FantasyPros has put together a glossary of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) terms for readers to reference. More and more players are taking part in DFS contests. We’re providing the glossary so that you can easily reference terms and strategies as you get started playing DFS. Below we’ll take a look at DFS high-low strategy.
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The high-low strategy involves taking two or three of the most expensive players in your daily fantasy sports league, and then filling in the rest of your roster with cheap players. The upside of this strategy is that you are getting more top notch players than most in your league, as many look for a more balanced approach. The benefit of the high-low approach is that, in theory, these players are the most expensive for a reason, and they should produce great results. The downside is that if your top players don’t produce, you don’t have a safety net to help you finish in the money. In fact, if your top priced players have off nights, you are pretty much throwing away your money since those with more balanced rosters now have the upper hand.
In order to make this strategy work, price cannot be your only deciding factor. You need to choose the top priced athletes that will also be likely to score the most fantasy points. Rather than go with the most expensive player by default, if there’s an athlete that you can use in their place that’s $1,000 cheaper but will more than likely produce a higher number of points, that should be your top choice.
The same is true at the bottom end. If you find that on your last roster spot you have $3,000 left over, you don’t actually need to spend all $3,000. If you find a player at $2,500 that has more point potential, then that player is the right choice. In the end, salary spent isn’t what’s important, but rather the points you score. If you can score more with less, do it. The top scoring lineups are not usually those that spend all of their salary.
This is precisely where the high-low system excels. Your goal is to score points, not worry about your salary. Putting thought into your salary is inevitable, but when it’s used as one of many tools rather than viewed as a limitation, you begin to find opportunities. For example, if you’re looking at daily fantasy baseball, and the top outfielder costs $4,800, he might be worth it even if there’s a lower return per dollar on that inflated number. By drafting the top point contributor, you are getting what you want, but now you need to find points for cheap in other spots. Calculate how many points you can expect of him, and then make sure that you are not losing points elsewhere by drafting cheaper players. If you can get more potential points by drafting one overpriced player and several underpriced players, the cost doesn’t matter, but rather the points that are earned.
One of the hidden bonuses of the high-low strategy is that low-tier players can have great nights. You won’t be able to predict these nights with any sort of accuracy, but when they do happen, you are almost guaranteed a finish in the money when your stars also do well. Having a no-name tight end score a touchdown or a bench player get a start and hit a home run are both unlikely occurrences, but these things can and do happen. If you are entered in the right tournament, an event like this can offset months of bad luck.
Ideally, your goal is to score as many points as possible. It’s tough to know who will have a great night when looking at the short term, so the high-low strategy can be an attractive solution to this. The most expensive players are typically those that have been the most consistently successful, and drafting them usually gives you a higher likelihood of scoring points than if you go with a middle of the road player. It’s not a guarantee though, and that’s why some people avoid this strategy. But, if you do choose the most consistent players and match them up with the best point scoring situations, you will find that your predictions are right far more often than they are wrong. Once you accomplish this, use your knowledge of value to find cheap players that are likely to score more points than what the site is giving them credit for. This isn’t always easy, but it’s a must if you want the high-low strategy to be successful for you. Otherwise, it just becomes a gamble.
Matthew Young is a correspondent at FantasyPros with 10 years of fantasy sports experience, and is the author of “2015 Fantasy Baseball Manual.” You can read more from Matthew’s archive and his blog at www.windailyfantasy.com. Plus, you can follow him at @AuthorMGYoung.
