FanDuel DFS Strategy Guide 2024
Building a DFS FanDuel lineup can be challenging at first. There are so many players to choose from. Staying under the salary cap while making a solid roster takes time and effort. Yet, as with any other endeavor, the first step is understanding the basics.
FanDuel DFS is a peer-to-peer game. Like in poker, you are playing against other contestants in tournaments for a prize pool of entry fees.
This contrasts with traditional sports betting, where you play against the house. You have a better chance of beating casual sports fans than sportsbooks, making FanDuel DFS a great choice.
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Related: Delve into the action with our in-depth NFL Predictions.
FanDuel DFS Values and Strategy
The first thing to understand is that FanDuel DFS is similar to a season-long fantasy concept. Many of us have played in casual fantasy football leagues with friends, family, and coworkers.
The game is close, except that it functions on a daily rather than a season-long basis. It doesn't matter what happened last week; each week of NFL DFS is a new one on FanDuel.
Prize pools are way more significant than in casual season-long leagues. Another key difference is that there is a salary cap.
DFS players may roster the same quarterback on any given NFL week. Yet, one must play a lineup that stays under the set FanDuel salary cap. Jamming in the best fantasy team under the salary cap is where much of the skill lies.
Your roster accrues points to beat the competition by the positive stats your players rack up. This would include, in NFL terms, receptions, receiving yards, passing yards, touchdowns, rushing yards, etc.
The goal for winning first place is to have the team with the most statistical production, leading to the highest fantasy point score. This is not true of just NFL and is the case with any other sport offered by FanDuel.
FanDuel and Chalkboard
Social gaming app Chalkboard has taken the DFS community by storm. Through this innovative platform, players can link their FanDuel accounts and share their DFS picks either with their group of friends or the community at large.
After you’ve synchronized your FanDuel account with Chalkboard, you will get access to unique value propositions. One of the most popular features is the group channels, which promote constant communication between you and your team members. There are thousands of communities that you can join on Chalkboard, so even if your friends are not into fantasy sports, you are likely to find fellow fantasy sports enthusiasts there.
Then, once you’ve made your picks, tune into the game hubs, which allow you to follow your favorite teams play-by-play. Also, the pick tracker is superb, permitting you to see how your chosen players are faring, and whether they are likely to meet the goal that you need them to meet for your predictions to be successful.
Last, but not least, you can also check Chalkboard Streaks, the app’s real money contest where you can make up to 50x your entry fee, capped at $1,000.
FanDuel NFL Strategy Guide
Since NFL is the most popular FanDuel DFS sport by a considerable margin, we'll look at NFL strategy here. Since the prize pools are the biggest and the interest is the highest, NFL is often the first DFS sport new players get into.
Your number one concern in NFL daily fantasy on FanDuel is to predict the fantasy point output of the players. This is only possible to do using some form of a statistical model.
This is why you must obtain a good set of player projections for any FanDuel DFS slate you are playing. Free options are available, and better ones can be obtained at a cost.
Another main concern is the correlation in your lineups. In football, fantasy production for one player often leads to the same for another and vice versa.
If your quarterback throws for a touchdown, a wide receiver, tight end, or running back will also be gaining fantasy points for that score. If a running back were to run one in, the quarterback and his other pass catchers are not getting fantasy points.
Lastly, since you and other DFSers are playing against each other in these contests, differentiating your lineups from others matters. This is where ownership comes into play. You will want to consider how highly-owned your players are, particularly in combination.
Quality ownership projections available throughout the industry will likely be more accurate than your assumptions. Yet, if you do not have access to them, you will still want to use common sense. Ensure that your lineup is not too "chalky" (high-owned) in large-field NFL contests on FanDuel.
NFL DFS Picks, Stacks, MNF Advice, NFL DFS Strategy, and NFL DFS Lineup Advice
It would be easy for any reasonably knowledgeable NFL fan to pick the best players each week. Where FanDuel DFS becomes more complicated is that you have to stay under the salary cap. You also have to consider player ownership and differentiation from the field.
It is essential to consider the ownership of your plays and their pricing. Arguably, if not definitely, the most critical skill in DFS is identifying pricing inefficiencies and undervalued players. By finding the diamonds in the rough, we can roster the big superstars and stay under the salary cap.
In any DFS tournament of reasonable size, playing a stack in your lineup is all but necessary in most instances. "Stacking" in NFL DFS means, at minimum, playing your quarterback with one of his pass catchers.
From there, you may play two pass catchers or even three in some cases. You'll often also "run it back" with an opposing player.
Say you stack the Detroit Lions, and they are playing Minnesota; you'll want a Minnesota Viking on the other side. If the game shoots out, a good portion of your roster is already highly likely to succeed by that single condition.
To quote one of the greatest DFS players of all time, Alex "Awesemo" Baker, "I think that having a player on the opposing team from your quarterback helps because fantasy scoring slows down a lot unless both teams at the end are putting up points."
The strategy is slightly different when playing Monday Night Football and other single-game showdown slates. You need to get very different for your lineup not to be massively duplicated and have a good chance of rising to the top. This is all the more true on FanDuel than on DraftKings due to the FanDuel single-game format.
More intricate strategies in NFL DFS include secondary stacking and digging deeper into how to consider ownership and differentiation best. One might use another mini-game stack on top of their primary.
For instance, rostering a Denver Bronco on the other side of a Kansas City Chiefs player in a game that looks to shoot out. This way, you are in great shape if both of your game stacks hit.
In terms of ownership and differentiation, it is essential to stay moderate. You can have a lot of high-owned players in your tournament lineups. There is likely a reason they are highly regarded on any given DFS slate.
It is imperative to consider the overall ownership of your roster. Two to three lower-owned plays may be all you need to gain leverage over the field.
Fantasy Football Today
Today's fantasy football landscape is more attractive than ever. DFS is booming with the addition of single-game showdown formats. Prize pools are more significant than ever. More attention is coming to the sports gambling space as more and more states legalize online sportsbooks.
Even season-long fantasy football has achieved greater ubiquity by adding the trendy Best Ball format to some DFS sites. No matter what you are into, now is an excellent time to get involved with fantasy football and DFS on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings.
FanDuel Promo Codes
FanDuel Sportsbook is offering some very generous promos going into 2023. They give away a whopping $2,500 back in free bets if you don't win your first bet. FanDuel Casino also offers up to $1,000 in free bonuses within 24 hours of signing up.
FanDuel Fantasy Promo Codes
FanDuel Fantasy is giving away $10 for your first $1 contest entry. Hey, every cent counts in the challenging world of sports gambling. This is in addition to ongoing perks and promos offered to regular users of the FanDuel DFS platform.
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