Welcome back to The Daily Grind, the place where I will be discussing all the happenings in Daily Fantasy Sports on a weekly basis. The Daily Grind will be my voice to help you through the constantly changing DFS landscape as I highlight important news, free articles, resources, potential overlay situations, great contests to play and more every week. The emphasis here will be first to cover the four sites that we partnered with this year (FanDuel, DraftKings, FantasyAces and FantasyScore), but I will still discuss major news and contests beyond those sites when applicable.
A change to the DFS Ecosystem
So in the past few weeks we have been talking about the DFS landscape and how certain decisions by sites such as FanDuel and DraftKings are impacting the players and games as a whole, which is often referred to now as the DFS Ecosystem. Legal and legislative issues aside, it is extremely important for these sites that host DFS games to recognize the ecosystem and the influence that they have and the impact their decisions can make to the online fantasy game environment. That is why many of the Footballguys’ staff, including myself, was pleased to see that FanDuel made a change on Monday to the way that players could play on their site. An email was sent out to FanDuel players that read the following:
Hello,
We wanted to make you aware of a new feature we have implemented here at FanDuel. Beginning with contests starting on Monday, November 2nd, we have instituted the following contest limits:
-500 entries per contest start time at any stakes fee at or below $10 for our NFL contests.
-250 entries per contest start time at any stakes fee at or below $10 for each other sport (NBA, CFB, NHL, MLB, CBB).
Our maximum limit of 5000 entries per contest game start remains. To clarify, for NFL you may create a maximum of 5000 entries, but only 500 may be at the $10 stake level or below. These limits apply across all contest types. For example if you have 400 paid entries in $5 tournaments for one contest start time, you can only enter 100 other contests (H2H, multipliers, 50/50 or other tournaments) that have entry fees equal to or lower than $10 for that same contest start time.
Thank you,
The FanDuel Team
So what is the net impact of this statement? Well, fewer sharks and pros are going to be in as many contests at or below the $10 entry level. Multi-entry contests are going to impact these higher volume players, leaving more spots to smaller DFS stakes players and also reducing the frequency in which a new player will have to face a professional DFS player. Generally speaking, that is a good thing. For DFS to grow, new people have to play. Those rookie DFS players should not have to face the best of the best when they enter their first few contests. As long as new players enter in at that $10 or less price point for their first games (or even stay there), the level of competition should not be as challenging as once before. That said, there is no guarantee at all that sharks will not be in those waters. After all, the FanDuel limit is just that – a limit only. Odds are that those high volume players will be playing at or close to the limit most weeks, so they will still be out there, but at least this is a step in the right direction.
New Contest Introduced at DraftKings
I happened to notice a new contest launched over at DraftKings this week. It’s good to see that they continue to try and provide new and different ways to play, and I think they have done just that in their new “Battle Royale” of fantasy football. This contest looks to be a weekly one with qualifiers that will have the Top 10 battle for prizes each week, and the top half of those Final 10 players will get to come back against five new players the following week. To better explain this, let me give you an example. This week (NFL Week 9) there will be qualifiers that will result in 10 players winning a ticket for next week’s Top 10 league. In NFL Week 10, that final will be conducted and five more qualifiers will run. The Top 5 of the final will stick around for the final in Week 11, and the qualifiers from Week 10 will move into the final. Think of it as a “league / King of the Hill” combination where you can qualify, win, and get another shot the following week. All ten players that reach the final win at least $1,000, while the $10,000 top prize for the finals each week also includes that chance to win the following week. As an added bonus, whoever reaches the most finals gets an extra $10,000. Not bad for a contest with qualifiers running at both the $3 and $5 entry points.
Quick Lesson of the Week – Paying Up
One of the terms you might hear when you follow DFS pundits is the term “Paying Up” for a player. What does that mean exactly? I will define it in a moment, but I also want to grab the attention of those of you who think you know the answer. Stick around as you may not have thought about it in the same way I am about to explain. Paying up means to pay a premium price for a player for your lineup that should be elite in the next game, and perform well enough above an average player performance to be worth that premium. Here’s the interesting part – how do you determine the line at which you are really paying a premium, and what is that average price point? That’s the key part to know, and it is different on each site. I’ll take the two big ones for NFL as examples, FanDuel and DraftKings.
FanDuel’s NFL roster has nine spots and a $60,000 budget, but we know that two of those spots are reserved for one defense and one kicker. Both of those spots are going to go to players in the $4,500-5,500 range most weeks, so I usually like to start there when I build my lineup and just put in one of the Top 3 most expensive options for that slate. As a guideline, budget $10,000 for those two spots. That leaves $50,000 for seven “skill position” players (sorry IDP guys and kicker fans), so diving tells us that the average player price should be just over $7,000. That means any player that costs $7,200 or more – and certainly those over $8,000 – represent those premium players for which you would have to pay up to roster that week.
Figuring out the premium player point over at DraftKings is not drastically different, but their budget ($50,000) and roster composition (no kicker) certainly is. Taking an above-average defense is right around $3,000, which leaves about $47,000 for the other eight players in the lineup. That averages out to a little less than $6,000 per player, so any player above the $6,000 line would start to fall in the premium category, while any player that costs $7,000 or higher is certainly in that “paying up” category.
It is important to understand where that premium player line is, as for every dollar you spend above the average has to be saved somewhere else. You only have so much budget for each roster, which is why we talk often about cheap “punt plays” that can give you value at a discount. Putting together a roster full of premium and punt play (or a lineup that has a few of each) is often considered a “stars and scrubs” or “studs and duds” roster. Using that type of lineup can be very effective, but so can one that is more balanced. It all depends on where you think the value is for that contest. That’s the beauty of picking your own DFS team – you get to decide how to spend your budget.
FOOTBALLGUYS AND DFS COVERAGE FOR 2015
You know the deal by now - Footballguys has a ton of DFS coverage this year. Whether it is our two e-books that cover FanDuel (“Cracking FanDuel”) and DraftKings (“Cracking DraftKings”), or the 50+ articles a week we produce to cover all four major sites each week – we have it all covered. All this articles are linked in our Daily Crusher App that continues to be one of he best ways that DFS players can create lineups for cash games and tournaments and also get deep analysis on their rosters, likelihood of winning and exposure to various players. Once you start using this, it will be hard to imagine how you ever lived without it. I'm still learning all the different ways to use this great tool both by experimenting with it and with the help of our Daily Crusher Manual and I can already see its immense value to me as both a cash game and GPP player.
There's a ton more coverage we have this season for DFS, too much to outline in The Daily Grind, but we have a large section dedicated to each of our sponsor sites listed below.
DraftKings Coverage for Week 9
FantasyAces Coverage for Week 9
FantasyScore Coverage for Week 9
Let's also not forget about the Footballguys' blogs for both FanDuel and DraftKings. Watch for new content every day over there.
We even added new video content for 2015. In a partnership with Rotogrinders, you can now see both John Lee and Austin Lee with Dan Back on The Footballguys Rotogrinders Hour. It is a great show with lots of insight. Check it out!
Of course, if you are a bigger fan of The Audible, we have both FanDuel and DraftKings shows for DFS coverage for each site as well. Be sure to subscribe to these weekly podcasts to get your weekends rolling for the NFL DFS slate.
FOOTBALLGUYS DFS CONTEST
Footballguys wants all of their readers to get in on the fun. With the help of both FanDuel, we have a great contest available to Footballguys here in Week 5. The Footballguys Football Championship, presented by FanDuel, offers contestants with a shot at not just a double-up opportunity on their $10 entry, but also a chance at one of the final prizes. All you have to do is beat Sigmund Bloom, David Dodds and Joe Bryant’s scores in a given week and you get a ticket for the Week 11 final contest, where first place will win $5,000. That’s a pretty sweet deal on top of a normal double-up contest, as these extra prizes create a built-in overlay of about $40,000. This one should fill up quickly.
BIG CONTESTS FOR WEEK 9
FANDUEL
Last week I pointed out the great FanDuel NFL Survivor contest, and I hope that you are still alive and moving on to the third round. If you did, you need to check your ticket list to see if your entries are available for Sunday. If you don’t know, just click your name on the FanDuel site, then click “My Account”, and then “My Tickets” to see your tickets, and then be sure to update your rosters for Sunday. FanDuel also added the “win a car” freerolls to accounts that qualified (you had to play 2-4 weeks of cash contests, so hopefully you made it). Once again these freerolls should appear on your account, so again, update any dummy rosters.
Aside from that, FanDuel “only” has the same contests as last week on the DFS street continues to offer some of the largest volume of contests around. Start off with the Week 9 $3 Million Contest where someone will win a half-million bucks for just a $25 entry all the way down to the NFL Sunday Rush, wherr a $5 entry to this contest can win you $100,000 for first place. What a value that one is. But of course there is more, and as we mentioned earlier in The Daily Grind, FanDuel partnered with Footballguys to create an exclusive Footballguys-FanDuel Championship with over $40,000 in free prizes where you can turn a double-up entry into a ticket for a Week 11 final where if you can beat Joe Bryant, David Dodds and Sigmund Bloom in the week you can add up to $5,000 to that $20 you won in the $10 double-up. That's pretty sweet right there. And of course you have to take note of the Playboy College Football Championship, where you can earn one of 70 exclusive entries to the PCFC event at the Playboy Mansion on November 21st. Qualifiers will be running all season long at FanDuel, so take some shots at these great tournaments with extra incentives and prizes. Let's also not forget about the biggest one of them all, the $12M Fantasy Football World Championship that was announced early this season. Find a qualifier you like and take a shot and winning millions of dollars. The hard part is not deciding if to play, but which contests to target and try and take down.
DRAFTKINGS
DraftKings is once again offering their usual slate of great GPP contests. Such is the case in Week 9 with the $6M Millionaire Maker this week. First place walks away with $1M dollars, not a bad payday at all. DraftKings still has the biggest contest around with their $15 Million contest announcement from a few weeks back, and qualifiers are still in play for as low as $3 an entry. Hmmm, $3 for a shot at $5 Million. I’m in, and I think everyone should take a shot at this big prize.
As far as the rest of the contests for this week, there are plenty of tournaments at DraftKings to sink your teeth into, even after the Millionaire Maker. At a price point of just $3, the $1.25M Play-Action tournament is certainly appealing, and this week they kept the $9 tournament at big money levels as the NFL Slant contest offers $450K in prizes and you can win as much as $30,000. There' are also several giant 50/50 contests in the lobby as well, including a $25 entry with 18,000 winners about to get $50 Tuesday morning. Lots of contests and lots of money to be had in Week 5, so get those lineups ready.
FANTASYACES
You have to check out what FantasyAces is offering this season. Not only are they going bigger and better for the NFL, but they are also going for a Live Final for College Football!
First, FantasyAces announced the $500,000 NFL Live Final for 2015, which will be in Newport Beach, CA on December 13th. The live final will have 40 entrants competing for a $100,000 grand prize. Qualifiers will run all season long up until the live event, including satellites to get into qualifiers at a discount.
The other major event for FantasyAces is their other live final, the $100,000 College Football Live Final. The live event will take place in Newport Beach, CA on November 21st where 13 finalist will compete for the $100,000 prize pool. The only way to claim a seat to the live final is to win a FACFC qualifier contest, which will be held weekly beginning September 3.
FantasyAces also has an interesting format called SalaryPro, where you get bonus points for staying furhter and further under the salary cap. More and more are trying out this unique format, so be sure to check out the lobby over at FantasyAces for contests that use this rule.
FANTASYSCORE
FantasyScore is offering up a GPP with a twist this year. If you can finish in the Top 3 in their Fantasy Football Championship Satellite, you can grab an elusive golden ticket for an entry towards the Week 16 championship game where $25,000 will be awarded. Another way to get a ticket is to go after the $20 entry satellite that is giving away four tickets. Check out all of these contests and more at our FantasyScore page.
Footballguys has you covered here - both in major DFS announcements and the tools you need to build winning lineups.
Thanks as always for reading The Daily Grind, and good luck this week.