Sonic’s MME Pool 9.24
Sonic is a Milly Maker winner and large-field tournament mastermind who focuses on mass-multi-entry play
I, Too, Am Questionable
Lots of injury wait-and-see this week. Depending on insider reports on Saturday, I may wait until Sunday morning to build anything, so it’s less hand-build and more optimizer for me.
I’ll need to be as efficient as possible with my thoughts and organized with my files. So, I’m going old-school Sonic and creating a PPW.
Here’s an excerpt from my DFS Tournament Mastermind Training course (available now under the Courses tab!) that explains this process:
Create Your Player Pool Worksheet (PPW)
Take your first look at the slate and make a lineup based on any plays that jump out at you.
DK is usually pretty tight, so a huge part of our process every week will be digging for any players that have volume and upside at a reasonable price. Pick a couple of RBs that fit that description and then see if you can locate a low-priced stack with upside. Throw together a lineup and put it into your 150 max contest of choice.… it’s amusing to see if that LU is still viable when Sunday rolls around.
The main reason for this lineup is to create your Play Pool Worksheet. My process isn’t particularly sophisticated, but it works for me. You can obviously get fancier if you’re so inclined.
On Draftkings, go to LINEUPS > EDIT ENTRIES and download the CSV file for the contest in which your lineup was entered. Open that csv and you’ll see the full player list to the right of your lineup. Copy and paste all the players and their salaries into a new worksheet. Now you can tweak this document to make it look legible and easy to populate. Sort by position and then paste the players from each position into their own tab if you like. Create a bunch of columns that represent all of the sources of information you use to do your weekly research. I usually add a “%” column so I can start to notate how much of a player I’d like to have in my 150 lineups.
I’ll often change their name to red if I decide to make them part of my core. As the week goes on, we’ll fill this in until it’s chock full o’ information and refer to it when creating lineups by hand or populating our optimizer.
*You can use this first PPW as a template for future weeks. Just paste the new information in there each week. Also, if you don’t want to make a lineup and/or enter a contest yet, you can download the DKSalaries.csv file by selecting your tournament from the lobby, navigating to the Create Lineups page and clicking the “Export to CSV” link located below the player box on the right. The process is the same on Fan Duel except the “Download Players List” is above the players to the right.
I use the DK player and salary information to create my PPW and just make notes if certain Fan Duel-related information presents itself, such as salary differences or players that have better value in FD’s Half-PPR format.
*PPW 2019 week 2 – early in the week
These are contrarian moves I’ll be mixing into my rosters to differentiate from the masses. Sometimes we’ll miss, but the ones that do hit will help us lap the field.
Secondary Core-Relations
We’re always hunting for those high-ceiling combinations to add to our existing game stacks. It’s better to aim at getting four things right instead of trying to hit a nine-way parlay. I’ll lean on a handful of core secondary stacks that will be finessed into lineups whenever feasible.
Derrick Henry/Courtland Sutton
While Denver’s pass defense has been solid, they’ve shown some cracks against the run, allowing 106.4 rushing yards per game—and they haven’t faced anyone quite like Derrick Henry. This could set the stage for the King to take advantage at his low 3.1% projected ownership. Despite showing some improvement, Baltimore has still been generous with nearly 291.4 passing yards allowed per game. Courtland Sutton (at 4.8% pOWN) might be in a prime spot to capitalize. If this game turns into a back-and-forth, Henry and Sutton could be the catalysts that swing things.
Detroit Lions/Green Bay Packers
If you’re looking to reduce projected ownership on a roster, try a secondary stack from this game. If Jordan Love is declared active in time, ownership could rise, but as of Saturday morning, Amon-Ra St. Brown leads with a modest 6%.
For the touchdown-induced ceiling, pairing Jahmyr Gibbs and Romeo Doubs stands out. For salary savings, Christian Watson and Tim Patrick offer potential value, requiring minimal volume to deliver returns at a combined price of $8,500. Keep an eye on the meteorologists and pivot to a weather-resistant duo of Jayden Reed and David Montgomery if things look ugly at Lambeau.
CeeDee Lamb/Saquon Barkley/Juwan Johnson/Hunter Henry
No, these players aren’t correlated but hear me out. Saquon’s got a ridiculous ceiling against the hapless Jaguars, and CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott look like they’re finding chemistry through desperation in Dallas. I want all three in some builds, but I’ll need some salary relief that’s low-owned with a legit path to a strong price-considered ceiling.
Enter Hunter Henry—the lone bright spot in New England’s pass-catching group. I trust him to hit 15 PPR points more than any of those sub-$4k wideouts. I had Taysom Hill in my first build on Monday, but I’ve heard him mentioned on multiple podcasts this week, so there’s definitely some steam concerns there. For a few lineups, I’m trying the double-TE move, but with a twist: Juwan Johnson instead of Hill. JJ showed some serious promise at the end of last season but hasn’t had the chance to shine this year. He was just getting back from an injury when the Saints lost Derek Carr, but now Carr’s back, and they’re thin on pass-catchers. JJ’s a bit of a long shot, but at $3,200 and 2% ownership, he’s a sneaky leverage play off the more popular Saints options.
I also kinda dig Taysom and Juwan together in non-Carr rosters…but maybe I’m just chasing Discord “I played that” equity. “Taysom in the Wildcat, he throws… touchdown!” 😜
Uh-oh. It’s only Week Nine and I’m punch-drunk.
