Help me Hedge, March Madness Pool Huge payout!

I'm trying to talk my partner into hedging our bets on a large possible payout in our march madness pool. There was 669 players each putting in $25. Any ideas would be helpful he is not wanting to hedge anything.
1st place pays out 65% or $10,871
2nd place pays out 20% or $3,345
3rd place pays out 10% or 1,672
I can not place 4th place but it would pay out the remaining 5%

here are our possibilities: We are Obvious 4<table style="border-spacing: 0pt;" border="1"><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" align="center">[SIZE=-1]if[/SIZE] MICHIGAN ST[SIZE=-1] beats [/SIZE] W VIRGINIA
[SIZE=-1] in the final, then the possible winners are...[/SIZE]</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">Entry</td><td align="right">Score</td><td align="center">Result</td></tr><tr><td>mtopor</td><td align="right">128</td><td align="center">place 1 winner</td></tr><tr><td>chicken dinner</td><td align="right">117</td><td align="center">place 2 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Obvious 4</td><td align="right">107</td><td align="center">place 3 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Brian Gilligan</td><td align="right">105</td><td align="center">place 4 winner</td></tr></tbody></table> <table style="border-spacing: 0pt;" border="1"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="3" align="center">[SIZE=-1]if[/SIZE] W VIRGINIA[SIZE=-1] beats [/SIZE]MICHIGAN ST
[SIZE=-1] in the final, then the possible winners are...[/SIZE]</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">Entry</td><td align="right">Score</td><td align="center">Result</td></tr><tr><td>Obvious 4</td><td align="right">139</td><td align="center">place 1 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Bring It On</td><td align="right">127</td><td align="center">place 2 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Stinkball</td><td align="right">124</td><td align="center">tiebreak:161</td></tr><tr><td>jackie wolborsky</td><td align="right">124</td><td align="center">tiebreak:124</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table style="border-spacing: 0pt;" border="1"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="3" align="center">[SIZE=-1]if[/SIZE] MICHIGAN ST[SIZE=-1] beats [/SIZE] DUKE
[SIZE=-1] in the final, then the possible winners are...[/SIZE]</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">Entry</td><td align="right">Score</td><td align="center">Result</td></tr><tr><td>mtopor</td><td align="right">128</td><td align="center">place 1 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Brian Gilligan</td><td align="right">105</td><td align="center">place 2 winner</td></tr><tr><td>chicken dinner</td><td align="right">101</td><td align="center">place 3 winner</td></tr><tr><td>aceblade 2</td><td align="right">99</td><td align="center">place 4 winner</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table style="border-spacing: 0pt;" border="1"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="3" align="center">[SIZE=-1]if[/SIZE] DUKE[SIZE=-1] beats [/SIZE]MICHIGAN ST
[SIZE=-1] in the final, then the possible winners are...[/SIZE]</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">Entry</td><td align="right">Score</td><td align="center">Result</td></tr><tr><td>Bookey67</td><td align="right">127</td><td align="center">tiebreak:155</td></tr><tr><td>wildcats1</td><td align="right">127</td><td align="center">tiebreak:146</td></tr><tr><td>mazanec1</td><td align="right">123</td><td align="center">place 3 winner</td></tr><tr><td>i ding</td><td align="right">122</td><td align="center">place 4 winner</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table style="border-spacing: 0pt;" border="1"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="3" align="center">[SIZE=-1]if[/SIZE] BUTLER[SIZE=-1] beats [/SIZE] W VIRGINIA
[SIZE=-1] in the final, then the possible winners are...[/SIZE]</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">Entry</td><td align="right">Score</td><td align="center">Result</td></tr><tr><td>Obvious 4</td><td align="right">123</td><td align="center">place 1 winner</td></tr><tr><td>69Nicole</td><td align="right">113</td><td align="center">place 2 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Big Brown</td><td align="right">98</td><td align="center">place 3 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Sloan Goforth</td><td align="right">97</td><td align="center">tiebreak:160</td></tr><tr><td>rsb1</td><td align="right">97</td><td align="center">tiebreak:158</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table style="border-spacing: 0pt;" border="1"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="3" align="center">[SIZE=-1]if[/SIZE] W VIRGINIA[SIZE=-1] beats [/SIZE] BUTLER
[SIZE=-1] in the final, then the possible winners are...[/SIZE]</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">Entry</td><td align="right">Score</td><td align="center">Result</td></tr><tr><td>Obvious 4</td><td align="right">155</td><td align="center">place 1 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Bring It On</td><td align="right">127</td><td align="center">place 2 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Stinkball</td><td align="right">124</td><td align="center">place 3 winner</td></tr><tr><td>DMAC3</td><td align="right">120</td><td align="center">place 4 winner</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table style="border-spacing: 0pt;" border="1"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="3" align="center">[SIZE=-1]if[/SIZE] BUTLER[SIZE=-1] beats [/SIZE] DUKE
[SIZE=-1] in the final, then the possible winners are...[/SIZE]</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">Entry</td><td align="right">Score</td><td align="center">Result</td></tr><tr><td>69Nicole</td><td align="right">113</td><td align="center">place 1 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Obvious 4</td><td align="right">107</td><td align="center">place 2 winner</td></tr><tr><td>aceblade 2</td><td align="right">99</td><td align="center">place 3 winner</td></tr><tr><td>Bookey67</td><td align="right">95</td><td align="center">tiebreak:155</td></tr><tr><td>wildcats1</td><td align="right">95</td><td align="center">tiebreak:146</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table style="border-spacing: 0pt;" border="1"><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" align="center">[SIZE=-1]if[/SIZE] DUKE[SIZE=-1] beats [/SIZE] BUTLER
[SIZE=-1] in the final, then the possible winners are...[/SIZE]</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">Entry</td><td align="right">Score</td><td align="center">Result</td></tr><tr><td>Bookey67</td><td align="right">127</td><td align="center">tiebreak:155</td></tr><tr><td>wildcats1</td><td align="right">127</td><td align="center">tiebreak:146</td></tr><tr><td>mazanec1</td><td align="right">123</td><td align="center">place 3 winner</td></tr><tr><td>i ding</td><td align="right">122</td><td align="center">place 4 winner</td></tr></tbody></table>
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2,000 on Mich State ML in game 1.

If they win you are up 2,000.

Then Take 3K on Duke. If they win you are up 4.5K but out of your contest.

If Duke loses you are down 1K but you have an opportunity to win 1st or 3rd and can take a good amount of money on Mich State at +150 or so against WVirg.

If Mich State loses in game 1 you will be down 2K going in to game 2. Bet 4K on Duke ML

If Duke loses you will be down 6K but be guaranteed first place in your tournament for 10K and bragging rights.

If Duke wins you will be up 1K and can take Duke ML for 1K or so.

You could also factor in a Duke Mich State parlay which should pay 2.5 to 1 and would cover up the one thing that you don't want to have in the final matchup.

You are guaranteed 1K profit minimum in all these scenarios

Any hedge is a tradeoff between giving up your current edge in exchange for a certain payout. Duke on the moneyline is easily the best balance between the two

you're covered on 5 out of 8 scenarios, and only a $25 risk. i'd let it ride.

thanks for the help guys, looks like we are going to let it ride. hoping Duke loses to wvu
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