DSBC Preliminary Round Recap: 12 Players Remain
Lots of notable stories in the DSBC Finals Preliminary Elimination Round, as three players pushed 2 entries into the final bracket challenge and 6 other players anxiously await their head-to-head match ups. There were plenty of huge Day 1 performances anchored by mediocre Day 2 efforts that allowed players to advance, as well as a couple of monstrous Day 2 comebacks allowing finalists to reach the bracket challenge round. I picture this a little bit like Survivor, as a small number of contestants were selected from the MASSIVE original pack of players vying simply for a DSBC seat. Then the number dwindled as 4 elite players received immunity and 12 overall advanced to the bracket challenge. And now they will all fight for their chance at $35,000! “Survivor: DSBC”, I like the ring to it.
Day One: The Sharks Circle
The first day of action was highlighted by lots of stacking and lots of similar plays amongst the contestants. 7 players were owned by over 50% of the competitors. Robinson Cano was held by 52%, Rickie Weeks was held by 50%, Ernesto Frieri owned by 57%, Corey Hart owned by 60%, Jeff Samardzija owned by a whopping 65% and an obscene 70% of players owning Ryan Braun. As you can see, the Brewers in Coors Field were a popular pick but they haven’t really done much on their visit and it was a couple of Cubs and Rockies stacks that were able to succeed on Monday night(Day 1). Here were your standings after one day of action:
1) JackandSoda – 81.6
2) BeepImaJeep – 77
3) BeepImaJeep – 76.4
4) ShowMeTheMoney84 – 75.55
5) Ronnymor2 – 74
6) Rickmilitar – 72
7) Pbarrese13 – 68.05
8) jl9000 – 66.45
9) Leonem – 66.05
10) Gelo24 – 64.95
11) Kamakazi – 64
12) JacknSoda – 63.85
ON THE BUBBLE
13) Bab329 – 60.95
14) Jshilling09 – 60.15
As you can see, after Day 1 a margin of just under 18 points separated the top qualifier from the 12th place contestant. A few players put up totals in the 20’s range, but even they weren’t completely out of the mix. With a big Day 2, anything was possible. Nothing was finalized after Day 1 and anyone who got complacent was sure to be taken down by this field of terrific DFS studs.
Day Two: Desperation vs. Conservation
Day Two could be described by two key ideas. Desperation and conservation. Players safely in the top 12 had the difficult decision of whether or not to play conservatively and try to put up a moderate score or to ‘go all-in’ again and take a top-4 spot accompanied by a 1st round bye. This is where you really see the cream rise to the top as the best players in the event from Day 1 had no qualms with going big in Round 2 and taking a lot of risks. Day 2 also came with a little more parity in player selection than Day 1, where 7 guys were owned by over 50% of the contestants. Rickie Weeks stayed as a hot commoodity, being chosen by 65% of contestants. Ryan Braun was at 57% as well and Josh Johnson was at 45%. Other than that, there was a good amount of separation meaning there was a lot of movement to be had across the leaderboard.
FUN FACT: Weeks and Braun were chosen by greater than 50% of the contestants both nights. Braun totaled -1.25 for both nights and Weeks who put up a nice 11 on Monday, blew out for a -1.5 on Tuesday
Here were your Day 2 ONLY Standings:
1) JackandSoda – 78.35
2) Sprom – 76.55
3) Ronnymor2 – 69.7
4) Pbarrese13 – 65.95
5) Showmethemoney84 – 65.55
6) Leonem – 66.4
7) Ronnymor2 – 63.8
8) JackandSoda – 61
9) Gopher – 60.7
10) Vesneska – 56.9
11) Uncle LEO – 55.7
12) Dinkpiece – 54.9
The Final Standings
On aggregate, twelve players advanced to the final round including 3 guys with multiple submissions and 8 RG Members entries! Congrats to all of the Grinders who advanced and all of the contestants on your success! Here are your Final 12 heading into the head-to-head bracket brawl:
Note: Any player linked is an RG member and is linked to their RG profile
#1 (BYE) – JackAndSoda
#2 (BYE) – ronnymor2
#3 (BYE) – ShowMeTheMoney84
#5 (BYE) – pbarrese13
#5 – leonem
#6 – sprom
#7 – JackAndSoda
#8 – BeepImaJeep
#9 – kamakazi
#10 – rickmilitar
#11 – BeepImaJeep
#12 – ronnymor2
The Bracket
So good luck to all of the contestants and if you wish to follow JackandSoda’s thoughts about the event he has continued to write blogs about his decision process, you can view one here. We will have more updates as soon as the first round of the head-to-head bracket challenge is underway so keep an eye out for that!