This article is part of our DFS Baseball 101 series.
Each week I try to touch on an aspect of daily fantasy sports that I feel can help the new player. I put myself in their shoes and remember when I first started playing. It was 2009, I would log on to DraftStreet or FanDuel, and I had ZERO clue what I was doing. I didn't know what contests I should be playing, how much I should be playing or how to make a winning lineup.
It took a lot of studying on my own and picking the brains of fellow players to really figure things out. Fortunately, DFS has gained enough popularity to where we have loads of content and resources to learn from. But I still feel there is a significant gap in educating new players.
One of the biggest things I preach about is contest selection, as it can be the difference between being a winning player and a losing one. New players often gravitate to the contests with the largest prize pools because that is what is attractive to them. However, there is very little consideration being given to the odds of not only winning, but cashing. There is a lot more that goes into playing in a 50,000-person contest than just building a lineup. Your one lineup is going against several users who have anywhere from 25 to 150 entries; hardly a recipe for success.
So, what exactly can you do as a new player to help avoid the "contest selection" pitfall? I'm going to review FanDuel and DraftKings and give you some tips on which ones to play and not to play, along with the reasoning behind it. Also, check out DFS Baseball 101: DFS Starter Kit Part 2 where I cover some basic contest selection tips.
There are two things you want to keep in mind for contest selection: what is the payout percentage and what is the maximum number of entries one person can have?
Payout Percentage
As a new player, you need to focus on contests that pay at least 18-to-20 percent back to the field. This eliminates the 100-player contests on FanDuel that pay out the top 12, as well as all satellites and qualifiers. If you click on "PRIZES" in the contest description you can see how many places are paid out. In the $8K Wed MLB Single (Single Entry) 364 places are paid out of 1,882 (19%).
Maximum Entires
On FanDuel, it is difficult to get this information unless it's labeled a single entry contest or the number of entries is maxed. You have to click on the contest, enter and then go under the contest description to see "Multi-entry (x max)." For newer players, stick to single entry or "3/5/10 max entry" contests. There is no reason for you to run against the pros who are running algorithms, optimizers and putting in 150 lineups.
As you enter the contest lobby at FanDuel, you will see Tournaments, 3-100 Player, Head to Heads and 50/50 Multipliers across the screen in the middle from left to right. These are your contest types.
On the left-hand side, you have all of the game slates that are available. For the purposes of this article, I am advising to not play any slates with six games or less. You will have ZERO edge in cash games because the ownership will be so high and lineups will duplicate. In tournaments, the ownership will still be very high on the chalk players, which forces you to go against the popular vote and be contrarian, a strategy for more advanced players.
Another tip: do not play in satellites or qualifiers. Why? Well, you are paying double rake on a satellite because you ended up entering two contests if you win, and qualifiers are designed for the higher-volume players. They have high maximum entry limits and very low payouts outside of the first-place prize, which is an entry into an exclusive high stakes live final. Both are not advantageous for new players or players who are playing with a smaller bankroll.
Below the game slates is the Entry Fee Slider which goes from $0-$50,000. Get used to filtering on a small range like $1-$5 or $1-$10.
Next are the "Entry Types" – All, Single Entry, Satellites & Qualifiers. Focus on the single entry contests first, then use the entry fee slider to get the contests best suited for your bankroll and level of play.
You should now be under Tournaments/Main/$1 to $5/Single Entry - As I am writing this on Tuesday evening, the Wednesday contests are very thin for Single Entry between $1-$5. There is a 12,941-player contest, 11,764-player contest, and 1,882-player contest. Anything over 2,000 entries, even if it is single entry, should be avoided.
You want to build your way up to contests like this, but for now they are just not optimal. I'm advising to put $5 in the "Single" GPP, though I really wish they had some with 500-1,000 entries to help newer players.
While this seems like there are not many GPPs to play as a newer player, keep an eye on the contest lobby because FanDuel will add "Mini" versions of the larger tournaments. However, the entry limits are still pretty high on those, so keep checking to see what the max number of entries is before you enter. The best contest I found is the $500 MLB Mini Squeeze, $3 entry, five-max entries, 39/196 places paid. Every day look for this contest and others like it. Stick with these and play them regularly.
As a new player, you want to skip playing head-to-heads because the majority of the contests posted are from pros/sharks. It's also not advisable to post head-to-head contests because the pros will scoop them up immediately.
50/50s and Multipliers
This is where you are going to spend most of your time with contest selection. There is usually a good amount of inventory and they are the safest. The one thing you want to avoid is the big double ups or anything that allows multiple entries, as this is where the lineup builders, optimizers and sharks load up.
Look for the single-entry double ups with 451 and 227 entries; those are the contests you want to enter every day. FanDuel will populate new ones after the original ones fill, so you should be able to play in a good number of them on a daily basis. Next, you can look at the 50/50 100-player contests. Do not play in anything less than 100. These will also repopulate throughout the day as they are filled.
Next week, I will look at contest selection on DraftKings.
