Needs to be said:
You gotta take a stand. This might seem obvious to some, but maybe not to all. You have to take a stance on which players you are down on, high on, pound or fade those guys, then build teams around your guys. Especially in tournaments.
My strategy is slooowly rounding into form, only been at this a few weeks. The big difference is, obviously, every game, every player is in play. So I have been going macro, looking at the big picture. How do I think each game is gonna go? I think DET could get out front quick on CHI, and pound Joique Bell up Chicago's gut until they scream for mercy. Calvin Johnson is a scary proposition, because if he doesn't score in the first half, but they are up 24-0, how much work does he get in the 2nd half? I could see the game playing out that way, and at his price, do I want to start a guy that may be on the sideline in a ball cap by the 3rd Q? And who will probably be heavily owned. There are games I don't have as good a handle on. SD/SF. I really have no idea, so I may just stay away. But I know a guy like Floyd will be heavily owned. He's gonna have to have a career game to really help me. Gates in cash games, maybe.
You gotta pick those bargain basement guys you love, take a stand, and hope they give you an edge. Especially the ones not everyone is on. Like a bargain guy no one is talking about? That's great, he'll have a low ownership percentage, and more the better. The one position I don't think anyone is very smart taking a stand is kicker. I love putting together the lineups you like,minus the K and D, and then maybe just duplicate them, swapping out combos you like at K and D. 5-10 lineups, with the only difference being the kicker/defense combo. When you look at the big cashes in GPPs, they all nailed K and D. Did the predict it? Or did they just enter the same freaking lineup 10 times, with 10 different kickers??
I've started a spread sheet, that I keep altering every week. Game by game, position by position, I enter guys I like, with their salaries. I color-code cash plays and GPP plays, and try and rank how much I like their chances of going off. I had to clean it up, the first few weeks, I was just using the Fan Duel interface, and you can get lost scrolling up and down, clicking guys in, clicking guys out, and trying to use all 60 grand. Stupid way to do it. Choose my guys, bargains/mid range/ and studs, then when I am filling out a lineup, and have a hole with a set dollar amount (I need a TE that costs 6 grand or less, for example), I have my list.
I play a ton of $1 and $2 GPP. $5 double/triple ups/50/50s. That's it. I don't play the big contest for $10 and $25. My bankroll started with $200, I have pulled my initial investment out, and have $650 now. Bankroll isn't big enough for larger entry fees. The big contests have a 'flaw' if you wanna call it that, in that there are guys entering a ton of lineups in the big contests. Better players than me, with a lot more pelts on the wall, are entering huge numbers of lineups. I'm not ready to take on the the Condias of the world.