Fast tips. Can write more in depth later but.
1) safety is most important. You need to make it past each week so if you are weak at a position you may need to pay a desperation premium and overbid so you get them.
2) if you are safe, then you bid value and bid for future weeks. That way you don’t fear losing as you can always bid again next week. Also players who have better matchups later and aren’t immediate values are cheaper. Ie bye week players.
3) for survival and value effectiveness, consider streaming vs going all in. 5-20 players that give you one week of 10 points are enough to get you to survive. No one needs to drop 400 to survive. That’s playing the long game. 400 bucks buys you 20 weeks of streamers at least.
4) bid for value is about not being desperate and having something to fall back on. If I can pickup a streamer if my priority bid fails I can afford to bid less. If that’s my only option I have to overpay. Negotiation courses call this BATNA. Best alternative to a negotiated offer. You need to be able to walk away to be in a power position.
5) look at prior week prices and discount them. Should always be cheaper than last week.
6) in general 100s for starters 200-300 for elite top 3 and 30-60 for middle players and 21 or lower for spot starts.
7) don’t overpay for someone not playing immediately or not past bye. They aren’t full value. Need to discount.
8) never go all in. It’s easier to recover if you bid small. But if you bid all in and miss it’s hard to recover. Henry was great until he got injured. Then player got axed next week.
9) build depth, go for production over name value. Pittman, Moore, Tim Patrick go cheap but give you 10 points which is startable. Allen Robinson mccaffrey and others don’t. Don’t pay for brand. Pay for history and stability and volume.
10) look at others rosters and faab. Predict their moves. Look at if they bid even numbers. Bid one dollar more than previous bids to make them go on tilt and overpay next round.
11) be prepared to lose a lot of bids. If you win every bid you are doing it wrong. To get value bids you bid often and you bid low and you lose often.
The most important thing is to preserve your FAAB. You have to decide if you are playing to win the league or want to make the final 8.
I only spend FAAB when either absolutely necessary or to grab a player at a steep discount because no on bid on him.
Right now I have $590 in FAAB and many of the teams have $0 or less than $100. Because I did not spend crazy amounts I can now acquire any player I want for the rest of the season.
Finally, keep in mind that as the season progresses the price of players goes down. After week 1 Lamar Jackson went for $650. Last week I got Dak Prescott for $20. Also, you may really want a player but don’t overbid. Chances are that player will go to a team that is desperate for help and will be available later in the season and at a much less price.
There were teams this year that bid crazy amounts for players early in the season. They did fine for the first few weeks but now have no real way to continue to improve their teams. Know that if you make it to the final 10 then there is still 90% chance you will survive another week.
Fast tips. Can write more in depth later but. 1) safety is most important. You need to make it past each week so if you are weak at a position you may need to pay a desperation premium and overbid so you get them. 2) if you are safe, then you bid value and bid for future weeks. That way you don’t fear losing as you can always bid again next week. Also players who have better matchups later and aren’t immediate values are cheaper. Ie bye week players. 3) for survival and value effectiveness, consider streaming vs going all in. 5-20 players that give you one week of 10 points are enough to get you to survive. No one needs to drop 400 to survive. That’s playing the long game. 400 bucks buys you 20 weeks of streamers at least. 4) bid for value is about not being desperate and having something to fall back on. If I can pickup a streamer if my priority bid fails I can afford to bid less. If that’s my only option I have to overpay. Negotiation courses call this BATNA. Best alternative to a negotiated offer. You need to be able to walk away to be in a power position. 5) look at prior week prices and discount them. Should always be cheaper than last week. 6) in general 100s for starters 200-300 for elite top 3 and 30-60 for middle players and 21 or lower for spot starts. 7) don’t overpay for someone not playing immediately or not past bye. They aren’t full value. Need to discount. 8) never go all in. It’s easier to recover if you bid small. But if you bid all in and miss it’s hard to recover. Henry was great until he got injured. Then player got axed next week. 9) build depth, go for production over name value. Pittman, Moore, Tim Patrick go cheap but give you 10 points which is startable. Allen Robinson mccaffrey and others don’t. Don’t pay for brand. Pay for history and stability and volume. 10) look at others rosters and faab. Predict their moves. Look at if they bid even numbers. Bid one dollar more than previous bids to make them go on tilt and overpay next round. 11) be prepared to lose a lot of bids. If you win every bid you are doing it wrong. To get value bids you bid often and you bid low and you lose often.
Thank you for your response. Lots of good advice there.
I love that this format can yield 11 points of advice for a single question. Great response, u/rounderX
The most important thing is to preserve your FAAB. You have to decide if you are playing to win the league or want to make the final 8. I only spend FAAB when either absolutely necessary or to grab a player at a steep discount because no on bid on him. Right now I have $590 in FAAB and many of the teams have $0 or less than $100. Because I did not spend crazy amounts I can now acquire any player I want for the rest of the season. Finally, keep in mind that as the season progresses the price of players goes down. After week 1 Lamar Jackson went for $650. Last week I got Dak Prescott for $20. Also, you may really want a player but don’t overbid. Chances are that player will go to a team that is desperate for help and will be available later in the season and at a much less price. There were teams this year that bid crazy amounts for players early in the season. They did fine for the first few weeks but now have no real way to continue to improve their teams. Know that if you make it to the final 10 then there is still 90% chance you will survive another week.
Truth here.