Daily Fantasy Basketball Snake Draft Tips
By Bmore4life22, Daily Fantasy NBA Player, Rotopicks.com
Welcome Snakers, in this piece I am going to give out what I think are some very important tips and strategy to becoming a full-time NBA Snake Player. Consider it a checklist or a "to-do" list each night when drafting; except it's a fun one because it isn't being handed to you by your wife. These tips are applicable to players of all skill level and should always be kept in mind when snake drafting:
Turn on the SOUND on your computer when you log on!
One of the most helpful features for a snaker will be having the audio on their computer. Sometimes leagues will not fill instantly and you are going to have to wait a few (or a long time) for the league to begin. In the meantime, crank up the sound on your computer so that you can grab a drink or some food from the fridge without having to worry about missing your draft. The worst feeling in the world is missing your draft, getting autodrafted, and hating your team!
Always check for INJURIES before you draft
If you want to capitalize on free money, check player news for injuries often. Many novice players, especially snake players, will not keep up to date with injured players. There is no reason to be investing money into a league if you do not know who is healthy. With this said, many people do and you will find yourself lucking out every now and then against an opponent who drafts a few injured players.
Take a glance over the player pool for each position (Guard, Forward, Center) before you start drafting. (use the 5 minute wait time to your advantage to prepare)
One thing players often forget to do as they are anxious to draft is to do a comparison of the players at each position for the given night. Some nights there will be not very much talent at Guard; this is important to know because you may want to take a guard that you could see putting up 35 fantasy points over a forward that you can see putting up 35 fantasy points because you will still get value later in the draft on forwards if the guard position is lacking for that night. Hop on the position where there is not a lot of talent for that night's set of games.
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Set a Queue and import your roster into the draft before it starts
A nice feature of a DFS site is being able to import a master queue for your snake drafts each night. I highly recommend taking a couple extra minutes to set it up, especially if you plan on playing in multiple leagues. It will save you a ton of time! The Queue is a great feature because you can have it listed out where you value players for that night and it also helps you keep track during the draft if a player throws you off and takes some players you may have wanted. It provides a form of organization that is imperative. You do NOT want to find yourself scrapping for picks against the clock. Pre-rank your players and know who is available in the pool of players. On mistake can cost you the W!
Be careful getting excited about Centers
Most daily fantasy basketball leagues only allow 2 centers to be picked. However, you can use this to your advantage. If that night, there are 4 big name Centers playing, you may not want to strategize and not be too quick to grab a center. While there are times that one of these big men could be far superior to the other depending on their matchup, most of the time they have a chance of getting right around the same fantasy point total. Let your opponent grab his two centers (within reason) and then you will be getting 2 solid picks as your last two picks in the draft. Now that is value! Do NOT take a center if your opponent/s has two centers already!
Play H2H and 3man snakes each night
I have experimented with playing all different amounts and number of snake drafts per night. I am not a fan of the 6man snake because I do not that think the payout is worth it when compared to your decreased chance of winning. A good approach is to play two h2h snakes and a 3man. However, if you like even more action, I try to play a 3man for every two h2h snakes that I play. 3-man snakes are a great way to counteract h2h losses because they pay more.
Do not hold grudges!
One thing I have learned the hard way throughout my fantasy days is to not hold grudges. A few years back, I hated just about every player in the NBA by the end of the season. I felt as if almost all the starters you would take in a snake draft had screwed me over. You are going to experience bad beats, especially in snake leagues. Stars are going to underperform. After all, they're human! The key is to continue making the right play and picking how you normally would. That being said, some players will go through slumps and have a cold patch. If you pick up on this, by all means, avoid them and laugh at your opponent when you win. However, do not stray away from a player because they missed a free throw with 10 seconds left and it made you lose the game. That very same player may be the one that beats the daylights out of you when you avoid him due to holding a grudge against him. What happens in his next game has very little relevance to what happened in his last.
Thanks for reading! Best of Luck!
Bmore4life22 - "Always B-more to Win More"
Fantasy Basketball Rules - Article discussing the options players have for daily fantasy NBA including the different types of leagues along with a standard scoring format.