It is a cliché you hear all of the time from players and coaches: take what the defense gives you. The concept is so obvious I cannot even think of an interesting way to explain it. When the other team is loading up to defend the pass, you run the football—unless you are Marc Trestman. The same goes for any sport. Having a preferred strategy is great, but often the best strategy involves having an open mind and the ability to adjust to a given situation. Almost all of my DFS decisions are driven by this principle, including whether or not I play DFS in a given day at all.

On sites that will allow, like DraftKings, I construct my lineups before I enter into any contests. I have no idea which contests I want to enter until I have made my lineups. I know how much of my bankroll I am willing to put into play in a given slate, as well as how I want to split my money between cash games and GPPs, but I cannot enter any contests until I know how many lineups I am going to play, and I never know how many lineups I will play ahead of time.

My buddy Marty told me he usually plays three DFS MLB lineups per day. He has his normal lineup, a lineup featuring a stack from one or two teams and a lineup in which he pays for hitting and grabs some cheap pitching. This is a pretty reasonable way to approach MLB DFS. In fact, I basically played those three exact kinds of lineups Sunday. Even so, there is pretty much no way I could play those lineups every day.

The problem, as I see it, is not every slate of games is conducive to those different types of lineups. What if all of the cheap upside pitchers like Daniel Norris have poor matchups, as was the case Thursday? In that scenario I couldn’t bring myself to play a lineup with expensive hitters; I would feel the need to play at least one expensive pitcher I felt comfortable with.  I would love to have one lineup everyday where I pay for hitters, but I’m not going to if it doesn’t make sense based on the matchups and prices.

On Sunday I played three different lineups on DraftKings. On Thursday and Saturday I played just one (and cashed in both). On Tuesday I spent about half an hour doing research and looking at pricing and only found three players I actually felt good about playing, so I took the day off. I like DFS as much as the next guy, but I don’t want to wind up kicking myself when a bunch of picks I wasn’t confident in don’t end up working out. If that means I take a day off here or there, so be it.

In fact, I am prepared to let each slate of games dictate not only the number of lineups but also the players in those lineups. For instance, on Wednesday I found the only starting pitchers I really felt good about were James Shields and Collin McHugh. The only problem was they were facing each other. Not only did I not feel great about any of the other starting pitching options for that slate,  I also wasn’t confident I could pick which starter would get the win. So I didn’t try to. I played both pitchers even though they faced each other.

As it turned out neither got the win, but Shields struck out 12 while allowing one earned run and I won my cash game. To be clear, I am not recommending that strategy for most games. I don’t think I would ever put competing starting pitchers in the same lineup in a GPP. If there was even one other starting pitcher I liked that day I would have played him and just had an agonizing decision between McHugh and Shields.

This is not meant as a criticism of DFS players who play the same kinds of lineups every day. I am aware I probably leave money on the table by not playing taking some days off. I am just wired a little differently, and this is what I have found works best for me. If you are having success playing the same types of lineups every day, do not let me stop you. If you are struggling, however, maybe it is time to try changing things up to fit the situation. Take what the defense gives you, rather than trying to force the issue.