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While baseball is assuredly the most random of the daily fantasy sports, there are still big advantages to be found — and the sharks very rarely miss them. In this quick post, we will give you a few tips on how to best avoid professional opponents and bring that ROI up a bit this season.
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Tip #1 — Stick to Low Buy-In Contests
Both DraftKings and FanDuel prohibit the big money players from playing in contests with buy-ins below $3. This means if you are playing in a contest that costs $2 or less to enter, you can feel confident that you will not be going up against the biggest names in DFS. This is huge for the casual player, and you should do your best to stick to these cash game contests if you want to maximize your profits.
This means a little bit more work for you if you want to play something like $20 on a given day. It means entering 10 different $2 contests instead of one $20 contest. While it may be an annoyance, the extra clicks are well worth it.
Tip #2 — Play More Head To Heads to Make Your Money Last
If you want to play $20 worth on a given slate in cash games, you can go one of two ways. You can play it all in double-ups, where you will most likely either profit $20 or lose $20 (since even in different contests, the cash lines are usually very similar). Another option is to play 20 different people for $1 each. It’s pretty unlikely that you will beat all 20 of your opponents and double your money (you won’t ever double it in head-to-heads considering the rake, but you get it), but you also are unlikely to lose to all of them.
While this makes it tougher to make a lot of money fast, it does ensure that your money will last longer. If you are a casual player that is not depending on DFS for your livelihood, this is probably a better and more enjoyable way to go. You probably play DFS for the fun of it and not for the money, but it still makes a lot of sense to make your deposits last as long as possible.
Tip #3 — Post Your Own Contests
DFS sites give you the option to post your own contests to the lobby. This is a better way to go if you are playing several head-to-heads on a given slate. The majority of head-to-heads are posted by big money players that are playing a ton of contests each day and are laying down a strong lineup most of the time. You can get a small edge by making the field come to you, and this results in more of the casual crowd scooping up your contests since the big guns don’t really have time to poke around selecting individual contests.
Tip #4 — Study the Sharks
If you do end up playing against a big name player, it’s always a great idea to check out their lineup in a bit of detail. Is there any play that you were not considering? Why did they make that play? What can you learn from it? Even if you beat their lineup, there is still lots to learn. A shark does not stay a shark for long unless they can turn a profit over the long haul, so it is foolish to think we cannot learn something from what they are doing.
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Jon Anderson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Jon, check out his archive and follow him @JonPgh.
