Best Bets: today's top pick, and the list it came from.

Best Bets reads the whole picks board and puts one play at the top, then shows the ranked list it came from and how each club has been playing. It comes with the picks board; it is not sold on its own.

See plans — $24.99/mo Already a member? Sign in

The biggest payout that clears our stat bar

The bet that pays most on any board is almost always the one least likely to happen — that is exactly why it pays so much. And the surest thing pays almost nothing, for the same reason in reverse. Neither one is a good bet.

So it works in three steps: read the trends we already track — the player’s own form and how the game sets up — keep the picks most likely to land, then compare those on what they pay back and take the biggest return. The best return among the likeliest picks, not the biggest number on the page.

What you see on the page

The best bet — one pick at the top, with the sample it came from.

The full list — every pick on today's board, ranked the same way.

Club form — how each team has been playing, beside the game the pick sits in.

Every pick in that list has already cleared the same gates as everything else on the board.

What it is not

It is not a lock, and it never says it is. Some days the best bet loses, and the miss stays on the record beside the wins. On a day the board sends nothing, there is no best bet either.