Does Head 2 Head still have a place?

kjduke · Post by **kjduke** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 7:06 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
H2H is the one component of fantasy football that will always be debated. Does it have full value or does it just bring more luck into the equation? But I know we can't have it both ways.

We can't have one owner singing the praises of h2h and another owner denouncing it completely. There is a happy medium somewhere. The happy medium is 50/50. Two playoff spots based on points, two based on H2H, that's as even as you can get.

VP does the same thing; a Win gets you 2 points per week, and being among the top 4 scorers also gets you two points per week.

There's your second happy medium. Anything else is unbalanced, and thus by definition not a happy medium.

kjduke · Post by **kjduke** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 7:18 am

Cut and pasted from the site that has used this for many years, for those who are unfamiliar ...

Head-to-Head Victory Point Scoring System

The idea behind the H2H Victory Point Leagues is simple :

Total Point Leagues are not fun. After about half the season, most teams don't have a chance and are no longer interested.

Head-to-Head matchups are exciting, but sometimes are unfair. Each year, I see several leagues where a team with very high total points is struggling to make the playoffs.

You would think that a team with high total points should be a lock for the playoffs, but it's not always true. Looking at the Head-to-Head matchups, for teams like this, you can see the problem. The high scoring team lost 2 (or more) games during the regular season when they scored the second highest points. That's the "luck" factor I'm trying to reduce with my new league style.

Here's how I have fixed these problems :

The League standings are kept with league points instead of wins and losses.

Each week you play head-to-head like normal leagues. A win awards your team with 2 League Points, A Tie 1 point, and a loss no points. Very similar to how Hockey does it's season standing.

Each week, the teams are ordered by total fantasy points scored during that week. League points are also awarded for having high scores.

12-team league Victory Point assignment :

High Score - 2 League Points
2nd - 2 League Points
3rd - 2 League Points
4th - 2 League Points
5th - 1 League Point
6th - 1 League Point
7th - 1 League Point
8th - 1 League Point
9th - 0 League Points
10th - 0 League Points
11th - 0 League Points
12th - 0 League Points

If you get the second highest score and lose, you still get 2 league points.

I believe that this Head-to-Head Victory Point League provides the most balanced, competitive, and FAIR leagues available anywhere on the Internet.And I'll add, it's 1000x more fun than all-play or total points leagues.

[ November 29, 2011, 01:22 PM: Message edited by: KJ Duke ]

Old School · Post by **Old School** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 7:26 am

KJ,

Dont u think Victory points would scare away many casual players like All-Play would?

kjduke · Post by **kjduke** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 8:13 am

Originally posted by Old School:
KJ,

Dont u think Victory points would scare away many casual players like All-Play would? No.

And I think all-play or something like it would drive away more than casual players. I wouldn't compete in an all-play - been there, hated it.

Summing up the options:
1. 2+2 structure = safest
2. VP = most fun, most balanced
3. current NFFC setup = heavily skewed towards points, safe but harder to grow
4. all-play or w/l breakdown = death wish

[ November 29, 2011, 02:21 PM: Message edited by: KJ Duke ]

particra · Post by **particra** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 8:15 am

One thing I noticed re the FPG playoffs is that 6 of the top 7 teams in the Overall lost in the first week of the playoffs (the 1 team that won did so by .15 points).

Imagine being the No. 2 team out of 3,000 in an 11 week season and winning nothing except a lottery ticket with 600 other teams.

particra · Post by **particra** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 8:19 am

How do Victory Points correlate to total points in the standings of leagues that use them? Would you award playoff spots to VP leaders and points leaders or just the VP leaders?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 8:20 am

Originally posted by KJ Duke:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Old School:
[qb] However, I would agree that the safer route to achieving balance is a 2+2 playoff structure because all of the other major contests have used it for their main event. You sure are pushing for that format, aren't you?

I don't think 2+2 is the best solution, but it has led to some ideas on how we can improve our format for 2012. All ideas can be improved KJ and I think even the oldie-but-goodie 2+2 can be improved.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 8:22 am

Originally posted by Hells Satans:
One thing I noticed re the FPG playoffs is that 6 of the top 7 teams in the Overall lost in the first week of the playoffs (the 1 team that won did so by .15 points).

Imagine being the No. 2 team out of 3,000 in an 11 week season and winning nothing except a lottery ticket with 600 other teams. THAT'S what I'd be afraid of as a game operator. To dominate that competition for 11 weeks and then lose one h2h matchup would be a kick in the shorts for those teams. But that's why some folks like h2h playoff matchups because ANYONE can beat another team on any given Sunday.

It helps the lesser teams.

kjduke · Post by **kjduke** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 8:24 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
quote:Originally posted by KJ Duke:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Old School:
[qb] However, I would agree that the safer route to achieving balance is a 2+2 playoff structure because all of the other major contests have used it for their main event. You sure are pushing for that format, aren't you?

I don't think 2+2 is the best solution, but it has led to some ideas on how we can improve our format for 2012. All ideas can be improved KJ and I think even the oldie-but-goodie 2+2 can be improved. [/QUOTE]I do like balance, and so far I've only seen two ways to do it. But I'm listening for a third option.

kjduke · Post by **kjduke** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 8:28 am

Originally posted by Hells Satans:
How do Victory Points correlate to total points in the standings of leagues that use them? Would you award playoff spots to VP leaders and points leaders or just the VP leaders? As it's done by both ant and ffpc, VP determines all playoff spots - total pts is the tiebreaker. The beauty of that system is that you have definitive standings rather than special rules to circumvent it.