Picklive Tournaments – Strategy Guide

Last week Picklive launched their suite of Euro 2012 games which included the new Tournament mode. They’re running this across various intervals including groups, the group matches and the tournament as a whole. They’ve stumped up some decent prize pots, including £2500 in prizes in their big Tournament game.

With the Scout having launched a free to play tournament and a £5 entry prize tournament, we thought we’d throw a simple guide your way, helping you take your research gathered for other Fantasy games and use it to win some cash with Picklive.

Predict the Final Four

With no transfers and a limit of three players per country, in Picklive’s full tournament game you’re basically looking to predict the four semi-finalists and reflect this in your lineup. The final four nations will, after all, play at least one more match than any other team and therefore their players are more than likely to be amongst the top scoring players in the game. The aim has to be to have a full 11 players in the final four. You can spread the risk across more than four nations if you prefer but, unless you make some absolutely inspired selections, you’re likely to be kept out of the top places by squads with a full compliment of players in the semis.

You’ll need to do some homework here (perhaps Alan Hansen could help you out), to work out the most likely teams to qualify from the groups and who they will meet in the knockouts as the tournament progresses. If six of your players meet in the Quarter-Finals, for example, you’re already three men short for the semis. This could go badly wrong, of course, which is why, if you’re serious about competing for prizes, it’s worth considering a second entry. More on that in a bit.

Find the Certainties

While selecting the odd differential will more than likely prove to make the difference, at the same time, you need to pick players who look assured of their starts. Opting for the likes of Fernando Torres or Klass-Jan Huntelaar would be a gamble – yes, they’ll get some pitch time but, ideally, you need players guaranteed to start and unlikely to be hauled off after the hour mark just as the opposition tire.

Avoid the Card Magnets

In the midst of tournament play, the yellow card count can mount up. Picklive punishes bookings with a 3 point penalty, with red cards picking up minus 5. That’s a hefty fine and suggests that, when shopping for defenders, you need to perhaps prioritise level-headed full-backs who are less likely to get on the wrong side of the ref.

4-3-3 is King

While there are other formations available, the fact that hat-tricks are awarded with 10 extra points definitely suggests a chosen XI which favours attacking players. Three strikers looks the preferred option, then – after all, front men are certainly the most likely to get amongst the goals. Granted, midfielders earn one more point for scoring but the hat-trick rule looks to lean the advantage back in favour of the forwards.

Pick a Second Differentials Eleven

Picklive allows for at least two teams per tournament – in the big Tournament long game, with an enticing £2500 on show, they allow for five teams per user. If you’re playing safe with one entry, you might want to invest another entry in a second set of players. If you can successfully predict the surprise packages in terms of nations, you’ve a great chance of stumbling upon one or two players who will prove huge differentials. Should Poland reach the final, for example, having any three of Franciszek Smuda’s side in one of your teams would almost guarantee a big bump up the Picklive rankings.

Your Picklive Tournaments

As well as the big prize tournament game, Picklive enables you to set up your own leagues and tournaments. Indeed, they’ve also just launched a tournament for all office workers. If you email olly@picklive.com to get a league set up, then you and your colleagues can enter their teams. Whoever has the highest individual score will be representing your office in their office league and with it the chance to win £1000 of treats from Picklive to share.

You’ll need a Picklive account to play all these games and, if you enter the ‘ffscout’ Promo code when you make your first deposit, you’ll get a free £5 in your account.

Picklive accounts are only available to those aged 18 or over and, while the game is playable in some countries outside of the UK and Ireland, Picklive’s terms and conditions apply. That includes a fee of £20 for any prize withdrawals from a non-UK registered credit card.