When it comes to Daily Fantasy Sports or DFS, there are so many different approaches you can take when building a lineup. Never let anyone tell you that you’re wrong, because nobody has all of the answers. There are, however, some strategies you can follow to better yourself as a DFS player and help yourself in both cash games and tournaments or otherwise known as guaranteed prize pools (GPP’s).
Generally, there are going to be specific strategies used in cash games and in tournaments as we mentioned up top.
Cash Game Strategies
When starting your builds, locate matchup’s that are ideal and likely high scoring. When a team is projected to score a lot of points, that team will have a couple of candidates for elite level production. Security and volume is what we look for in cash, so you’ll be able to pick out the elite players from that aspect from the teams with the plus matchup’s.
When you look at the Ownership percentages -- which we have right here at Fantasy Alarm -- you’ll be able to locate the highest-projected owned players for that week, otherwise known as “chalk plays”. There is nothing wrong with eating the chalk, especially in cash games, because if you don’t have a player that is 30-percent owned or higher and he goes off, it’ll be hard to compensate and catch the field.
There are specific players and types of players we want to target for cash:
1) Ariel-Attacking Offenses
This benefits quarterbacks and pass catchers. The more QB’s throw, the more opportunity for accumulation of fantasy points (duh). It also benefits the wide receivers for more potential targets. You can figure out which teams will throw a lot when you look at Vegas totals weekly. The higher the total and closer the spread, the better chance we have a shootout.
2) Dual Faceted QB’s
How much safer can it can get when you have a quarterback that throws 20 times and could run ten times or more? Considering rushing and receiving yards are weighed heavier than passing yards, that’s a distinct advantage if your guy can do both. Take Lamar Jackson for example. He ran the ball 11 times or more and threw 19 times or more in each of the final seven games of the year. He didn’t score fewer than 16.1 DK points in any of those seven contests, which is PERFECT for cash.
3) Volume, Volume and more Volume!
Teams that pound the rock are the teams you want your cash running backs from. Sure, pass catching RB’s suffice on occasion, but imagine using a back that carries less than ten times per game and doesn’t catch passes? Talk about an unreliable play. Save that for GPP’s. We had 14 RB’s surpass 200 carries last year and 20 had at least 175. Those are the types of back’s we should consider when talking about volume.
4) Targets, Receptions, Rinse, Repeat
Especially on point-per-reception (PPR) sites, the more targets and receptions the safer the floor. On a site like DraftKings, your wideout (or tight end) could catch ten passes for just 50 yards, but still accumulate 15 points because it is PPR. Opportunity is the key here and sometimes selecting pass catchers that are on teams not favored are ideal because if the opposition is leading, your guy’s offense will likely throw more.
5) Defenses vs. Low Implied Totals & High Turnover Rates
This one speaks for itself. We have offenses we know we’re going to pick on with opposing defenses on a week-to-week basis and those are going to be the ones with the lowest implied team totals on our Vegas tool. We also know which quarterbacks throw recklessly into coverage and which running backs don’t have enough stickum on their gloves.
GPP Strategies
So everything we just talked about up top in terms of cash games? Yeah, throw it out of the window. Not all of it, but there are definitely different approaches for building GPP lineups.
In GPP’s, you definitely stack more frequently than you would if you were playing cash games. To see what kinds of stacks are ideal, check out the DFS Stacking article we have here at Fantasy Alarm in this year’s Draft Guide! You could also game stack, not just pick players from one specific team if the overall O/U had a big number and a close spread.
Ownership percentages play a HUGE role in tournament settings. Unlike cash games, we’re not always looking to play the “chalk” as you heard throughout the cash strategy section. Lineup differentiation is key in GPP’s. Picking a lower-owned team to stack -- or a couple of them at that -- could put you ahead of the field if those teams go above and beyond what their O/U was originally set at.
Chalk isn’t always bad in tournaments as sometimes they’re simply must plays. When a running back expected to get double-digit touches is priced in the value tier and is in a good spot in terms of their matchup, you simply don’t ignore him. The same goes for a wide receiver that’s being handed out for free and is expected to see a lot of snaps and targets that specific week.
Depending on what site you’re playing on, you could have specific advantages that others don’t provide, most notably DraftKings and late swap. It’s always slate dependent, but you always want a player with the latest possible start time in your flex position, you know, so you have flexibility if that player gets sick or hurt before the game. It also can be used as a tool to get ahead of someone if you have a chance at taking down a GPP. You know that the players around you have someone still to play, but you don’t know exactly who, but some light math and you can figure it out. You might want to change that player if it gives you the best chance to win that GPP.
Something that gets overlooked often is using elite players even against strong defensive units. This could’ve been paired with the ownership talk because when this happens, it’s not often that the elite are highly owned. But elite players are just that for a reason and are considered the cream of the crop because they can be effective against anyone. Imagine thinking Saquon Barkley won’t see 20 touches against a tough defense or in a game the Giants are getting blown out in? Even if he’s not rushing the ball in that situation, he’s going to catch so many dump off passes and rack up a ton of garbage time points.
And last but definitely not least is about the ceiling, not the floor. In cash you want a safe floor as we touched on earlier, but you’re not going to win a significant amount of money by being safe. GPP plays are meant to be risky and are meant to have a low floor but so much potential. This player generally has big play potential and could break off multiple monster runs or catches in one contest and help propel your DFS team to the top.
Oh, and by the way, playing your cash game lineup in tournaments is more than fine, but doing it the other way around provides you no floor in cash which ultimately, is what it’s all about.