Take a Month FREE of the Playbook PRO on me.  Just use promo code: Bender.

Before we begin with the basics of NFL DFS, allow me to first thank you for purchasing the Fantasy Alarm NFL Draft Guide and officially welcome you to FA Nation. I think you’ve made a sound investment here and I am very much looking forward to a successful and profitable season. Successful because I expect you to be a better DFS player by season’s end than you are right now and profitable because I expect you to finish the season with more money than you started. I’m not going to make promises of you swimming through mountains of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck, but together, we should be finishing the 2017 NFL season in the black.

For those who don’t know me, my name is Howard Bender. I am the VP of Operations and Head of Content here at Fantasy Alarm and I host the Fantasy Alarm Show on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio, Monday through Friday from 4-6pm ET. I also host a Sunday night show on the channel from 10pm-1am ET which caps off the channel’s Sunday GameDay broadcast. I’ve been in this industry for almost two decades and I’ve been playing fantasy sports for more than three.

Due to my longevity, I have always been categorized as a seasonal player, but rest assured, I have been winning money playing DFS for the last four years. You don’t usually hear me bragging about it because I play like a grinder. My winnings go towards rent, bills, car payments and groceries. It’s about substance, not flash. My goal is not to be some braggadocios douche whose validation in this industry hinges on contest-winning screenshots or making it to a live final. My goal is to win more than I lose and now, it’s also to help you do the same.

Of course, now that I have taken over the DFS Playbook for the NFL season and have set the bar rather high for myself, you’ll probably see my DFS game broadcast a little more on Twitter (you can follow me @rotobuzzguy). Apparently that’s what people are into, so I have no problem letting that bragadocious douche out of the cage once in a while. But I’ll be taking all of you with me, so if you feel like screenshotting your winnings, throw down a little #FANation on your tweets and we’ll reach out to you with a bunch of free swag and subscriptions to help reward you for your loyalty and your winnings! Get ready, because it’s going to be one hell of a ride this season!

That being said, let’s get to the basics of NFL DFS, shall we…?

Set a Bankroll

Never risk more than you are willing to lose and if you find yourself freaking out about the money when you have a bad week, you’re probably playing beyond your means. Find a number with which you are comfortable and start your account there. The majority of people will throw in $100 and start there. It’s a large enough amount for you to take it seriously, but maybe not so large that it kills your bottom line.

If you choose to risk more or less than that, so be it. It’s your money and we can help you devise an appropriate game strategy to suit your budget. Remember, while you are competing with other players, this is about you increasing the return on your investment. Too many people get caught up in the screenshots of people winning hundreds of thousands of dollars. But what those players don’t usually show you is A. How much they’ve lost and B. The amount of their entry fees. Sure, they won $100K last night, but they also lost $150K the week before and posted a $5,300 entrance fee for the contest they won. They also didn’t show you they played against 100 people. Remember that. It’s a little easier to beat of field of 100 than it is a field of 100,000, especially when it’s a multi-entry GPP.

But I digress. The point here is to set yourself up a budget, play within your means and grind it out until you start playing with house money. Once you’re in the black and can pull your original investment back, then you can go hog wild if you like.

Know the Scoring Format

Some people like to play on Draft Kings more than they do FanDuel. Some prefer sites like Fantasy Draft or RT Sports. Regardless of which site you prefer, it is absolutely imperative that you are 100-percent familiar with the scoring of the sit on which you play. If you like to spread it around and play on multiple sites, make sure you know the differences between them all.

Just to get you started, take a look at the links to the scoring pages for the two main sites, FanDuel and Draft Kings:

FanDuel: https://www.fanduel.com/rules

Draft Kings: https://www.draftkings.com/help/rules/1/1

Obviously there are a ton of similarities, but Draft Kings is full-point PPR while FanDuel is half-point PPR. That makes a big difference in which running backs, receivers and tight ends you select each week. Draft Kings also offers a 3-point bonus for players who rush/receive more than 100 yards in a game. Oh, and let’s not forget the whole kicker debate as you still use them on FanDuel but not on Draft Kings.

The bottom line is that each site rules and scoring are unique unto themselves. Make sure you know how the scoring is set on your site and be sure you know each site’s nuances from scoring to lineup restrictions to…well, anything else that affects the outcome of your game.

Contest Selection

Everyone wants to win the million dollars. I get it. I wouldn’t mind it myself. But the fact of the matter is winning million-dollar contests is extremely difficult. I won’t say it’s impossible, but it’s kind of like playing a scratcher. You can buy one and take a chance you’ll win or you can buy 100 and see what happens. Obviously you’ve increased your chances with the 100 scratchers, but even then, the odds are stacked against you and you’re probably risking more than you really should.

Be sensible with how you play. First off, never risk more than 10-percent of your bankroll. Losing it all in Week 1 is only going to frustrate you as you find yourself dipping back into your pocket each week to play. Second, while it’s not sexy, starting out in low-cost 50/50’s is the best way to begin. These are your basic cash games. You want to play in ones with the largest field of participants because that actually lowers the variance between winning and losing. Remember, your goal in these games is not to come in first, but just come in the top half of the field to win. It’s a relatively low risk way to steadily increase your bankroll.

Once you’ve put yourself in the black and are now playing with house money, you can then start rolling into the GPP (guaranteed prize pool) games. These are the tournaments and these are the games where you can win the big prizes. Just remember, though, before entering a GPP, take a look at the prize payout and see how many of the field actually get paid. You need to finish way way way up top to pull in the big bucks. Remember what I said earlier about the size of the contest field. A game with 100,000 entries may pay out the top 1,000, but only the top 10 are going to see a substantial payout while the other 990 basically get their money back. It’s an over-simplifcation, but it’s pretty accurate.

Strategies & Setting Lineups

For the rest of all this, I will steer you towards the rest of the upcoming NFL DFS articles here in the Draft Guide. Brett Talley and Ben Scherr will cover more about game selection as well as discuss lineup construction, stacking and other strategies to employ. Between those articles and my How to Use the DFS Playbook Pro piece, you should be well-informed and ready to embark on a little money-making this season.

Again, this is a process, not an overnight sensation. You have to be smart and you have to educate yourself. Take it slow at first and build up throughout the season. Remember, we have to start accruing in-season data before we can feel comfortable with match-up evaluation. As the papa bull said to his son from atop the mountain overlooking the pasture, “You can run down that hill and f*** one of them cows or you can walk down slowly and f*** them all.”