Third Round Reversal (3RR) Draft Order Calculator

How it works — and why 3RR exists

A standard snake draft flips direction every round to even things out — but the flip overcorrects in favor of the top slots. In a 12-teamer, the 1.01 doesn't just get the single best player in the draft: the round-2/3 turn hands it picks 24 and 25 back-to-back. Best player plus a turn is double compensation, and value models consistently show the front of the order coming out ahead over a full snake draft — that's the turn advantage 3RR was invented to claw back.

Third-round reversal (also called 3RR or the “Banzai” format, standard in FFPC and most high-stakes leagues) fixes it with one change: round 3 runs in the same direction as round 2. That breaks up the front half's 24–25 turn and gives the back half a second early pick — the 1.12 now picks 12, 13, and 25, three selections inside the top 25. From round 4 onward, normal snake alternation resumes. Formally, with T teams and slot s: round 1 is forward (pick = s), rounds 2 and 3 are both reversed (pick = (round − 1) × T + (T − s + 1)), and rounds 4+ alternate. Only the direction rule changes — so 3RR works identically at any league size, odd team counts included.

The top slots aren't left stranded, either: the 1.01's round-3 pick slides from 25 back to 36, but it lands glued to pick 37 — a new mid-draft turn that shortens the dead zone the 1.01 suffers under plain snake. Every slot's full pick list is in the table below, straight from the same ordering math the calculator runs.

Worked 12-team pick table (rounds 1–5)

Rounds 2 and 3 both run 12 → 1; round 4 resumes forward. Note the mid-draft turns: slot 1 picks 36–37 back-to-back, slot 12 picks 12–13 then waits until 25.

Does your league need 3RR?

If your league mates grumble that the wheel wins every year, 3RR is the lightest-touch fix — one round changes direction and the rest of the draft is untouched. It's standard in FFPC and many high-stakes formats. For casual leagues, plain snake is simpler to explain, and randomizing draft order yearly spreads the turn advantage around anyway. Toggle between the two modes above and compare your slot's picks directly.

Related tools

• Snake draft pick order calculator — the same calculator preset to standard snake order.
• Printable draft board generator — print a wall board in snake or 3RR order, built on the same pick math as this page.
• Draft pick trade calculator — trading up or down around the reversal? Score the deal on the value curve.