FanDuel Bankroll Builder: Unrelated Musings About Saving DFS and #YOLO Kicker Choices
A few weeks ago -- when FanDuel officially pulled out (I'm proud of FanDuel for practicing safe DFS) of New York State -- I left off with a 71% ROI on the season, turning $1,000 into $1,713.90 in seven weeks. Since there is currently no building of bankroll to be done, I'm going to haphazardly fill this space by talking about pretty much whatever.
FSTA Petition
Do petitions work? What's the actual success rate on petitions? Are they cash game viable, or GPP-only options? The hell if I know. What I do know is I like DFS, I want to continue to be able to play DFS, and this petition from our friends at the Fantasy Sports Trade Association has been floating around that aims to save DFS. I didn't sign it because I believe in petitions. I signed it because if DFS was banned, I'd feel guilty for not signing the petition. Guilt is a strong motivator. I wrote that last sentence before I did this Google search to confirm that it really was. Here's a link that says that it is. I'm not sure if that site is even reputable, but it allowed me to indulge in confirmation bias, so there's that. Anyway, if DFS is banned and you haven't signed the petition, you might feel guilty too. Or you might not. But do you really want to find out?
Here's what the petition says:
Every year 50 million Americans play fantasy sports. I am one of them. For millions of Americans like me, fantasy sports has become an important way of life. It’s about the community, the competition, and the love of the game. Ask anyone who plays and they’ll tell you the same thing: they do this because they love it. I personally oppose any measure that would move to take away that experience by restricting paid fantasy sports. And to anyone looking to end this game I say: Let us play!
Not quite Shakespearian there, but it gets the job done.
Oh and guys, peep the fine print: "By signing this petition, you agree to periodic email updates regarding the fantasy sports regulatory environment." If you don't want those email updates, be sure to sign up with your junk email address. You know, the one you used to subscribe to those shady sites (guys) or receive those never-ending Steve Madden coupons (gals).
F&$#@!% Kickers
FanDuel is the only DFS site with kickers. I think it's a brilliant marketing ploy. Whenever users have a bad week, they have a scapegoat. Saying to yourself "my kicker missed two extra points, destroying what little confidence the coaching staff had left in him, and leading them to attempt two-point conversions for the rest of the game" is a lot easier than saying to yourself "I suck at DFS and maybe am in need of intervention".
Here's the secret: listen to no one about kickers. No one knows anything. In fact, of the 13 kickers in winning Sunday Million lineups this season, nine have been owned under 5%. Check out the table below:
| Week | K Own % |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3.3 |
| 2 | 20.3 |
| 3 | 10.8 |
| 4 | 3.3 |
| 5 | 7.9 |
| 6 | 2.6 |
| 7 | 1.4 |
| 8 | 1.6 |
| 9 | 3.5 |
| 10 | 1.7 |
| 11 | 5.8 |
| 12 | 4.3 |
| 13 | 2.3 |
| Avg. | 5.3 |
A kicker in a winning FanDuel Sunday Million lineup has not been owned more than 6% since Week 5. So heed the data's advice: go contrarian at kicker. That way, when you inevitably don't win $500k (or whatever prize FanDuel is giving out now that they aren't running games in New York; I told you you need to sign the petition!), you'll have no one to blame but yourself.
