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DraftDominotor-less and had more fun (1 Viewer)

Deadzone21

Footballguy
I drafted with DraftDominator that past few years, but this year, an online 12-team money league took the draft offline and required every owner to be present (a local pool hall/bar) for a live draft. I printed the cheat sheet from DD and just winged it from that. Sure, DD drafted me some pretty mean teams in the past, but I can't believe how much fun I've been missing from previous live drafts several years ago. Especially the smack talk (especially to one owner who drafted Teebow). Big plus, to also meet the owners who I normally wouldn't see otherwise throughout the season, as well as the great football talk, one guy reminding me of the all the minor injuries of all my draft picks and not-to-serious post draft trade offers. But the point I also want to make was that simply drafting from your guts (with a cheat sheet on hand) was a lot more fun than clicking on the next recommended player by DD. I later plugged in the draft results into DD, I did veer from what it would have picked after the 4th round, but overall I like the team I drafted and the sleepers I picked up in the last two rounds.

What do you think, sharks? Not necessarily asking about your draft strategy per-se, as much as how do you do your drafts. Piece of paper, top of your head, spreadsheet, DD,? ...and where do you draft (any unique locations)?

 
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I use projections (either Dodds alone or modified in Projections Dominator) fed through the Draft Dominator with a user customizable position rank to get one set of data, then I get another set of data from a second source. I merge the data, using a weighted average (different each year, depends on my feeling on which set of data is better, at each position; sometimes 50/50, sometimes as far off as 75/25). I actually list both sources overall rank (top 100 or so) or position rank (100+ or so) on the sheet, along with the merged average, and finally their ADP round.

I rank the players in a tiered manner, so it's by position but also staggered by value into tiers. Left to right goes QB, RB, WR, TE. So I already have a lot of the interpositional sorting accomplished.

I have all of my information on a single sheet -- except for bye weeks -- and it has served me well. I'm much less frantic, and developing the sheet has forced me to examine every single piece of data in advance and also made me confront player comparisons, both interpositional and intrapositional, so that very little of that remains to consume my time during the draft itself.

When I used Draft Dominator, I was typically far too distracted by mostly irrelevant information, and flipping through to see game by game predictions, etc. For me, the difference in player value based solely by projections is so thin, and the impact of other factors on my decisions is so great, that I found I was thinking more clearly and more focused without the Draft Dominator program in front of me. It's still a great tool for me, but I use it now only in preparation, not actual drafting.

And, yes, it's more fun without the DD taking at least half of your attention away from in-person drafts.

 
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I should also add that I try to have tier breaks close to where my overall draft pick is for each round.

This year I was 11th of 12, so I actually only attempted to "force" tiers at the 14 spot (for separating rounds 1 and 2 players), the 38 spot (for rounds 3 and 4), the 62 spot, and so on.

I ended up with more tiers than that, but creating those tiers, which are based on previous drafts in the same league where available, helps me to see the consequences of passing on each position on each pass, essentially creating a peek at DVBD. And really, I think I get a BETTER overview with the paper, due to my ability to see all the way to the 10th round or so, then I do with the DVBD window on Draft Dominator.

I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but if you have league drafts from the previous season or two, using those to get an estimate of your league tendencies can be very useful in terms of forming tiers and using those tiers to help inform your early round draft strategy.

 
I use projections (either Dodds alone or modified in Projections Dominator) fed through the Draft Dominator with a user customizable position rank to get one set of data, then I get another set of data from a second source. I merge the data, using a weighted average (different each year, depends on my feeling on which set of data is better, at each position; sometimes 50/50, sometimes as far off as 75/25). I actually list both sources overall rank (top 100 or so) or position rank (100+ or so) on the sheet, along with the merged average, and finally their ADP round.I rank the players in a tiered manner, so it's by position but also staggered by value into tiers. Left to right goes QB, RB, WR, TE. So I already have a lot of the interpositional sorting accomplished.I have all of my information on a single sheet -- except for bye weeks -- and it has served me well. I'm much less frantic, and developing the sheet has forced me to examine every single piece of data in advance and also made me confront player comparisons, both interpositional and intrapositional, so that very little of that remains to consume my time during the draft itself.When I used Draft Dominator, I was typically far too distracted by mostly irrelevant information, and flipping through to see game by game predictions, etc. For me, the difference in player value based solely by projections is so thin, and the impact of other factors on my decisions is so great, that I found I was thinking more clearly and more focused without the Draft Dominator program in front of me. It's still a great tool for me, but I use it now only in preparation, not actual drafting.And, yes, it's more fun without the DD taking at least half of your attention away from in-person drafts.
Thanks for the tip. I do have a lot of work to perfect my live draft strategy. The cheat sheet that DD printed was the one with the player ranking by position (only used first 2 pages for draft). I drew my own lines where I felt the tiers belonged. That helped me decide which position I was willing to draft at any given round.And yes, I would now recommend live drafts going forward.
 
live draft=best night of year.
This. Been playing in the same league for 7 years now, our league entry fee is up to $1500 per team. Even though our league is ultra-competitive, we still all get along very well and our live draft is probably the funnest/best night of the year. The trash talking after various "reaches" or the occasional pick that makes you say "what the ####????" is simply priceless. For the last 6 years we've all gathered up at one of my league mates house. We set up shop in the back yard complete with tables, an extra large draft board (from fjfantasysports), wings around 5 and then pizza around 8pm with breaks after round 5 and 11. Obviously we all chip in for unlimited alcohol, drinks, chips and appetizers as well. We typically get together on a Saturday evening (3rd week of preseason) around 3pm and our draft usually lasts til about 11pm. No clock and no timer between picks. Of course we have the regulars that take more time than necessary between picks but nobody really cares. In fact it gives us more time to heckle them and trash talk.It's a 12 team league and needless to say we have a waiting list of about 5 guys. In fact, we typically have about 7 or 8 "other" friends that show up just to be a part of the festivities. It really is just an unbelievable evening. So much so that there's always that HUGE letdown when it's all over. The excitement and intensity that builds up all summer long in anticipation of this draft is so intense that immediately after it's done, it's almost one of the worst feelings in the world. I guess it's hard to explain, something only fantasy junkies really understand.
 
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