Is the Microsoft Cortana Better At Picking Football Winners Than You Are?

11-14-2016 –Picking games straight up and not against the spread so far this season Cortana is currently at an overall winning percentage of 56%. Thats more than 4 percentage points less than Legend Jon Price and not betting against the spread. Cortanas 74-57 record won 9 out of 13 last weekend where as documented picks from Sports Information Traders went 4-0-1 with a tie in the Los Angeles Rams game. Also his picks in Forbes went 2-0 correctly predicting the Dallas Cowboys to cover the spread of 7 points against the Cleveland Browns and the Buffalo Bills to cover +7 against the Seattle Seahawks at home on Monday Night Football.

Here are Cortanas Week 10 Picks Straight Up:

• Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens (-10) — Ravens 67% chance to win.
• Houston Texans (-1.5) at Jacksonville Jaguars — Texans 58% chance to win.
• Kansas City Chiefs at Carolina Panthers (-3) — Panthers 60% chance to win.
• Denver Broncos at New Orleans Saints (-2) — Saints 61% chance to win.
• Los Angeles Rams at New York Jets (-2) — Jets 53% chance to win.
• Atlanta Falcons (PK) at Philadelphia Eagles — Eagles 63% chance to win.
• Minnesota Vikings at Washington Redskins (-3) — Redskins 53% chance to win.
• Green Bay Packers (-2.5) at Tennessee Titans — Packers 53% chance to win.
• Chicago Bears at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-1.5) — Buccaneers 53% chance to win.
• Miami Dolphins at San Diego Chargers (-4) — Chargers 57% chance to win.
• San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals (-13.5) — Cardinals 79% chance to win.
• Dallas Cowboys at Pittsburgh Steelers (-2.5) — Steelers 61% chance to win.
• Seattle Seahawks at New England Patriots (-7.5) — Patriots 64% chance to win.
• Cincinnati Bengals at New York Giants (-2) — Giants 53% chance to win.

About Microsoft Cortana – NFL Picks Straight Up

Microsoft Cortana is a computerized based algorithm created by the Microsoft Corporation of America based out of Seattle, Washington. The idea is that the Microsoft Windows phone virtual assistant uses the search engine Bings algorithm to predict winners in Football. These games are only moneyline predictions and does not predict football games against the spread.

During the regular football season in 2014-2015 Cortana won 2/3rds of it’s predictions. While 66% is an amazing record against the spread when it comes to predicting games straight up it pales in comparison to the records of Jon Price and the Sports Information Trader Analysts. Nate Silver who has the ELO model was also in the 60 percent range. The Cortana algorithm has successfully lost at least one game in each of the playoff rounds with a 75% moneyline record.

For the regular season Football their picks had the following record:

Week 1 — 10-6
Week 2 — 9-7
Week 3 – 10-6
Week 4 — 5-8
Week 5 — 13-2
Week 6 — 11-4
Week 7 — 11-4
Week 8 — 10-5
Week 9 — 9-4
Week 10 — 9-4
Week 11 — 8-6
Week 12 — 11-4
Week 13 — 10-6
Week 14 — 10-6
Week 15 — 13-3
Week 16 — 9-7
Week 17 — 12-4
Round One — 3-1
Total — 173 Wins 87 Losses
If you could make money from just betting straight up each week then we would say with a high level of confidence (statistical talk here) that Cortana would be a good tool to utilize in your weekly betting. However we know that you would not be maximizing your investment as you could with Sports Information Traders predictions against the spread which results in a larger payout.