Reverse Engineering: Louiescards Qualifies for DK King of the Hill
DraftKings is currently running a unique “King of the Hill” series which offers a chance to earn a place in a high-stakes head-to-head game with a “win or go home” payoff. Every day a new contender qualifies to try to knock off the previous winner, and one of our own at RotoGrinders has grabbed a spot in this massive H2H contest.
NBA and MLB contributor and jack-of-all-trades Louiescards lapped the field in the King of the Hill qualifier en route to a huge night of DFS MLB, also finishing high in other GPP tournaments on DraftKings. “I put five teams in a few of the GPPs on DraftKings pretty much every day. I tend to do at least a five-man stack in GPP and look into the power potential and how realistic it is for the team to feed off of each other,” he told me. With his victory, he’s earned a spot in Monday’s King of the Hill head-to-head, where he’ll face bigticket72 for a shot at 10 grand and a chance to defend the title on Tuesday, and possibly beyond.
Below is his winning lineup.
So what brought victory for LC in this 450-man field? Let’s start at the top, where he nailed his pitcher selections.
“On Sunday I really liked Archer and Miller, and rolled that combo on all five teams.”
Shelby Miller was agonizingly close to finishing one of the more efficient no-hitters we’ve ever seen, allowing a ninth-inning single to ruin his chance at joining the no-hit club. Instead, he “just” finished with a complete game shut-out win with no runs allowed, which adds up to a very impressive DFS performance. To take down a big tournament, Miller was essentially a must-play.
“I was a little surprised to see Miller below 20% owned for the day. I think this could be a case of past performance not allowing people to see what he has done this season,” Andrew told me. “Miller has been extremely impressive early on and was facing the Marlins in their huge ballpark. I liked the fact that the Marlins strike out at a high rate and had not walked much either. To be completely honest, I expected a couple more strikeouts, but it evens out when you get a near no-hitter.”
LC’s other pitcher selection, Chris Archer, didn’t stay in the game for as long as some owners would have liked, but he still posted a very strong score by picking up the win and limiting the baserunners and runs allowed. There were slightly better options at pitcher than Archer, but when the bats fall the way they did for Andrew on Sunday, you can afford to not get the most efficient duo at pitcher.
That’s because he also nailed his choice in batters, both by picking the right stack and finding the right one-off players to join the lineup alongside the stack. “With everyone on the Cubs with the favorable wind, I thought the Giants were a pretty solid team that would fly under the radar,” he told me. The Giants roughed up Anthony DeSclafani, running him from the game in just a few short innings. This led to plenty of early points for LC, including a Hunter Pence home run early on in the contest. “Pence really changes the dynamic for each of the top-five hitters, and Brandon Belt will be light years better with some solid protection.” LC couldn’t have been more right, as Belt hit a late home run to further boost his score.
Just as important as finding the right stack is finding the right players to join the stack, and Andrew was solid in that regard as well. Bryce Harper has been as hot as a baseball player can get recently, and LC was wise to play the chalk and add the Nationals’ young star to his lineup. His other one-off selection, Evan Longoria, was a bit under the radar in terms of ownership, and provided some crucial points to help set LC apart and coast to victory.
“The final pieces to the puzzle were Longoria, who is a guy I typically reserve for a right versus left matchup, but Gibson is a guy who is friendly to all bats and I liked his upside with the salary remaining.” LC added “Just as important is Harper, who anyone who has read my stuff the past few years knows is my man crush. I figured with the game in Petco and it being an afternoon game, his ownership would be down a bit and I took advantage.”
Andrew will now have to prepare for a different kind of contest, as he shifts from a 450-entry GPP field with only one payout spot, to playing in a heads-up contest for a huge cash prize.