Tampa Bay Festivus Contest

[JolyB]

For those of you who would like some additional handicapping competition, here is a link to the "10 Days of Festivus" contest hosted by Tampa Bay Downs. It will begin on December 2 and will run through December 23, requiring you to make a pick in one of two designated races on each Tampa racing day until your pick fails to hit the board, in which case you will be eliminated.

It can be a fun contest, it's free, and there are cash prizes. On the other hand, some might be put off by the way that lifelines are treated. Since this is an elimination contest, the status of lifelines is crucial to success. You will be more inclined to make an aggressive choice of you have several lifelines than if you are on the brink of elimination. Every player is given one lifeline at the beginning of the contest. Thereafter, the sponsors aggressively try to sell you additional lifelines at prices that start at $5 each and increase as the contest progresses. So a player is competing against others who have more lifelines and no one knows how many lifelines one's competitors have. I feel this makes the contest unfair, but choose to play without buying additional lifelines just to prove to myself that it can be done. I'm a bit of a masochist in that regard. With that caveat, here's the link to a "free" online contest:

https://www.festivuschallenge.com/index.php