DFS 101: The Beginner’s Guide To FanDuel
Now that we’ve gone over the basics of DFS and you have a general understanding of why it’s the greatest thing to ever happen to fantasy football (Have I succeeded in trying to program your mind yet?), let’s start getting into more of the specifics of the big three DFS sites. First up: FanDuel.
The Basics of FanDuel
If you’re new to FanDuel, you can start by playing in Beginner Contests. These contests are only available to players who have entered 50 contests or less, regardless of when they registered and set up their account. More experienced players are not allowed to play which will allow you to get up to speed at your own pace while playing against others with similar experience levels. These contests are labeled and are easy to find.
FanDuel offers a friends mode where you can play against your friends all season long and track the standings. This is a fun way to play DFS with your redraft league mates. Learn more here.
Clear contest entry limits have been set to put a cap on the amount of lineups one user can enter into a single contest. This has been done to help maintain a competitive balance for all involved. The entry caps vary by contest:
- Single entry contests – Just as the name states, only one entry is allowed
- Capped contests – The amount of entries allowed will be clearly stated. Depending on the specific contest, this could be two, three, five, or even 10 entries per player.
- Multi entry contests – At times, these contests allow players to submit a lot of lineups. However, there are still limits. The current entry limits are as follows:
Experienced players are now designated on the website with either an “Experienced” icon or a “Highly Experienced” icon. This will allow you to see beforehand whether you’ll be going up against one or more experienced players and help you decide whether you ultimately want to enter that contest or not.
The rules and details of every possible contest are clearly defined. Information such as the entry cost, number of entrants, specific games (slate) involved in the contest, scoring system, prize pool (how many people get paid), and payout structure (how much the winners win) are all available in advance of every contest. This allows you to do some research before deciding on which contests to enter. In order to find all of this information, simply click on the name of a contest and it will all pop up for you. There is even a tool bar that contains info, entries, prizes, and enter sections at the top that allows you to sort through all of the information.
Roster Requirements and Scoring System
- You’re given a $60,000 salary cap which equates out to about $6,667 per player.
- You must fill a starting lineup that consists of 1QB, 2RBs, 3WRs, 1TE, 1K, and 1D.
- Every player involved in the slate (games within the contest you enter) are available to you.
- Every player costs a certain dollar amount. The most expensive (generally considered to be the best) players at each position cost way more then $6,667 and the cheapest (generally considered to be the worst) players at each position cost way less than $6,667.
- You must complete your lineup while staying under the $60,000 salary cap budget.
- You may not pick more than 4 players from the same team.
- You must pick players from at least 3 different teams to fill out your roster.
- Lineups lock when the first game involved in a contest starts. No more changes to your roster can be made at that point.
- The NFL FanDuel scoring system is as follows:
- Notable scoring settings:
- 0.5 PPR AKA Half PPR
- 4 points per TD pass
- Only -1 point per INT
Feel free to hit me up on twitter @BenCumminsFF if you have any questions and stay tuned for similar breakdowns of DraftKings and Draft.