NFFC Post Season Hold 'Em Fantasy Football Playoff Tournament

The NFFC Post-Season Hold 'Em Fantasy Football Tournament ($200 entry) and Mini Playoff Hold 'Em ($50 entry) begin with the first wild card games and continue through the Super Bowl. We are not promoting participation in this tournament if you are not already involved with the NFFC, Safe Leagues or Fanball. It actually goes against the ethical standards of the Wheel Route to promote a platform that has been involved in attempting to cover-up a cheating scandal, but we have significant funds that we are rolling-over on the site and we need to produce content to continue activity on this site. 

The Tournaments

This is not a best-ball (draft only, line-up optimization) format, we will be adding and dropping players after each round. Points are accumulated throughout the playoffs and the team with the most total points wins the grand prize. These tournaments are the most intricate and most complicated, not only because of the roster requirements, but because there is a point multiplier each week. 

Each week the number of points an NFL player earns will be multiplied by the number of consecutive weeks he has been on your roster. This rewards those of us that can correctly predict and roster the players in the early rounds, who also score the top points in the Championship game. Players selected in round 1 who have first-round byes automatically earn two times their total points during Week 2 of the playoffs. Players MUST be in your line-up in consecutive weeks to earn the multiplier. 

Owners must manage a team of 12 players throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs, and roster 8 players for the Super Bowl. Transactions (adding and replacing players) are unlimited each week. After week one of the playoffs, you can pick up new players to fill out your playoff roster.

NFFC logo

In the first round (Wildcard round) managers will complete their roster by selecting one player from 12 of the 14 teams that qualified for the playoffs. In the second round as teams are eliminated from the playoffs, managers can have as many as two players from the same team on their teams roster with a minimum of one per 8 remaining playoff teams.

In the third round (AFC/NFC Championship), managers will use three players from each remaining playoff team on their team's roster. In the final round (Super Bowl), managers will use four players from each Super Bowl team on their team's roster (for a total of 8 players).

Players from each NFL playoff team must be locked into our lineups before their team's scheduled kickoff time for each weekend. We don't have to lock in our entire roster before the weekend's first playoff game, but NFL players from each team must be locked in before the kickoff of their scheduled game. 

Rosters are much different than most other formats. We are playing two (2) QB, three (3) RB, four (4) WR/TE, one (1) flex player (RB/WR/TE), a kicker and a DST. Quarterback scoring is a bit different as well. Passing touchdowns are worth 6 points as opposed to 4 points in most formats and we are awarded 1 point for every 20 passing yards. The running QB’s are somewhat nullified in this scoring format, but the running QB’s tend to win so we want our QB’s to be playing in the Super Bowl. 

NFL Playoffs 2025

Build your bracket

When you are constructing a line-up it’s most valuable to know who you believe will make it to the Super Bowl, especially with the multiplied scoring in this format. I’ll be building multiple line-ups in the Mini Playoff Hold 'Em so I can strategize with multiple scenarios. It’s good to try to be a bit contrarian, but we need to be careful not to galaxy-brain our way to making a simple mistake. You are going to have to assume you are right about your playoff and Super Bowl predictions, that you are going to run as pure as the fresh fallen snow. It is actually just as important to pick the teams that will lose in the first round so we have openings to add players on advancing teams to maximize their multiplier in subsequent rounds. 

Because your team build will be very dependent on your bracket you may not need to be contrarian in your players if you are picking a few upsets. Let’s approach this strategy as if the favorites will win each round and build a pretty chalk roster construction. 

Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs.com)

Choosing your QB:

You probably want your QB to be getting the 4x multiplier in the Super Bowl since they are usually the highest scoring and we are starting two of them. We need to factor in opportunity cost at other positions, but the multiplier really gives the highest average scorers the smartest way to lean. 

With the assumption that the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions are in the superbowl you may want to start both QB’s from the beginning, even though they both have the bye week. We are then taking a double goose-egg (0) in the first round because they will get double points (2x) in the Divisional Round, triple points (3x) in the Conference Championship, and quadruple points (4x) in the Super Bowl, equating to 9 games worth of scoring. As opposed to 1x, 2x, 3x if we begin rostering them in the second round, equating to 6 games of scoring. 

Since we are assuming the Chiefs and Lions are playing in the Super Bowl and are staring both QB’s in the Wildcard round we are forgoing the 4x multiplier for Travis Kelce, Xavier Worthy, Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown and others. We will want these players in our round-2 lineup, so we then need to make sure we have two players from the WR/TE/Flex positions that we expect to lose in Round 1 or we will just have to pass on players that could double their value in round two. If we have players from every team that wins we could double-down on those players, but it gets really messy down that rabbit-hole. 

Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson will be other popular plays, especially because they are playing in the Wildcard round. If they reach the Super Bowl they will get a total equivalent of 10 games of scoring compared to the 9 game total from the bye-week QB’s. I feel like builds using these QB’s are much easier, but if you are going in this direction you are probably benching Mahomes and Goff for the entire tournament. If you start two QB’s from the same conference you are automatically forgoing at least 4 games worth of scoring. 

If you choose any other QB’s to form a contrarian bracket, there is no reason to be contrarian anywhere else. 

Choosing K

The kicker is replaceable each week, they can be erratic game-to-game so I’ll just fill in the spot with a dome kicker the following week. This is the place to soft-fade an underdog team that we may think is in line to upset the favorite. The logical choice is to take a kicker from the Houston Texans vs LA Chargers game. We could also look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Washington Commanders, or Minnesota Vikings vs LA Rams, but there are quite a few spike-week players in these games we would like to have a multiplier in future rounds. 

Choosing DST:

The same philosophy we have for kickers rings true for defense. I want to choose a defense that has the potential to be a safety-net in case there is an upset. I’m going to avoid putting Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers, or Green Bay Packers players in these positions because I don’t think there is much of a chance that they win. 

Derrick Henry (Baltimore Ravens.com)

Choosing RB:

Choosing Saquon Barkley eliminates Jalen Hurts (QB), AJ Brown (TE), and DeVonta Smith (WR), from the first round and from 4x multiplier in the Super Bowl, if they make it, but Barkley has substantially better points per game average. All of them are amazing in short bursts and could be better than Barkley in an individual game, but they are unlikely to out-score Barkley over a three-game stretch. 

If we are going to pass on Lamar Jackson at QB we must be going with Derrick Henry for one of our three RB slots. Henry produced the second-best yardage total and third-best TD total of his career. Bet against him at your own peril.

Our options for the third RB spot are James Cook (Buf), Bucky Irving (TB), Kyren Williams (LAR), Aaron Jones (Min), Josh Jacobs (GB), and Joe Mixon (Hou). We want to determine whether we are playing for just the one week or planning on keeping the player for the Week 2 multiplier. We may want to add a RB like Jahmyr Gibbs (Det) or Isiah Pacheco (KC) in Round 2, in order to get a 3x multiplier in the Super Bowl, but given the WR’s on their teams we could bypass them next round as well.

If we start James Cook (Buf), we likely won’t have an open space in our RB spot for the next round, but we could also use the flex if necessary. Starting Bucky Irving (TB), Josh Jacobs (GB), or Kyren Williams (LAR) will likely produce more first round points and will either leave us an open spot or a tough decision in the next round. 

Choosing WR/TE:

Sticking with the assumption that we are starting Mahomes and Goff at QB, it probably means that we will be looking to roster two of Travis Kelce, Xavier Worthy, Jahmyr Gibbs, or Amon-Ra St. Brown in round two. So we might want to game-stack our receivers so we are sure to have a couple of openings. Although going through the scenarios, it’s going to be easier to play the best players and possibly drop them in their 2x multiplier week. 

Continuing the narrative that we are playing Barkley and Henry at RB in the first round we can’t use WR’s from the Baltimore Ravens or Philadelphia Eagles until the next round. That still leaves us with a plethora of options at the position. Some of the obvious choices will be Justin Jefferson (Min), Puka Nacua (LAR), Mike Evans (TB), Ladd McConkey (LAC), Nico Collins (Hou), Terry McLaurin (Was), Courtland Sutton (Den). We don’t necessarily want to start each of these players, nor can we, seeing that there are only a total of five WR/Flex positions available. Pick your starters based on your playoff bracket. Don’t be afraid to start players that are going against each other, you can then begin to map-out your replacement players for the next round. 

Going contrarian at WR/TE is the logical move to really differentiate from the field, but remember, we could also do that in future rounds. The decisions you make for the first round will stick with you for the entirety of the playoffs unless you forgo the multiplier, which is likely to sabotage your team. Jordan Addison (Min), Cooper Kupp (LAR), George Pickens (Pit), Jayden Reed (GB), and Marvin Mims (Den) may seem like tempting pivots, but think about what that feels like next week. Jameson Williams could be a tempting second round pivot if we find ARSB is heavily used. 

Winning it All

This is not a best-ball (draft only, line-up optimization) format, we will be adding and dropping players after each round. I have a feeling the best teams will be making moves in round two, it feels like it is more important to set the right path in round one and not be overly concerned about our point total. As another twist The Super Bowl round will consist of four players from each team and positions do not matter (QB, RB, WR, TE, K, DST). If there are upsets we could be crossing our fingers for pick-6 and kick returns in the final game.