What draft type do you prefer; Auction or traditional Snake

[Twisted Sister]

Auction... definately. Your knowledge and gambles directly against other owners.

You have no excuses for doing poorly... other than yourself (e.g. no more "I landed the 5-9 draft spot, poor me").

I love having the ability to pay a little more for a player I want and to run up the prices on players I don't. I also love owners killing themselves over players I think are overrated (e.g. busting their budget on LJ). Leaves me a little more cash to pursue the ones I want.

But it's got to be LIVE, you need the emotions and heat of the draft to make it a good experience... slow auctions Slow auctions give owners the chance to remove emotion from the process... which helps the weak and unprepared.

[Kellys Heroes]

traditional is kicking ass here

[Vixtor]

Never been in an auction but it has to be better than snake. Earlier picks have way too much value for the really late teams to make up. Injuries are the only reason it ever happens really (along with getting great value like Palmer last year).

[steelerfan513]

not too familiar with auctions; havent done too many. snake drafts are almost universal.

[mrblitz]

Definitely like the snake. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Tha't my moto.

[Matthias]

traditional is kicking ass here

yah. but it seems to be mainly due to people going with what they're used to rather than claiming that the snake is actually superior. me, i've always done snakes and then did an auction in one of my baseball leagues this year. auction. auction. auction. no contest.

[Little Johnny]

Auction... definately. Your knowledge and gambles directly against other owners.

You have no excuses for doing poorly... other than yourself (e.g. no more "I landed the 5-9 draft spot, poor me").

I love having the ability to pay a little more for a player I want and to run up the prices on players I don't. I also love owners killing themselves over players I think are overrated (e.g. busting their budget on LJ). Leaves me a little more cash to pursue the ones I want.

But it's got to be LIVE, you need the emotions and heat of the draft to make it a good experience... slow auctions Slow auctions give owners the chance to remove emotion from the process... which helps the weak and unprepared.

Could not have said it better. It would be nice if only those that have done both were replying. I don't buy the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach. In reality, it is "it ain't broke, but we can certainly make it better". I know no one that has done an auction and wanted to go back to the snake draft. I entered a 12-team league with a $125 buy-in this year. Naturally, I drew the 12th slot. Now you tell me, with backs going the 11 picks in front of me, how do I truly gain an advantage over the guys with LJ, Alexander, and Tomlinson? If this had been an auction, I would walk in, hand the commish my coin without feeling like I was already trying to dig out of a hole. You can try to convince me to take the best available players and try to "get lucky" later in the draft, but these guys are very knowledgeable and I'm not about to sneak something past them.

Johnny

[Besaid_Aurochs]

Auction drafts are like communism - looks good in theory, but never works. Theres always a couple guys that always bid up guys and get stuck with them, taking them almost immediately out of the race, and in auction leagues teams are way more unbalanced - i've only played in 5 auctions total - but they've all been 3-4 powerhouse teams and the rest just trying to stay in the race.

Also, auction drafts start off really exciting, but after selling every individual player one at a time, it gets extremely boring. Bunch of guys +$0.25ing each other to get Jeff Wilkins. Snore.

I'd go with snake, just because assuming everyone knows what they're doing - the teams are much more balanced. Sure the top 3 picks get stacked players, but 11th and 12th can still land 2 stud WR and still get a decent back.

[BeefSandwiches]

I have done both and I think it really depends on the level of your competition. If I was in a league full of Cafe veterans who really know their stuff including being able to pull solid knowledge off the top of their head and use their instincts, an auction would be the only way to go.

But therein lies the problem with auctions...99% of leagues out there aren't filled top-to-bottom with FF veterans, so the auction does not always work. In a casual or semi-competetive league, the snake draft benefits the owners who need time between picks to go over their cheatsheets, etc and can't "draft on the fly."

[Twisted Sister]

Auction drafts are like communism - looks good in theory, but never works. Theres always a couple guys that always bid up guys and get stuck with them, taking them almost immediately out of the race, and in auction leagues teams are way more unbalanced - i've only played in 5 auctions total - but they've all been 3-4 powerhouse teams and the rest just trying to stay in the race.

Also, auction drafts start off really exciting, but after selling every individual player one at a time, it gets extremely boring. Bunch of guys +$0.25ing each other to get Jeff Wilkins. Snore.

I'd go with snake, just because assuming everyone knows what they're doing - the teams are much more balanced. Sure the top 3 picks get stacked players, but 11th and 12th can still land 2 stud WR and still get a decent back.

I think this maybe a issue of weak auction owners versus strong ones. This is precisely the benefit of auction... the playing field is leveled... but the players are not - strong players are rewarded for their hard work and discipline. It's not a matter of the "next best" available and a random draft order.

Take all those snake mock drafts and blow them up... who do you want on your team and what are you willing to pay for them.

In terms of the .25 bidding... most auctions have minimums... and rarely do kickers go more than 3 times the minimum. If an auction is starting off slow (e.g. $1 dollar increments for LJ up to $70) I'll typically just put a bid that gets the players value to within 20% of where they should go. If I win the bid, fine - great deal... if not, I sped up the process (which was the goal). A lot of times, this actually triggers a bidding frenzy.

Funny thing is that a guy in one of my leagues last year didn't even show up to the snake draft. So we used a ESPN mock for his picks... he wound up leading the league most of the season (lost in the playoffs). Human thought was not even necessary.