Playing MLB DFS is a blast, but it’s important to be mindful of your bankroll and how to manage it properly to where you aren’t constantly making deposits or playing for too much money. We all want to hit the big money on a nightly basis, but that just isn’t possible and that’s an important thing to understand. You will have losing nights, it’s inevitable, but that’s okay as long as we make a profit overall. 
 

Know Your Limits

Know how much you’re willing to lose. DFS is a gamble and a risk and far from a guaranteed thing. All players, even the best of the best, will have nights where they lose and even streaks of losing. It comes with the territory of gambling and regardless of what these sites claim (their stance has long been that DFS is not gambling), it is in fact gambling. If losing $100 is a huge impactful loss that will really make you upset, don’t play a slate for $100. Simple enough right? Every player will play for different limits, some for a quarter or two per slate while others will drop thousands into every slate. There is no right amount to play for, but there is a wrong amount and that is an amount out of your budget or bankroll. Figure out how much you are willing to lose on any given night, week, month, or year and stick to it. Of course, the plan isn’t to lose, but there will always be that risk. You can have a great lineup and have your pitcher tear his arm on the first pitch of the game and your chances of success that night will be over with. It happens. Understand that risk is involved and know your limits and you will have a far more enjoyable season of playing MLB DFS. 
 

 


Don’t Go Crazy Over a Bad Day

Don’t compound things. Losing $10 the day before doesn’t mean upping it to $20 today to try and get it back. This is a massive part that DFS and gamblers struggle with. The thought of “I’ll get it back with the next slate or the next bet” is not a smart way to play. Losing one slate has no correlation to winning the next slate; you’re just as likely to lose as you would be if you didn’t lose the night before. Each slate is a new slate or new day and has zero correlation to the last one. Upping your bet to “try and bounce back” is just a quick way to burn through your bankroll and either has to take a break from playing or deposit more money (and who wants to do that?). It is important to stick to your process and trust it. Stay within your budget and avoid meltdowns. 
 

Feel Good About the Slate

You don’t have to play every single slate. I repeat: You don’t have to play every single slate. Too many people chase big paydays and just submit lineups to anything and everything, which will end up in losses the majority of the time. If you don’t like showdown slates… don’t play them. If you get home from some type of event at 6:45 and don’t really have enough time to do any research or read any of the content... you don’t have to play the slate. It is completely okay to take the night off. You want to feel good about the lineup that you’re playing. Sure, you could glance over the core plays real quick and throw together a lineup, but do you have any thought behind it? No, not really, not outside of knowing we like those players that day. 
 

Don’t play GPPs with the goal of Min-Cashing!

A huge mistake that way too many people make. If you’re making safe lineups just trying to make the cash line… why even play GPPs? Just play cash games if that’s what you’re trying to accomplish because having a goal of min. cashing in GPPs is going to lose you money. The purpose of GPPs is to shoot for the moon and try to hit the big payday. “But Vreeland, what does this actually mean for making my lineups?” Glad you asked. Some examples: pitchers with low strikeout upside and hitters with low home run or stolen base upside. WE WANT UPSIDE. You don’t win tournaments with a pitcher tossing 7 innings with 4 strikeouts and three runs against. Sure, that’s a solid outing, but not for DFS. You don’t win tournaments with a hitter going 2-4 with a pair of singles. Good day in reality? Yes. Winning you a DFS tournament? Absolutely not. Those types of players can be fine for cash games as you want those consistent, reliable points, but for a GPP I want the guy hitting two home runs and having a huge day or the pitcher racking up 11 strikeouts in a win. TAKE RISKS. I can’t emphasize that enough. 
 

 

 

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