10 for Friggin 10

I played ten fantasy NBA contests at FanDuel on Saturday and – pardon my French – but I went 10-for-friggin-10. That’s right. All winners. And if you think I’m bragging, you are correct.

I’m a newcomer to fantasy basketball, but I have this irrational notion that I can earn a living doing so. I’ve been conducting research, learning by trial-and-error, and experimenting for a good two weeks now – and Saturday was my first shake-down cruise.

I played four types of contests:

• 50/50 – In my opinion, this is the best opportunity to win day in and day out. To win, all you have to do is beat half of the players. For example, if there are 100 players, you have to beat 50 of them and finish in the top 50 to collect. If you win and, for instance play for $5, you would collect $9 – which represents an 80% return on investment. FanDuel retains 20% of the transaction – which is how they earn a profit.

• Double Up – This is where you can double your money if you win. To win, you have to beat 56% of the other players For example, if there are 100 players, you have to beat 56 players and finish in the top 44 to win. If you win and, for instance play for $5, you would collect $10 – which represents a 100% return on investment. Once again, FanDuel retains 20% of the transaction.

• League with 100 players – This is a higher risk-to-reward contest. To win, you have to beat 88% of the competition and finish in the top 12. So that’s the higher risk. The higher reward kicks in thanks to a graduated payout formula. If you win and, for instance play for $5, you would collect the following amounts depending upon where you finished:

10th thru 12th place pays $15.
7th thru 9th place pays $20.
6th place pays $25.
5th place pays $30.
4th place pays $40.
3rd place pays $50.
2nd place pays $75.
1st place pays $125.

• Tournament – More high-risk, high-reward contests with guaranteed prizes. The number of players can range from around 20 up into 1,000s of players. Your payoffs can range from $10 or $15 up into the $1,000s.

(I used $5 as the betting base in all of the examples above to be consistent. But you can play from $1 per contest up to $50,000 per contest. Between you and me, I’ll never be one of those extravagant rollers. I’m a $5 to $25 player – at least for the time being.)

On Saturday, as previously mentioned, I played all four of these types of contests and won them all. I not only won, but – much to my pleasant surprise – I crushed the competition. Here are my 10 finishes:

9/100
8/56
5/568
4/100
3/100
3/100
1/56
1/100
1/100
1/568

That’s right, I finished first in 4 out of the 10 contests. Unbelievable.

For those of you unfamiliar with fantasy basketball, you can win a contest once in while by scoring in the high 200s. If you hit 300, you’ll almost always be in the running.

Check out my startling scores:

319.1
319.1
324.0
329.3
329.3
331.5
338.1
338.1
338.1
351.2

I never scored like that before – topping out at 351.2 – and don’t know if I ever will again. Draymond Green put me over the top on that one with an amazing 77.4 points. But for that one night, at least, the adrenalin was rushing as the scores and the winnings kept soaring.

For a buddy of mine, one Denton Ballough – aka “The Walrus” – I’m posting the six lineups I used that night: