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First Year Doing an Auction (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter aavery91
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daveR
Footballguy
If you have dedicated geeks in your league, it won't take longer than a draft, and it's tons more fun!
Get a non-owner to be auctioneer. He needs to keep the action going. When he says "gone", it's done. If there's any questions, it's his decision. It also helps to have a secretary to keep track of teams and $$$. If you wanna do it really well, there are websites that host this sort of thing.
Keep a running total of auction bucks spent / remaining. Our league demands that you must have enough money to fill your roster.
Make sure everybody knows whose turn it is to nominate a player for auction. "Team-a is up, Team-x is on deck, Team-o in the hole".
If you are going to make rules that must be followed, you also have to build in some penalty for NOT following the rules. Example: nominating a player a second time costs you $10 auction bucks.
Take a piss break every so often. Depending on the size of your league and rosters, maybe every three rounds.
That's all I got off the top of my head....
Get a non-owner to be auctioneer. He needs to keep the action going. When he says "gone", it's done. If there's any questions, it's his decision. It also helps to have a secretary to keep track of teams and $$$. If you wanna do it really well, there are websites that host this sort of thing.
Keep a running total of auction bucks spent / remaining. Our league demands that you must have enough money to fill your roster.
Make sure everybody knows whose turn it is to nominate a player for auction. "Team-a is up, Team-x is on deck, Team-o in the hole".
If you are going to make rules that must be followed, you also have to build in some penalty for NOT following the rules. Example: nominating a player a second time costs you $10 auction bucks.
Take a piss break every so often. Depending on the size of your league and rosters, maybe every three rounds.
That's all I got off the top of my head....
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
Great points mentioned above. The auctioneer is the key to a successful draft. This person keeps things moving along at a good pace. The guy that runs my league has a spreadsheet that he uses which has formulas in it to show how much money each team has left. He also has it connected to a projected that puts it up on a big enough screen for everyone to see. This way everyone can see who has all been drafted, what teams they are on and how much money each team has left. These things are all very important to keep an eye while drafting your team.
If you keep a steady pace you should be able to finish in under 3 hours. A live auction draft is one of the best events and I look forward to mine every year. Have fun!
If you keep a steady pace you should be able to finish in under 3 hours. A live auction draft is one of the best events and I look forward to mine every year. Have fun!
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
Uncle Grandpa
Footballguy
Will she be topless? T-o-p-l-e-s-s. And got a tattoo?
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Hu-Tang Clan
Footballguy
We seem to move at a decent pace for the most part but then it just completely stalls and drags once a bunch of teams are down to their last few dollars. Any advice out there on how to speed up the end? Specifically when some teams only have $1 or $2 and can't win a bid?
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
The end should go faster since it's almost like a snake draft at that point. In our league we only auction our first 10 players then we take a break and finish by snake drafting the remaining 6.
daveR
Footballguy
blake
Footballguy
This is actually a great compromise for some leagues (and owners). You must have a salary cap for those first 10 players?
Sabertooth
Footballguy
I've had great results the last two season hanging onto my money until the end of the auction and then just running the table at the end.
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
We get $100 to draft 10 players. There is no limit on what players we draft so you could buy 5 WRs and 5 RBs if you wanted to. The only rule is that you must have enough money to buy 10 players. If you have leftover money it's wasted. The snake part of the draft is the same as any snake draft and is pretty uneventful.
The most expensive players go for just over $30. The highest I've seen is $33. The top tier players all go in the $20 range.
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
That sounds like a very average at best team you put together then. I'm sure you have tons of depth though.
Sabertooth
Footballguy
You'd think so, but I won the league in 2013 and lost in the Semi's last year. You never really know how a draft is going to play out. So I saved my money and struck on guys like Jordy, Vjax, and Reggie Wayne in 2013. I was top points scorer each of those years for the regular season, just ran into a buzz saw last year name Beckham.
Grahamburn
Footballguy
Depth and matchup options become extremely important during the course of a fantasy season. Expensive studs get hurt just as much as several mid tier guys. I might spend big to get Gronk, Rodgers, or Luck though.Hawkeye21 said:
daveR
Footballguy
Tiering helps a lot. Make a plan. Make a budget. Don't get hung up on a single player. Don't nominate players you really want unless you're willing to overpay.
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
Make sure you know what every player's value is worth based on your league's settings. This is very helpful but even more important is to not stick exactly to it. There are times where you need a stud player and you may have to pay a few more dollars than what your sheet says. I've had years where I refused to overpay for players according to my sheet and I missed out on some great players. Then towards the end of the draft I'm sitting there with extra money and no great players to show for it. All I could think about was all the players I could have gotten with that extra money.
In years past I would draft my back up QB and TE but this year I might try something different. I'm hoping to get a decent QB and TE as my starters and then only worry about backups during the year using waivers. I'm going to use those two extra picks on RBs and WRs.
Go on Yahoo or ESPN and do some auction mocks for practice. They can take a while but at least you'll feel more comfortable after you about two or three.
3nOut
Footballguy
Not sure I understand this. How do others know you really want the player you nominated? Maybe you nominated them so that others can bid them up.
jhexel
Footballguy
Previous experience I've had and would share with a new Auction Owner is that if you've just spent a larger than average amount on a player is that you want to come back and nominate a player who will also cause another Owner to spend around the same amount (or more) than you did to keep the playing field level.
Ghost Rider
Footballguy
Nah, if you get a few great players early on and then have the patience to wait it out while others spend, you can end up with really good starters and good depth (on paper before the season, since we never know how things will pan out with busts, sleepers and injuries).
Ghost Rider
Footballguy
As far as making the auction go by at a good speed, there has been some great advice so far here, but one thing to emphasize:
Keep breaks short. Five minutes to piss or smoke and then the auction gets going again, and if someone is caught dicking around outside smoking, it's their tough #### if they miss out on bidding on a few players. You have to be strict about that kind of stuff, otherwise people will dunce around getting back to the auction room and before you know it, the auction is lasting five hours.
Keep breaks short. Five minutes to piss or smoke and then the auction gets going again, and if someone is caught dicking around outside smoking, it's their tough #### if they miss out on bidding on a few players. You have to be strict about that kind of stuff, otherwise people will dunce around getting back to the auction room and before you know it, the auction is lasting five hours.
Spanky24
Footballguy
Question for the auction vets.
We are making the switch over to an auction draft this year. My question is do you HAVE to have your roster filled out at the end of your draft? Or can you for example, blow your entire $200 budget on 4 players and then just pick up whatever's left on the scrap heap after the draft? Not my plan going in, it is my buddies, and I keep telling him he's a moron but he swears it's going to work. So, if it's an 18 man roster do you HAVE to have all 18 filled draft night?
We are making the switch over to an auction draft this year. My question is do you HAVE to have your roster filled out at the end of your draft? Or can you for example, blow your entire $200 budget on 4 players and then just pick up whatever's left on the scrap heap after the draft? Not my plan going in, it is my buddies, and I keep telling him he's a moron but he swears it's going to work. So, if it's an 18 man roster do you HAVE to have all 18 filled draft night?
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
You have to fill the required amount set by the league. I suppose you can set your league up any way you want but I've never seen one done this way before. Whatever the starting lineup is should be the minimum requirement. Generally you need to have enough money to fill the entire roster.
My league is a little different. We have $100 to draft 10 players and then do a snake draft for the remaining 6 players. That $100 can be spent on any positional players but must buy 10 players. I could spend all $100 on RBs if I wanted to but I would have to get 10 RBs. There are times when people in my draft don't draft a kicker even though it's required to start one. He just has to drop a player and pick up a kicker before the first game.
So, if you in a standard auction league you'll have to follow more strict rules. If you're in a league where you set your own rules it's completely up to the commissioner.
lmack
Footballguy
I believe this is more about budget management.
You should spend your nominations on players you don't want in order to force other managers to burn their auction dollars before the players that you want get nominated. This will improve your position when bidding on the players you want. Speeding up the nomination of the players you want by self-nominating gives away the potential of any relative budget advantage
glock
"Don't grumble, give a whistle!"
Yes. You can blow $186 on 4 players and $14 on your remaining 14 players. Good luck with that extreme stud strategy, though...
heckmanm
Footballguy
This is good advice early in the draft. When you get close to a full roster, you'd better be OK with keeping the guy you nominate, especially if there aren't a lot of guys left bidding.
Grahamburn
Footballguy
I'm sure it depends on how your league is set up. We also have a $200 budget and 18 man roster, so the max bid without anyone on your team yet would be $183. Enough for that one player and 17 more $1 bids to fill out your roster. The commish/auctioneers keep track of each drafters max bid and budget during the draft.
I employed a similar stud strategy in that I went after Luck, Bell, and Lacy for roughly 75% of my budget. I was confident in my ability to get undervalued players at a discount later on once other drafters have used their funds and I'm very happy with my team.
Jim Otto
Footballguy
heckmanm
Footballguy
Decide roughly how many roster spots you want to allocate by position, and roughly what % of your cap you can go with for each position. Plugging your league settings into DraftDominator can give you a good idea of the relative value of each position for your league's scoring rules, and the DD "auction value" will give you a starting point for estimating what to spend on a particular player.
At that point, you can start playing with rough "budget" amounts for each roster spot based on your scoring rules (e.g., a stud RB1 may be worth allocating 20% of your cap). Fill out your "stud" spots first and see how much it leaves you for the rest. Adjust and repeat.
Once the auction starts, you have to be prepared to adjust things, but having an approximate number in mind for each slot to start with can keep you from wildly overpaying without at least thinking about the impact on the rest of your roster.
At that point, you can start playing with rough "budget" amounts for each roster spot based on your scoring rules (e.g., a stud RB1 may be worth allocating 20% of your cap). Fill out your "stud" spots first and see how much it leaves you for the rest. Adjust and repeat.
Once the auction starts, you have to be prepared to adjust things, but having an approximate number in mind for each slot to start with can keep you from wildly overpaying without at least thinking about the impact on the rest of your roster.
Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
Same setup here. This is our second year. Last year I was pretty conservative, wanting to save money and get depth. I ended up 7th out of 12 and missed the playoffs. This year I wanted to be more aggressive and bid up a few higher players early on that I would not have done last year. I think that it is better to try to get those guys early rather than waiting too long. I personally think that the best strategy might be to be aggressive early on and grab about 3 studs, then lay low for a while (nominate K, DEF and a few other deep sleepers when it is your turn to grab for $1), then get aggressive again toward the end when there are still good players on the board that you can get for less money. Also money management really comes into play when you have around 5 spots left to fill and a small amount of money. Strategize your remaining needs and how much you will need to ensure that you get the player (based on everyone else's remaining money and needs. I primarily look at this for QBs in our 2QB league. Might be harder with some other positions, but you can still get a general idea of what you will need to bid for what you want.)
Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
I certainly agree with this, but it is also definitely important to have a strategy and willingness to adjust. I have a spreadsheet with all of my estimated values. I then have a column where I can put in the actual price. And I have columns with formulas to show the difference between the estimate and the actual, so that I can see where the premiums are and where I may need to go higher. I also find that there tends to be a crater somewhere after maybe the first set of starters at each position where the top guys go for a little more than expected and then below a certain cut-off, everyone goes below the expected value. Could just be my experience.
Grahamburn
Footballguy
Luck - $55
Lacy - $51
Bell - $50
Martin - $6
DeSean Jackson - $8
Mike Wallace - $6
Larry Fitzgerald - $6
Brandon LaFell - $5
Zack Ertz - $7
Tyler Eifert - $1
Markus Wheaton, James White, Kendall Wright, kicker, defense all for $1. Our draft is early so we leave 3 spots open to pick people up with FAAB as injuries occur in the preseason.
Early in the draft I only nominate players I don't really like at prices I'd be comfortable with them. Then as it gets later and people have less money it's much easier to nominate players you do like at a number where you won't get much competition.
My league has a 16 man roster(11 starters/5 bench). We allow owners to "go short" at the draft but then they must live out the season with that many fewer bench slots. We actually had a rookie owner go with a 13 man team and he took second a few yrs back. The short bench is really tough during bye weeks and when you have players nicked up but returning - hard to let guys go to the wire.
Rich Conway
Footballguy
Some leagues do it one way, some don't. The only thing that matters is the rules of your league.
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
Here's my advice :
1. Don't fall in love with a player . Over bidding by a dollar or two is ok, but don't go nuts. It's easy to get caught in the moment, but you have to be smart enough not to.
2. Try to squeeze that extra dollar out of your opponents. You got a Cowboys fan who has to get Dez? Make him pay. Be careful though. I try to do this with players i don't mind being 'stuck' with.
3. Budget your money by position and try to stick with it. It won't be perfect, but it'll be a good guide.
4. DO NOT overpay for kickers and defense. I only need to draft one each and budget $3 total for both. $1 for the kicker, $2 for a top tier Def.
1. Don't fall in love with a player . Over bidding by a dollar or two is ok, but don't go nuts. It's easy to get caught in the moment, but you have to be smart enough not to.
2. Try to squeeze that extra dollar out of your opponents. You got a Cowboys fan who has to get Dez? Make him pay. Be careful though. I try to do this with players i don't mind being 'stuck' with.
3. Budget your money by position and try to stick with it. It won't be perfect, but it'll be a good guide.
4. DO NOT overpay for kickers and defense. I only need to draft one each and budget $3 total for both. $1 for the kicker, $2 for a top tier Def.
Amused to Death
Footballguy
Agree. Draft day is like freaking Christmas morning for a 5 year old to us. Auction /draft goes 6 hours easy. Then probably another hour sitting around critiquing everyone's team.Draft day is written into the rules so we all know the date years in advance. If you don't have a wedding, funeral, or a bar/bat mitzvah that day, you better be at the draft. And we all love it!All this emphasis on speed.My main $ league is an auction/keeper league. We get together once a year. ONCE. For a draft. It's on my calendar for a draft, and that's all that goes down on that day. Along with the requisite
and
of course.
We are new to auction this year as well. Can you please explain this? I get that there is some strategy to nominating, but not sure how this makes a difference. Does nominating give you the chance to make more teams burn their money by nominating people you don't want?
Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
Hawkeye21
Footballguy
I've never seen draft order matter in auctions. The only time you really notice it is towards the end of the draft when most people only have $1.
Jim Otto
Footballguy
ive done two live auction drafts now, hardest part is finding a willing non-owner auctioneer. i only keep track of each teams' "max bid" which is the highest bid a team can make while still having enough money to fill out his roster with $1 players. we make everyone draft a complete roster.
Jimbo Slice
Footballguy
For us, the first 2-3 guys nominated usually seem to go cheaper as everyone is nervous/not sure about prices. Ie Luck gets nominated first and goes for $30. When Rodgers/manning (or whoever) comes up they can hit $30-$35 as people panic/scramble for the last elites at each position
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
Good point here. Another observation about bidding tendencies I've seen is when the last player in a perceived 'tier' is put up, that guy is almost always more money than he's worth.
Example: Charles, Bell, ADP, Lynch, Lacey, Forte, Anderson, Shady and Murray are all gone. Someone nominates Hill and bidding goes nuts as he's one of the few 'sure things' left. I've seen bidding go so nuts on players in that situation that they go for more than $10 more than what they're worth.
Yep. My personal strategy involves using #3 to hit heavy for some studs right out of the gate.
