Simulation players may wager up to 200 credits, on either the side or total of any game.
Allowable bet sizes are 50 - 100 - 150 - 200. There is no bankroll that must be kept and no limit to the number of wagers that may be entered. Once a bet is placed, it cannot be deleted by the player.

In contrast, wagers in the monitored areas are equally weighted at ONE unit and use fixed 100 credit bets. Consequently, players who consistently wager the maximum of 200 credits in the Simulation, will likely have twice the credits won or lost as any monitored player with a similar record.

In the Simulation, lines are updated throughout the day to emulate the actual line moves taking place at Las Vegas and Offshore Sportsbooks. These updates closely reflect real time changes in the line.

When first registering in the Simulation, players have the option of allowing other players to see their selections ahead of game time or having them hidden, only to be shown after the games have started. By electing to "show picks", others will be able to view your plays immediately after you enter them. If you select "hide picks", no one will be able so see your plays until 5 minutes after the scheduled start time of each game you select. Players may change this setting via their My Profile page.

For all contests, wins and losses on all money line bets are calculated as follows:

Risking the odds to win the amount wagered on favorites, while risking the amount wagered to win the odds on an underdog.

In the following example:

Baltimore +180
NY Yankees -200
9.5o -130

The outcome on a 200 credit bet in the simulation yields the following results:
A WIN on the NY Yankees wins 200 credits, while risking 400 (-2.00 x 200).
A LOSS on the NY Yankees loses 400 credits (-2.00 x 200), attempting to win 200.
A WIN on Baltimore wins 360 credits (+1.80 x 200), while risking 200.
A LOSS on Baltimore loses 200 credits, attempting to win 360 (+1.80 x 200).

A WIN on UNDER returns 220 credits (+1.10 x 200).
A LOSS on OVER loses 260 credits (-1.30 x 200).

All Football and Basketball propositions (both side and total) are 11/10, risking 110 to win 100.
Baseball sides are calculated on a 10 cent line up to -150, a 15 cent line up to -200, and a 20 cent line thereafter. Baseball and Hockey totals are calculated on a 20 cent line.

No players or listings are allowed in the Simulation that solicit or offer pay sports services, unless they are also documented at BigGuy as a Pay Service in Contest # 3. Players in the Simulation enjoy a considerable degree of anonymity, and it is not our intention for contest # 1 to be used as an opportunity for unknowns to solicit clients at BigGuy.

Although the leaderboard format does allow handicappers to easily be compared with each other, it is our position that the common standard to which results should be compared is that of profitability. We understand the competitive nature that exists in this industry and realize that services will tend to rank themselves against their competition. At the same time, prospective customers demand to see who wins consistently or might win the most for them. Since comparisons along these lines can be determined from an analysis of results anyway, we do not feel that listing results in a ranked fashion constitutes involvement on the monitor's part to promote such comparisons. Leaderboards simply provide the most logical format in which to present this information for those who intend to use it.

All wagers in monitored areas are fixed at 100 credits. Each play is equally weighted as ONE unit.
The dollars won/lost figures are the result of equally weighting plays as ONE unit. A service's Win Rate is the number of net games won per 100 plays, equally weighted at ONE unit/$100 per play.

All selections in this section are Free and displayed before game times.

A single uniform grading line is used to grade all handicappers in both monitored areas, Free Picks and Pay Services. Services are encouraged to read a detailed discussion of how this line is determined - Line Policy.

Sports monitored in Free Picks and Pay Services include MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, CFB, and CBB.

All wagers in monitored areas are fixed at 100 credits. Each play is equally weighted as ONE unit.
The dollars won/lost figures are the result of equally weighting plays as ONE unit. A service's Win Rate is the number of net games won per 100 plays, equally weighted at ONE unit/$100 per play.

To demonstrate a money management program, Pay Services are allowed to "rate" their selections. This provides each service with the opportunity to demonstrate the money management aspects of their service through the weighting of their selections. A complete breakdown of rated results appear on their individual ratings page.

An example of how BigGuy displays results for pay services can be viewed here. The rating assigned appears with each play.

Each service is allowed to use their own rating system. Consequently, a uniform rating system does not exist. Thus, multiplying out ratings becomes individualistic and ineffective for comparison purposes. An example here would be a service who uses 3, 4, 5 for ratings and another who uses 30, 40, 50. If both services had identical records, one would have a profit or loss 10 times the other, simply because the ratings that were used were 10 times as much. Some form of mapping each individual rating system into a uniform rating system would be required to compare rated outcomes between services and may be visited at a later time. Our contention is that this step may not be necessary. Users are given sufficient information to determine each service's ability to perform on their higher rated plays, regardless of the numeric rating actually assigned to them.

Pay selections cannot be seen before game times, but do become viewable to the public 5 minutes after the scheduled start time of any event on which the service has a play. Displaying plays shortly after post time and well before completion, helps to minimize any speculation surrounding the monitoring process, while furthering the integrity of the documented results found at BigGuy.

A single uniform grading line is used to grade all handicappers in both monitored areas, Free Picks and Pay Services. Services are encouraged to read a detailed discussion of how this line is determined - Line Policy.

Monitored pay services are allowed to submit any reasonable conditions and line limits on their plays. These include limits/paramaters on pointspreads to qualify/disqualify a play and listing pitchers in MLB. These limits must also be passed on to a service's clients as well.

For example, plays may be submitted as follows:

NFL
Denver (no higher than -7.0)
Over New Orleans (no higher than 36.5)
MLB
NY Yankees (listing Clemens) vs Atlanta (listing Maddux or Glavine)

BigGuy is collectively owned and operated by two previously independent internet monitoring services, The Arena (David Arico) and Sportpix (Donald Hepworth). This site has been used to monitor services and websites since the beginning of the MLB season on March 31, 1998 and the start of the NBA and NHL playoffs 1998 on April 19.

In contrast to the Simulation, the pay services you find listed at this site have been required to disclose some additional information so that a good faith effort can be made to ascertain the legitimacy and owner of each service. You may view the Pay Service application to get an idea of what information is requested of a pay service when they apply.

In monitoring, it is important to remain as objective as possible.
Aside from reporting their results, we do not endorse or promote any particular service. We do not vouch for the integrity, honesty, or legitimacy of any listed service. Reputations along these lines are earned over time through the results a service produces and the extent of customer service they provide.

If you are not familiar with a service, we can help you with answers concerning:
1) their documented record/results,
2) whether they are posting records/making claims consistent with our documentation, and
3) if we are aware of, or have received complaints regarding that service.

From a consumer protection standpoint, we do step in and volunteer opinions on matters where we feel a service is misrepresenting or reporting results that are not in line with their documented record.

BigGuy players are notified via email of any upcoming sponsored contests.