0.5 means the USA has to actually win for your pick to cash. Ivory Coast +1.5 means they can lose by a goal and you still win. Brazil -2.5 means Brazil needs to win by three or more. The minus sign is the favorite giving goals away; the plus sign is the underdog getting them. That's it. Read it once and you've got it.
The games coming up. The spread is on the left, the price sits next to it, and a green check means I've already taken that side.
The little number next to the spread (like -125 or +110) is just the price. In a chips pool you really don't have to sweat it — take the side you actually believe in and move on.
The one rule that'll get you: no pick is a loss
This is the rule that separates the people who win these from the people who finish sixth. If you don't put in a pick for a game, it counts as a loss. Not a skip — a loss. Sleep through a Tuesday-morning group-stage game and you've handed free points to everyone else. So make your picks for the whole round in one sitting. The app shows you a "4/4 selections, 100% complete" bar so you can see at a glance that you're covered before you close the tab.
The leaderboard is where the friendships go to die
Here's ours nine rounds in. Six of us, ranked by points, with a tiebreaker that sorts out anyone who's level — the app handles that math, you don't. This is the screen that actually keeps people coming back. Nobody wants to be the name at the bottom on Monday morning.
Six of us, nine rounds deep. Ranked by points, ties broken automatically, prizes set per spot.
→ If you end up hosting, here's how the best Pick'em hosts keep their group fired up all season.
Every pick, tracked for you
You never have to remember what you picked or argue about it later. There's a reports screen that lists every pick — still pending or already scored — with the spread and price right there. When a game ends, it settles on its own. No spreadsheet, no "I definitely had Brazil," no commissioner doing scores by hand at midnight.
Your picks, graded as the games finish. Pending up top, settled below — zero bookkeeping on your end.
How to actually win one of these
A few things separate the guys at the top from the guys at the bottom. First, stop just hammering favorites — the spread already accounts for them being better, which is the whole point of the line. The value is usually in a live underdog getting a goal or a goal and a half. Second, this is a marathon, not one big Saturday. Because a missed pick is a loss, the person who quietly goes 3-1 every round beats the guy who goes 4-0 once and then forgets to pick twice. Consistency wins these. Third, do a little homework on the ugly games nobody's watching — the late kickoff between two teams you can't name is exactly where you can steal points on the rest of your group.
Want to run your own? It takes about two minutes
You don't need a bookie, a license, or anyone's credit card. You make a free club, pick Pick'em as the format, and send your friends the invite code. They join, everyone makes their picks for the next round, and you're off. It's all chips, so there's nothing to cash out and nothing to worry about — just bragging rights and a leaderboard that updates itself.
Start a free World Cup Pick'em club on ValueBet, send your group the invite code, and you'll be locked in for the next round tonight.
Create your free club →FAQ
Is it actually free, or is there a catch?
It's free to host and free to play. The contests run on chips, not real money, so there's nothing to deposit and nothing to cash out — you're playing for the leaderboard and the chip pot.
Do I need to know anything about betting?
No. The only thing to learn is the spread, and that takes one example: USA -0.5 means the USA has to win, Ivory Coast +1.5 means they can lose by one and you still win. After that you're just picking the side you like in each game.
What happens if I forget to make a pick?
It counts as a loss for that game, not a skip. That's why most people make all their picks for a round at once and use the "100% complete" bar to double-check before closing out.
How many people can be in a pool?
It works for a handful of friends or a big group. Ours is six, but you can invite as many people as you want with the club invite code.
Can I run a Pick'em for other tournaments too?
Yes. The same format works for any set of games — World Cup now, then your regular-season picks later. Same club, same crew, new contest.