A veteran sports bettor knows to never count his winnings too soon. Still, early in third quarter of the college football title game mismatch Monday night, Chris Fallica said, "OK, now I can exhale."
Fallica needed Georgia -12 — his designated Best Bet in Week 18 — to cash for him to clinch the inaugural Circa Friday Football Invitational championship. "The Bear" exhaled after the Bulldogs took a 45-7 lead en route to a 65-7 embarrassment of TCU.
Georgia’s win capped a 1-4 week for Fallica, but that’s all he needed to hold off Las Vegas professional bettor Chuck Edel, who went 3-2 in the final week. Fallica and Edel each finished 52-38 ATS for the season, and the Fox Sports analyst won by virtue of the tiebreaker — his Best Bet record of 13-5 easily topped Edel’s 6-12.
The $25,000 event presented by VSiN was funded by Circa owner Derek Stevens. "The Bear" scooped the $15,000 grand prize, a Stevens-designed green jacket and trophy, plus the Brooklyn’s Best MVP Award (free dinner from the contest’s pizza sponsor) for posting the top Best Bet mark in the 16-handicapper field.
Edel earned $7,000 for second place and Colorado pro bettor James Salinas, who went 5-0 in the final week to finish 50-36-3, gets $3,000 as the third-place finisher.
Texas-based handicapper Paul Stone took fourth and ESPN sports betting analyst Doug Kezirian rounded out the top five.
Final contest results and standings:
1. CHRIS “THE BEAR” FALLICA
2. CHUCK EDEL
3. JAMES SALINAS
4. PAUL STONE
5. DOUG KEZIRIAN
6. JOEY “TUNES” FORTUNA
7. RANDY MCKAY
8. JEFF WHITELAW
MARC LAWRENCE (eighth eliminated)
DAN SALEY (seventh eliminated)
BRIAN EDWARDS (sixth eliminated)
BOBBY “BUCKETS” BRUBECK (fifth eliminated)
CRIS ZENIUK (fourth eliminated)
ERIN RYNNING (third eliminated)
STEVE FEZZIK (second eliminated)
MIKE NORTH (first eliminated)
MIKE PALM
MATT YOUMANS