Mike’s Drafting Plan

In our Best Ball+ product we give you rankings, analysis, theory, and much more. Most of that revolves around how and why we do things a certain way within our drafts. A question that seems to come up frequently is, “How many teams should I be drafting right now?” The answer is basically . . . it depends. Obviously, that’s not the answer people are looking for and it isn’t very helpful but it is hard to get too deep into the weeds during a Twitter or Discord conversation. Even in an audio or video podcast training session, it feels like a topic that is hard to properly evaluate. As such, I decided to write this piece to give you an idea of the ways that I go about drafting my Best Ball teams in terms of:

• What: Which tournaments on each site am I going to play?
• How: Fast drafts or slow? (and why?)
• When: When during the draft window (from the NFL Draft until the NFL season kicks off) am I drafting on specific sites, and in what contests?

Hopefully, by doing this, you can understand my thought process and approach based on my goals and allocated bankroll. Then, you can figure out your own goals and bankroll and tailor your approach in the best way possible to achieve your goals and keep your sanity. In my opinion, managing the time that drafting takes and keeping a wrap on your bankroll are the most challenging parts of playing Best Ball at a high level. It’s a lot of money to have tied up for several months, so I try to make sure I am calculated and cost-efficient in my approach by not making myself feel rushed late in the draft window and keeping myself from going in too deep, too early in the summer.

DRAFTERS

What: 

• I will max enter their $15 flagship tournament, “Drafters Million III NFL Best Ball Championship,” and I will also max enter their $2 “Mini” tournament. 
• If they create other tournaments, I will consider them depending on price point and release date.

How: 

• To complete 300 drafts, I’m putting in a lot of work. I’m consistently drafting throughout the draft window but not forcing it. I pay attention to any “Bonus” promotions they do and will take advantage of those as much as I can. For instance, they’ll sometimes do a “draft 5 teams this weekend and we will give you a free ticket for 1 team” promo or something like that. Last year, they also had monthly challenges in June and July. There is also an aspect of time that must be considered. I don’t want to do all of my drafts before August, but I also don’t want to get to August and need to force in 120 drafts in each contest. Last year, I had about 70 drafts completed in the “Million” and about 100 completed in the “Mini” by the first week in August. Like I said, I didn’t force it and somewhat let their promotions direct me. They had a June challenge where you got 2 tickets if you completed 25+ drafts during the month. I think I did around 30 in that month. They also had a July challenge where you were rewarded tickets based on how long of a “streak” you could have of drafting teams. The highest reward was 5 tickets for drafting 30 days in a row. They also had several “weekend challenges” where you got a free ticket for every 3 or 5 drafts you completed. Completing those “challenges” significantly improves your expected value as those free entries reduce your cost per entry.

• I also do a lot of slow drafts on Drafters to help me get my volume in. My approach to this last year was to almost always have between 12 and 20 slow drafts going at once. I do this for both contests, and the number that I have going is combined between the two. I start by entering a couple of slow drafts in one of the tournaments. Then, the next day I will enter a couple of slow drafts in the other tournament. I’ll continue this for a few days until I get a good number going and then just let it go. It probably sounds like a lot, but if you’ve got 10 to 15 minutes to check the site two or three times per day it’s not that tough. Usually, when you check, you will have two to five drafts that you are on the clock to pick or you are coming up within a couple of picks. When I check, I make my picks for the drafts I am up, and I will click on the drafts that I am within five picks of, so I can look at my team to that point, and what the draft looks like, so I can queue up guys who I’d want when I get up. That way when it does get to be my turn, I already have a good idea of what I want to do and can make the pick relatively quickly. Also, if for some reason I can’t get back to the site for my pick, then at least I know the pick will be roughly what I would have wanted it to be rather than a straight auto-draft.

• Eventually, drafts will begin to conclude. Every draft room is different, but the drafts generally take anywhere from 10 to 21 days to complete. For example, my team that took seventh last year began drafting on August 18th and finished on September 4th . . . about 17 days. After my initial wave of slow drafts, I try to enter new slow drafts when I finish one. This keeps my flow of drafts relatively steady, and when trying to do 300 drafts over four months, this is a critical part of the process. The “time suck” of drafting is very real and having a good system and routine for slow drafts helps you keep your sanity and stay sharp. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I would guess I did around 100 “slow drafts” last year out of my 300 total drafts. The clock is eight hours so honestly, if you check in the morning while you eat, take a quick look around lunchtime, and check before you go to bed, you can do it effectively and efficiently while only taking five to ten minutes at each turn to catch up on several drafts at once.

When: 

• My general target is to have around 25 drafts done in each contest by the end of May, another 25 done by the end of June, and another 25 done by the end of July. This will leave me with 75 drafts for each contest to complete from August 1 until the season kicks off on September 5th.

UNDERDOG

What: