Anyone do daily fantasy?

[marcshoe]

I got curious last week and deposited some money in fanduel. I won $16 for a fourth place finish in a hundred-team league, and I've been playing it out. I don't know if I'll deposit more when this is gone (which at this rate will be pretty soon).

I wondered what strategies people use. I'm clueless. Putting together a team for a late league tonight, I thought I'd pick up Felix and Goldschmidt, and as I was filling the team out with scrubs (plus Joc Pederson), "Sunglasses at Night" started inexplicably running through my head. So I may be the only person on Fanduel who has Corey Hart in a lineup tonight.

[AtomicDumpling]

I play DFS quite a bit. Can't say I am an expert. Just tread water for the most part moneywise.

[Will M]

Rudy on Razzball is a fantasy baseball computer nerd. he has made 2 tools: "stream-o-nator" & "hittertron" to assess matchups. he has been tweaking these for several years. I don't play daily fantasy but have used the stream-o-nator for several years to decide whether to play or sit my starting pitchers. it uses Steamer rest of season estimates, ballpark factors, factors in if guys are on the DL, etc. it used to be free but I think they charge $20 a year for it.

fo example lets say you have Shelby Miller but he is pitching at Arizona vs the loaded DBacks lineup. do you start him or not? the stream-o-nator can give you some objective data to help you make your decision.

hittertron does the same for hitters. do you start Andre Ethier vs Leake in LA or David Dejesus vs Anibal Sanchez at Detroit? hittertron gives you objective data to help you make the decision.

if I played daily fantasy a tool like this is almost essential, once money is involved your opponents are looking for every advantage & they are going to be using these type of tools

[Redsfaithful]

Razzball is great, second on that.

I do some daily fantasy for football, but can't get into it with baseball. I know people beat it, but baseball feels so random to me.

[Razor Shines]

I do well in daily fantasy for NFL but baseball or even basketball seem really difficult to succeed in.

[marcshoe]

I play DFS quite a bit. Can't say I am an expert. Just tread water for the most part moneywise.

That's about where I am. The lineups I feel the best about never win, but I tend to win the games with a small player pool, like early or late only. I'll be out of money soon, though, and I'll be able to rest.

[marcshoe]

I'm trying to let my account go down, but they keep giving me free games. I got a free game yesterday with 11,847 entries, and Cueto (and Mike Trout and Austin Jackson) came through for me. I finished fourth and had my biggest win--$50. Okay, so I'm not getting rich. I immediately moved my winnings to my paypal account, and I have gas for the next week paid for.

Now I need to get out while I'm ahead.

[Caveat Emperor]

It's funny --

Bet money on the stats of a group of selected players all from different teams: LEGAL

Bet money on the stats of a group of players all from the same team: LEGAL

Bet money on the outcome of a game played by a group of players all from the same team: ILLEGAL

[marcshoe]

I have no idea why this is legal. I know it's listed in the site FAQ, and maybe someday I'll read it.

All I can say now is that I transferred last night's winnings to my bank account (via paypal) immediately, so FanDuel's hopes of giving away free games so people would spend their winnings on the site didn't work. Way too much luck involved for me.

[edabbs44]

I started this year and am playing a lot. Pretty addicting. Had a few big wins early and am still way ahead. I enjoy it.

[marcshoe]

I've been winning quite a bit lately, but it seems as if the lineups I have the least confidence in often finish the highest. Last night I thought I'd see how much luck was involved, so I entered a one dollar hundred-team league and made my picks completely randomly, not even seeing the names or dollar amounts. I had five hundred dollars in salary left over.

I finished 3rd.

[improbus]

I have no idea why this is legal. I know it's listed in the site FAQ, and maybe someday I'll read it.

All I can say now is that I transferred last night's winnings to my bank account (via paypal) immediately, so FanDuel's hopes of giving away free games so people would spend their winnings on the site didn't work. Way too much luck involved for me.

I was going to ask that too. What makes this any different than Online Poker? Skilled and knowledgeable players will almost always beat novices. But, there are enough random events to make anything possible.