DraftStreet Review
Nowadays the world of online fantasy sports is completely different than it was in 2010, when Skyllzone LLC launched DraftStreet. DraftStreet is one of the pioneering websites for modern fantasy sports. Basketball, baseball, golf, football, hockey, college football, college basketball and soccer are the sports available at DraftStreet. The site features daily and weekly fantasy leagues which are played for cash prizes. Top fantasy sport players at DraftStreet can earn more than hundred thousand dollars on a monthly basis. DraftStreet holds the largest Fantasy Baseball Championship from 2nd-5th September where the winner earns an amazing prize of $1,000,000. Players from the USA and Canada are allowed to play for real money at DraftStreet, except for citizens of: Washington, Puerto Rico, Iowa, Arizona, Louisiana, Montana and Quebec in Canada, who are only allowed to play in the free leagues.
Getting started
Signing up for an account at DraftStreet is simple and free. All you need to do is provide some basic information and keep updating your profile on the website. After registering you can immediately start playing. The different leagues are shown in the draft lobby. You can also unregister from a league, unless the league is completely full, i.e. it has the necessary amount of players. If a league doesn't have the necessary number of players, it will be cancelled and the entry fee would be refunded, unless it has a 'G' next to it. In that case the league won't be cancelled and the prize pool would be paid out. People who want to compete with their friends and see which one of them is the ultimate fantasy sports champ, can create private leagues, which are password protected.
Deposits and withdrawals
Players can deposit via credit card or PayPal. DraftStreet accepts all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard and American Express. The winnings can be withdrawn via PayPal or via check. The players are limited to two pay-outs per week via PayPal, while there is no limit for check pay-outs. The pay-outs go through within an hour after the scoring period is over.
Pay-out grid and bonuses
Leagues of 2-4 players have a prize for the 1st player who gets 100% of the pool. 5-9 players' leagues have prizes for the 1st and the 2nd player, 65% and 35% respectively. If there are 20 players even the 4th player earns 10%. There are no tie-breaks and the funds are split evenly if two or more players have the same score. All new players at DraftStreet can get a bonus of up to $200 and this offer is limited. They also offer a $500 special bonus for MLB league players.
Fantasy sports options (duration, number of players, entry fees, draft types)
At DraftStreet you can choose the sport that you like, the type of the draft, the number of players and the entry fee. We've already mentioned the available sports and the duration of the leagues- daily and weekly. When it comes to draft types, you can choose between the salary cap draft, the more traditional snake draft, the Pick 'em Leagues and the Survivor Tournaments. The way salary cap draft works is very similar to how professional clubs work. Each player in the league gets to choose a number of players (depending on the roster-size in the particular sport) and their fantasy salaries mustn't exceed $100,000. So, you should be aiming to combine a team of players who would play well without exceeding the limit. You are not allowed to pick all players from one team.
In the Pick 'em Leagues each player gets to choose 8 players from 8 different tiers, one player from each. The Survivor Tournaments last 3 days. The players ranking in the top half of the first day will go through the second and the top half from the second will advance to the third. The winner of the third day round wins the prize. The points are not cumulative, which means that each new day everyone starts from 0.
In a snake draft, there are as many rounds as there are players in the rooster of a particular sport and each participant gets one pick per round. The player who was first in the first round would pick last in the second and vice-versa. Hence, the name 'snake' draft. The leagues can have from 2 to 10 players and up to hundreds of participants for the leagues with a guaranteed pool prize. The entry fee can be as low as $5, and not more than $215. As you can see the number of combinations is practically limitless.
Rules and scoring
We'll now go through the rules and scoring for some of the individual sports offered at DraftStreet.
MLB
In Major League Baseballs, the rosters are consisted of 12 players for the daily leagues and 16 for the weekly leagues. If you are playing the snake-draft option you also get to pick two reserves. No more than 4 hitters from a single team are allowed. Scoring is divided into two categories, hitting and pitching. Hitters can't receive points for pitching and vice-versa. In the hitting category, a single earns 1 point, a double 2 and a triple 3. A homerun is worth 4 points and a stolen base 2. If a player gets caught stealing he loses 1 point. In pitching, a save brings 3 points, a win 2, and a loss is -1 point. There is a minimum amount of games that need to be played in order certain leagues to be available: three or more games for 2man Snakes, five or more for 3man Snakes and eleven or more for 6man Snakes.
NBA
For NBA, the rosters are consisted of 8 players for salary caps and 10 players for snakes. You get to pick 3 guards, three forwards, one center and an additional utility player, i.e. anyone- a guard, forward or a center. If you choose the Snakes draft you get two additional reserves, but you can't have more than 3 centers in the roster. The scoring is pretty straightforward, 1 point for points, 1.5 for assists, 1.25 for rebounds and 2 for steals and blocks. You lose one point for each turnover your players make. For a daily salary cap league, there's a two game minimum.
NFL
For National League Football the rosters are consisted of 10 players: 2 running backs, 2 wide receivers, two quarterbacks, one tight end, two additional running backs, wider receivers or tight end and a defense and special teams. There are 12 allowed points for defensive/special teams. The scoring is divided into two categories- offense and defensive/special teams. A passing touchdown earns you 4 points and a rushing touchdown is worth 6 points as well as a return touchdown. A return touchdown also gives 6 points for the defensive/special team. The defensive touchdown is worth 6 points, and each defensive interception will add 1 point to your team.