This article is part of our DFS Baseball 101 series.
One of the most polarizing topics in daily fantasy sports is the issue of multiple entries in tournaments. There is one argument that all tournaments should be single-entry and it should be your one lineup against my one lineup and that's it. The flip side is that without multiple entries in tournaments, the prize pools would be significantly less. Also, the daily fantasy sports operators are out to make money so they don't really want to leave any on the table.
Back to the argument against multiple entries -- for most new players, they really have no idea what type of contest they are entering outside of the prize pool and the entry fee. So when someone sees a $100,000 prize pool, first-place prize of $10,000, and a $3 entry fee, it is understandable why a newer player would enter. The allure of a big prize for a small amount of risk is attractive. Have you ever heard of Powerball?
But what the new player doesn't realize is this is a way that some higher-volume players keep their edge because they know in baseball, stacking is the most optimal way to hit for a high score because of the correlation of events regarding a hit resulting in runs and runs batted in. In order for stacking to pay off over the long haul, you need to have multiple combinations of stacks which require multiple entries.
What they also don't realize is that it is not your one single entry against
One of the most polarizing topics in daily fantasy sports is the issue of multiple entries in tournaments. There is one argument that all tournaments should be single-entry and it should be your one lineup against my one lineup and that's it. The flip side is that without multiple entries in tournaments, the prize pools would be significantly less. Also, the daily fantasy sports operators are out to make money so they don't really want to leave any on the table.
Back to the argument against multiple entries -- for most new players, they really have no idea what type of contest they are entering outside of the prize pool and the entry fee. So when someone sees a $100,000 prize pool, first-place prize of $10,000, and a $3 entry fee, it is understandable why a newer player would enter. The allure of a big prize for a small amount of risk is attractive. Have you ever heard of Powerball?
But what the new player doesn't realize is this is a way that some higher-volume players keep their edge because they know in baseball, stacking is the most optimal way to hit for a high score because of the correlation of events regarding a hit resulting in runs and runs batted in. In order for stacking to pay off over the long haul, you need to have multiple combinations of stacks which require multiple entries.
What they also don't realize is that it is not your one single entry against other single entries. It is your entry versus a field that consists of about 50 percent single entries and 50 percent multiple entries. The multiple entries are key because in baseball, stacking is a strategy that most advanced players employ in large-field tournaments. Having multiple stacks allows you to cover your bases and create multiple lineups. Lining up the top five hitters on a team, filling in with three other hitters, then taking two pitchers is a challenge in trying to come in under the salary cap. A lot of players ask if there is actually any SKILL involved in stacking, and if so, how is it skill if you are just picking the top 5-10 highest projected team totals of the day and running combinations?
For the record, I am not against multiple entries, but I do think that they should be limited in some cases. By placing a limit on how many entries a user can have, it would reduce the amount of stacking involved. There is a place for mega multiple-entry in daily fantasy sports, but diversity is important. DraftKings recently started implementing a maximum of three entries in some tournaments and it has been met with positive results.
Now that I have laid the groundwork for the multi-entry dichotomy, I thought I would look at a recent tournament on DraftKings and see what impact multiple entries had on it. This tournament was the $10,000 Moonshot from 5/25 on the early slate. It was $3, 3833 entries, a max number of 35 entries, and the total positions paid were 780. Being that it was a seven-game slate, I am more apt to play in those because it will reduce the number of possible stacks. Also, I was ok with the 35 max entries because it was a little less than one percent of the field.
Here are some of the facts:
780 out of 3833 = 20% of the field is paid out
1668 out of 3833 entries were single entries (43%)
2165 out of 3833 entries were made by users with multiple entries (57%)
493 out of 2165 entries finished in the money (22%)
493 out of the 780 paid positions were from multiple entry users (63%)
There were a total of 10 players that used the max number of entries
35 max entries (total 350 entries; 9.1 percent of the field)
Bravesneverlose - $72 won, -$33 net
DollarBillW - $32 won, -$73 net
ganondorf - $73 won, -$32 net
jjwd - $6 won, -$99 net
mjgsimpson - $106 won, $1 net
NILKNARF - $35 won, -$70 net
nomoreiloveyous - $44 won, -$61 net
SaahilSud - $342 won, $237 net
scout326 - $137 won, $32 net
tator2shoes - $158 won, $53 net
This group of players ended up capturing $1005 of the prize pool (10 percent) and losing a total of $45.
Other notables (number of entries) – (total 323 entries; 8.4 percent of the field)
Blocky402 – 27 ; $172 won, $91 net
Brewtah – 15; $0 won, -$45 net
Bscrabtree7 – 10; $24 won, -$6 net
Chirphappy – 12; $22 won -$14 net
Fallfromgrace – 18; $6 won, -$48 net
Felixingenium – 31; $2526 won, $2423 net (25% of the prize pool)
HarryHog1 – 14; $16, won -$26 net
Jgreenblatt – 10; $22 won, $-8 net
Joshgun12 – 15; $54 won, $9 net
K4ratech0p – 20; $14 won, -$46 net
Lynch303 – 15; $0 won, -$45 net
Pacotrain – 23; $6 won, -$63 net
Paul7f – 12; $14 won, -$22 net
RedskinsUNCfan – 10; $80 won, $50 net
Remyinthesystem – 11; $0 won, -$33 net
Rwalkersc – 21; $142 won, $79 net
ThatStunna – 19; $6 won, -$51 net
TheHaba – 10; $64 won, $34 net
Torstar1 – 10; $30 won, $0 net
Tshirt – 20; $188 won, $128 net
You notice that almost every player from this group lost money (12/20) or just barely turned a profit. The biggest problem is when a player like Felixingenium takes down 25% of the total prize pool with 31 entries. If you limit the max number of entries to 10, it is much harder for someone to do that which is better for the overall ecosystem and distribution of the prize money.
