I’ve been in a 12 man standard scoring auction draft league for 3 years now.
I never come out of the drafts feeling confident in what I have.
To those with experience/success in auction drafting, what do you do that sets you apart from the other owners? I’m interested in any and all advice, regardless of league scoring/format.
i pay attention to other peoples teams as much, if not more than my own team. knowing what who you will be bidding against, how much money they have compaired to you, and what their spending habits are like are huge parts of it. if i know someone well enough to know that they value someone super high, ill push the price up on a player even if i dont want them. worst comes to worst you get the player and trade it to them anyway. but the less money in other peoples pockets, the better. its a risky stratagy but its too fun to not do.
those are the 2 things i do consistently. i watch what other people need ( this also lets me know if i should put someone out there to be bid on that someone esle might want that has a position of need that said player fills, giving me a better chance of when the player i DO want comes around, ill have one less person bidding on them ) and i make sure to push bids up when i can. you dont want people getting players for free. you dont always have to do it, but do it when you can or are confident that they will go higher.
I have also been in a standard scoring auction the past 3 years and my first two years I lost in the Championship game and my 3rd year I finally became champ! Now most of my work is done after the draft in working the waivers and trades, as last year I lost DJ and I spent over 70 our of 200 on him, then traded for Beckham and one game later lost him too, regardless… my strategy each year typically is to try and grab a tier 1 stud. I normally end up getting one for around the $70 price range, which is a lot… then I get a few tiers lower of a stud, and so forth. Eg: one year I got Beckham, Green, and Jordy(when he was still good) I needed RB help badly though and ended up getting McCoy for Nelson. Last year I had DJ, Cooper(he turned out no good) and Green. So I guess long story short I try and grab three top flight guys. My bench is weak and it relies on waivers and avoiding injury, but 3 years in a row it has worked pretty well for me. This year I might try to secure one stud and shoot for more mid tier depth. But we shall see. Either way. best of luck! =o)
That’s my strategy as well and it has worked. I have a weak bench but seldom an issue since I work the waiver wire. I might pick and drop 60 players or more. Everyone else, they barely use the waiver wire. It’s a lot of work so not recommended for those with limited time to manage it. I find it’s also more fun when you pick up some fluke and it turns into gold. If one is not working the waiver wire, kinda boring to me, never getting that feeling of hitting pay dirt.