2017 Fantasy Football DFS Strategies

It’s that time of the year!  With week one fast approaching, we are starting to see DFS sites start their major push for daily fantasy football to be back in the spotlight this fall. The commercials will only increase, which will in turn increase your anticipation for week one of daily fantasy football.  To help keep you from being overwhelmed, below are key strategies to consider for the upcoming DFS football season.

Set a Goal: Why do you play daily fantasy football?  Acknowledging your reason for playing will determine how to best approach the contests lobbies. You goal can change week to week, but without a rough strategy, the contest lobbies become overwhelming.  To keep it simple, your goal can be broken down to one of two goals; to have fun or to have a return on your investment.  Once you know your goal, it becomes easier to figure out which contests are best suited for you. 

While the amount of money is different for everyone, below is how I see a difference in the approach of the two goals; using DraftKings as an example. 

Goal 1:  To have fun watching the games in place of having Starbucks.

          Week 1 Budget:  $30 (Six days of $5 Starbucks)

          DK Contests entered: 

  • $75,000 Quarter Arcade: ($4K to first)  $.25 entry:  8 entries
  • $2M Play-Action ($200K to first)      $3 entry:   3 entries
  • $5.5M Millionaire Maker ($1M to first)  $20 entry:  1 entry
  • $1M Pick’Em Kickoff  ($100K to first):  $3 entry:   3 entries
  • Billion Dollar Lineup:  Free

Goal 2:  To allow for both daily Starbucks and week one contests

          Week 1 Budget:  $30

         DK Contests entered: 

  • Billion Dollar Lineup:  Free
  • $20,000 Double Bubble (40% Win)  $3 entry:  1 entries
  • $75,000 Quarter Arcade: ($4K to first)  $.25 entry:  4 entries
  • $20,000 Singleback (3 entries max)      $1 entry:   3 entries
  • $25,000 Daily Dollar (Single Entry):    $1 entry:  1 entry
  • 50/50 100 person contests:  Total of $20 if wanting to spread it out.
  • Sunday Overlay: $2.

The above is just a sample approach, but changes depending on much you are willing to play each week, and what your end goal is.

Smart Dummy Lineups: Sites crash!  It is something that you have a legit gripe about after the fact, but at the same time, you should prepare for it the best you can.  Dummy lineups are made in order to secure your spot in a contest before it fills.  It’s easy to hit the reserve button, or just click on a bunch of names in order to lock in your spot, but you are doing yourself a disservice by doing so.  Take a few extra minutes, and enter a “smart” dummy lineup, picking at least players that you know will take the field on Sundays.  Besides sites crashing, kids can get sick, your internet can go down in an ice storm, or other events can take place that keep you from editing your team.  Entering a smart dummy lineup will at least cover you in case of any of the above taking place.

Have a Sunday Morning Routine: If possible, create a Sunday routine for yourself.  The majority of DFS players don’t just play on only one site.  Juggling multiple sites while also keeping up with the latest news can be time consuming.  Try your best to create a schedule for yourself on Sunday mornings.  Areas to look at on Sunday morning include, but are not limited to:  Checking the weather, checking Twitter and the FantasyAlarm Alarms page. Go over the playbook and tools once more, read the forums or join any chats, finish your lineups, and monitor overlay.

Attacking Qualifiers: If you are looking for the chance to make a live event, without a large bankroll, attacking qualifiers is your best approach.  While the live events you are going for are for NFL, baseball and basketball satellites during the week are your best bets to racking up qualifier tickets.  My suggestion is to try for a ticket or two on Monday or Tuesday first.  If you hit, then you can go after more tickets.  If you don’t hit on that first attempt, wait for another week over trying to hard while losing your bankroll.

Ask Questions: It’s extremely hard for anyone to fully put down their entire thinking process for each play, or decision made.  Asking questions to the FantasyAlarm staff in the forums or through the comments section in their articles is key for fully understanding plays.  This makes the most sense in my opinion if using the optimal lineups tool. It is the best way to pick a person’s brain, over guessing why their brain made a certain decision.  It is also a key part of the learning process.  Building lineups is a process, and any chance you have to help gain knowledge of the lineup building process is a plus.

Conclusion:  Please remember, the contest fee is your money.  The lineups you submit are the players you choose to include.  While I am not against the standard concept of playing 10% of your bankroll each week, I caution everyone to leave a bankroll on a site.  You are better off depositing, withdrawing, and then possibly re-depositing each week, over leaving your money on a site.   While I believe DraftKings & FanDuel won’t go dark all of a sudden overnight, I can’t guarantee that for them, and especially for the other sites. Your money is not completely safe from a site going bankrupt, and a non top-tier site spending your money on operating funds.  This isn’t to say don’t play, it is to say don’t deposit $100 to play $10 a week.  Deposit that $10.