A relatively new offering from fantasy sports and betting titan DraftKings is the Pick6 app, which falls somewhere between DFS and player props betting, but has a unique platform and payout structure.
We’ve found some strategies for multiple sports that can help you cash in Pick6 contests. Below, we go over the rules and basics to help you find success on the platform. We also cover how to download and sign up for the app. Make sure that you use our promo code LINES6 when doing so.
How to Play DraftKings Pick6
To build a DraftKings Pick6 lineup, select a sport and scroll through the list of available props for a given slate. You choose “more” or “less” on the numbers offered for players’ various statistical outputs. You can only choose a player once and must select players from at least two teams on the slate.
Lineups or “Pick Sets” can include anywhere from 2 to 6 picks. Pick Sets with 2 picks are matched up against 2-pick lineups, sets with 3 picks are matched up against 3-pick lineups, and so on.
Unlike with DFS contests, Pick6 lineups are automatically entered into multiple $1 contests based on the stake you enter. Pick Sets are not editable once entered, so it’s closer to a Best Ball contest than a DFS contest that features late swap and other strategies.
Follow the results in the app and see if you finish in the top percentage that receives a payout. All prize pools are guaranteed regardless of whether the contest fills.
DraftKings Pick6 General Strategies
- The first strategic item to consider with DraftKings is the number of picks in your Pick Set. Generally, the shorter the slate, the shorter a Pick Set, because the available props are fewer and variance is higher. It’s much easier to go 3-for-3 than it is to go 5-for-6 on a larger Pick Set. Make sure you take picks with confidence, even if it might offer a lower payout than swinging for the fences.
- It typically takes some sort of correlation to correctly select multiple picks. Even if you choose six picks from six different games, there is a correlation to consider with each individual pick. For example, if we’re taking a running back to go under their rushing yardage, is it because the opposing defense is super strong against the run? Or perhaps because their offense is likely to be trailing throughout the second half and abandon the run? Painting a picture of how the game might unfold is a good way to predict correlation.
- Fading public perception often helps in sports betting, or DFS, and it can pay big dividends in Pick6 contests that have thousands of entries. The public tends to follow results from recent games, taking a hot player to keep going over their props, and struggling players to keep going under. If you go the other way on a few props, and they hit, you could be among one of the few entries with a perfect or near-perfect score. This contrarian approach is most successful on shorter slates, when unexpected results can damn a high percentage of opponent lineups.
How to Build Winning Pick6 Lineups
Let’s get down to the strategies for finding individual winners:
Line Value
As with sports betting and player props in particular, you want to get the best of the number. The Pick6 lines fluctuate throughout the week, so if there are injury concerns or other factors that move a players’ line, you want to pounce on either side of that line when it shows value. Shopping prop lines across multiple sportsbooks can also indicate where there is value and TheLines has a great player prop tool that will show you markets across the industry when you search for a player.
Buying and Fading Recent Performances
A combination of research and intuition always goes into picking props correctly. Rest factors have become increasingly important when considering NFL and NBA bets, while matchups might be more important in MLB picks. In any sport, there are ebbs and flows that occur throughout the season, so you can’t necessarily use recent game logs as an indication of how a player will perform. Similar to buying and selling stocks, it’s important to get off a player before they start to regress, and important to buy low when you identify a good matchup or spot for the player to have positive regression.
Optimal Lineup Construction
In DFS contests, lineups that stack the highest-scoring game or the best situation often finish towards the top of the prize pool. There might be more ways to get there in Pick6 contests, but the same correlation rules apply to get a perfect or near-perfect score. Optimal lineups might have positive or negative correlations between players on the same team. More often, they will correlate performance between opponents in the same game to predict a certain outcome. Paint a picture of how the game might unfold and make your picks based on what you feel is the most likely outcome.
Tips on Specific Sports
Pick6 contests are currently categorized by sports, so here is a quick look at the differences in the top leagues:
NFL Pick6 Strategy
Gameflow plays a huge role in predicting NFL props. Use the point spread, total, and matchup data to predict which units will have success, and which offense is likely to be chasing points down the stretch. Since there are fewer NFL games than any other major sport, there is also a lot of overreaction from the public and oddsmakers alike. So be prepared to get contrarian when a line seems to be undervaluing a struggling player who draws a good matchup the following week, or to fade a player who just blew up, but is about to face a disciplined defense that might sell out to stop them.
NBA Pick6 Strategy
The NBA season has become a marathon for players and rest factors are arguably the biggest item to consider when picking sides or props. If a team is on a long road trip, or a back-to-back set, they might be more likely to mail it in, or get rolled by a rested home team. Blowouts are essentially minefields that can destroy a “More” selection on a star player, or lock in a “Less” selection on a starter for either side. Identify the numbers that are high enough to go under if the game is not competitive for 48-plus minutes, and identify the numbers that are low enough to target in a game that means a lot for both sides.
MLB Pick6 Strategy
Pitching matchups are typically the place to start for MLB picks. Research how a starter performs against lefties, righties, and what their splits say about pitching on certain days of rest, or at certain stadiums. Consider how the bullpen might perform if said starter struggles, and consider stacking opposing batters if you think the entire staff will struggle. Conversely, feel free to take “Less” on batters with poor splits and projections in their matchup. Feel free to fade the strikeout props for pitchers facing teams with low overall strikeout rates. Check betting lines and totals to get an indication of what oddsmakers expect in each game.
DraftKings Pick6 Rules & Payouts
There are a couple of fine-print issues to be aware of with scoring:
- Selected players that don’t suit up for rest or injury purposes are marked as a loss, whether you took “Less” or “More” on their number.
- Players that meet minimum participation requirements (typically only a couple of plays in each sport) will have their stats qualify, and will likely finish with “Less” than their number if they get injured early.
- Suspended games are marked as finished in the contest, so stats in a rained out MLB game will not carry over to the following day if that’s when play resumes
Otherwise, scoring is simple. Correct picks are marked as winners and incorrect picks are losers. DraftKings uses official league scoring to determine the final tallies and does not account for the rare instance when stat corrections occur postgame.
- Payouts are split equally among entries with the same score. So, if there is a $10,000 prize pool and 25 entries go 5-for-5 on their picks, they will each receive $300 of a $7,500 payout. If 75 entries go 4-for-5, they split the remaining $2,500 in $33.3 payouts.
- Welcome promotions and sport-specific promos from Pick6 offer credits that are subject to playthrough requirements on the site. Those credits turn into real funds to be used on the app, or on DraftKings other platforms, once they meet those playthrough requirements.
- Withdrawals can be made via any of the accepted deposit methods and can take 1-2 days to process.