There is absolutely no question that the biggest area of growth right now in fantasy football is with the explosion of Daily Fantasy Contests. With several top sites out there already and more entering this space each day, Footballguys is expanding the coverage in this arena to give Footballguys Insiders exclusive coverage of the latest news and information of Daily Fantasy Football.
Over the course of this football season, we will talk about numerous aspects of Daily Fantasy Football. From articles on these sites, strategies to win daily contests, bankroll (money management) strategy, different league and game types, signup and reload bonuses, players to target each week and even contests that look to be undersubscribed ("overlays"), we will cover it all. Welcome to the one-stop shop for Daily coverage.
Please note that even though the NFL has weekly Thursday games and DFS sites have contests that start on Thursdays, in general we will be looking at the majority of the contests and DFS games that do not begin until Sunday. Our weekly coverage does include Thursday DFS information if you are looking to get a jump on the DFS action for the week with the first game on Thursday.
INDUSTRY NEWS
A few months ago, FanDuel bought out the rights to hosting a fantasy football event at the one-and-only Playboy Mansion. That's right - the house that Hugh Hefner built could be hosting a party for the winners of a contest at FanDuel this season. Here are the details:
The Hottest Fantasy Football Event Ever
What’s better than a $1,000,000 fantasy football contest? A $1,000,000 fantasy football contest hosted at the world famous Mansion! 75 finalists will be flown out to sunny Los Angeles for the hottest weekend of their lives as they compete poolside in Hef’s backyard for the $150,000 first place prize. But that’s not all – we’ll be awarding an additional 25 trip only packages to the party for those who want a piece of this once in a lifetime experience.
So how do you get one of these great cash prizes plus a $2,800 trip? There are three ways. First, you can put up $535 for one of 150 seats in a weekly contest that awards three qualifying spots. The second option is to go through a $5 satellite, but you have to beat out over 17,000 other teams to finish in the Top 3. The third option offers a middle ground, where a $50 satellite entry offers about the same ratio, where you have to beat about 1,700 other teams to win the big prize by reaching the Top 3 spots.
DFS LESSON OF THE WEEK - DouBLE-upS, TOURNAMENTS and OVERLAYS
The difference between a Double Up (2x) League or Tournament and a Tournament with an “Overlay”.
Let’s start with two examples to explain why we are seeking out a Tournament with an “Overlay” status.
The first example is a 20-person Double Up (2x) League or Tournament. This tournament has a $10 entry fee and pays the Top 9 finishers $20 each, for a total of $180 paid out to winners. The league site takes in $200 in entry fees and keeps 10%, or $20.
The second example is a $400 Tournament that is set up with the same entry fee of $10 and 44 openings. The idea would be for the site to collect $440 and keep 9% ($40) and pay out $400 total. The payouts are $100 for first, $70 for second place, $50 for third, $40 for 4th and 5th, $30 for 6th and 7th place, and finally $20 for 8th and 9th place finishers. Let me put this in a table to illustrate:
|
Place |
2x League Payout |
$400 Tournament Payout |
|
1st |
$20 |
$100 |
|
2nd |
$20 |
$70 |
|
3rd |
$20 |
$50 |
|
4th |
$20 |
$40 |
|
5th |
$20 |
$40 |
|
6th |
$20 |
$30 |
|
7th |
$20 |
$30 |
|
8th |
$20 |
$20 |
|
9th |
$20 |
$20 |
Now, let’s say that the $400 Tournament is “undersold”, and has “overlay” status. That means that the league has not filled to capacity, but the prizes are still guaranteed. The example I will give here is that only 19 people have signed up instead of the maximum of 44. That is the same as the 2x tournament, which has 20 open spaces.
The comparison should be very easy for you now. In both cases, the odds are the same for a player making a decision to sign up for either the 2x tournament or to jump in at the last minute and become team #20 for the $400 tournament. You have a 45% chance (9 in 20) of finishing “in the money” and winning in the contest, but in the 2x tournament, your maximum win amount is $20, regardless of how well you do once you are a Top 9 team. In the $400 tournament, you can win up to five times as much as in the 2x tournament, with ultimate upside of finishing first and winning $100 on a $10 investment instead of only $20 even if you finish first in the 2x tournament.
This is why we all want to find overlay tournaments.
Do they happen? Absolutely, but you have to keep in mind that sites will keep them open right up until the deadline and the amount of players can only go up from the time you sign up. For example, if you found the $400 Tournament with this status (only 19 of 44 spots taken) at noon on a Sunday, it is quite possible 20-24 more people jump in before the first kickoff.
DAILY CONTENT AROUND FOOTBALLGUYS.COM
NFL WEEK 3
Two weeks down for the NFL season, and we have had some big, big contests in DFS so far - and the fun continues. Let's dig into some of the big contests out there. If there are any that I miss, please drop me an email (pasquino@footballguys.com) and I will update this article.
FANDUEL - WEEK 3 BIG CONTESTS
All of these contests can be found in the lobby at FanDuel.
$1.25M NFL Sunday Million: First Prize of $100,000 - $25 Entry
FanDuel upped the ante for Week 3 with a $1.25M contest. With over 54,000 seats for this contest, a $25 entry could give someone a $120,000 prize by next Tuesday morning! Almost 20% of all players will earn a prize, so this one-week contest is certainly worth a shot for serious DFS players.
The World Fantasy Football Championships: 1 Day, 4 Massive Contests, Over $10 Million in Prizes. Qualifying contests run from Week 1 to Week 13.
With a $2,000,000 1st place prize, $7,000,000 in finalist cash prizes, $3,000,000 in runner up prizes, a private jet ride home for the winner, and an unbelievable 3 day weekend in Vegas, this is the fantasy football event of the year. 100 finalists will win a luxurious trip to the December 14th finals at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, where they will be treated to 3 nights of parties, a Saturday surprise, and their chance at fantasy football immortality.
Multiple FFFC Qualifiers will run each week. Win a FFFC Qualifier, and you win one of 100 prize packages to Las Vegas for the FFFC final. We'll also be running qualifiers which award more than one prize package, and a last chance Super Qualifier in Week 13.
$200K Survivor - First Prize of $20,000 - $25 Entry - Starts Week 3 (9/21)
The rounds begins on September 21st. Finish in the top 75% of Round 1, and you'll advance to Round 2. Keep advancing to the final round and you'll win a trip for two to Las Vegas! Rounds are run once every week. You can enter directly for $25 per entry. Multiple entries are allowed.
The Playboy Championship (described as above) - What’s better than a $1,000,000 fantasy football contest? A $1,000,000 fantasy football contest hosted at the world famous Mansion! 75 finalists will be flown out to sunny Los Angeles for the hottest weekend of their lives as they compete poolside in Hef’s backyard for the $150,000 first place prize. But that’s not all – we’ll be awarding an additional 25 trip only packages to the party for those who want a piece of this once in a lifetime experience.
So how do you get one of these great cash prizes plus a $2,800 trip? There are three ways. First, you can put up $535 for one of 150 seats in a weekly contest that awards three qualifying spots. The second option is to go through a $5 satellite, but you have to beat out over 17,000 other teams to finish in the Top 3. The third option offers a middle ground, where a $50 satellite entry offers about the same ratio, where you have to beat about 1,700 other teams to win the big prize by reaching the Top 3 spots.
Future Big Contests:
$300K Survivor - First Prize of $40,000 - $200 Entry - Starts Week 4 (9/28)
The rounds begin on September 28th. Finish in the top 75% of Round 1, and you'll advance to Round 2. Keep advancing each round till you reach the final round and you'll win a trip for two to Las Vegas! Rounds are run once every NFL week. You can enter directly for $200 per entry. Multiple entries are allowed.
DRAFTKINGS - WEEK 3 BIG CONTESTS
Three big contests headline the action at DraftKings this week:
NFL Sunday Million. $1,000,000 in total prizes. $27 to enter. $100,000 to first.
https://www.draftkings.com/contest/draftteam/1319156
NFL Sunday 400 Grand. $400,000 in total prizes. $200 to enter. $100,000 to first.
https://www.draftkings.com/contest/draftteam/1319112
NFL Play Action. $100,000 in total prizes. $2 to enter, or FREE if you’re a new player. $10,000 to first.
https://www.draftkings.com/contest/draftteam/1316281
Future Big Contests:
"Four months, four millionaires": Four contests where the top winner will win at least $1 Million. Weeks 5, 11, 15 and 16 of the NFL season. Direct entry is $27, but you can earn your way in for as little as a quarter - yes, $0.25. (Odds are certainly much steeper at $0.25 vs. $27, but hard to get more action for a quarter!).
One other important piece of information for Daily Fantasy Football players:
The FanDuel iPhone App is here!
You asked for it and we delivered. Introducing the new FanDuel mobile app! Everyone already loves the excitement of playing weekly and daily fantasy sports on FanDuel, but you’ve never seen it like this. The same sleek design, and easy to use functionality you’re used to on FanDuel now in the palm of your hand!
You’ll have the same ease of entering the contests you want, the team building and editing abilities you need, and NOW with a completely new way to enjoy the live scoring you love! That’s right, a new live scoring page to enjoy the excitement of FanDuel anywhere. Check it out and get in on the action by downloading the FREE app today!
Be sure to use promo code FBG2014
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.
