Contest tracker: William Hill pays out $325K college winners

Two entries collected $325,000 each after tying for first in the William Hill College Pick’em contest.

The entries, under the aliases Heatwave and CastleRocker, went 6-2 in the last week to finish 51-29. No names were available.

Three entries tied for third and got $66,666.67 each, and five entries tied for sixth and got $30,000 each.

In the contest, entrants selected eight college football games against the spread each week for 10 weeks.

The elimination contests continued to whittle their fields. Station Casinos’ NFL Last Man Standing contest is down to the final two vying for $150,000.

Nearly 75 percent of the Circa Survivor field was wiped out, with most of those eliminated having the Pittsburgh Steelers, who tied 16-16 with the Detroit Lions. (A tie is a loss in Survivor.)

Circa Sports pointed out one positive: Last week was the first one in which every entry actually made a selection and no one was eliminated by default.

Each week, I’ll track the major handicapping contests and detail my progress (or lack thereof). Here’s how the contests stand after Week 10:

Circa Sports Million III

Format: Contestants pick five NFL games against the spread each week ($1,000 per entry).

Field: 4,087 entries.

Leaders: Two entries (JJarvis117 and Price Check) at 38-12.

Barnes’ status: 3-2 last week, 24-25-1 overall, tied for 2,541st. Winners on Cowboys -9, Packers -3 and Eagles +3, and losers on Browns +2½ and Raiders +2½.

Circa Survivor

Format: Contestants pick one straight-up NFL winner each week (each team can be used only once) and are eliminated with a loss ($1,000 per entry).

Field: 4,080 entries, but Circa added $1.92 million to the prize pool to reach the $6 million guarantee.

Leaders: 173 survivors advance. Week 10 eliminated 513 entries — 248 on the Steelers (ties count as losses), 187 on the Ravens, 40 on the Cardinals, 31 on the Buccaneers, five on the Chargers, one on the Saints and one on the Rams.

Barnes’ status: Eliminated in Week 9 when the Bills lost to the Jaguars 9-6.

Westgate SuperContest

Format: Contestants pick five NFL games against the spread each week ($1,000 per entry).

Field: 1,972 entries.

Leader: One entry (PackDG) at 35-15.

Barnes’ status: 4-1 last week, 25-24-1 overall, tied for 806th. Winners on Cowboys -9½, Bills -11½, Vikings +3 and Packers -3½, and a loser on Raiders +2½.

Westgate SuperContest Gold

Format: Same as the SuperContest, but with a $5,000 buy-in and the winner taking all.

Field: 87 entries.

Leader: One entry (The Prognasticator 2) at 34-15-1.

Barnes’ status: Not entered.

Station Last Man Standing

Format: Contestants select one game against the spread each week. Entries cost $25, but the maximum $100 gets five entries. There are separate pro and college contests. Winner takes all — $150,000 in the pro contest, $100,000 in the college.

Entries: Pro — Two alive out of starting 6,241; college — one winner out of 3,075 after Week 9.

Barnes’ status: Done. Eliminated from pro contest in Week 5; eliminated from college in Week 3.

William Hill College Pick’em

Format: Contestants pick eight college games against the spread each week for 10 weeks ($1,000 per entry).

Field: 452 entries, but an extra $548,000 added to the prize pool to reach the $1 million guarantee.

Winners: Two entries (CastleRocker and Heatwave) tied at 51-29 and split the first prize, getting $325,000 each.

Barnes’ status: 4-4 last week to finish at 39-41, tied for 176th. Winners on Baylor +5½, Minnesota +5½, Missouri -½ and Arkansas -2½, and losers on Penn State -½, Northwestern +24½, Texas A&M -2½ and Texas -30½.

William Hill Pro Pick’em

Format: Contestants pick 15 NFL straight-up winners (or selected totals) each week ($25 per entry). There are weekly and season-long prizes.

Field: 7,316 entries.

Season leader: One entry (no name given) at 106-44.

Weekly winners: Fifteen entries (no names given) went 13-2 and split $10,000, getting $666.66 each.

Barnes’ status: 8-7 last week, 89-61 overall.

Golden Nugget Ultimate Football Challenge

Format: Contestants pick seven NFL and/or college games against the spread each week ($1,000 to enter).

Field: 149 entries.

Leaders: Two entries (Charlie Scott and CrimsonTideSuperFan) at 45-25.

Barnes’ status: Not entered.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.