How to DFS Part One: Play DFS Today, For Your First Time
Hello. Remember that first time you discovered poker? If you continue down this article then there is a strong chance you will fall in love with Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) like myself and many others like us that came from poker. DFS is very much a game like poker, and we can gamble on DFS online. The minimum buy-in is a quarter, there are freerolls, and there are major companies involved, such as: MLB, NHL, Madison Square Garden, Kraft Group, Google, Time Warner, NBC, Comcast, and Fox Sports.
Still with me? Good. First, let’s get you signed up with a DFS site and get you gambling as soon as possible. Playing DFS is fun and I want you to experience that fun today. Most sites offer deposit bonuses, I recommend you make the full deposit to trigger the maximum bonus. You only get the deposit bonus once, and you can immediately withdraw your balance if you so choose. The deposit bonus will remain and is released slowly as you play. I recommend you start on DraftKings. I have a personal preference for them as I like their interface the most and they have taken excellent care of me. They also offer contests for beginners only, you can play them as long as you have less than 50 cashes in that sport.
If you played online poker then navigating the lobby will come naturally to you. If not, don’t worry, it is well designed. The first two terms you need to know are “cash” and “GPP” formats. Cash games are head to head matchups, 50/50s, and triple-ups. 50/50s and triple-ups have multiple players and the top half or third either double or triple their money. GPP stands for guaranteed prize pool and they are what you might consider tournaments or donkaments. Lots of players, top heavy prize structures, top 20% or less making the money. Cash game strategy is to create a balanced team that has a high floor, one that is likely to score points consistently. GPP strategy is to create a team with maximum upside because all the money is in 1st place and we don’t care about finishing in the 70th percentile.
Time to make a lineup. Click “Create a Lineup” on the front page. Then, choose your sport. Sometimes there are multiple slates (collection of games at a starting time) available, choose the one you want to play. This should be the next one with all the big contests. The more games on the slate, the greater your edge can be. Choose your slate and click continue.
The rules of DFS are simple. Make a lineup, stay under the salary cap, whoever scores the most points wins. On your left you will see all the available players with their price tags. You can only spend 50k on DraftKings. Click that scoring tab, sites score things differently and you should know what scores you points. Now, I give you the simplest strategy to compete in GPPs, broken down by sport:
MLB
- Choose the team you think is most likely to score the most runs tonight. Bonus points if that team hits home runs.
- Choose six players (the maximum allowable on DraftKings, FanDuel and Victiv allows 4) from that team.
- Fill in your two pitching slots and two remaining batting spots with players you like. The two batters need to be from different teams, most sites require you to have at least 3 teams represented on your roster.
- I like to target pitchers who can strike guys out and batters who can hit home runs.
NFL
- Choose a QB you like.
- Choose one or two of either WR or TE that your QB throws balls to. Brady, Edelman, and Gronk for example.
- Fill in the rest of the slots with guys you like.
- I like pairing D/ST with RB, they correlate well together. If defense shuts them down then the RB gets more carries. WRs that return kicks for D/ST are neat too, but pairing a RB with a WR is somewhat counterintuitive GPP play because it’s hard for both of them to score a bunch of touchdowns.
NHL
- Choose two teams you like.
- Group two or three players from those teams on the same line. Center with a winger or both, couple of wingers, maybe mix in a defensemen. The idea is that you want goals you score to come with assists from other players on your squad. If you have all three point makers then you get 7 points from one event, a good way to maximize upside.
- If you chose two C/W/W combos, then fill in your defensemen however is best. It’s nice having a pair that skate together.
- Goalies are like pitchers. They get points for winning and for stopping shots. Both are important for scoring. Buffalo is an easy win, but they don’t shoot much, so it’s hard for goalies to have really high scores against them.
- Pay attention to power play time, that is when most fantasy points are scored.
NBA
- Unregister Pre. NBA is the most predictive of the DFS games. You will be eaten alive if you don’t know what you are doing, and you’re reading this article, so you’re a rookie. It’s okay to be a rookie, just don’t be a money hater. We’ll get you there. Baby steps.
PGA, MMA, and NASCAR
- Fill out your roster with guys you like. Enjoy the sweat. I recommend drinking cheap American beer and watching the race from a lawn chair when playing NASCAR.
So simple, yet so complex. Just like poker. There are a ton of resources out there, here are some links to get you started:
Our friends at RotoGrinders’ DFS Academy
Have fun tonight. We’ll work on making you a pro later.
Devo
