Winning Strategies for Daily Fantasy Football: Head-to-Head & 50/50 vs. GPP’s

In this article I am going to give you my strategies in football for building a winning lineup for all game types, including 50/50’s/double-ups/head-to-head and GPP’s. I will break down each game type with all of my strategies.

Part 1 – Winning Strategies for Daily Fantasy Football: Head-to-Head, 50/50s and Double-Ups

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When playing daily fantasy 50-50’s/double-ups or head-to-head, you want guaranteed points. This is not where you roll the dice on all or nothing players. The idea is to simply produce a solid, well balanced team. It may not be explosive, but it doesn’t matter whether you finish in first place or not, you just need to cash. Let’s break it down by position:

Quarterback

You need to buy a stud. Buying a value QB and watching him bust, will destroy your chances at cashing. Pay for one of the stud QBs and take the guaranteed points. The good thing is there are many great options at QB weekly. Feel free to take the cheapest stud QB, just make sure you get one of the studs. If you play on a site with multiple QBs, get at least one stud.

Running Back

Here is where I like to have one stud and one solid value option. By value option I am not talking about a boom or bust type of player. I am talking about a solid RB who does not score huge points every week, but has a good match-up this particular week.

Wide Receiver

This is the most important position in my opinion for this game type. WR is the most predictable week to week. The stud WRs always get their points. They rarely have a terrible week. You can pretty much count on a good to great day from a few wide receivers every week. These are the guys you want on your team. I make sure I find a way to buy two stud WRs every week in this format.

Tight End

This is the hardest position to predict in my opinion. I rarely pay for a stud here unless I am getting them at a discount. I tend to simply look for value. More often than not the best tight end is a value play and not a stud. So why pay the price?

Kicker

Talk about unpredictable. I rarely spend more than the minimum on a kicker. This is a crapshoot most of the time. However I do attempt to grab the minimum priced kicker with the best offense. If you can predict field goal attempts you are a better man than I.

Defenses

Because we have spent most of our money on QB, RB and WR you are again looking for value here. Pick a solid defense at a decent price. Look for a team at home versus a weak opponent. Defenses at home always seem to play better.

Part 2 – Winning Strategies for Daily Fantasy Football: GPP’s

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GPP’s are a completely different story. You need guys to have huge days. GPP’s are all about upside. Value players are just as important as your studs in this game type. I will again break it down by position.

Quarterback

This is where you want to roll the dice on a value QB. You want to get a guy capable of going off and being one of the best QBs on the day without paying the price.

Strategy tip: Buy a value QB that you think will be losing or in a shoot out, you want your QB throwing a ton. If he is a huge favorite, they may not throw much in the 2nd half, and simply run the ball. This is not good for you. Underdog QBs are a good thing in this game type.

Running Back

You need at least one stud RB. Your second RB should be a value player capable of going off. A legitimate starter that perhaps has been quiet of late but has a tasty match-up this week is the way to go.

Strategy tip: Take a value RB from a team that is a favorite and hope he racks up the yards late with the lead.

Wide Receiver

Wide receiver is the biggest make or break position in my opinion. Spend your money on the best wide receivers. You want at least two studs period. Aside from studs you want a WR who is generally hit or miss. You do not want a kid that has never had a big week, but rather a streaky player who with the right match-up can go off and has gone off before.

Strategy tip: It is never a bad idea to grab a WR who is an underdog, even a big underdog. If his team is losing they should be throwing a lot. That is never a bad thing. It doesn’t matter if he racks up all his point in garbage time, it all counts.

Tight End

In a GPP I always go with a boom or bust tight end. I like to find a guy that has disappeared for a couple weeks but has a nice matchup and hope he goes boom!

Strategy tip: There is always a handful of Defenses that cannot stop the opposing Tight Ends. In this situation any decent TE should produce points. I will help you exploit this.

Kicker

I like to take a kicker against a tough Defense. A good defense should shut down your kicker’s team in the red zone and force more field goal attempts. If the price permits, grab a guy with a big leg and hope he nails a couple 50+ yarders.

Defenses

In a GPP I am less worried about the opponent. I am looking for a Defense that can cause turnovers. We are talking forced fumbles, sacks, interceptions and hopefully a pick 6 or two. You want a defense that can score.

Strategy tip: Pay attention to the weather. When you see a solid Defense in a bad weather game, it is time to jump on them. It is very hard to score in the rain, wind or snow. There should be plenty of turnovers caused by a good Defense in lousy weather. At worst you are likely to give up very few points.

Final Strategy Tips

Good luck Grinders!
Pepsi7

About the Author

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Chris Lowery (pepsi7)

Chris Lowery aka Pepsi7 has a long of history of proven success in fantasy sports getting his start in season long leagues where he won many high stakes expert leagues across baseball, football, and hockey. He made the jump to DFS in 2012 and dominated MLB in 2013 in a huge way by winning the FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Championship for a six-figure payday. The RotoGrinders Director of NHL content, Pepsi7 can frequently be found on RotoGrinders GrindersLive shows, videos, and written articles providing expert insight for hockey and baseball.