Depositing cash is easy, and done with Paypal, Visa, Mastercard, or Amex. I'm pretty sure they have a money-back guarantee if something crazy happens, and I've seen nothing but good reviews on payouts. Turns out, daily fantasy isn't the same as organized sports betting in the eyes of Uncle Sam.
After signing up with a modest amount of dough, I'm let loose into this website and felt my head start spinning:
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| The business end of FanDuel. |
Nice, clean website with quality coding. Each page loads quickly, and the current number of entrants tends to update very quickly.
So, once you get here, it's time to join a game. There are a few different varieties of games:
50/50 - The best type in my opinion. Pick a team and take on other players to see who can pick an above-average team. If the league has 20 players, the top ten double their money (minus the rake). Simple, yet effective.
Head-to-Head - You can either pick a match-up or offer a match-up based on the sport, time and prize money. The site will then fill out most open match-ups, or you can just choose who you want to play against. User names are seen on these, so for those who want to play against 1ucror or Condia, this is the best way to get it done. Also, playing friends head to head for cash sounds freaking awesome.
Tournaments - These are the best "buy-in-to-winnings" ratio games available on FanDuel. Unfortunately, since you're playing against large amounts of players, the top 10% or so make money while the rest lose out. If you feel like you know some true sleepers, a tournament lineup with a few home run hitters could land you a lot of cash for a little bit of capital. Obviously, more losses will occur in tournaments, so mediocre teams have no chance of winning. Go big or go home in tournaments.
Winner-take-alls - Simply put, the winner takes all the money. Some winner-take-all games have five players, some ten, some a random number, but the pay-out is sweet for the winner. A winner of a $5, 10-team winner-take-all nets $45! I'd be willing to put five dollars each week on my fantasy team being the best of ten people, and it seems like a great way to have weekly fantasy with your friends instead of a year-long league.
Double-up, Triple-up, Quadruple-ups - These are tourneys set up to allow the winners to double, triple, or quadruple their entry fees. There are more players than in 50/50 or winner-take-alls, but the payout is truly double, triple or quadruple AFTER the rake.
All games at the low buy-in level have a 10% rake. For example, winning a $1 Head-to-Head would net you 80 cents ($1 buy-in plus $1 for victory equals $2, but with a 10% rake you get $1.80). This is obviously pretty standard in betting of all types. I find it pretty acceptable to spend a small amount to keep the website up and running in quality fashion. I've also heard the big games have a smaller rake, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.)
Some games take place over specific time periods, like Sunday-only NFL or late-night NBA. Most leagues are just one day, so you can do research on one day's worth of games as opposed to a full season. Forget trying to guess 16 weeks of NFL, just get one week right and you're in the money.
I started with some late-night NBA, and you're given a list of games to choose players from. Each game is salary-cap based, so you start with, say, $65k, and each player costs an amount relative to their scoring potential. High point scorers are given the highest salary, and bargains can be found when those big names are hurt.
Obviously, you can't just play the best players in the NBA each night. Players like Kevin Durant cost around $10k, so you'll end up needing to fill out the roster with sleepers and bench players.
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| A line-up selection screen on FanDuel for Thanksgiving NFL games. Note the price difference between Peyton and Philip Rivers, or Jamaal Charles and Matt Forte. |
After setting your lineup, you can change the lineup any time before the tournament starts. This helps you make sure that if you make a mistake, you can change it quickly and not get burned.
When you fill out a lineup, you can choose to play your lineup in other games if you think it's an ultimate team. Some users choose to play many different lineups, but I'm cool with one good one. Choosing different opponents will probably lead to a better range of results.
Rules and scoring are very similar to a "standard league" in fantasy terms. Bonuses for yardage are not included as far as I know, so the scoring is pure. The NFL scoring includes half a point per reception, so make sure to think in PPR terms. The rules and scoring page is a pretty good read, and can be seen here.
So, since I've won a few and lost a few, I'm sitting on a similar bankroll to where I started. Here's hoping that with time, effort, and experience, I can turn my small victories into larger wins and begin my run to become the next Condia. Who is Condia? Just sit in the chat room for a few seconds, or click that link. Basically, Condia is the guy playing tons of games and moving a bunch of money in these sites every day. Some think he's a robot, others think he's the man, but he sure does win a lot.
If you feel like giving FanDuel a try, here's a link to sign up. Come find me (username: siderealdaze) and see if you can take my money!
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