'The result is the result': The story of the Circa NFL survivor contestant who lost on the final week each of the past two years

5 days ago 2

When Cleveland Browns kicker Andre Szmyt made a 49-yard field goal with no time remaining to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 20-18 on Sunday afternoon, there were plenty of bettors with Bengals money-line wagers who were hurt by the result.

But it’s highly unlikely that anyone had as much on the line as Pete Tarsiewicz, who picked the Bengals as his Week 18 selection in Circa Sports’ $18.7 million NFL Survivor pool. As one of the six remaining entries, the game-winning kick cost him a chance at $3.12 million.

The contest requires entrants to pick one NFL team each week of the season to simply win its game outright — and no team can be used more than once. Circa’s contest is unique in that it breaks out Thanksgiving and Christmas as separate weeks, so 20 correct selections are required to “survive” and make it all 18 weeks of the regular season.

This year, six entries (including Tarsiewicz’s) were still alive heading into Sunday’s games, meaning each one had an implied value of roughly $3.12 million. The $18.7 million prize pool — the largest prize pool in legal sports betting history — gets split by however many entires make it the full 20 weeks.

Tarsiewicz, a 30-something-year old married man with children living on the East Coast, was a former professional poker player and has made his primary income from daily fantasy sports and sports betting.

This was only the second year he had entered Circa’s contest after hearing about it from a friend, and last year he flew out to Las Vegas for 24 hours to sign up. One of the multiple entries that he (and his two partners) had last season ended up making it all the way to the final week — only to select the Atlanta Falcons, and see them lose 44-38 to the Carolina Panthers in overtime as 8-point favorites.

“When I look at last year, I just have to laugh,” Tarsiewicz told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. “We didn’t know what the hell we were doing. Our strategy changed multiple times as the contest went on. We weren’t happy that we had to take the Falcons because everyone who had them available was going to be on them.”

Tarsiewicz said he hedged on the Panthers money line before the Week 18 game last year, and added another $10,000-$20,000 on Carolina +500 at halftime after the Falcons scored a touchdown late in the first half to go up 24-17 and offer better odds on some more Panthers ML exposure.

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Tarsiewicz watched the game from the comfort of his home and described his strategy going into the game as, “I had a certain amount I wanted to hedge but didn’t want to do all before the game. It sucked to lose, but I mean I was pretty well hedged there.”

In all, 18 entries were competing for the $14.26 million prize last year, and Tarsiewicz’s was one of eight entries that went down with the Falcons. Two more lost with the Packers, resulting in eight winners of $1.78 million each.

Ahead of this season’s contest, Tarsiewicz removed one partner, replaced him with another one and had a similar result — a perfect 19-0 run in the contest, heading into the final week.

“Obviously, it’s super lucky to get the end,” he said. “But we felt more confident about strategy this year than last year.”

Two entries had selected the Minnesota Vikings (vs. the Packers), one had Atlanta Falcons (vs. the Saints), one had the Jacksonville Jaguars (vs. the Titans) and the other had the New England Patriots (vs. the Jets).

The Vikings and Jaguars were relatively stress-free victories, while the Falcons held on for a 19-17 win over the short-handed Saints. That meant there were already four of the remaining six entries through in the early window (with the Patriots, who would later beat the Dolphins, remaining in the late window).

Much like last year, Tarsiewicz watched from the comfort of his home, but this time hedged the full amount he wanted on the Browns ML before the game. He was tempted to add more on the other side (Bengals ML) during the game, seeing how much Cincinnati was dominating everywhere except on the scoreboard, but decided against it since he had some much riding on a Bengals win already.

He watched the game on Red Zone, but didn’t even catch the whole game, as he admitted that “once I decided I wasn’t going to hedge anymore, I was like, ‘I don’t really care about watching this game anymore.’ I used to sweat games pretty hard from my DFS days, but those days are behind me.”

He was also interrupted in the middle of the game by one of his daughters crying and so he spent some time with her. After he saw the final field goal go through the uprights, he told Yahoo Sports that his emotions were mixed.

“The result is the result,” Tarsiewicz told Yahoo Sports stoically. “I’m pretty disappointed that I don’t get the big check and get the ceremony and all that, but we hedged enough that financially it’s fine. To do it twice with my entry is hilarious to me, to go 19-1 back-to-back years, so you have feel a certain type of way. But once the decision has been made [on the pick], I’m OK with the result.”

Don’t feel too bad for Tarsiewicz, as he still came away with a nice payday and admits the pain of losing in the Circa Survivor content was mitigated by winning $1 million in the season-long Fantasy Football Players Championship.

He spent the rest of Sunday night with his family, and when Yahoo Sports spoke with him on Tuesday, he seemed to be at peace with the situation. He plans on entering the Circa Survivor contest again next year — and hopefully getting that coveted blazer, along with a little more cash for going 20-0.

“We can’t be too upset with the result. Just no checks [this year].”

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