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How do you use your cheatsheet?


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Cheat Sheet in a Live Draft  

72 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you keep track of your cheatsheet/roster in a LIVE draft?

    • Print off a cheat sheet and mark off players as they are drafted.
      59
    • Use a excel spreadsheet for my cheatsheet
      7
    • Use a Draft software on a laptop/tablet
      6
  2. 2. How do you keep track of your cheatsheet/roster in an ONLINE draft?

    • Print off a cheat sheet and mark off players as they are drafted.
      46
    • Use a excel spreadsheet for my cheatsheet
      8
    • Use a Draft software on a laptop/tablet
      10
    • Just pick from the ADP shown on the online draft
      8


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I am just an old school guy. Been playing for almost 25 years now. I have tried other ways but I am just happy with my paper in a live draft and a excel spreadsheet in an online draft. I know people that swear by the other methods. Just wonder how many are more advanced in how they do their drafts.

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Paper for me as well. Always have...probably always will. By the time the draft rolls around, I've generally gone over the stuff enough in prep that the sheets are used primarily just to track who is left and help with some late round decisions.

 

With the amount of time you put into this, David, I gotta believe you probably could go at it with no sheets at all :) But it sounds like its a habit/comfort/stick-with-what-works thing for you, too, much as I imagine it is for many here.

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For the sake of speed, I always highlight the deeper players that I want so I can find them quickly on my sheet. I also mark players in red I do not want for whatever reason. In auctions, those are the names I normally throw out to let people burn cash on someone I would never want.

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For a live draft, print off a cheat sheet, use "up arrows" to signify a guy I have a little higher than the rankings show... highlight guys that I really want or sleepers.

 

Online draft, just use the ADP... depending on the draft, though, I may do the same thing as above.

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I am paranoid of prying eyes, so I don't highlight names, I just put a small blue dot by my targets and a red one by my avoids. Also do the arrows as Darin described.

 

In addition to my cheat sheet I bring an ADP printout from the host site.

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Keep a "Huddle" one pager with me, but I've used software these last few years. Wasn't a fan at first, but can't draft without it now. Helps to quickly identify what other teams have, other team needs, and helps to view players falling that shouldn't. I moved to software as we have a time restriction on each pick.

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I primarily have the following with me:

 

1. Cheat Sheet printed out - If I have time to import in ADP, this is with name, team, bye week and ADP. I cross of names as they get picked, highlight the guys I take. I also just put a little dot next to deeper guys I like and an x next to guys I want to avoid.

 

2. Team tracking spreadsheet - Again, I print this off - just a little template I make to track what teams have. I fill the teams in in draft order so I can make educated guesses at what teams need, thus, how they may draft. I find that by tracking it myself, I am more in tune with what is going on.

 

I have used draft software, and, not to pump up another site, but the FBG stuff is pretty solid, and I know it does all of the stuff I do by hand, but, old habits die hard.

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I guess I don't understand the difference between #1 and #2 choice? I use an excel spreadsheet to compile and manipulate my cheatsheets, but then print out the final version (for each league) to use at either a live, on-line or slow draft.

 

Being in leagues with 6, 12, 14, 18, and 32 teams makes a lot of manipulation between the various sheets!

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I primarily have the following with me:

 

1. Cheat Sheet printed out - If I have time to import in ADP, this is with name, team, bye week and ADP. I cross of names as they get picked, highlight the guys I take. I also just put a little dot next to deeper guys I like and an x next to guys I want to avoid.

 

2. Team tracking spreadsheet - Again, I print this off - just a little template I make to track what teams have. I fill the teams in in draft order so I can make educated guesses at what teams need, thus, how they may draft. I find that by tracking it myself, I am more in tune with what is going on.

 

I have used draft software, and, not to pump up another site, but the FBG stuff is pretty solid, and I know it does all of the stuff I do by hand, but, old habits die hard.

 

 

Exactly what I do. I have a round by round serpentine format to keep track of the picks each round and a team format so that I can see the needs of each team and try and predict where they might be going next and try to beat them to the spot if it's a need I also have.

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I guess I don't understand the difference between #1 and #2 choice? I use an excel spreadsheet to compile and manipulate my cheatsheets, but then print out the final version (for each league) to use at either a live, on-line or slow draft.

 

Being in leagues with 6, 12, 14, 18, and 32 teams makes a lot of manipulation between the various sheets!

 

 

I assumed that #1 is what you do - work up a cheatsheet and print it out.

 

#2 is tracking picks, etc. in Excel as they happen

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Exactly what I do. I have a round by round serpentine format to keep track of the picks each round and a team format so that I can see the needs of each team and try and predict where they might be going next and try to beat them to the spot if it's a need I also have.

 

 

Exactly - that's why it is key that your team by team tracker has bye week in it... especially if you are someone that waits on QB. A little easier if you pick near the turns, but I have had several times where I knew I wanted to go back to back QBs and took one I had ranked well lower than my primary target because my primary target shared a bye week with the QB of the team picking between my picks - doesn't work out 100% of the time, but it does more often than not as most people won't draft a backup with the same bye week as their starter.

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Exactly - that's why it is key that your team by team tracker has bye week in it... especially if you are someone that waits on QB. A little easier if you pick near the turns, but I have had several times where I knew I wanted to go back to back QBs and took one I had ranked well lower than my primary target because my primary target shared a bye week with the QB of the team picking between my picks - doesn't work out 100% of the time, but it does more often than not as most people won't draft a backup with the same bye week as their starter.

 

 

That's a tricky move cause I personally wouldn't pass on the better QB just because they shared the same bye week especially if the QBs had a late bye week. I'd draft BPA at the QB position and worry about finding a replacement for that 1 week while making sure I had the best player at the time of the draft.

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That's a tricky move cause I personally wouldn't pass on the better QB just because they shared the same bye week especially if the QBs had a late bye week. I'd draft BPA at the QB position and worry about finding a replacement for that 1 week while making sure I had the best player at the time of the draft.

 

 

All about knowing your fellow drafters

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All about knowing your fellow drafters

 

 

No doubt about it.

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I always create my cheat sheets using some kind of automated tool (like Cheat Sheet War Room). I used to use spreadsheet for this but it just doesn't make sense when you need lots of dynamic information like player news. Magazines are also just about useless for creating rankings.

 

But when it comes to the draft itself, I always forego anything automated for a printed sheet of some sort. For one, automated tools can easily fail if your Internet connection goes down (or if it sucks). As a matter of fact, we've almost expelled league members for using tools which slowed the draft down to a crawl. No one wants to be 'that guy'.

 

In my opinion, if you're to the point to where you need a live drafting tool, you're just lazy. I think using tools to create your rankings is one thing, but relying on anything that is automated to conduct your draft is just weak.

Edited by Disco Dave
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I always create my cheat sheets using some kind of automated tool (like Cheat Sheet War Room). I used to use spreadsheet for this but it just doesn't make sense when you need lots of dynamic information like player news. Magazines are also just about useless for creating rankings.

 

But when it comes to the draft itself, I always forego anything automated for a printed sheet of some sort. For one, automated tools can easily fail if your Internet connection goes down (or if it sucks). As a matter of fact, we've almost expelled league members for using tools which slowed the draft down to a crawl. No one wants to be 'that guy'.

 

In my opinion, if you're to the point to where you need a live drafting tool, you're just lazy. I think using tools to create your rankings is one thing, but relying on anything that is automated to conduct your draft is just weak.

 

Good point. Well said.
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Exactly - that's why it is key that your team by team tracker has bye week in it... especially if you are someone that waits on QB. A little easier if you pick near the turns, but I have had several times where I knew I wanted to go back to back QBs and took one I had ranked well lower than my primary target because my primary target shared a bye week with the QB of the team picking between my picks - doesn't work out 100% of the time, but it does more often than not as most people won't draft a backup with the same bye week as their starter.

 

Good example of the kind of thing savy owners do that helps them win over an owner who is drafting purely off a cheat sheet, ADP, etc.

 

Use all the tools in the bag not just the most obvious :tup:

Edited by Delicious_bass
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For the past few years I would copy+paste the myHuddle rankings into an excel spreadsheet for each of my leagues, and play around with the formatting so everything for the most part fit on 1 page. Then I would just mark up the spreadsheet with highlights where necessary, and update it pick by pick if the draft is online. If it's a live draft, I simply print out a copy of the spreadsheet and bring it with me.

 

That said, this is the first year I actually purchased an app (not to be named) for my iPhone and iPad, and am using that for my draft guidance/tracking. Liking it so far, as it's less work and just neater in general, then the spreadsheets I'd been spending time on every year.

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Am I the only one that prints out a new cheat sheet after every pick is made?

 

 

What kinda printer you bring to the draft? I bring a gigantic xerox bizhub copy/fax/printer that's on wheels.

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I am just an old school guy. Been playing for almost 25 years now. I have tried other ways but I am just happy with my paper in a live draft and a excel spreadsheet in an online draft. I know people that swear by the other methods. Just wonder how many are more advanced in how they do their drafts.

 

 

The problem with this approach is, between the beer and being middle-aged, I have trouble reading it by the third round. I still go with paper in a live draft.

 

I think I need longer arms, to hell with reading glasses.

Edited by CowboysDiehard
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