We just hit another milestone (by 4 pm, or Hour 67), getting our 100th entry courtesy of Alex J’s third entry Jackson’s Picks 3. The earliest we have ever hit 100 was at 9 pm. With 100 entries, that is above the pace of our record year in 2016 when we had 74 at this time. We have received entries from 70 people, though only 8 are new players (welcome!). It might be that there is no consensus team to win the title but we have already had 10 people submit the maximum of three entries (record: 11 in 2015) while 10 have submitted two entries (record: 26 in 2015).
Though I won’t discourage it (it increases the pot with these extra entries), but in the last 5 years there have 36 37 money spots and only 4 of those winners have won on their 2nd or 3rd entry. And of the seven winners last year (top 6 + Bonus), all won on their first entry. So you’re gut instinct is usually the one with the best chance.
Edit – it’s 37 money spots because we also had a tie for the Bonus in 2015 (I already accounted for the tie for 6th in 2012).
It’s 3:40 pm and the first First Four match has tipped off, more than 42 hours after the earliest we have ever got the web entry up (9 pm Sunday). At this time, we have 54 entries, which is 17 more than our previous best, 37 in 2014. In our record-setting year of 2016 (161 entries), we had just 27 so we’ve doubled that. The graph is time-based so, for example, you can see most people are sleeping between hours 25 and 33 (10 pm – 6 am). The biggest increase in entries will be tomorrow from 9 am until 3 am Thursday (Hours 60 to 78) so that will be a better indication if we will top the 161 entries we had in 2016.