Week eight showed me just how important one roster spot can be. Hell, one game with multiple players can be the difference when you have a historic shootout like the Saints and Giants put on display.
I can’t complain since I came out ahead. Sorry to those of you who enjoy watching me crash and burn. There’s always next week, though.
Here’s how I fared on DraftKings in week eight. I did use only Fantasy Labs this week as promised. I barely used my big football brain at all and found that to be profitable.
I won money on 3 / 5 GPP contests and got the best of 4 / 5 opponents I went head to head with. I should have been batting .1000 on the H2Hs except for the damn overtime game between the Panthers and Colts!
My rival got lucky with the extended play with Cam and Greg Olsen, beating me by less than two points.
That loss was hard to swallow and nearly made me walk away from the game Michael Jordan style. Not at the top of my fantasy game, but like MJ’s retirement from the Wizards.
I should have used the same lineup on all my H2Hs again this week but had tweaked a couple for some reason. Setting the lineups too early in the week gives me too much time to overthink all the possibilities.
Take a look at my lineups that did the best in my head to heads. 174.44 was pretty good for me. Good enough to cash out anyways.
Here is my highest grossing GPP lineup.
I got hurt when Le’Veon Bell went down, and I also lost points on one lineup that I chose the safer pick of RB Devonta Freeman over WR Julio Jones. Freeman gets more touches since he gets a lot of receiving targets in addition to his rushes. Julio’s upside is more though, and he doubled Freeman’s points in this instance.
I was happy with the results this week since I don’t have to deposit another $10 for my matches in week nine. I’m playing with house money, sorta. I’ll break down exactly how much I lost or won after week ten is over.
Ten dollars a week is not much to gamble. I’m aware of that, but this blueprint is for any of you who wish to scale that amount up to $100 a week or even $1000. The percentage of my wins or losses can be multiplied to whatever level you would be wagering.
Hopefully, this ten-week trial will show you all just what it takes to be successful at daily fantasy football. Or how unsuccessful you can be even with a ton of time and effort.
Here are five lessons I’ve learned so far in DFS as I have really been engaged the past eight weeks.
- 95% of commentary on sports is not helpful in fantasy play. I now pay more attention to the nebulous terms that talking heads throw out about players. “He’s got the hot hand right now, or there’s something magical about this team,” tells you nothing concrete about what has happened in previous games or might happen the next week.
- Figure out the best contests for your specific skill set. Maybe it’s GPPs. Maybe it’s H2H contests, which are what I enjoy the most and have profited the most from overall.
- Make notes of sharks’ usernames. Avoid sharks in real life and in DFS.
- Know the scoring system for the specific sport you are playing. All touchdowns are not equal on DraftKings for one example.
- Pick opponents wisely.
For week nine I will go with five GPPs again, as I hope to get lucky with a big payday to prove to my wife that 32 hours a week on fantasy football research is a good investment of my time.
I will also go with five H2Hs. Three will be against sharks just to see how I fare….if I even survive the attack. As long as they have a game available for $1 I will match my dimwits against some of the best in the game.
That means you CONDIA, ChipotleAddict, and even csuram88.
The last two head to heads will be against the lowest hanging fruit I can find for two sure wins. Yes, I’m getting cocky after my $6.70 profit in week eight.
Three head to head trouncings against the pros should bring me back to earth in week nine. Oh, but if I win……