DraftStreet Strategy Guide - The Basics
Intended for novice daily fantasy sports players, this DraftStreet strategy guide will walk you through the basic league types and strategies you can use to win on DraftStreet. If you’d like more sport-specific analysis, check out the NFL, NBA, and MLB DraftStreet strategy guides. For advanced daily fantasy sports advice, head over to GrindersU.
DraftStreet was one of the first sites to hit the daily fantasy scene and has been a leader in the industry since their inception. Those who play on DraftStreet appreciate the vast league selection and the sharp pricing. Let’s take a look at some DraftStreet basics and how to win playing daily fantasy sports on the site.
DraftStreet League Types
DraftStreet has four primary types of leagues—salary cap, snake drafts, pick ‘ems, and survivor tournaments.
Salary cap leagues are the most common league type in daily fantasy sports. Users have a salary cap with which they can roster players, all of whom have specific salaries. It’s up to daily fantasy players to find players who are bargains, fitting their entire lineup within the confines of the cap.
In traditional salary cap leagues, athletes can and do make their way onto multiple users’ lineups. Since daily fantasy players can own the same actual professional athletes, there are sometimes lineups that are very similar. That’s less likely to happen in a head-to-head or three-man league, since there are so few entrants, but it’s very common in tournaments and other large-field leagues.
Because of that, there’s some strategy that goes into selecting players who you know others might like as well. You typically want to select just the best values in small leagues, but many daily fantasy pros prefer a “contrarian” strategy in guaranteed prize pools (GPPs) and other larger leagues.
A contrarian strategy is marked by selecting a high-upside player who goes against conventional wisdom—an “against the grain” choice who will allow for a unique lineup, even in a large league. If that player has a huge game, it can be a massive advantage for whoever rosters him. The more lineups a particular player is in, the less of an advantage it is for those lineups if he plays well; if Marshawn Lynch were theoretically in every lineup, he could have 300 yards and four touchdowns and it wouldn’t matter because no one could gain an advantage over anyone else.
One of the most unique league types on DraftStreet that removes the problem of duplicate player choices is the snake draft. The snake draft combines season-long and daily fantasy sports leagues into one; entrants compete in a traditional snake draft, selecting players to compete just for that day or week.
As mentioned, the main advantage of snake drafts is that they remove the possibility of running into an identical or very similar lineup. They’re a great league selection for those who have played traditional fantasy sports—those familiar with classic fantasy drafts who have yet to master the subtleties of the salary cap strategy. If you are good at season-long fantasy leagues, you can transition to snake draft daily fantasy leagues on DraftStreet before making your way into the more common salary cap style.
The primary downside of snake drafts is that they take a longer time to complete. Whereas you can fill out a salary cap lineup in a matter of minutes, that’s not possible with snake drafts. Many daily fantasy players like to pick their best lineup and enter it into multiple leagues, but that’s not possible with snake drafts since each league is different. Thus, if you want to play a lot of volume, you can’t do it with snake drafts.
A third unique league type on DraftStreet is known as the “pick ‘em.” Pick ‘em leagues sort players into eight different tiers. You must select the player you believe will score the most points in each tier. You still compete against others in the same way as the other league types, but you’re forced to select eight different players from different levels created by DraftStreet.
Pick ‘em leagues are another really good entry-level league because they cut down on research time. In a traditional salary cap league or snake draft, you need to consider all possible players. In a pick ‘em, you can simply research the players DraftStreet has chosen for each tier and pick your favorites. It’s a great way to get involved in daily fantasy sports if you don’t have hours to commit to creating the best salary cap lineups.
Finally, DraftStreet also offers survivor tournaments. These leagues involve competing against a field for up to three days, with the top half of scores advancing to the next day. For example, if you have a top 50 percent score after Day 1, you’ll advance to Day 2 with the other top half of entrants. There, you’ll compete again, with the top half moving on to Day 3. The top 50 percent of Day 3 lineups win cash.
Survivor tournaments are good for users who can consistently post above-average scores. You don’t need a ton of upside—you just need to beat out half of all entrants for three straight days—so it’s all about consistency.
No matter what league type you enter, it’s important to understand how often you can be expected to win (or cash) so that you can figure out how much money you can afford to play. Using some simple math, we know that 50 percent of all entrants into a survivor tournament advance to Day 2. Half of those (25 percent of the original pool) advance to Day 3, with half of those (12.5 percent of the original pool) cashing. It’s important to understand that only 12.5 percent of entrants into a typical survivor tournament will cash, so you can’t necessarily plunk down much of your bankroll to play in them.
Sharp Pricing
Certain daily fantasy sites have different pricing strategies when it comes to their salary cap leagues. Some are very loose, meaning you have a lot of cap room and can fill your lineups with mainly high-priced players.
Others, like DraftStreet, have pricing that’s a little bit tighter and sharper. That means they price their players fairly accurately and don’t have a whole lot of room to pick up all top-tier players. That results in fewer obvious values and lineups that are less powerful as a whole than on other sites.
That’s not a bad thing for quality players, though, since a tighter cap with sharp pricing reduces the luck needed to win. On sites that have loose pricing, players can pick almost anyone they want, meaning there’s a lot of randomness involved with who wins.
With tighter pricing, daily fantasy players need to really search for the best values. Sharp pricing also increases the selection of possible lineups; since there aren’t many obvious picks, entrants typically choose a wide range of players on DraftStreet.
Finally, note that tight pricing increases the value of hitting on a low-priced, bargain bin player. If you can get production from a cheap player, it really opens up your salary cap to fit more top-tier players into your lineup.
If you feel like you’re ready for more advanced content, check out GrindersU.