How Do You Get Paid On Draftkings
- How Do You Get Paid On Draftkings Fantasy Football
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Large-field fantasy football tournaments at DraftKings attract a lot of novice money. Folks who are learning the ropes are seduced by the huge prize pools. That’s understandable. Some of the tournaments offer $1 million or more in cash prizes. It’s hard to resist that kind of money.
Here’s the problem: tournaments are highly unpredictable. There’s a large degree of variance, which impairs your ability to draft a lineup you can count on to win. That’s why daily fantasy experts recommend taking big risks when drafting players. There’s no other way to cash in tournaments.
By contrast, 50/50s are much more predictable. They’re also more profitable, even though you stand to win less money in each contest. With that in mind, I’ll give you 7 rules for winning 50/50s below so you can make them a big part of your fantasy football experience at DraftKings.
.A user’s first deposit (min. $5) qualifies the user to receive up to $1,000 in bonus funds in the form of site credits that can only be used on DraftKings. Bonus amount is equal to 20% of that deposit amount. Here are five things you need to know about DraftKings as it begins. Revenue from daily fantasy sports is the difference between the entry fees collected and the amounts paid out in prizes.
A Quick Overview Of Fantasy Football 50/50s (Double-Ups)
The Cash Games – 50/50 leagues pay the top half of the field double their buy-in (minus a vig).
Two basic principles define a 50/50 (also called a double-up). First, half the field wins a payout. A contest with 100 team owners will have 50 winners.
Second, each of the winners is paid the same amount. Assuming 100 team owners, the first-place winner will earn the same payout as the person who finishes in 50th place.
Those two principles are going to heavily influence your draft strategy. If you plan to spend a significant amount of time competing in 50/50s, it’s essential that you learn how to approach them.
That’s what we’re covering below.
Think Insurance, Not Lottery
Draft Players With High Ownership Percentages
Focus On Discounted Players Who Offer High Value
Join 50/50s With Larger-Than-Average Fields
Double-Check Your Lineup 30 Minutes Before Game Time
Consider Each Player’s Season-Long Track Record
Don’t Be Seduced By The “Easy Money” Allure Of 50/50s
Playing in large-field tournaments at DraftKings is like playing the lottery. When you enter a contest, you assume that your chances of winning are slim. A lot of people are going to enter and few are going to win. How else would it be possible to pay a $27 entry fee and have a shot at winning $1,000,000? (DraftKings’ NFL $2.2M Millionaire Maker costs $27 to join and pays $1 million to the first-place winner.)
That said, someone is going to win and that person is going to make a lot of money. Again, just like a lottery.
Competing in double-ups is a different story. It’s a bit like buying insurance. There’s a lot less risk since half the field gets paid. In addition, as mentioned above, everyone gets paid the same amount. That means you don’t have to worry about your lineup getting trounced by the first-place winner. It doesn’t matter. You just have to make the cutoff, or in other words, finish in the top 50%.
So, what’s the lesson? Focus on players who can be counted on to accumulate points. Don’t take huge risks, drafting overlooked players in the hopes they’ll have an explosive performance this week that helps you to finish in first place. There’s no incentive to take that kind of risk in a 50/50.
Draft Steady and Consistent Points Earners – Usually Highly Owned
You want to draft players that everyone is going to draft in 50/50 games. This is called “playing the chalk”. You want a chalky lineup. If a player is chalky that means that everyone is going be be playing him. These chalk plays are the players you want in 50/50’s.
If you’re drafting players who are expected to accrue a lot of points, expect other team owners to draft them too. Players like Antonio Brown, Aaron rogers, Drew Brees, Todd Gurley and Adrian Peterson attract a lot of attention. They tend to have high ownership percentages week after week because they’re reliable.
Team owners expect Brees to complete 70% of his passes and log at least 5,000 passing yards this season. They expect Gurley to rack up a huge number of rushing yards as he is the team’s top running back.
Don’t be turned off by the fact that a lot of your competitors own the same players you own. If anything, the high ownership percentages validate the foresight of your draft picks. In a double-up contest, you need to build on a foundation of guaranteed points.
Don’t be content to just pick studs.
To be sure, drafting a stud quarterback like Brees or Rogers makes sense since a large percentage of the field is likely to own those guys (see #2 just up above). But be more selective when shopping for wide receivers and running backs. DraftKings allows you to pick whatever positions you want on some of these contests and they’ll all just get called “flex” on your team.
Fill one slot for each position with a stud. Fill the remaining slots with value plays. Look for players who have salaries that are lower than expected given their track records.
For example, maybe they’re coming off the injured list and no one expects them to do much this week. Maybe they had a tough time on the field last week, causing team owners to sour on their short-term prospects.
Such players often pose enormous value because everyone discounts them.
A lot of one-week fantasy football players gravitate toward small double-ups (those with 10 or fewer entrants). They assume that competing against a smaller field increases their chances of winning.
In reality, the opposite is true.
Half the field is going to get paid, regardless of the number of people who compete in the contest. The key thing to remember, and the detail that most people forget, is that the bigger the field for a double-up, the smaller the variance.
For example, let’s say you join a double-up that involves 4 team owners. You need to beat 2 of them in order to cash. With such a small field, there’s a massive degree of unpredictability. You need to finish in first or second place to win. If two of the team owners get lucky and score more points than you, you’ll lose.
By contrast, suppose you join a double-up that involves 100 team owners. Although you need to beat 50 of them to cash, you’ll face less variance. The greater number of entrants smooths the scoring curve. It makes the outliers less significant. It won’t matter if 3 or 4 team owners outscore you. It won’t even matter if 30 or 40 of them outscore you. You just need to finish ahead of the bottom 50.
As a rule, you should check your lineups 30 minutes before the first kickoff of the week. Why? Because some of your players may no longer be scheduled to play. If they’re not scheduled to play, they can’t contribute to your lineup’s score.
They essentially become dead weight.
Why might a player you drafted suddenly be dropped from the week’s schedule? He might have gotten injured. Or he may have been arrested (that’s happened numerous times in the past). If you neglect to replace him, you’ll earn zero points for the slot he fills.
A half-hour before game time, double-check that each player on your roster is still scheduled to play this week. It only takes a few minutes and you can save yourself a world of heartache.
Any player can have a bad week. By the same token, any player can turn in an unexpectedly good performance. Don’t let the previous week’s numbers have too great an influence over your draft decisions.
Research how each player you’re thinking about drafting has performed so far in the current season. How did they perform last season? You’re not interested in guys who turned in an exceptionally good or bad performance last week. You need players who have a consistent track record.
In 50/50s, predictability is crucial.
A lot of beginners think of double-ups as an easy way to grind out a profit playing weekly fantasy football. After all, you just need to finish in the top half of the field. How hard can that be?
As it turns out, it can be plenty hard, especially if you’re just getting started. Remember, half of the field is going to lose. What distinguishes you from the bottom half?
It’s also worth noting that a lot of experienced fantasy football players compete in 50/50s. These are guys (and gals) who know what they’re doing and have the winnings to prove it. You need a solid draft strategy if you hope to compete successfully against them.
It helps to stick to larger 50/50s. Not only is there less variance, but there’s also a greater likelihood that a majority of the field will be composed of inexperienced DFS players.
In addition, if you’re just starting, stick to double-ups with low entry fees. Most of the experienced players compete in contests that impose bigger buy-ins and offer bigger cash prizes.
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- Is DraftKings Honest?
DraftKings continues to be one of the hottest daily fantasy sites. Even though it’s slightly smaller in overall size than FanDuel, it’s the site of choice for tens of thousands of fantasy sports fans.
Having said that, it doesn’t matter how popular DraftKings is if you’re unable to win. Whether you’re playing fantasy football, baseball, soccer or golf, it’s the chance to win cash prizes that keeps you playing.
How Do You Get Paid On Draftkings Fantasy Football
How do you win over the long run? It’s a matter of doing solid research, knowing how to draft good talent, watching your competitors’ lineups and managing your bankroll. It’s more complex than it sounds. Entire books can be written on each of those steps.
For example, bankroll management entails more than just knowing how much money you have in play. It also takes into account how to get through losing streaks, splitting your roll between low-stakes and high-stakes contests, and, of course, paying taxes on your winnings.
I’ll boil down the most important points in this two-part series.
Updated for 2019-2020 NFL season
A Crash course on Winning at DraftKings
The current landing page at DraftKings. Cannot help but notice that you’ll get a free entry with your first deposit!
Since NFL is the hottest fantasy sport by far, I’ll use examples from football. But don’t let that throw you. The 10 points we’ll cover below and in an upcoming post apply whether you’re playing daily fantasy baseball, golf, hockey, basketball or any other sport.
Let’s get on with the first key…
Adjust Your Draft Strategy By Contest Format – Cash Game or Tourney
That advice might seem trite. But contest format plays a huge role in how you draft talent. Your priorities will change with the size of the contest and its payout structure.
We’ve talked about this in the past, mostly as it pertains to guaranteed prize pool (GPP) tournaments and 50/50s (cash games). Here’s the gist:
Cash game line-up’s vs GPP Tourney line-ups.
If you’re playing in a large-field tournament, the payout structure is going to be top-heavy. Approximately 10-15% of the field will end up in a cash position, and most of the money will go to the top 10 players. That being the case, you need to take risks to land in a cash position. You need to draft guys who might have a breakout night.
If you’re playing in a 50/50, the payout structure will be flatter. Half of the entrants get paid, and everyone gets paid the same amount. You don’t need to take as many risks because you’re not trying to land in the top 10 of the field. You just need to end up in the 50th percentile.
Here’s one way to think about the draft – the flatter the payout structure, the more guaranteed points you want to log. That includes 50/50s and head-to-heads. The more top-heavy the payout structure, the more breakout performances you need if you hope to cash.
Tread Carefully When Drafting Sleepers
Everyone dreams of picking a sleeper who breaks out and has a huge night. The team owner not only cashes, but ends up looking like a fantasy sports master. When it works, it almost seems like magic.
The problem is, most fantasy players find that picking sleepers rarely works to their advantages. They pick speculative talent, hoping for a miracle. But when the dust clears, they find their sleepers still sleeping.
It’s not that picking sleepers is a bad fantasy play. It can work stupendously well if you know what you’re doing.
That’s the key: being selective.
Remember, a low salary doesn’t imply hidden talent. More often than not, it means the player isn’t expected to turn in a major performance that week.
Drafting sleepers can be a great tactic in building a winning roster. But picking players who break out takes research and a fair amount of luck. It’s not just throwing darts at a board. Listen to the talking heads each week but remember that so are thousands of others. Find those guys who aren’t being talked about so much but who look like they might end up with quality playing time due to an injury or opponent or other myriad of factors.
Check The Latest Injury Report
This should go without saying. But every day, fantasy players at DraftKings clearly forget to check the injury report before constructing their lineups. When game time arrives, they’re stuck with players who end up missing their games.
For example, according to the latest NFL injury report (at the time of writing), the Falcons’ Jeremy Langford is out with an “undisclosed injury”. Is he going to make their first season game against the New York Jets? Who knows? He’s currently listed as “Questionable”. If he ends up missing training camp or some games, you don’t want him on your roster.
The same goes for Jaelon Acklin, wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens. He’s also dealing with an undisclosed injury and may miss training camp and/or some games. Will he play that first week against the Jaguars? At this point, it’s anybody’s guess. His status is also listed as “Questionable”.
The point is that you should always check the most recent injury report to make sure your lineup is filled with guys who are going to show up. The last thing you want to do is waste your salary cap on players who will add zero points to your score and your chances to win.
Learn How To Work DraftKings’ Bonus Points
The scoring system at DraftKings includes a few bonus items that a lot of team owners neglect. If your players hit certain numbers, you’ll earn extra points!
Take a look at the DraftKings’ scoring system for weekly fantasy football. Hidden in the numbers is a 3-point bonus if your QB passes at least 300 yards. You’ll also receive a 3-point bump for logging at least 100 rushing yards. And you’ll receive another 3-point bump for logging 100+ receiving yards.
You want players who can turn in those numbers.
QB Bonus Points
In the QB slot, that means keeping an eye on Ben Roethlisberger, Patrick Mahomes and Matt Ryan for starters heading into the season. They were the head honchos for QBs last year, will they do it again?
Your receivers can bring you a lot of bonus points. You have 3 WR slots to fill at DraftKings, and each one can potentially earn you 3 points by receiving 100+ yards. Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, Mike Evans and Tyreek Hill,lead the pack last season. Each one turned in an average of 100+ yards per game. Again with these gentlemen, will they be able to do it again?
The rushing bonus at DraftKings is tougher to earn. There are two reasons. First, you only have two running back slots to fill at DraftKings. There isn’t as much opportunity in your roster as you have with your three receivers.
Second, there aren’t a lot of RBs who maintain an average of 100+ rushing yards per game (current group).
Bottom line: the bonus points at DraftKings can come in handy, especially when you’re trying to squeak past other team owners in a small league or 50/50. But don’t rely on them. They’re tough to earn.
Establish Your Bankroll Metrics
As I mentioned earlier, bankroll management in daily fantasy sports involves more than just keeping track of how much cash you have at risk. You need to start with a plan that gives you control over your daily and weekly spend. Then, you need to figure out how many bets you should have in play at one time.
The most reliable way to do that is to come up with a formula that reflects your results. As you win more contests, your optimal number of bets will change.
Here are a few guidelines I recommend if you’re just getting started in fantasy sports.
- First, limit your daily spend to 10% of your entire bankroll. If you deposit $200, don’t risk more than $20 in entry fees each day.
- Second, track your wins and losses. Make a note of the date, sport, contest format, field size, entry fee, and dollars won or lost. It doesn’t matter if you do this with a legal pad and pencil or on a spreadsheet. I prefer the latter since it allows me to sort the data. The most important thing is that you do it.
- Third, use a formula that takes your results into account to determine how much money you should risk each day (or week for fantasy football). There are several formulas you can use. A lot of veteran fantasy players use the Kelly criterion. We’ll discuss that method, as well as other bankroll management issues, in more detail in the near future.
Those are the basics when it comes to bankroll management. The key is to reach a point where you don’t have to think about how much to play. Your metrics will lay it all out for you.
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