Welcome back to Pickwatch
We know this time of year is when hundreds of thousands of Pickwatch fans come back to see what's new, and I wanted to give you a rundown of the highlights. As always, there's a number of things we're working on for later in the year, but here's your guide to the new features that are either available now or will be in time for week 1 of the NFL season.
The short version is below:
- Pickwatch Insights
- Discord Expert chat
- Pickwatch VIP
- Private Pools revamp
- Survivor Pools
- Live Scores
- Line and odds movement
- Pick information
Read on for explainers of each of these features.
Pickwatch Insights
Pickwatch Insight is the biggest feature we've launched in the last 5 years. It has been in development for 3 years, and is now ready to help you win more games than ever before.
Put simply, Pickwatch Insight is a powerful machine learning tool that analyzes your picks and gives personalized suggestions to improve your picks each week.
It's all based on your own unique trends and your performance when picking specific game situations.
You may think you are great at picking a team overall, but when they're on the road in a tight spot, how do you do then? Are you better at picking a team when they're slight favorite, or slight underdog? AT home, or on the road? Do you have a subconscious bias that means you always pick a team to lose when they face a certain opponent or situation?
More importantly, when you get those things wrong, who is getting them right? That's where Insight comes in, finding the games you're most likely to get wrong each week, and matching you with an expert who has a proven record of picking the team in that exact situation.
Example:
Let's say the Jaguars are +4 underdogs at home, and you're 6-4 picking them over their last 10 home games. That's a decent record, and you may think you're more likely than not going to get this week's pick right.
Now what if we told you that when the Jags are home underdogs between +3 and +5, you're actually 0-3?
That's useful because it tells you where you have a problem, but Insight goes one step further.
Once we've found that you may need help, we analyze EVERY expert in our database and find the Pro's with the best record picking those exact same games, so where you went 0-3, we can find the experts who went 3-0, and then assess all of them to find the expert who you should follow this week. Sometimes, you might happen to agree with them, but in testing we've found thousands of picks that could have won, had the user known that they should listen to the right expert at the right time.
Essentially, we all have strengths and weaknesses that we don't know about, or can't quantify. There's no shame in that, but the key to winning is knowing when to trust your own instincts, and when to follow an expert - which is exactly what Insight helps you with.
How it benefits you
Insights are an incredibly powerful tool that is unique to you.
The more picks you make, the better it gets at understanding what you're good and bad at. It won't suggest a change for the sake of it, and in the Insights section, you can see relevant data it's working from, such as a record of games that meet the same conditions as the one you're picking this week, and a list of the top experts who are best at picking the specific scenario you're facing, so you can get a good feel for the consensus.
Where we feel Insights really comes into it's own during testing, is in close games, and vs the spread or points total picks that are closer to 50/50. Of course, it will find the odd big underdog when the stars align, but we all know that our seasons hinge on picking the tight games well, and that's where it excels.
The rise of the machines
The beauty of what we've built is that it will adjust based on both your performance, and the accuracy of it's suggestions. If your gut turns out to have been right, Insight is going to remember that next time you face a similar situation involving the teams in a game.
Altogether, Insights could well have been a standalone product and platform on it's own, but we know the value it will have to you is unparalleled, and we're excited to bring it to the Pickwatch platform in 2024.
Insights will be live from August 26th 2024.
Discord Expert Chats
This is one of the coolest features we've ever had, and is a logical extension of the thing you come to Pickwatch for - to learn from the experts.
For the first time in 2024, you can chat to some of the best experts in the business DIRECTLY in a private, members only Discord channel. Oh, and also, we're opening an Upset Watch Discord channel.
We've got the top-ranked expert in straight up picks from 2023, and the ATS expert with the second-highest lifetime record, both of whom will be hosting a Discord channel in which they answer your questions each week. Upset Watch will remain a column on the site, but you'll now be able to ask specific questions (there are many!) in the Discord too.
Unlike 'live chats' or podcasts, the key advantage to you is that you can catch up on questions and answers - or ask your own questions - at any time. Our experts will check in regularly to answer, and our moderation team will help keep things neat and tidy, to avoid duplicate questions.
Most importantly, we're building a community, and you'll be able to discuss all sports with proven winners, both experts and users, so you can learn from the best - or share your own wisdom.
Pickwatch VIP
Both Insight and Discord chats are part of our new VIP tier, alongside Upset Watch, our premium underdog picking column. We know Upset Watch has been part of Pro historically, but these are the best columns and tools in the business, with proven results.
The cost of VIP is $29.99 per month, or $99.99 for an annual pass (Which works out at just $8.33 per month), representing exceptional value. This annual pass will work across all sports, and we're in talks with top ranked NBA, NHL, MLB and college football experts who you'll soon be able to chat to, as well as bringing Upset Watch to other sports
We're discontinuing Pickwatch Essential, which allowed only the most basic data to be accessed, and everything below VIP level will now be bundled into Pro, which remains at just $29.99 annually, or $7.99 a month.
Read more about our pricing changes here, and if you're a Pro user, check your email for access.
Private Pools Revamp
Good news for private pool managers and players!
Our Private Pools have undergone a significant upgrade, making them easier and faster to join and manage. Most importantly, they also now work on our mobile app, meaning you can run your Pick'em pool entirely from your mobile device, and copy your picks between the main contest and your private pools wherever you are.
We've upgraded some of the features and options too. You can now customize your league with avatars and graphics, add a custom introduction for new users to see, view past league winners and runners up, and also set alerts to make picks.
We're also going to add a number of 'extra' features to private pool management, in particular the ability to have your Commissioner change picks, which otherwise ends up falling to our support team, who aren't really best placed to say what your league would want.
We have also taken the decision to make each league an individual game type, rather than allowing each league to support straight up, ATS, and confidence game types (though confidence by nature also includes straight up picks!). That's in no small part because of the introduction of...
...Survivor Pools!
Survivor is back on Pickwatch! You can now set up free Survivor pools, setting all the normal options such as start dates and number of lives. Your Commissioner will have control over how to restart your league.
The best part about all of these private pools is that they're free to use. We're going to start integrating our wider data (team by team rankings, consensus, Insights) into your experience. That'll make it easier for Pro and VIP members to steal a march, but at their heart, all of the basic features you'd expect from any private pool elsewhere, will function just as well on Pickwatch, and cost you nothing.
Live Scores
Live Scores are a welcome addition to the platform, allowing users to keep track of scores on the move in every sport. They're also linked to the expert consensus and your own picks, meaning you can check how you are doing, or how the experts are faring without cross-referencing scores and expert tables!
Line and Odds Movement
Clicking odds or the spread on Pickwatch will now give you a history of either from the opening line to the present, highlighting where the best odds were and whether the odds were shifting in favor or against a team.
This is particularly important for people wanting to get value from their picks, whether that bet
Pick Information
You can now click any expert or user pick and get all of the relevant information about it, such as when it was made, the odds, the stake, expected payout, and results (after the game).
There's also a log of any changes made to the pick, so if an expert or fan switches last minute, you can track that easily.
As a result of this change, we'll also be able to offer more customization of the main table, and shortly after the season begins, we'll allow you to turn off stakes from showing in the table by default, if you don't want to see them.
We've changed so much more too, as you can see from our June developer blog, and this year's Pickwatch is the best yet. We listened to your suggestions and fixed bugs, added what you wanted most, and we think we've hit the sweet spot that gives you the best value for money, and the best chance of winning more pools and bets every season.