The regular season ended on Sunday night, meaning most people have checked out of fantasy football until 2025. But there are still great ways to put your knowledge to the test and win money. Our friends at NFFC are organizing an excellent, thought-provoking contest with $125k going to first place. There is no draft and no salary restrictions. Just pick the players you think will score the most points every week. It's that simple! Well, not really. There's a bit more than goes into it. But this article will help you prepare.
NFFC Post Season Hold 'Em Rules
If you're unfamiliar with NFFC's Postseason Hold 'Em Contest, here is a great crash course to teach you the ins and outs of scoring, roster restrictions, round-by-round changes, and more.
To sum up this contest as efficiently as possible: You fill out a roster, selecting players you prefer at each position. Each week a player remains on your team, you get a higher multiplier for that player's weekly score.
- The first week a player is on your roster: 1x his points for that week
- The second week a player is on your roster: 2x his points for that week
- The third week a player is on your roster: 3x his points for that week
- The fourth week a player is on your roster: 4x his points for that week
Assuming I explained that correctly, your wheels should already be spinning. Because the lack of stringent rules makes for endless lineup configurations.
Again, all of the necessary rules are in this article, but an important caveat to this contest is the maximum number of players you can roster from the same team in any given round.
- In Round 1 (Wild Card Round), you are only allowed one player per team
- In Round 2 (Divisional Round), you are only allowed two players per team
- In Round 3 (Conference Round), you are only allowed three players per team
- The Super Bowl has some rules of its own. You must select exactly four players from each team to field a roster of eight positionless flex options.
NFFC Post Season Hold 'Em Thoughts and Strategy
As this is still just my second year playing the contest, I wanted to walk you through my thought process behind it, hopefully helping spark unique ideas for your roster entries.
Identifying Super Bowl Teams to Get 4x Players
The first thing I do in almost any playoff contest is map out my expected playoff bracket. While I project some early-round upsets, my expected Conference matchups have the Bills beating the Patriots and the Rams beating the Seahawks, with the Bills and Rams ultimately meeting in the Super Bowl. Naturally, I want who I expect to be the two highest scorers on my expected Super Bowl team immediately: Josh Allen and Puka Nacua. That sets them both up for a potential 4x multiplier in the Super Bowl, which is what I'd assume you would need to take down a tournament like this. With neither of those teams having a Round 1 bye, it allows me to accrue even more points than I would have by projecting Denver or Seattle in the Super Bowl.
Collecting 3x Players in Conference Championships
The next order of business is to add other players I expect to contribute as 3x multipliers in the Conference Round. TreVeyon Henderson has been splitting backfield touches with Rhamondre Stevenson, but his big-play abilities give him week-winning upside any time he's on the field. He's one of the riskier players in my build, but one I have immense trust in.
The other player I absolutely want in my Round 1 lineup and expect to be around in the Conference Round is Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He's coming off a career year, leading the league with 1,793 regular-season receiving yards. He'll be an obvious zero in Round 1 with the Seahawks on bye, but the multipliers later in the playoffs make him a worthwhile investment.
Now, I have one player from each team I expect to be in the Conference Championship Games: Josh Allen, Puka Nacua, TreVeyon Henderson, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
