Streak for the Cash: A Day for the Ages

ESPN.com has a game on it called "Streak for the Cash." I've been playing it for about three months or so now, and its great. I don't like to gamble at all, I can find better ways to spend my money. But streak for the cash is pretty much like gambling without the money, and as lame as that actually sounds, I like it a lot and it can be pretty exciting. What it is, is a set of about 12-15 games per day where you choose between two options, and try to successfully pick a series of correct picks. It sounds relatively easy, however it can be pretty tricky. There are all sorts of games to choose from and it is not just pick the winner, there are times where there are options of what I like to call "gimmick picks" such as:

MLB, Red Sox at Mariners, Which side will record a higher total? Jon Lester Strikeouts, or Seattle Mariners hits off of Lester

-or-

NCAA Women's Softball, San Diego State at Arizona State, how many Total Runs will be scored? 9 Runs or fewer, or 10 Runs or more.

These are the games that really make streak for the cash interesting, because you're not picking the outcome of the game, you're picking on basically a game within the game. Now, what is really cool about streak for the cash, is that you can pick multiple games in one day, however you have to do it chronologically and you cannot pick the next game until the game you've picked is over, so thats where a lot of strategy comes in to play. It is possible, but very rare, to get four correct picks in on one day, and thats what happened to me yesterday.

I was riding a one game winning streak going into yesterday after successfully picking the aforementioned Softball game correctly (having picked "9 or fewer" and 5 runs plating during the game) so things were already good. All the games for Friday were done and it allows you to pick the next days games when that occurs, so looking at the first game on the list was:

8:53 AM - PGA Texas Open 3rd Rnd (San Antonio): Which player will card a LOWER FRONT 9 SCORE? (9 holes): Jonathan Kaye or Charlie Wi.

Now, I tend to stay away from things like golf, soccer, cricket (yes, there are times where there are cricket games on this) and sports that I don't know anything about or whatever when I have a decent streak going, but when I have only a streak of one I go for it because its not that big of a deal when its over, and seeing that the next pick was a UEFA soccer game starting at 10:00 am, which is something I know absolutely nothing about, I went for Jonathan Kaye, and he shot a 31 while Wi shot a 32. Streak is at 2.

(Molly Qerim tells you what she will be picking today)

The next game on the dockett that I went for was:

1:05 PM - Who will WIN this matchup? Astros (Oswalt) at Cubs (Wells).

Cubs have been playing well, Oswalt has not been playing well. I go with the Cubbies. They win 5-4. Streak is at 3, 2 correct picks on the day.

Then went back to the list and went after the matchup of the day:

6:15 PM - 134th Preakness Stakes: Where will Rachel Alexandra finish? First or second, or Third or worse.

Now I don't know anything about horse racing, which would mean that this would be something where I would stay away from however every analist in the world took Rachel Alexandra to win the race, so I went for it and picked 'First or second.' Also what made this pick appealing, was that the race takes approx 2 minutes to run, so picking this game meant that I could easily choose a game 10 minutes after the race when the site updated. Rachel Alexandra holds off Mine That Bird and wins the Preakness. Streak is at 4, 3 correct picks on the day.

Knowing I would be going out last night, and due to the times that the games that were left on the day to start, I knew I would only have one game left to pick on the evening, and being on such a hotstreak on the day I had to pick another game. My options were three straight up MLB games, a MLS game, and a gimmock MLB game. I wanted to stay away from the gimmock game (which was which team will win by more runs: Cincy who was playing at San Diego, or the Red Sox who were playing at Seattle) and i definitely wanted to stay way from the MLS game, and what ended up catching my eye was:

7:05 PM - Who will WIN this matchup? (Game TWO of doubleheader): Phillies (Carpenter) @ Nationals (Cabrera).

The Natinals are terrible this year. I didn't even check to see who won game 1 of the doubleheader (turns out it was the Phillies winning 8-5) and went with this no brainer and choose the Phillies. They win 7-5, Streak at 5, 4 correct picks on the day.

It was a day like that which made me wonder if I should actually start to gamble because I had such a good go at it, but then just like that, it was all gone. Before I went to bed last night I checked out the docket for today's games and picked the 8:30 AM game of:

PGA Texas Open (San Antonio): Who will have the LOWER TOTAL SCORE THROUGH THREE COMPLETED ROUNDS? Paul Goydos, or Justin Leonard.

I went with Leonard, and Goydos beat him by one stroke. I probably should have stayed away from it, due to the fact that a streak of 5 is my personal best, but the itch for getting a big streak was there and I went for it. It put me back on Earth and made me remeber why I don't actually gamble. Streak for the Cash keeps track of your overall record, and I'm 28-27-0 as of this pick. Yup, I wouldn't be raking in the cash. Only cash I'll be raking in is if I go on a mircale streak with this, and that likely won't happen.

Oh well, its fun either way. Lets just hope that Torquay United beats Cambridge United and I'll be right back in it...

(also, what's nice is if you want you can watch as Molly Qirem makes her daily video of what she is picking, and I will boldly say that she is one of the most underrated sportscasters out there, sure she isnt Erin Andrews hot, but Qerim is as velouptious as they come.)

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