Entries vs. Bullets: Should You Ride or Reload?
08-28-2025
When you step into Circa Million or Survivor, you’ve got one big decision before you even make your first pick: do you run with one entry… or fire off multiple bullets?
The risk: One bad week… and poof, your season is toast. No safety net, no Plan B.
The risk: It’s pricier. Plus, too many entries can get messy, overanalyzing is real when you’re juggling five different pick sheets.
Neither is “wrong.” Both have produced winners in Circa history. Let's look at some real winners in the past to compare:
That’s the good news. The bad news? If your entries all look the same, your odds don’t really move. You just paid three times as much to run the same lineup.
Extra entries don’t guarantee success, they just buy you more chances. And if having too many bullets makes you overthink and second-guess, your odds actually get worse. So logistically: one entry keeps it simple, two or three give you the best bang for your buck, and anything beyond that only works if you can run them like a true portfolio.
It sounds simple, but it’s actually one of the most important strategy calls you’ll make. Both paths have their perks, and their traps. Let’s break it down.
The Case for One Entry (The Ride-or-Die Approach)
- Cheaper buy-in, cleaner sweat. One entry keeps your bankroll lighter and your Sundays less chaotic.
- Focused mindset. You’re locked in. No hedging, no second-guessing, no split strategies. It’s you versus the world with one ride-or-die lineup.
- Every game matters. That 4:25 pm kick? Your entire season might hinge on it. The sweat is pure, the drama unmatched.
The Case for Multiple Bullets (The Hedge-and-Spread Approach)
- More outs. Multiple entries let you hedge tough spots or diversify strategies (chalky entry vs contrarian entry, for example).
- Game theory playground. You can fade yourself, take different sides of coin-flip games, and play the long game.
- Keeps you alive longer. A bad beat on one entry doesn’t necessarily kill your entire season.
So… Which Is Better?
It depends on what kind of player you are:
- The sharp shooter: One entry, laser-focused, no distractions.
- The arsenal guy: A few bullets in the chamber, giving yourself multiple ways to survive and thrive.
In the Circa Million V (2023) contest, Saint31 took just one bullet into the fight. They went 62–27–1 with that single entry and walked away with the $1M top prize (and the blue jacket flex). Same story a year earlier, in 2022, team CHIEF fired only one entry, finished 59–26–5, and still cashed the big check. Proof that a lone bullet can go the distance.
Meanwhile, in Circa Survivor, we’ve seen the opposite. In 2023, four different players, Circus Master, IndianaJet, Jax Jags, and LAJoneser, each fired their own entries and all made it through 20 legs, splitting the pot. And in 2022, BROWNA and JED both went the distance with their respective entries and chopped the prize. Multiple bullets, multiple survivors, multiple winners.
WCP Take
Here’s the truth: more bullets increase your odds, but only if you use them wisely.
- With one entry, your shot at cashing is whatever it is, let’s call it 5%.
- With two entries that are different, your chance basically doubles to around 10%.
- With three, you’re looking closer to 15%.
How it breaks down by budget:
- One entry (tight bankroll): Ride-or-die. Pure focus, lower cost.
- Two or three entries (comfortable spend): Best sweet spot. Enough to hedge or diversify without drowning in decisions.
- Four+ entries (big bankroll): Only worth it if you’re disciplined enough to keep each entry truly different. Otherwise you’re just lighting buy-ins on fire.
Good luck out there, whether you ride one or spray a few, just make ‘em count.