50/50 Double Up Leagues & Opponent Variance

One of the main concerns of daily RotoGrinders is opponent variance (especially when you are first starting out). If you have a limited bankroll you don’t want all of your action scooped up by one person. You can spend time spreading your action across multiple sites and opponents so all your eggs are not in one basket OR you can spend your time doing research and making your picks.

The idea of opponent variance is simple, however, its implementation is tedious and time consuming. Luckily, we have the RotoGrinders forum and receptive site owners. Last week it was suggested that the DFS sites offer 50/50 Double Up leagues similar to the ones offered on poker sites. The suggestion was well received in the forums and quickly implemented by FSL in Week 3.

What is a 50/50 Double Up League?

A double up league is exactly what it sounds like. If their are ten entrants at $10; Five entrants double their money ($20 minus rake) and five entrants lose their money (hence the 50/50 designation).

Why Play In A Double Up League?

The primary advantage of playing in a double up league is opponent variance. You don’t have to worry about one or two people scooping up all your action that week. Playing in Double Up leagues will also allow you to select a “safer” team. You no longer have to worry about running into a H2H opponent that has a top score that week and losing a large percentage of your bankroll to them. Instead of trying to draft a top scoring (riskier) team you can select players that are more reliable and put up a decent score every week. This will help you reduce your variance and build up your bankroll so you can take more risks down the line.

Where Can I Play In A Double Up League?

FSL was the first site to offer the double up league that I know of in Week 3 of the football season. FSL has 10 person and 6 person leagues currently running in Week 4. I played in a league on FSL last week and doubled my money (barely). I signed up for another one this week and will probably play in a couple more if I see the right point structure (I prefer 900 and below).

FD is offering fifty person Double Up leagues this week also. I’m also in a few there and think the large fifty person field will help improve the opponent variance issue. Smaller leagues (ten and below) run the risk of having the same ten people signing up for and playing against each other which would defeat the purpose of the league format.

DraftStreet has also been active in the RotoGrinders forums and is considering the league format. Here is a quote from Markness regarding DS and the double up leagues:

“We’re interested to hear feedback on how this goes because we are considering offering these types of leagues as well. It’s funny, we’ve actually discussed having these types of leagues for a while now, but never really looked at them as a solution to the “league-hogging” issue. Good idea jbergey.”

Why Double Up Leagues Are Here To Stay

The Double Up leagues are a great solution for new players and player’s with smaller bankrolls. They ensure a “high roller” doesn’t take all your action (which will help newbies learn the ropes and hopefully stick around longer). As DFS continues to grow we can expect new league formats like this to continue advancing the game and increasing the player pool.