Procedural advice for an auction draft?

[detlef]

Then again, I can never find anything using the search engine.

 

At any rate, I've found no shortage of advice articles on how to draft well in auction formats, I'm looking for suggestions on the best way to run one.

 

We do have an outsider lined up to be the auctioneer.

 

Usual auction protocol with # cards or do you just raise your hand?

 

Are there minimum opening bids for the early rounds to keep things moving?

 

How long should we expect a 10 team auction to take? Assume 16 players.

[Double Agent]

First year for us too. We're not using hands or cards. Just going to try the yell out dollar amount approach. Hoping it speeds things up. Minimum $1 opening bid but stud players I'd hope start higher (time reasons again). I'm hoping to complete ours in 2 hours. 10 teams/20 player rosters/IDP.

[FantasyFBL]

I am in a yahoo auction league and it's a blast drafting. You nominate a player and yahoo starts the bid at $1. You have 30 seconds to bid and if a team bids on the last second, it adds 5 seconds to the auction for the player.

[flemingd]

Usual auction protocol with # cards or do you just raise your hand?

We just shout out numbers. Giving 12 drunks something to wave around would not go well in ours.

 

Are there minimum opening bids for the early rounds to keep things moving?

Not really needed. Anyone worth a grain of salt will get escalated from a $1 opening in a flash.

 

How long should we expect a 10 team auction to take? Assume 16 players.

Could be done in two hours, but plan for 5. These things are SO much more fun and interactive than a snake draft - enjoy it. Bring a ton of beer, fire up a grill, and just let it flow.

 

God I love auction drafts.

[firstandgoal]

We have a long standing live auction every year with 15 teams. Each team draws a drat order number. We buy our first 10 players by auction, untill all teams have 10 player. Then, we do serpetine draft for our remaining 6 players. We pay one draft girl $50 bucks to do the auction part and one $50 to do the draft board. Takes 2 hours, even with all the hazing and joking round.

 

My experience: Go big on 2-3 players and save a few bucks for your later sleeper picks, but don't wait to long to pull the trigger. * If you cn get a bargain on a player, take it!

[The Holy Roller]

AY2FDCBM has auction drafted since its inception and we do it online. Only one cough:Thews:cough major screwup in three years but otherwise it will go a lot faster than what you think and you lose track of time because you can be involved in every bit of the action. I am in two locals (16 teams each league) and we use an auctioneer. The key is to have an auctioneer who can keep things moving. Yelling out bids works best unless you are having a league made up of players who are used to buying art at high society affairs. It will be more fun than whatever you are imagining.

 

And I agree with buying some studs. Don't be the guy with money left over.

[theprofessor]

This is my 7th year doing "live" auction drafts. If you do them online you're missing out! We have a 10 team 23 position roster and our draft normally takes 5 to 5.5 hours. We take 3, 4 - 5 minute breaks and 20 minutes when lunch arrives. Obviously there is a ton of alchohol flowing too!

 

Have a 3rd party Auctioneer. We pay for his lunch and all the drinks he wants. We start the draft by having the defending champion designate the opening player and then it starts from there. Champion always sits at the front left side of the table set up (U shaped) and we continue clockwise so we never lose sight of who through out the last player. One of the key things to keeping the draft moving is to let the owners know that they need to be prepared to throw out the next player when the rotations coming back to them. If there is a 30 second to 45 second delay then the draft loses it's momentum and you'll be there all night. If an owner exceeds the 1 minute mark he buys a round for the group. Funny how that eliminates the issue.

 

Our auctioneer has a podium and a microphone. We also have 3 microphones spread out across 6 - 8 foot tables to pick up the bid noise. It's important that your auctioneer speaks at a consistent pace. If there is a question as to whether a bid was "on time" we let the two owners on opposite sides of the "U" determine the winner as they are closest to the auctioneer. If we can't decide, the bidding starts with the two owners that are left and they start again.

 

No need to raise hands, just talk loud enough to be heard. I agree on the studs, know your scoring, roster requirements, pick up the tendencies of your co-owners and conceal your own.

Edited August 2, 2011 by theprofessor

[flemingd]

My experience: Go big on 2-3 players and save a few bucks for your later sleeper picks, but don't wait to long to pull the trigger. * If you cn get a bargain on a player, take it!

I suggest exactly the opposite, especially if it's a keeper. Someone is going to spend $50 ($100 league) on CJ then $5 on three SHAM WOW!ty RBBC's. Take the same $55 and get 5 guys for $11 each. This price will get you round 4-7 type RB's and a few are gonna hit. I"m especially a fan of taking RBBC combos this way. In recent memory we have seen AP, CJ, and Charles all emerge from what was expected to be RBBC as the clear player ahead of the rest and an injury can really be something you ride instead of dread - Stewart the last couple of seasons when DeAngelo went down, Bradshaw breaking out, Blount getting his playing time - I'm sure there are a dozen more.

 

In a keeper format you now walk into next year with a stud at a bargain price. My auction team has Ray Rice a $10, Forte at $7, Charles at $19, all keeper options for me. I have missed in the past on guys like Beanie and Kevin Smith for the same price but so what, I just don't keep the misses. My opponents have Stepehn Jackson at $38 and Gore at $55 or, even worse, Ryan Matthews at $43! Obviously they won't keep them but even if they played well, the aren't bargains and now those owners won't have any cash to bid on the big boys. Auctions are definitely a case of the rich getting richer - you go in with rockstar keepers and have more money to overpay for Rogers/Calvin/AJ and that is a massive, massive advantage.

[NOSaint237]

Then again, I can never find anything using the search engine.

 

At any rate, I've found no shortage of advice articles on how to draft well in auction formats, I'm looking for suggestions on the best way to run one.

 

We do have an outsider lined up to be the auctioneer.

 

Usual auction protocol with # cards or do you just raise your hand?

 

Are there minimum opening bids for the early rounds to keep things moving?

 

How long should we expect a 10 team auction to take? Assume 16 players.

 

It's some small things that I haven't seen mentioned yet, but could potentially turn into an issue if not addressed, but one is the consistency of the auctioneer. It terms of the countdown. Don't have a 3 second pause before he says sold one time and on the next player up, go with a quick SOLD!!! to the man in the back row. We also designate the auctioneer to call any ties for last second bids. Keep background noise and talking to minimums to keep a clean smooth auction going. AKA, don't clown the two guy's that are in a bidding war for Rod Tidwell from Jerry MacGuire until they are done bidding, that's a true story. Then everyone can lay it on thick.

[Whiskey Pimp]

We don't have an auctioneer, it's easy enough without one. We draw out of a hat to see who will get to nominate the first player. The first auctioneer can nominate whoever they want and then says "going once, twice, sold" when the bidding slows down. The owner that wins the bid is now the auctioneer and nominates the next player. There's no order to keep or forgetting who's next. There are no cards, just yell your bid verbally. If two owners say it at the same time the auctioneer will just announce who he thought was first and you move on.

 

We have 18 roster spots and a bank roll of $200 each. Minimum bid is $1 but it will jump quick for studs or top players. Someone may nominate CJ at $1 and the next bid will be $40 or so. Sometimes you'll get someone jumping the bid and no one else bids so the owner probably could have had that player for less but that's part of the fun.

 

We've never had any issues.

[detlef]

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'm guessing we could have done it without an auctioneer, but have a friend who's actually excited to do it and, since we're doing it at someone's house, plying them with food and drink is pretty cheap.

 

It's only a 10 person league and the host's dining room table will fit 11, so we've got that covered. Since it's everyone's first auction, we're just going to plan to do it in quarters, stopping every 40 players bought. 1st and 3rd break will just be to grab a beer and remind everyone where everyone stands money wise. 2nd break will be for lunch.

 

If there's one thing that I anticipate being the biggest hang-up it's making sure guys know what their max bid can be going down the stretch.

[NOSaint237]

Use poster boards. If you have the wall space available, we've always used poster boards. Include team, players picked and for how much, and pts remaining. That allows everyone to see what each team has left.

[The Wolf]

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'm guessing we could have done it without an auctioneer, but have a friend who's actually excited to do it and, since we're doing it at someone's house, plying them with food and drink is pretty cheap.

 

It's only a 10 person league and the host's dining room table will fit 11, so we've got that covered. Since it's everyone's first auction, we're just going to plan to do it in quarters, stopping every 40 players bought. 1st and 3rd break will just be to grab a beer and remind everyone where everyone stands money wise. 2nd break will be for lunch.

 

If there's one thing that I anticipate being the biggest hang-up it's making sure guys know what their max bid can be going down the stretch.

 

I commish my local and keep an Excel spreadsheet (loaded with formulas). At the close of every 2 "rounds" we pause and I call out the number of players remaining and the cap left for all teams.

 

Also, one thing I did not see here is trading. Now, if you don't allow it at your auction, no need to read further. But if you do, we give all teams who want to discuss trades 2 minutes to stop the auction (but NEVER in mid-bid...short of someone keeling over, we never stop until a player is awarded), step away from the others, and talk trade.

 

Guys used to do this openly in front of the other owners and naturally, all lent their own biased opinions. Now we stop whenever a trade needs comsummation. Note that we complete 8 to 10 trades per auction, most of which occur on breaks.

[detlef]

I commish my local and keep an Excel spreadsheet (loaded with formulas). At the close of every 2 "rounds" we pause and I call out the number of players remaining and the cap left for all teams.

 

Also, one thing I did not see here is trading. Now, if you don't allow it at your auction, no need to read further. But if you do, we give all teams who want to discuss trades 2 minutes to stop the auction (but NEVER in mid-bid...short of someone keeling over, we never stop until a player is awarded), step away from the others, and talk trade.

 

Guys used to do this openly in front of the other owners and naturally, all lent their own biased opinions. Now we stop whenever a trade needs comsummation. Note that we complete 8 to 10 trades per auction, most of which occur on breaks.

I assume that players traded during the draft carry with them their cap figure even if they don't during the regular season? This will not be a keeper league, so those numbers will not matter once the draft is over.

[The Wolf]

I assume that players traded during the draft carry with them their cap figure even if they don't during the regular season? This will not be a keeper league, so those numbers will not matter once the draft is over.

 

NO...Say I draft a player for 25 but was only bidding up and really did not want him. If another owner gives me $20 for him, the player goes to the receiving owner for $20 and I have only $20 added back to my total.

[detlef]

NO...Say I draft a player for 25 but was only bidding up and really did not want him. If another owner gives me $20 for him, the player goes to the receiving owner for $20 and I have only $20 added back to my total.

Seems logical. And good idea with Excel. I'm reasonably savvy with that program and have already figured out how I could put together a pretty slick spreadsheet that automatically color codes per position and keeps the running total and max bid amount for everyone.

 

Best of all, if we hold it in the private dining room at one of my restaurants (unlikely to be booked on a Sunday), we have a 60 inch flat screen with a data port so people can do presentations. We could blow that effer up so everyone could see it. Saying nothing about the convenience of cleaning up afterwords.

 

This is gonna be rad!

[The Wolf]

Seems logical. And good idea with Excel. I'm reasonably savvy with that program and have already figured out how I could put together a pretty slick spreadsheet that automatically color codes per position and keeps the running total and max bid amount for everyone.

 

Best of all, if we hold it in the private dining room at one of my restaurants (unlikely to be booked on a Sunday), we have a 60 inch flat screen with a data port so people can do presentations. We could blow that effer up so everyone could see it. Saying nothing about the convenience of cleaning up afterwords.

 

This is gonna be rad!

 

Sounds great!!! You will never go back to a serpentine draft, ever. This will be my local's 17th year and when I finally got the guys to try an auction no one has even joked about going back to a draft...

[detlef]

Sounds great!!! You will never go back to a serpentine draft, ever. This will be my local's 17th year and when I finally got the guys to try an auction no one has even joked about going back to a draft...

Speaking of serpentine draft. Doesn't it still make sense to go serpentine for the order of nominations? One because I can imagine there's still some gamesmanship in nominating. More importantly, however, for the end of the draft where, from what I've been told when I've looked at any strategy articles on the subject, most everyone is down to $1 per player and the thing is acting very much like a traditional draft.

 

Isn't it sort of unfair to the guy who is always picking last if you just go around the table?

[NOSaint237]

Speaking of serpentine draft. Doesn't it still make sense to go serpentine for the order of nominations? One because I can imagine there's still some gamesmanship in nominating. More importantly, however, for the end of the draft where, from what I've been told when I've looked at any strategy articles on the subject, most everyone is down to $1 per player and the thing is acting very much like a traditional draft.

 

Isn't it sort of unfair to the guy who is always picking last if you just go around the table?

 

typically the champ goes first to nominate a player and around the table from him for the remainder of the draft. I don't think it's unfair because that's the beauty of the auction. Anyone can get any player you just have to spend the points. Common strategy is to nominate players you don't want.

 

Another thing we do is we give every team 3 passes. Most commonly used in later rounds of the draft when you don't want to nominate the sleeper you have in mind but can be used at any point during the draft.

[detlef]

typically the champ goes first to nominate a player and around the table from him for the remainder of the draft. I don't think it's unfair because that's the beauty of the auction. Anyone can get any player you just have to spend the points. Common strategy is to nominate players you don't want.

 

Another thing we do is we give every team 3 passes. Most commonly used in later rounds of the draft when you don't want to nominate the sleeper you have in mind but can be used at any point during the draft.

But I was under the impression that the last few rounds are often teams nominating players and just getting them because everyone is down to a buck and can't raise the bid. At that point, you'd obviously want to nominate guys you wanted and, thus, it would seem very much like a standard draft..

 

Is this not the case? Or at least, not the case until maybe the absolute last round or two?

[The Wolf]

We draw random order for nominating players. I've read in this thread that some leagues just throw names out...we have to have a little bit more order than that!

[geeteebee]

Speaking of serpentine draft. Doesn't it still make sense to go serpentine for the order of nominations? One because I can imagine there's still some gamesmanship in nominating. More importantly, however, for the end of the draft where, from what I've been told when I've looked at any strategy articles on the subject, most everyone is down to $1 per player and the thing is acting very much like a traditional draft.

 

Isn't it sort of unfair to the guy who is always picking last if you just go around the table?

 

Not at all. Unlike a draft, in an auction one team may fill up their roster long beofre another team. I've been in leagues where some teams are done and others still have 3-5 players left. It's all about budgeting. Some people like to leave a little extra at the end so they can bid $2-$5 on guys when other people only have $1 left per player and others don't care because they want to top load their rosters and are fine with a handful of $1 guys to round it out. I've never even thought about having a serpentine format to nominating players as it is unimportant. Until you've been through it a few times you may think otherwise but it really doesn't matter.

[Atlanta Cracker]

Seems logical. And good idea with Excel. I'm reasonably savvy with that program and have already figured out how I could put together a pretty slick spreadsheet that automatically color codes per position and keeps the running total and max bid amount for everyone.

 

Best of all, if we hold it in the private dining room at one of my restaurants (unlikely to be booked on a Sunday), we have a 60 inch flat screen with a data port so people can do presentations. We could blow that effer up so everyone could see it. Saying nothing about the convenience of cleaning up afterwords.

 

This is gonna be rad!

 

We do ours using an excel spreadsheet that shows who everyone has bought and for how much as well as each person's current balance and maximum bid (based on # of open spots - So with a $200 cap and 16 roster spots your max bid is $185). It is very helpful to have someone running this spreadsheet that isn't involved in the draft. With 10 teams we usually go 2 - 2.5 hours.

[NOSaint237]

But I was under the impression that the last few rounds are often teams nominating players and just getting them because everyone is down to a buck and can't raise the bid. At that point, you'd obviously want to nominate guys you wanted and, thus, it would seem very much like a standard draft..

 

Is this not the case? Or at least, not the case until maybe the absolute last round or two?

 

 

At least in my league experience, the last few rounds does turn into somewhat of a draft where the last 20-30 players, consisting mostly of deep sleepers, kickers and defenses go for 1 point.

 

Situations vary tho. As someone mentioned already, some guys fill out a roster or run out of cap room. There's really no avoiding it as far as I can see and it can get kind of tedious at the end when all the 1pters start going. But again, to your point at the last guy being at some sort of disadvantage, I've never heard of anyone complaining about that in well over 30 fantasy auction drafts. I'm sure that the 3 passes we get in my auction leagues somewhat help in that respect.

[The Wolf]

At least in my league experience, the last few rounds does turn into somewhat of a draft where the last 20-30 players, consisting mostly of deep sleepers, kickers and defenses go for 1 point.

 

Situations vary tho. As someone mentioned already, some guys fill out a roster or run out of cap room. There's really no avoiding it as far as I can see and it can get kind of tedious at the end when all the 1pters start going. But again, to your point at the last guy being at some sort of disadvantage, I've never heard of anyone complaining about that in well over 30 fantasy auction drafts. I'm sure that the 3 passes we get in my auction leagues somewhat help in that respect.

 

There is no disadvantage...if you manage your auction $$$ properly, you should have more than enough to win sleepers at the end. I always aim to have the most $$$ in hand when I need it most: at the midpoint of the auction and towards the end.