Close races for $1M prizes in Las Vegas handicapping contests

In Week 17 of the 2018 NFL season, Eric Kahane, using the alias Personal Gourmet, went 5-0 ATS to ascend from third place to first in the Westgate SuperContest and collect the $1.42 million grand prize.

A contestant using the alias Tuco hopes to accomplish the same feat Sunday in the 2019 SuperContest.

Tuco (52-25-3, 53½ points) trails leader It Ain’t Breezy (55-23-2, 56) by 2½ points entering the final week of the contest (one point for win, half point for push).

“Not to jinx myself, but the winner last year was 2½ points out of first going into Week 17. That’s sort of my silver lining,” said Tuco, a 37-year-old finance director who lives in the Bay Area and wants to remain anonymous. “You just never know what’s going to happen over the last week.”

Crispr. (53-24-3, 54½) is 1½ points back but can’t win the $1.46 million first prize because the entry has four common picks with the leader.

Here are the Week 17 picks for the leaders: It Ain’t Breezy has the Titans (-3½), Colts (-3½), Giants (+4½), Rams (-3) and Saints (-13). Crispr. has the Titans (-3½), Colts (-3½), Giants (+4½), Rams (-3) and Bears (+1). Tuco has one common pick with the Giants (+4½) and also has the Bengals (+2½), Panthers (+13), Patriots (-15½) and 49ers (-3½).

Four contestants are tied for fourth place with 52 points apiece.

Tuco was an incredible 27-3 ATS after six weeks and led the contest most of the season. But he’s gone 25-22-3 the past 10 weeks to slip to third in a record field of 3,328 entries in the $1,500-entry contest.

“I’ve gotten super cold. It doesn’t really matter how I started,” he said. “I don’t have any sort of algorithm or anything like that. I try to pick mostly underdogs but I got away from that strategy the past few weeks.”

Circa Sports Million

Booty Blockers (54-23-3, 55½) has a 1-point lead over Ace2019 (53-24-3, 54½) in the Circa Sports Million Pro Football Contest, which, as the name suggests, pays $1 million to the winner.

There’s a three-way tie for third place (52-26-2, 53) in the $1,000-entry contest.

Sharp sides

Week 17 in the NFL is challenging for bettors and bookmakers alike because of players sitting out for some playoff-bound teams and other teams in must-win situations to make the postseason.

“It’s a tough week,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich said. “You’re just waiting on information and it all boils down to how you filter the information and what it’s worth.”

Las Vegas sportsbooks reported sharp bets on the Giants (+4½), 49ers (-3), Steelers (+1, -1) and Bears (-1). But Westgate sportsbook director John Murray said he wouldn’t call anything sharp this week.

“Just people seeing that guys are or aren’t playing and betting it,” he said.

Take the line on the Vikings-Bears game, for example. Minnesota was a 7½-point favorite on the lookahead line at the Westgate. But the Vikings reopened as 1-point favorites Tuesday after their 23-10 loss to the Packers on Monday left them locked into the NFC’s No. 6 playoff seed. When it was reported Friday that Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins and several other starters would sit out the game, the Bears climbed to 3½-point favorites.

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Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.