Play for the season, not the money
The best thing about a survivor pool is the group text after a bad Sunday. If the pot is the only reason you are in, the fun runs out around Week 4.
Most pools are small. Some play for nothing at all. Either way, the entertainment is the point, and the money is the excuse to pay attention to a Jaguars game in November.
Set a number you would shrug at
Before you join, pick the amount you would be completely fine never seeing again. That is your number. It should be a number you would spend on dinner without thinking, not one you have to plan around.
If joining means moving money you needed for something else, skip that pool. There will be another one. Never borrow to buy in, and never join to win back what you lost somewhere else. Chasing is how a fun thing turns into a problem.
Multiple entries multiply your cost, not your odds of a good time. One entry is plenty.
Remember who you are playing with
Eliminator pools are private. Your commissioner is a coworker, a cousin, or a friend, and they collect and pay out any money themselves. Eliminator never touches it and takes no cut.
So join pools run by people you actually know and trust. If you cannot name the person holding the money, that is your answer.
Signs it stopped being fun
Worth an honest look if any of these sound familiar:
- You are joining pools you cannot comfortably afford, or hiding what you spent from someone close to you.
- A loss ruins your night, or your week.
- You are borrowing, or moving money around, to stay in.
- You are trying to win it back somewhere else, on something else.
- You are thinking about it at work, at dinner, at 2 a.m.
- Someone you trust has already said something about it.
One of these on a bad weekend is normal. Several of them, week after week, is worth taking seriously. It is a common thing, it is treatable, and talking to someone about it early makes it much smaller.
If you want to talk to someone
Free, confidential, and open 24 hours a day, every day. Call or text the same number. It is run by the National Council on Problem Gambling, it connects you to help in your own state, and you do not have to be in crisis to use it.
You can also tell your commissioner you are sitting the season out. Any decent one will say fine and save you a seat next year.
What you can do in the app
- Leave a pool, or ask your commissioner to remove you, at any time.
- Delete your account for good from your account page.
- Tell us if something in a pool looks wrong at support@geteliminator.com.
One more time, so it is clear
Eliminator is 18+. We are a free tool for running a pool among friends. We do not take bets, we do not hold pool money, and we do not award prizes. The details are in our Terms and Privacy Policy.