Big Life Update + DFS

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Sanai United States. Mar 27 2014 14:55. Posts 643

Hey guys,

So some huge updates, much of it due to LP. A few months back I got heavily involved in daily fantasy sports as a result of Daut's first blog about his fantasy football performances. I was never a big fantasy guy before, but the daily variant ended up becoming a massive passion for me. I played almost exclusively basketball and it was the perfect time to get involved. Made accounts on the three biggest sites: FanDuel, DraftKings, and Draftstreet.

One day in mid-January or so I was taking a break from making a lineup and started exploring the FanDuel site. I was mainly looking for promos, but the fact that FD started as a tech startup caught my interest. I'd been involved in co-founding a tech startup before and I'm knowlegeable about the community so I started reading up on them. I clicked over the Jobs section and saw that they were advertisting for a position that was very much in line with my work experience at previous startups so I applied.

Fastforward a couple months and here I am as the new Promotions and Events Manager for FanDuel. FanDuel is pretty much the undisputed largest daily fantasy sports site and they're expanding hard right now. A big part of that expansion is increasing the number and scale of live events. My responsibilities cover conceiving of, planning, and executing these live events from start to finish as well as helping across the board on promotions and user retention for all major online events.

My first big project which we just launched today is the World Fantasy baseball Championship. It's the daily fantasy spin on the World Series of Poker: 11 distinct fantasy baseball events with $5mill in prizes spread out. All of this culminates in a weekend at the Vegas Cosmopolitan where we'll be playing out (live) the finals for 4 different tournaments, including the flagship Daily Fantasy baseball Championship with a $1million first place prize.

http://www.fanduel.com/wfbc

Anyway, I know there are some daily fantasy grinders here on LP and you guys were my inspiration for getting involved in this industry in the first place so thanks! Don't hesitate to check out our NBA flagship event either (http://www.fanduel.com/dfbbc). As a FD employee I can't play on FD anymore, but we all have accounts on other sites to feed our addiction so I will always be available to talk picks and strategy.

And since I am an LP member at heart always, don't hesitate to hit me up if you guys have any issues playing on FD or have any questions about anything. Msg me here on LP or email me at kevin@fanduel.com.

Cheers.

0 votes

napoleono Romania. Mar 27 2014 16:19. Posts 771

Good job on landing the job and good luck with it.

Wonder how much does it pay?

jdmk2114 United States. Mar 27 2014 16:29. Posts 25

Curious how the "live" part of this works in Vegas...

In poker, you go to the WSOP in Vegas to play live poker.

But how are the "live" DFS drafts in Vegas any different than if you were drafting from your couch at home? Everyone can draft whoever they want still right? Its not like once a player is drafted he is taken off the board. (Or is that the difference?)
Unless I am missing something, I assume the attraction is just that the atmosphere is cool, its a big party, but the gameplay itself (the drafting) is no different than at home, right?

Sanai United States. Mar 27 2014 16:55. Posts 643

napoleono:

Prob not a good idea to publicly post this kinda info, but let's just say I live in New York City (cost of living very high) and I'm very happy with my salary + benefits AND FD gives stock options to every employee. Overall I'm very satisfied with my compensation.

jdmk:

You're absolutely right. The actual "gameplay" is no different. Instead, think of the all-expenses-paid Vegas trip as a celebration more than anything. It's a 2-3-day massive fantasy sports party. The live "event" will transform the Cosmo ballroom into the ultimate mancave with tons of TVs, live feeds, comfy furniture, food, drinks, and all kinds of games/entertainment. The guys will be watching the live baseball games to see how their picks perform at the highest level of comfort, surrounded by other competitive guys who all love the same stuff.

Since almost everyone who makes it to Vegas has already secured some sort of cash prize, the whole vibe will most likely be very celebratory (even though there's still over $2mill left to be won that weekend).

RaiNKhAN

United States. Mar 27 2014 18:12. Posts 4080

I'm not as much of a fan of fantasy as I am with just regular sports wagering, but I will say in my limited, 6-7 day stint on fantasy that FanDuel had the biggest payouts proportional to buy-in out of like 4 other sites I used. Enjoy

The biggest Rockets, Sixers, and Grizzlies fan you will ever meet!

PuertoRican United States. Mar 27 2014 20:10. Posts 13037

Congrats yo~

Rekrul is a newb

Centrin United States. Mar 27 2014 20:11. Posts 53

Got anything special cooked up for the NBA playoffs?

hiems United States. Mar 28 2014 22:19. Posts 2979

Congrats I play on fan duel and also am working on a project in line with what you at fanduel. Ideally i would like to launch by nfl season..Will pm you with details later.

I beat Loco!!! [img]https://i.imgur.com/wkwWj2d.png[/img]

Last edit: 28/03/2014 22:23

Sanai United States. Mar 29 2014 11:00. Posts 643

Thanks guys. And the last big NBA thing is our $1.2 million tourney next Friday (120k for 1st, $200 direct buyin or satellite in). Basketball is winding down (unfortunately for me, it's my fav sport as you might be able to tell from my previous blogs). Just like with season long fantasy, the actual playoffs of any sport mean the beginning of the end for daily fantasy action. We do have more stuff than season long leagues which just end before playoffs, but it won't be close to our reg season volume/offerings.