General Auction Strategy

[heydangle]

Doing my first auction in dynasty (starting Saturday) and was hoping to get suggestions on strategies. Do you pay to get your guys? Do you purposely put players up for auction that you don't want and hope others fight over?

[lukkynumber13]

The best possible advice is to just stay alert. It seems overly simplistic but it's the difference between a good auction & bad, IMO.

Now if we are talking a dynasty start up auction that could go for a month, then "staying alert" means something different than doing a redraft auction that is over in 3 hours, or even a dynasty rookie auction that might only last for a day or so.

But just know exactly what's going on, and also do the math to figure out what you should budget for which positions.

[hockeyBjj]

I studied for a redraft auction.... and then an hour before the draft people complained loudly and it suddenly went to snake lol

Never nominate a player you want. Make people bid too much too early on players you don't want to go after but think will pull cash (I was gonna throw out QBs and force a run on them as I had my "cheap" guy picked out for later). Don't save too much for depth, make sure you get quality starters to fill out your lineup. Early on when people are being tight with their money to throw it at a stud, may be a good time to get an RB/WR 2 for less than they'd be a few rounds later so you could nominate your guy then perhaps

Don't be afraid to go off script if a player isn't catching the attention and $$$ they should

Get yourself a very good Excel sheet for what price a player should be, tune it to your own preference, snag up guys going below that value. Overypay on 1 or 2 guys you feel strongly about. Its such a crapshoot and depends on your leaguemates. I've heard of things where studs like OBJ or Gurley go for 80% of someone's budget, and others where people are afraid of doing that so they get taken for severely less setting up the stud owner to still have the cashflow for good starters and depth. The key is having a strategy, but then being able to quickly adjust to the others strategies to take advantage

[DinoDynasty]

I always nominate players that I want no business with, often big name guys who I know will whip out half a teams budget. I find that rookies, especially ones that aren't the 1.1/1.2 are often an afterthought and can be hard for pennies when teams are skipping by on budget to fill a roster. In our auction draft this year, $200 budget, I got Hunt for $5 and Kamara for $3. Spencer Ware went for $11 for comparison. As in most drafts, I try to fill the back end of my draft with RBs that could get an opportunity when everyone is bidding with their last dollars.

[rubber_duck]

It would help knowing a few basic rules of your upcoming auction. Can you tell us if:
- Are proxy bids allowed? This answer to this dramatically changes the auction.
- How long does an owner need to be the high bidder before he wins the player?
- How many players can be on the auction block at any time?

[ImaRounder]

Value value value. Don't worry about your lineup or anything just grab the most value wherever you can get it

[heydangle]

It would help knowing a few basic rules of your upcoming auction. Can you tell us if:
- Are proxy bids allowed? This answer to this dramatically changes the auction.
- How long does an owner need to be the high bidder before he wins the player?
- How many players can be on the auction block at any time?

It's proxy bidding. $400 budget. What's the most you would spend on your top player?
12 hour bidding.
Each of the 12 owners are required to put 2 up for bidding a day.

[clarion contrarion]

auction is far from my strong suit but I like to lock down a couple studs early and then save for lots of depth bargains at the end of the draft. Depth is the single biggest factor in maintaining a consistently strong viable roster year over year imho! Everyone wants a star studded lineup but injuries are a fact of life; depth will provide so many match up options and with bye weeks being the bulk of the regular season you better have depth to cover both injuries and bye weeks. That will get you in the post season and then you have a chance as everyone knows the week to week variance even with studs is completely random . Some years it will be your turn some years not but if you are there consistently that is more effective than just loading up for 1 run and getting an injury or two and killing your season.

[rubber_duck]

It would help knowing a few basic rules of your upcoming auction. Can you tell us if:
- Are proxy bids allowed? This answer to this dramatically changes the auction.
- How long does an owner need to be the high bidder before he wins the player?
- How many players can be on the auction block at any time?

It's proxy bidding. $400 budget. What's the most you would spend on your top player?
12 hour bidding.
Each of the 12 owners are required to put 2 up for bidding a day.

Good. The last question is something you just have to answer for yourself. It is: what sort of fantasy player are you?

- Are you the sort that really, really wants to have a team with "your guys" on it? That's fine. You can make it happen.
- Are you the sort that doesn't give 2 cents about any particular player so long as your team wins? That's fine too.
- Are you a homer for a certain NFL franchise?

For the auction settings you have described, you should see certain things happen.

With a fixed amount of bidding time for each player, you can expect people to attempt "sniping" as the clock winds down. If you are the sort of fantasy player that really wants to own "your guy", then you can benefit from being a sniper. However, if you are trying to chase value for a player on the block, then you will want to take advantage of the proxy bidding; determine the highest amount you are willing to pay for that player and enter it the first chance you get, then try your best to ignore the auction until the clock expires ... don't get caught up in a bidding war over a player you previously decided was a value play.

If you are a homer for an NFL team do your best to keep this a secret!!! If people in the league already know you're a homer, then you are best served by not buy ANY players from that team at all. It is understandable if you can't quit your team cold-turkey, but your leaguemates will run the price up on you.

As others have mentioned, you should only nominate players that you have little interest in buying. Or, put a better way: nominate high profile players that you expect others to pay lots of money for but that you don't really want yourself.

This post is getting long, but here are a few other ideas to consider:
- At the beginning of your auction everyone will have the same amount of money. Therefore any of you CAN have any single NFL player you want, guaranteed ... probably more than one. This is fundamentally different than a draft. However, whatever players are purchased at the start of the auction are bought at a price that is so high that only 1 person in the league thinks the player is worth that much ... the buyer.

- If you live for chasing value, then I suggest making a list of fantasy players that are going to be sold with all possible upside already built into their price. Then, avoid buying ANY of those player. For example, Todd Gurley will be sold in your auction with no possible room for increased value. Obviously if you want to build a team around a few special players (and Gurley is one of them), then suck it up and buy Gurley. But know what sort of fantasy player you are and have the strategy worked out that fits this.

[Weeman]

After the first big name rookies leave the board expect the others to go for nothing later. Getting Davis, howard, Hunt, Kamara for pennies didn’t suck. If one hits your in great position for the season. If you decide to overpay for a stud or two knowing which rookies are in a great situation helps.

Maybe set a budget for each position & stick to it.

Know when to fold in a bidding war. Value is key.

[clarion contrarion]

to avoid "quoting" a monster post a far overused practice around these parts like when people quote the 1st post when they are the 2nd post or quoting the post right before yours - I will say RUBBER DUCK terrific post and great advice.