Draftkings Rules

This article is part of our DFS Football 101 series.

• Draftkings Rules Nba
• Draftkings Rules Golf
• Draftkings Rules Videos
• Draftkings Tax Rules
• Draftkings Rules And Scoring

The advantage of playing on DraftKings is simple: the site's popularity allows it to host a wide variety of contests, including some with massive payouts at the top. The weekly NFL 'millionaire maker' is the largest regularly running tournament in the DFS industry, typically containing a prize pool of more than $3 million, including a $1 million prize for first place.

Contest offerings have expanded to include a 'Tiers' game and a 'Showdown' mode, but the traditional salary-based game still accounts for the vast majority of their business. The setup here is pretty simple: we get $50,000 to fill out a nine-man roster with 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 FLEX (RB/WR/TE) and 1 D/ST. Player salaries generally land in the following ranges: $4,000-7,500 for QB; $3,000-10,000 for RB; $3,000-9,500 for WR; $2,500-7,500 for TE; $2,000-4,000 for D/ST.

I strive to keep this chart up to date but always check official rules directly at Draftkings.com as scoring can and will change. I do not guarantee the accuracy of this chart so always double check! These contest formats all use very similar scoring models on the offensive side of the ball. Jul 16, 2019 DraftKings Scoring System. DraftKings scoring is full PPR (point per reception), with 25/10 yardage and 4/6 touchdowns — basically the general standard across the fantasy football industry. However, there is one major difference in the form of three-point bonuses for 300+ passing yards, 100+ rushing yards or 100+ receiving yards. Jan 15, 2016 No! Players on online forums have showed concern about DraftKings W9 requests during withdrawals and through email. Don’t panic – DraftKings, or any other daily fantasy site for that matter, simply requests this information from all players so it is on file if they need to issue you a 1099 form. Chances are if you haven’t received this. In such a situation, DraftKings may pay out any withheld or revoked prizes to the other entrants in the relevant Game in a manner consistent with the Rules of the Game. Entrants may withdraw their cash prize awards as well as cash deposits by using the 'Withdrawal' option on the Website.

Compared to other large DFS sites, player pricing on DraftKings tends to be a bit sharper, quickly responding to role changes in a way that limits the number of obvious bargains. On the other hand, huge price gaps between the top and bottom players can lead to some really stunning values when an injury to a starter initially goes unreported or occurs during a mid-week practice. This is particularly true at running back, where the gap between a starter and his backup can, in some cases, approach $6,000.

DraftKings will raise a backup's price for the next week if the starter in front of him gets injured during a Sunday afternoon game, but there's nothing the site can do if the injury isn't public information until after contests for the following week have opened. Given the otherwise sharp pricing, it's important to jump on these opportunities when they arise — particularly in cash games where you tend to target higher-owned players.

Cash Games vs. Tournaments (GPPs)

The term 'cash game' covers a few different types of contests, including head-to-heads, double-ups and 50/50s. What all these games have in common is relatively good odds to make a small amount of money. The goal is simply to create a lineup with the highest mean projection — a.k.a. the one you expect to score the most points — without worrying too much about inter-player correlations or which players will be significantly under-owned by a majority of the field.

In a 50-50, for example, half the participants will receive a payout, with the highest-scoring lineup receiving the same amount of money as a lineup that finished in the 51st percentile. Each prize is a bit less than double the entry fee, as the site takes out a 'rake' of 10-15 percent. A double-up contest does exactly what its name implies, but it only pays out 42-46 percent of the field to leave room for the rake.

For those chasing a bigger payday at slimmer odds, large-field tournaments — referred to as Guaranteed Prize Pools (GPPs) — are the way to go. These are the main attractions on DraftKings and most other daily fantasy sites, with descending prize structures that allow for huge rewards in the 99th percentile, though they only pay out to the top 20-25 percent of lineups.

Tournament strategy demands a more risk-tolerant approach, most notably encouraging the use of multiple players from a single real-life game (also known as 'game stacking'). With no financial difference between a mediocre lineup and a lousy one, it almost always makes sense to use at least one pass catcher from the same team as your quarterback. There's also a good argument for using a wide receiver or tight end from the other side of that game, hoping to take advantage of a shootout that forces both teams to continue passing throughout the second half. Long story short, we're focused on the upside scenario without giving much thought to the downside if things don't work out.

There's also an element of game theory to tournament strategy, as the relative value of a huge individual performance isn't nearly as big if the player is in a high percentage of our opponents' lineups. While you may not think this is an integral part of the overall DFS strategy, it may be one of the most important aspects when it comes to large-field tournaments.

DraftKings Scoring System

DraftKings scoring is full PPR (point per reception), with 25/10 yardage and 4/6 touchdowns — basically the general standard across the fantasy football industry. However, there is one major difference in the form of three-point bonuses for 300+ passing yards, 100+ rushing yards or 100+ receiving yards. Between the PPR scoring and yardage bonuses, players can put up big point totals without scoring touchdowns. Generally speaking, the format encourages volume hunting over TD hunting, though in many cases those two goals are one and the same.

For example, an 8-110-0 receiving line is worth 22 points on DraftKings compared to 15 points on a half-PPR site without yardage bonuses like FanDuel. A 6-80-1 line would be more valuable on FanDuel (17 points), but it's actually less valuable than the first line on DraftKings (20 points). The relative de-emphasis on touchdowns encourages us to roster high-volume players in bad offenses for our DraftKings lineups, while we might favor a medium-volume player on a better team on FanDuel.

Here's the complete list of scoring settings on DK:

You might have noticed that D/ST scoring doesn't include yards allowed and doesn't account for much of a difference between yielding 14 points or 34. This isn't atypical, but it is a bit of a change for anyone who was weaned on ESPN standard scoring. As is the case on many other fantasy sites, we should focus on defenses with the best chance to pile up takeaways, rather than worrying about points or yards allowed. In practice, this would favor a team like the Rams or Browns over the Vikings or Titans.

Getting ready for the 2019 NFL season on Draftkings! They have added a few new contest formats for football. Actually they added some of them late last year during the playoffs and some in NBA season, but those of us that only play DFS football are new to them. Let’s take a look:

The Draftkings NFL Contest Formats are:

• Classic – Draft 9 players under a salary cap
• NFL Showdown – Choose players from one game only – including individual defensive players
• Showdown “Captain” Mode – Choose a ‘Captain’ and earn 1.5x points for him – Also can pick a kicker, one game only
• NFL TIERS – Choose players from a tier (no salary cap)

Football Scoring Chart for DK’s NFL Formats

Draftkings Rules Nba

Draftkings Rules Golf

They have some differences when it comes to defensive scoring and kickers.

The main differences come from the eligible player pool and how you build your roster.

I won’t go over the Draftkings Classic fantasy football games on this post but you can learn about them here and compare DK vs Fanduel football scoring for classic modes.

Draftkings “Showdown” NFL Contest Type

Showdown contests are for one game and one game only. Draft your team from players from both offenses and one defense and get to it.

Rosters Consist Of

• Four (4) Offensive Players
• Two (2) Defensive Players

Showdown Scoring
The scoring for offense is the same as the other contest types. Here is specific scoring for individual defensive players.

“Showdown” Contests Have Defensive Player Selection and Scoring

“Captain” Showdown Games

The Captain style of contest is where one of your players is worth 1.5x as many points whenever they score. They also cost more to draft on your team.
Rosters

• One ‘Captain’
• 5 Flex positions (including possible kicker, which is normally not on DK’s lineups)

Here’s what your draft will look like.

Derek Carr is my “Captain” – I earn 1.5x points for him in this format.

In this type of showdown contest you get to only choose offensive players but you can choose a kicker if you want.

This format is one game and done.

Tiers – Select Any Player From Each Tier To Build Your Lineup

Draftkings sorts players into different tiers. You select at least one player from each tier and you must choose players from at least two different NFL games.

The roster size and number of tiers may vary based on the game set used to build the player pool.

The scoring for tiers is the same as classic style scoring. If you hate trying to stay under a salary cap and would prefer to try a ‘pick players from a pool’ style game to build your roster then this should be right up your alley.

Draftkings Rules Videos

I have not yet been able to play this format but once I do I’ll give a recap and show some examples of what it looks like.

Draftkings Tax Rules

DK’s NFL Contest Recap

Draftkings Rules And Scoring

• • Classic Mode – the ‘old fashioned’ DFS style where you draft a team from all eligible players, usually from Sunday-Monday. You have a 50k salary cap and have to fill out your team of specific positional players (QB, RB, WR, TE and DEF).
  • NFL Showdown Model – the main difference here is that you get to pick specific defensive players instead of defensive teams and the player pool is from one game only. For defensive fans this style looks pretty fun. You can rack up some defensive points if a player goes off an interception it’s as strong as a rushing TD, worth 6 points. The scoring is the same on the offensive side of the ball. They do not utilize a kicker position.
  • Showdown Captain Model – not sure why they didn’t call this the ‘King’ instead of the ‘Captain’ but this style of game lets you select one player to earn 1.5x the fantasy points they would normally. They also cost more to draft. This lets you put more of your eggs into this guys basket for the game and if he go’s off you are going to rack up the points. It also adds in a kicker slot but not an individual defensive player.
  • Tiers – “A” rated players go in the top tier, “B” in the next, “C” in the next etc. You have to build a roster with at least 1 from each tier. This is like some of the smaller DFS sites used to differentiate themselves by offering games where you pick a player from a tier.

  The biggest confusion I have is the “Showdown Captain” vs. “Showdown”. These two similar sounding contest types have more differences than just one having a captain. They both last only one game or one game set but ‘Captain’ utilizes a potential kicker. Showdown non-captain version utilizes individual defensive players.

  Showdown you pick defensive players instead of team defense.

  Showdown Captain you pick a kicker, a team defense and a team ‘captain’.

  These new models seem to offer newer players a better chance to try different game types.

  It’s enticing me to make my next deposit and try some these new modes out. I think I will this year. What about you?

  Good luck out there, and I hope to see you on the leaderboards!

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