Buffalo66 Offers $5000 Bonus For Winning “World Championship Challenge” & Title Belt
I've decided to take a personal risk, which I hope will bring some exposure to the daily fantasy sports industry.
I'm amazed to see how DFS has grown in the past few years. There is both a growing player base and growing prize pools. Players can now win more money in a week than I could in all of 2006 or 2007.
However, there is still no direct way to determine who is the best DFS player across all sports. This is one reason why I offered the Buffalo66 Challenge in the past.
Very few people considered my challenge. For some, it just doesn't matter. For others, there was really no financial incentive to take on the challenge.
Today that changes. Out of my own pocket, I will offer a $5000 bonus for anyone who can beat me in a challenge that will recognize the winner as the world champion of DFS.
The World Championship challenge will consist of 60 heads-up DFS contests, 12 in each of the following sports:
-baseball
-football
-basketball
-hockey
-auto racing
Buy-ins for each contest will range from $213-$270 each. Each contest will be a draft format, preventing contestants from having any roster duplication.
As an added bonus, I will also pay out of pocket to have a championship belt crafted, which will be awarded to the winner.
In order to win the $5000 bonus, you must beat me in at least 31 of the 60 contests. Ties do not count.
I will take on anyone who will accept this challenge. However, I can only take on one challenger. If I win the challenge I would be happy to defend my title against another challenger.
If nothing else, I'm hoping that this challenge will foster discussion necessary to bring high stakes, championship quality play to DFS. Perhaps this is a first step towards getting the contest sites to offer a true championship format.
I'm looking forward to a potential match up. Good luck to all!
-John “Buffalo66” Sullivan
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Nails In The Offshore Sportsbook Coffin
With this weekend's announcements of Bet Jamaica closing and The Greek leaving the USA market, most USA punters have almost no reliable options to bet sports online.
It's not just the ability to get money in and out of the offshore books. Now there are fewer "outs". This means fewer books to shop lines and fewer books to lay action when faced with bet limits.
This really leaves USA bettors with Las Vegas as their only legitimate option. And that puts sports betting out of reach for most of us.
Now that the NFL season in on schedule, I may be tempted to try Proline in Ontario.
In the meantime, it looks like daily fantasy sports will be my bottom bitch for the foreseeable future. (Do you know what I am saying?)
Speaking of DFS, I have a pretty big announcement coming soon. Stay tuned.
It's not just the ability to get money in and out of the offshore books. Now there are fewer "outs". This means fewer books to shop lines and fewer books to lay action when faced with bet limits.
This really leaves USA bettors with Las Vegas as their only legitimate option. And that puts sports betting out of reach for most of us.
Now that the NFL season in on schedule, I may be tempted to try Proline in Ontario.
In the meantime, it looks like daily fantasy sports will be my bottom bitch for the foreseeable future. (Do you know what I am saying?)
Speaking of DFS, I have a pretty big announcement coming soon. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Fantasy Sports Contests Should Not Be Popularity Contests
I have two basic points to make, both of which illustrate that the daily fantasy contest sites still don't get the big picture.
Recently, Fan Duel launched a survey about possible changes to their football scoring. Almost unanimously on RG, players commented that they would like to see the kicker position removed, since it was too difficult to project K scoring.
This is ridiculous thinking. Kickers decide NFL contests EVERY WEEK. Should they not also decide fantasy football contests?
Why not just remove the pitcher in fantasy baseball? That is a high variance roster spot.
There is a trend of dumbing down contest scoring to make it easier for the average player. Even on Draftstreet (which is my favorite place to play), the salary cap is too soft. You can afford too many studs and you are left with no difficult decisions to make.
I do understand where the contest sites stand on this. They want to appeal to the average Joe Sixpack fan, who thinks he has a fighting chance to win a large field event. And he does on most sites where the scoring has been simplified.
However, what the sites fail to see is that they are shunning their largest rake generators - players like me. I will spend regularly on high stakes contests, provided they have the appropriate skill level attached.
Who is worth more: Me throwing up $1k in entry fees a day, or 100 others throwing up $10 in entry fees a day. Over almost any time frame I'll still be around, while most of those other 100 players will have moved on from the site.
So listen up, contest sites: Add skill to your contests if you want high stakes action. It's really that simple.
Recently, Fan Duel launched a survey about possible changes to their football scoring. Almost unanimously on RG, players commented that they would like to see the kicker position removed, since it was too difficult to project K scoring.
This is ridiculous thinking. Kickers decide NFL contests EVERY WEEK. Should they not also decide fantasy football contests?
Why not just remove the pitcher in fantasy baseball? That is a high variance roster spot.
There is a trend of dumbing down contest scoring to make it easier for the average player. Even on Draftstreet (which is my favorite place to play), the salary cap is too soft. You can afford too many studs and you are left with no difficult decisions to make.
I do understand where the contest sites stand on this. They want to appeal to the average Joe Sixpack fan, who thinks he has a fighting chance to win a large field event. And he does on most sites where the scoring has been simplified.
However, what the sites fail to see is that they are shunning their largest rake generators - players like me. I will spend regularly on high stakes contests, provided they have the appropriate skill level attached.
Who is worth more: Me throwing up $1k in entry fees a day, or 100 others throwing up $10 in entry fees a day. Over almost any time frame I'll still be around, while most of those other 100 players will have moved on from the site.
So listen up, contest sites: Add skill to your contests if you want high stakes action. It's really that simple.
Monday, July 11, 2011
The Time Has Come for T$ In Daily Fantasy Sports
I've been reading a lot lately about some classic arguments in the daily fantasy sports world. These arguments are basically between the player and site owner/operators.
Argument #1: DFS is not a beatable game because the rake is too high. Bullshit. How do I know the game is beatable? Kaiseroll13, Primetime420, Fredotz23, etc. (Include me too, I've been profitable every year.) It's an indefensible retort, these guys have consistently crushed the games with a 10% rake.
I do think the rake should be reduced even though the game can be beaten at 10%. Rake should be similar to online poker which uses a 5% industry standard.
Argument #2: The rake in DFS is 10% because traffic and/or participation is not at a high enough level to support a 5% rake. Again, bullshit. The sites that run a higher rake are just making a cash grab, plain & simple. There are only a limited number of sites online and they'll stay with higher rake for as long as the market allows it.
Sites like Fantasy Factor and Fan Duel not only charge steep rake, but they also "dumb down" their contests by using simplistic rules. While this might be more user friendly to the novice, it's NOT attractive to a serious, profitable player.
So how can we find a middle ground? We need a way to lower the rake so more players can beat the game, or make their losses less of a burden on their bankroll. A new model is needed to help the operators rake in a less obvious manner.
What we need is T$ in daily fantasy sports.
For those of you that have not played online poker, T$ (tournament dollars) is money that can be spent on the site but cannot be cashed out. The two most popular methods of collecting T$ are:
-Turning in VPP/FT points for T$, or
-Winning a satellite to a bigger tournament and then unregister, thus getting the value of the buy-in in T$.
I do have to give credit to Draftstreet for offering vouchers for their street cred points. this is closest thing to T$ that DFS has right now.
However, we need some new models for the operators to present their product. Here are a few suggestions:
1) Monthly deposit bonuses in T$. This is a simple way to let the player know you are helping him out with the rake. Players can bonus whore to improve thier bankroll, but can't cash out the bonuses. This will hopefully put the player at higher stakes, eventually putting him/her in a position to generate more rake.
2) Allowing players to by T$ at reduced rake. Instead of paying $109 for a buy-in, I could buy a T$ voucher for $105. I end up getting a reduced rake on my buy-in and the site owner is guaranteed I will play a $100 level contest. This is win-win in my book.
3) I have mentioned this dozens of times before: ZOMG Holy Jesus Christ STEPS TOURNAMENTS Please! The site operators have no clue that this is the way to multi-rake players in a T$ format. Here's a quick example:
Step 1) 5-player $5 entry, winner gets $45 T$ entry into step 2.
Step 2) 5-player $45 entry, winner gets $205 T$ entry into step 3.
Step 3) 5-player $205 entry, winner gets $950.
The site gets to market the steps tourney as way to turn $5 into $950. They also get rake the T$ winners at each step.
As for a general view of the rake, I think the sites should rake the bejeezus out of the large field events, but for higher buy-ins or HU, they need to reduce the rake. I shouldn't be paying the same percentage of rake as a $5 game at the $200 level.
Hopefully the better sites will figure this out and it will help the industry as a whole. (Plus it will get Tippy to stop complaining.)
Argument #1: DFS is not a beatable game because the rake is too high. Bullshit. How do I know the game is beatable? Kaiseroll13, Primetime420, Fredotz23, etc. (Include me too, I've been profitable every year.) It's an indefensible retort, these guys have consistently crushed the games with a 10% rake.
I do think the rake should be reduced even though the game can be beaten at 10%. Rake should be similar to online poker which uses a 5% industry standard.
Argument #2: The rake in DFS is 10% because traffic and/or participation is not at a high enough level to support a 5% rake. Again, bullshit. The sites that run a higher rake are just making a cash grab, plain & simple. There are only a limited number of sites online and they'll stay with higher rake for as long as the market allows it.
Sites like Fantasy Factor and Fan Duel not only charge steep rake, but they also "dumb down" their contests by using simplistic rules. While this might be more user friendly to the novice, it's NOT attractive to a serious, profitable player.
So how can we find a middle ground? We need a way to lower the rake so more players can beat the game, or make their losses less of a burden on their bankroll. A new model is needed to help the operators rake in a less obvious manner.
What we need is T$ in daily fantasy sports.
For those of you that have not played online poker, T$ (tournament dollars) is money that can be spent on the site but cannot be cashed out. The two most popular methods of collecting T$ are:
-Turning in VPP/FT points for T$, or
-Winning a satellite to a bigger tournament and then unregister, thus getting the value of the buy-in in T$.
I do have to give credit to Draftstreet for offering vouchers for their street cred points. this is closest thing to T$ that DFS has right now.
However, we need some new models for the operators to present their product. Here are a few suggestions:
1) Monthly deposit bonuses in T$. This is a simple way to let the player know you are helping him out with the rake. Players can bonus whore to improve thier bankroll, but can't cash out the bonuses. This will hopefully put the player at higher stakes, eventually putting him/her in a position to generate more rake.
2) Allowing players to by T$ at reduced rake. Instead of paying $109 for a buy-in, I could buy a T$ voucher for $105. I end up getting a reduced rake on my buy-in and the site owner is guaranteed I will play a $100 level contest. This is win-win in my book.
3) I have mentioned this dozens of times before: ZOMG Holy Jesus Christ STEPS TOURNAMENTS Please! The site operators have no clue that this is the way to multi-rake players in a T$ format. Here's a quick example:
Step 1) 5-player $5 entry, winner gets $45 T$ entry into step 2.
Step 2) 5-player $45 entry, winner gets $205 T$ entry into step 3.
Step 3) 5-player $205 entry, winner gets $950.
The site gets to market the steps tourney as way to turn $5 into $950. They also get rake the T$ winners at each step.
As for a general view of the rake, I think the sites should rake the bejeezus out of the large field events, but for higher buy-ins or HU, they need to reduce the rake. I shouldn't be paying the same percentage of rake as a $5 game at the $200 level.
Hopefully the better sites will figure this out and it will help the industry as a whole. (Plus it will get Tippy to stop complaining.)
Friday, July 08, 2011
New "Summer of 2011" Buffalo66 Fantasy Sports Challenge
I've decided to offer another challenge to any of the hard core daily fantasy players out there.
For the remainder of the summer I will take on any player HU in the following format:
(10) $215 baseball contests, and
(10) $213 NASCAR contests.
Although I prefer snake/auto draft formats, I will agree to play salary cap. I would like to play the baseball on Draftstreet and the NASCAR on Fantasy Sports Live.
How about a Friday night baseball followed up by a Saturday NASCAR each week?
Contests must be above $200 buy-in, otherwise it's not worth my time.
I know everyone loves the large field these days, but anyone want to give it a shot?
For the remainder of the summer I will take on any player HU in the following format:
(10) $215 baseball contests, and
(10) $213 NASCAR contests.
Although I prefer snake/auto draft formats, I will agree to play salary cap. I would like to play the baseball on Draftstreet and the NASCAR on Fantasy Sports Live.
How about a Friday night baseball followed up by a Saturday NASCAR each week?
Contests must be above $200 buy-in, otherwise it's not worth my time.
I know everyone loves the large field these days, but anyone want to give it a shot?
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
So What's The Real Gamble?
Amarillo Slim, who's the butt of many jokes in the modern poker world, gave some sage advice in his book "Play Poker to Win": (I'm paraphrasing) If you're playing poker for money, make sure you will get paid if you win.
I wonder how many modern uber aggro internet pros heeded that advice. (BTW, get that book for the low ball section if you're a mixed games player.)
I bring this up because I've been considering many different projects over the last few months. Some are much more socially acceptable than others. However, judging which angles are the best to play can be very confusing.
Last year I started a restaurant operation in a local bar. Sales were good right out of the gate. However, I had a landlord that didn't honor our agreements, prohibiting growth. Since I was month to month (and not on a lease) it was an easier play shut down my operation and incur a small loss, rather than spend lots of cash to fight for a mild increase in sales.
I've had quite a few friends ask me why I'm not back in the restaurant business. Truthfully, my health just prohibits me from working 70 hour weeks anymore. I have looked for quality people to partner with, but it just hasn't come together.
I've worked online for years, dabbling in various activities such as ebay, poker, fantasy sports and internet marketing. I also have a strong business background and follow the financial markets daily.
I've considered trading currencies on Forex. Commodities also seem to interest me.
The main question I come up with is this: Is playing fantasy sports, Proline, horses or betting offshore actually a better play than gambling with Wall Street?
Currency (and stock exchanges) are very efficient markets with rather high vig. Battling cutting edge technologies and high frequency traders seem to make this a difficult proposition.
Having access to offshore sports books is difficult right now, but still possible. Getting paid is my only real concern here. This is why Proline is so attractive, payouts are guaranteed (although lines are often sub-optimal).
Fantasy sports and horses offer easy access and certain payouts. While both have been profitable for me I'm still apprehensive about risking large sums of money.
It seems that "investing" in Wall Street is the most socially acceptable activity, yet it appears to be the biggest sucker bet.
Which activity do you think is the best/worst gamble?
I wonder how many modern uber aggro internet pros heeded that advice. (BTW, get that book for the low ball section if you're a mixed games player.)
I bring this up because I've been considering many different projects over the last few months. Some are much more socially acceptable than others. However, judging which angles are the best to play can be very confusing.
Last year I started a restaurant operation in a local bar. Sales were good right out of the gate. However, I had a landlord that didn't honor our agreements, prohibiting growth. Since I was month to month (and not on a lease) it was an easier play shut down my operation and incur a small loss, rather than spend lots of cash to fight for a mild increase in sales.
I've had quite a few friends ask me why I'm not back in the restaurant business. Truthfully, my health just prohibits me from working 70 hour weeks anymore. I have looked for quality people to partner with, but it just hasn't come together.
I've worked online for years, dabbling in various activities such as ebay, poker, fantasy sports and internet marketing. I also have a strong business background and follow the financial markets daily.
I've considered trading currencies on Forex. Commodities also seem to interest me.
The main question I come up with is this: Is playing fantasy sports, Proline, horses or betting offshore actually a better play than gambling with Wall Street?
Currency (and stock exchanges) are very efficient markets with rather high vig. Battling cutting edge technologies and high frequency traders seem to make this a difficult proposition.
Having access to offshore sports books is difficult right now, but still possible. Getting paid is my only real concern here. This is why Proline is so attractive, payouts are guaranteed (although lines are often sub-optimal).
Fantasy sports and horses offer easy access and certain payouts. While both have been profitable for me I'm still apprehensive about risking large sums of money.
It seems that "investing" in Wall Street is the most socially acceptable activity, yet it appears to be the biggest sucker bet.
Which activity do you think is the best/worst gamble?
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