I Have To Give DraftStreet Credit When Credit Is Due

Although I haven't been playing any fantasy lately, I've been scouting out places to get some draft match-ups.

Several of the major fantasy sites don't even offer draft games, so it's a limited pool for those types of contests.

While checking out Draftstreet, I noticed that their largest buy-in games are $420 for an $800 prize pool. This means they are the first contest site to offer 5% rake on any buy-in over $1.

I really feel that 5% SHOULD be an industry standard for HU high stakes games. It takes the same amount of resources to run a $420 game as it does to run an $11 game.

Some sites rake 20% on their largest tourneys - and I'm OK with that. I usually pass those up, but I personally feel the sites can rake the large fields as high as they want.

Those of you who visit regularly know I don't feel great about the way Draftstreet treated me in the past. But I readily admit they offer great games with deep rosters and scoring tables.

I may be giving them another chance, if I can get action at those stakes.

What Happened In Vegas Isn't Staying There

It's been an adjustment settling back in Buffalo after my extended trip to Las Vegas. While the winter has been very mild, I enjoyed the warm weather out west.

I took about 25% of my fantasy bankroll with me to use for sports betting. I finished down a few hundred, including all I spent on food & drink. My deficit can be directly attributed to my losing Super Bowl wager.

Although I excel in fantasy football, I have a shoddy history wagering on NFL. I won't rehash the game again, but my bet was strictly a "fade the public" play. It was obvious the books were steering public money to the Giants.

The two weeks in Vegas was sort of an epiphany for me. When my time there was up, I realized I had finally found my sports betting groove. I enjoy the numbers aspect of it - handicapping the games, following the line moves and calculating bet sizes.

I realized on my way home that I should be spending more time with this area of the sports market. Since then I've rededicated myself to finding ways to place the occasional wager. Results have been positive thus far.

I'm setting a benchmark of success that would precipitate a return to Vegas. I did want to return for March Madness but I'll probably give myself a larger sample size before going back.

Just to be clear, I'm in no way abandoning my fantasy play. Even though there are more functioning contest sites than ever, there are still only a few decent places to play. The lack of high dollar tournaments (until baseball) will probably have me looking for a few matchups in NASCAR and NHL.

If you want to follow (or fade) my picks you can find them on my twitter page.

Stacking Is Directly Related to The Scoring Table

This is something I thought about on the plane ride back from Vegas.

The stacking strategy in daily fantasy sports is mostly successful in hockey and baseball, while unsuccessful in football and basketball. Why?

Simply put, it's the way the contests are scored.

In NFL or NBA, players can contribute mightily in a losing effort. Kobe gonna get his on most nights. MJD or Rob Bironas could win you big bucks, even if their team was blown out 44-18.

In the other sports, the scoring tables discourage parity, thus encouraging stacking.

If your NHL player is on the bad end of a 5-0 shutout, his only potential for scoring positive fantasy points are shots on goal & penalty minutes.

At Fan Duel, it takes 10 SOG to equal the fantasy points for scoring a even strength goal. That doesn't happen very often.

Also, scoring for PIMs was cut 50% on Fan Duel. This is a double whammy because fighting and misconducts are down over 25% this season.

Even if your players racked up those stats, his +/- in the loss probably negated any gains.

Over in MLB, a similar scenario occurs. If your hitter is facing a 9-0 deficit, his team is less likely to play small ball (sacrifice and steal bases). It's more likely subs will play meaningful innings at that point.

I will say that stacking suits baseball the best because there is the highest chance of lopsided games. That's just based on probability, as they have the highest volume regular season.

If fantasy sites want to remove stacking from the game, they need to develop scoring formulas with more depth. BB by a pitcher is poor defense, but it's not scored some places. Errors aren't scored on any of the major sites. Strikeouts are unproductive outs for hitters, so are GIDP.

In hockey, you could easily add hits, blocked shots and faceoffs won to the table. Also shootout goals would be a fun touch.

The sites have a balancing act between making the games easy to play for newbies and keeping their top rake generators happy. However, the more they make their big money contests like a lotto ticket, the less likely I'll be playing.