Auction Style drafts

[SkinsKY]

Has anyone done Auction style drafts before? I did my first one this morning and it was about the best draft I've ever had. Tons of fun and a bit different strategy.

[SpicyMcHaggis]

Has anyone done Auction style drafts before? I did my first one this morning and it was about the best draft I've ever had. Tons of fun and a bit different strategy.
For what it's worth, Fantasy soccer, or Fantacalcio, over here in Italy is played exclusively with Auction style drafts. There are 2 variations: either real money with no cap, or fake money with everyone starting with the same amount. I think it takes much more planning and skills. For instance, if you have the #1 pick in classic FF rules, you just go ahead and take LT (or SA or LJ)..but in an auction, a player like that could get up to half your total budget, or cost you some big money..

[GolfFreak]

Has anyone done Auction style drafts before? I did my first one this morning and it was about the best draft I've ever had. Tons of fun and a bit different strategy.

Never done it that way before, been wanting to try though.

How much did your league start with? Which players cost the most?

[CarMike]

Has anyone done Auction style drafts before? I did my first one this morning and it was about the best draft I've ever had. Tons of fun and a bit different strategy.
Exactly how does that work brandon? Is it similar to salary cap leagues? And what site are you using to play on?

Sounds like something i'd be interested in joining.

[fent]

Exactly how does that work brandon? Is it similar to salary cap leagues? And what site are you using to play on?

Sounds like something i'd be interested in joining.

they all are a bit different, but basically everyone has a salary cap, people throw out player names randomly and then you bid until someone wins the player. you have to decide if you're going to balance your money among several solid players or go for a couple big studs. you also will see random people nominated in the first "round". friend of mine will always throw out kickers or second tier defenses to get people to waste their cash early. the same friend was telling me about a new twist that they're doing this year...they all have a smaller amount to start with and they bid until everyone has 5 players on their squads. then they start a snake draft with the player with the most money left picking first and least amount of cash picking last. he's going to go all out for 3 stud players then throw a kicker/sleeper out for cheap to get his 5 and then pick 12/13 and be set.

[SpicyMcHaggis]

they all are a bit different, but basically everyone has a salary cap, people throw out player names randomly and then you bid until someone wins the player. you have to decide if you're going to balance your money among several solid players or go for a couple big studs. you also will see random people nominated in the first "round". friend of mine will always throw out kickers or second tier defenses to get people to waste their cash early. the same friend was telling me about a new twist that they're doing this year...they all have a smaller amount to start with and they bid until everyone has 5 players on their squads. then they start a snake draft with the player with the most money left picking first and least amount of cash picking last. he's going to go all out for 3 stud players then throw a kicker/sleeper out for cheap to get his 5 and then pick 12/13 and be set.
Yeah, that's how we do it over here. But at least in my experience, there is one strategy that almost always leads to success. That is, strike early and strike fast. Try to get the first great players that anybody calls out (in football's case, RBs or WRs, in soccer's case, strikers), even if the price seems very high at first..the more players get called out, the higher the prices go, and everybody usually tends to be very cautious in the beginning.
Personally I think it's a much better process than just a simple draft.

[SkinsKY]

Yeah, that's how we do it over here. But at least in my experience, there is one strategy that almost always leads to success. That is, strike early and strike fast. Try to get the first great players that anybody calls out (in football's case, RBs or WRs, in soccer's case, strikers), even if the price seems very high at first..the more players get called out, the higher the prices go, and everybody usually tends to be very cautious in the beginning.
Personally I think it's a much better process than just a simple draft.
It was the first time any of us had done it and so a lot of people overbid in the beginning. With a $200 budget, Alexander, LT and LJ went between $75-$80. Basically I would throw out players who I thought would be overpaid and tried to run the others out of money. It's kind of like trying to shoot the moon in hearts. Here's my team (8 team league, so plenty of talent to go around, but I did alright).
McNabb $13
Portis $54
J. Lewis $12
S. Moss $22
H. Ward $19
M. Harrison $23
Alge $11
Plaxico $8 *I timed out and I guess the AI auto bid for this one.
Akers $6 *Was my last pick so I emptied the bank on him
Colts D $3

Bench:
Roethlisberger: $4
Warrick Dunn: $5
Kevin Jones: $4
Ahman Green: $3
Derrick Mason: $3
Javon walker: $7
Bengals D $3
total: $200

I hate picking WRs but I ended up with a good stable and pretty RBs. I'm probably going to try some 2 for 1 trades to improve some starter positions because there's still decent players on the FA line because it's an 8 team league. We would have preferred a 10 team league, but we couldn't get enough people. But, like I said, loads of fun.

[SpicyMcHaggis]

It was the first time any of us had done it and so a lot of people overbid in the beginning. With a $200 budget, Alexander, LT and LJ went between $75-$80. Basically I would throw out players who I thought would be overpaid and tried to run the others out of money. It's kind of like trying to shoot the moon in hearts. Here's my team (8 team league, so plenty of talent to go around, but I did alright).
McNabb $13
Portis $54
J. Lewis $12
S. Moss $22
H. Ward $19
M. Harrison $23
Alge $11
Plaxico $8 *I timed out and I guess the AI auto bid for this one.
Akers $6 *Was my last pick so I emptied the bank on him
Colts D $3

Bench:
Roethlisberger: $4
Warrick Dunn: $5
Kevin Jones: $4
Ahman Green: $3
Derrick Mason: $3
Javon walker: $7
Bengals D $3
total: $200

I hate picking WRs but I ended up with a good stable and pretty RBs. I'm probably going to try some 2 for 1 trades to improve some starter positions because there's still decent players on the FA line because it's an 8 team league. We would have preferred a 10 team league, but we couldn't get enough people. But, like I said, loads of fun.
Yeah, that usually leads to some crazy stuff happening..if you repeat next year, you'll see the prices initially will drop.
And you have quite a team there..

[SkinsASchamps]

I may have missed it, but what is the website for this?

[SkinsKY]

I may have missed it, but what is the website for this?

We're using yahoo as the league, but used www.fantasyauctioneer.com to do the draft and manually put the results in. I think it cost $20 to use the software, but it keeps track of all the numbers and keeps the time rolling. Our draft took two hours bidding on $120 players.

Spicy, yeah I think the prices will drop as well, so I'll probably try do the opposite.