The men’s NCAA College Basketball tournament has been played annually in March ever since 1939. Since that time sports betting fans have been able to wager on the format as much as they have on their individual office pools. For fans it is hard to imagine that the now 68 team tournament originally had only eight teams. In the 2011 tournament, the NCAA basketball will be changing the format from 65 to 68 teams, making it more challenging for betting online fans to choose a winner.

In years past, the March Madness tournament has always had a certain number of spots secured prior to the positioning lottery. The remaining number of seats is determined over two play in games between at large bid teams. However this season with the shift to 68 teams, there will be four play in games for the final spots in the tournament. This format is known as the ‘First Four’. Basically the final four spots not secured in the tournament will be determined with four at large bid school teams and the final team’s ranked number 65 to 68.

The winners of the ‘First Four’ games will then be seeded in each bracket for the tournament that has an open slot. What you should know as a bettor, is that the majority of at large bid schools are those that play in the mid major conferences such as the Mountain West. Mid major schools are those that are deemed more dominant than low end division one schools but not as elite as the AP ranked schools.

Also, the ‘First Four’ games will be played on the Monday and Tuesday of the opening week, with the winners playing in the first round of the tournament on Thursday and Friday. As a school trying to qualify for the final spots of the tournament, this format may prove costly to an extended run in the tournament. By the time the sweet 16 rolls around on the following Monday and Tuesday, the winner’s of the ‘First Four’ play in games will have already had to have played at least three games.