I‘ve promised this for a while now and have finally taken the plunge to document my journey as a “novice” through Draft Kings. I have been a member for a while but by doing this I hope to improve my own results and help some others along the way. Always open to questions or feedback so have a read and fire away.
Let’s start with the most obvious and often asked question, what is Draft Kings? In its most basic form, there are several fantasy league style contests across a number of sports that you can enter. These contests (or slates as they are called) can cover multiple games, for example the 3pm premier league matches, or a single match. Golf also has slates round by round and the NFL now has flash drafts which cover half a match.
Depending on the type of contest you will need to pick several players staying within budget. You then accrue points for their performance. The scoring system is far more detailed than the traditional fantasy football most probably know, however, I personally find it far better with players able to rack up points without the need to score or assist. Metrics likes passes, interceptions, crosses, fouls won / conceded and more all count towards your final score.
In terms of the contests themselves there is very much a poker feel to the set up and pay out structures, that is, the big jackpot games are quite top heavy with the prizes. This is not necessarily a bad thing but always worth checking as the structure of the contest SHOULD affect the team you pick – we will get into this further down the line. You should always be aware of the max entries for each contest, some allow up to 150 entries per player where some are single entry. This is not to say that a single entry cannot win one of the big contests, but it will be tough! As a start you should know that all contests can be categorised in to two areas, GPP (guaranteed prize pool) and Cash.
I am going to give myself a bankroll of $100 and have no more than 5% of my roll out at any one time. I will be entering low buy in contests and attempting to satellite my way into some bigger games. I really wish I had discovered Satellites when originally signing up as they are a superb and cheap way to get some action, learn the game and still have a chance of a decent pay day.
“But Elliott, what is a satellite?”, good question! A satellite is a low stake contest where the prize on offer is entry into a bigger future game. For example, on Saturday afternoon there are a few satellites I am looking to enter. The buy ins for these satellites are varied but there are plenty available for $1 or less. In most cases you will need to come within the top 3 to win a ticket but always check the contest details.
My plan over the next few days is to try and satellite in to the big GPP slate for The Masters starting with some goes in the mixed EPL game tomorrow at 3pm. I’ll be keeping a spreadsheet open to track everything that I will share in due course.
Any questions you know where to find me!