How does FanDuel work? Tips, strategies, and guides for the DFS NFL season

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How does FanDuel work? Tips, strategies, and guides for the DFS NFL season image

The NFL season has arrived, and with it comes the largest prize pools in daily fantasy football history. Single-entry tournaments and 50/50's are important for a well-rounded DFS portfolio, but during Week 1 of the NFL season we're all just trying to become a millionaire, am I right? Fortunately we have the FanDuel Sunday Million, with a $5,000,000 prize pool and a top prize of $1,000,000.

After each week we'll use this column to analyze the winning lineups from a couple large tournaments (also called GPP's) and glean some tips and advice for the future one-week contests. We'll focus this first article on 10 daily fantasy football strategies for large-field tournaments. In order to beat 229,884 other entrants, you'll need to differentiate yourself from the pack, so consider this your cheat sheet for figuring out ways to be intentionally different but still effective.

MORE: Find out how FanDuel worksWeek 1 cash-game lineup | Week 1 GPP lineup

10 tips for winning in FanDuel contests and tournaments

1) Be less contrarian than MLB: As we transition from baseball, it's important to know that we don't need to be as contrarian in NFL DFS. Barring injury, players like Antonio Brown & Jamaal Charles are not going to score zero or negative points, which is a very real possibility any night we pay up for Mike Trout or Bryce Harper in baseball. Be different but not crazy, and surround your preferred plays with one or two picks that differentiate. (Related: See No. 8)

2) Don't use your entire salary: Just as in real life, it's human nature to want to spend your entire budget; however, leaving one or two thousand dollars on the table is quite possibly the easiest way to build a unique and competitive lineup. Obviously, it makes the most sense when you're submitting more that one entry to a multi-entry tournament.

3) Select players priced similarly to popular plays: For instance, in Week 1, Andre Ellington is more expensive than Frank Gore & Justin Forsett, and an extra $700 allows for an upgrade to Marshawn Lynch, Eddie Lacy, DeMarco Murray, or Jeremy Hill. Ellington is too expensive compared to his peers and, as such, likely won't have as high an ownership level. So, if you buy him, you differentiate yourself from the pack, as you have a lesser-owned player with upside. (Please note I am not necessarily recommending Ellington and likely won't own him, but I'm using him as an example)

4) Not all lineups have to "look" like winners: Continuing with the example from No. 3, any of the above names would sound much better in a lineup over Ellington. However, this is also likely the mindset of your opponents, so be different by submitting a lineup that isn't always your favorite. Pairing a QB and WR from Denver, Green Bay, or Philadelphia will feel good before kickoff, but Ryan Tannehill and Jarvis Landry could just as easily be on the winning roster. However, be careful about selecting an entire roster with fringe players. While you want to be different, the odds of an entire team of long shots performing well during the same week is pretty low.

5) Limit exposure to popular value plays: Davante Adams at $5500 is simply going to be one of the highest-owned players during Week 1 -- and for good reason. If salaries were reconstructed after being set weeks ago, Adams' price would probably increase the most. You're going to want to take advantage of this mispricing in your cash games (head-to-head & 50/50's), but large-scale, million-dollar-type GPP tournaments are a different animal. Fading (i.e. not using) Adams in at least half of your GPP entries feels like a good way to get ahead of the field should Adams underperform -- which could also simply be Randall Cobb outperforming him, thus hogging all the Packers' WR points.

Now let's take a look at some general strategies for roster construction, with maximizing points & profitability the focus instead of simply being different.

Editor's note: The Sporting News Football Championship is coming! Hosted by FanDuel, this exclusive event will feature 10 weeks of qualifiers, culminating in a FREE Week 11 Final with $20,000 in prizes. Sign up now! 

6) Seek positive player correlation: The obvious example is a QB/WR combo, where you're hoping for both to score on the same play. Aaron Rodgers, Jordy Nelson, & Randall Cobb were perhaps the most popular "stack" last year and were on quite a few winning GPP rosters. Less common player correlations include paring a RB and DEF, with the thinking that a good defensive effort will produce turnovers, perhaps on a short field, and subsequently give the team a lead, which generally results in more use of the ground game.

7) Reduce/eliminate negative player correlation: Generally speaking you don't want to roster a RB and QB from the same team, nor do you want to pair the RB with his WR teammate. (A running back heavily involved in the passing attack would be an exception.) A running back will generally need a lot of touches to accumulate a large amount of points, which obviously reduces the upside of his teammates. To win a large GPP, we're looking for heavy individual volume from almost every player, so avoid teammates who will negatively affect one another.

8) Rotate kicker & defense: When submitting multiple entries in GPP, simply changing the kicker and/or defense surrounding your core players is a great strategy. Often, we build other entries with a completely new set of players, allowing us for a Plan B; however, as your portfolio of players increases in size, your potential winnings subsequently decreases. Using a common core is more of a boom-or-bust strategy, but don't feel you must totally revamp a lineup when multi-entering.

9) Also enter single-entry tournaments: Having multiple teams in the Sunday Million is an excellent idea if your bankroll allows; however, also be sure to enter single-entry tournaments, as well as 50/50's. While 20 percent of the field will cash in the Sunday Million, you must finish in the top 13 percent just to double your entry fe  and need to finish better that 91 percent of the field to yield a higher return than double. Meanwhile, you only need to finish in the top 44 percent of a 50/50 game to return the same as you would finishing in the top nine-13 percent in the Sunday Million. Make sure to have exposure to all different types of contests. Game selection is crucial to maintaining your bankroll.

10) Be careful during an unpredictable Week 1: Each NFL season brings a new identity for many teams, and Week 1 is very informative. First and foremost, I'd recommend not to overextend your bankroll  during possibly the most unpredictable week of the season. (I'm struggling with this myself.) However, this unpredictability brings opportunity in deviating from the popular plays in tournaments. There are so many unanswered questions surrounding new players: Will a cheap Matt Jones carry the workload in Washington? Will the hype surrounding Ameer Abdullah increase his ownership too much? How large are the roles of impact rookies Amari Cooper and Melvin Gordon? The entire fantasy community will know a lot more after Week 1, so take advantage of the opportunity, but make sure your bankroll is still around for Week 2.

Next week we'll analyze the winning lineup in the $25 NFL Sunday Million and compare it to a winning lineup in a single-entry tournament. Best of luck this weekend -- hopefully it's your lineup that we dissect next week.  

MORE: Win big on FanDuel | SN Fantasy DFS

Sporting News contributor maddox2 has been playing Daily Fantasy Sports for two years and was a finalist in the 2015 Playboy Basketball Championship. When not tending to his full-time job in Finance, he's grinding DFS all year long in the three major sports. Follow him @maddox2DFS on Twitter.

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