Guys, I typically read before I go to bed.  I find it helps me continue growing as a player and coach; it keeps me on my game, always learning.  On occasion, I stumble across something so profound it triggers a minor epiphany I feel compelled to share.  This is one of those nights…

Becoming A Winning DFS Player

You don’t have to be a DFS pro, or even an aspiring pro, to be a long-term winner. But you must approach the game with intent if you want to last in this game. This fact should be obvious, but it’s lost on the vast majority of players, maybe even you. However, by reading this, and taking it to heart, you are well past being one of them.

You must regard your DFS game as a business by prioritizing profit. The money in DFS comes from the skills of minimizing your own leaks and capitalizing off the mistakes of others.  It’s that simple.

If we think of daily fantasy sports as a business, we are only trying to do what all businesses attempt to do…generate greater revenue than expenses over enough time to sustain ourselves. The key asset to our daily fantasy business is our bankroll.  Businesses constantly reinvest their profits, look to solve problems before they become gaping holes and even look for new ways to stay ahead of the curve, to stay relevant in their respective industries.  When DFS is viewed as a business and not a hobby, you set yourself apart from the recreational player.

Your “business” could certainly fail; most businesses do. The businesses that do succeed, however, are usually built on top of multiple failed attempts and overall bad decisions. The successes are often a result of learning from those mistakes and grinding through the mistakes that become expertise. If you want to beat DFS in the long-term, stop treating it like a hobby, and start treating it like your business!

At DFS Army, we are looking for players who don’t necessarily want to go pro, but they want to learn the tools to become competitive with sharks and become profitable overall.

Bankroll Management

Bankroll management is simply the idea that you set aside a predetermined amount of dollars to play daily fantasy sports, and you don’t risk more than X percent of that amount on any given day, sport, or slate.  The size of your bankroll is typically described by how much you would deposit (whether it be once or over several deposits) before calling it quits and never playing again.  It’s honestly a pretty hard number to quantify for most.

This is all fine in theory, but very few of us are coming into DFS with a firm number. We are more concerned with building a bankroll from scratch, turning a losing or break-even game around.  And, now, here comes the brutal truth… bankroll management is for winners. Until you are a legit winning player, focus on winning.  Fix the leaks and turn your game around.  Then, worry about managing what you’ve accumulated.

Bankroll management is a bit of a psychological game. There is something about keeping track of a bankroll that provides emotional stability. Knowing that you’re only risking a small percentage of a larger amount of money you’ve set aside to play DFS can be huge for your mental game. But, it also makes financial sense. You are protecting your long-term profits in DFS by only risking a small percentage of them at any given time.  You are significantly lowering your risk of ruin and departure from DFS.

Otherwise, a series of bad losses could destroy your ability to keep playing DFS on a serious level.  We want to weather the storm of variance and live to fight another day.

Application

Bankroll management is first and foremost about becoming a winner. From there, save your profits to build a larger and larger bankroll, keep track of all your wins and losses, and never risk more than you can afford to lose from your overall bankroll.  And, that is the first step to becoming a serious, and profitable, DFS player.  I hope you take this to heart.  And, I hope you think about DFS as a business venture starting today.