Last week on Twitter I fielded a question from a reader who was looking to transition to PGA DFS after mostly playing NBA. He was looking for what kinds of point totals he needed to target for PGA cash games. I tried to answer his question as best I could, but wound up telling him that if he had success playing NBA DFS, he was better off waiting for the WNBA to start and giving that a try.
That isn’t to say the games are the same, but they are similar. Last year my WNBA DFS Playbook and Example Lineups were pretty successful, and our NBA DFS coverage, with Jon Impemba, James Grande and myself was even more successful. If you stick to the strategies that we recommended for the NBA but are cognizant of the differences in the WNBA game, I believe you will be successful. In fact, many of these strategy tips were born out of conversations I had with Jon and James both on the NBA DFS Livestream as well as offline.
1. Take what the slate gives you
This served us well during the NBA season but it may be even more important for WNBA DFS because the slates are almost all small. I’d love to tell you to always pay for an elite forward, but what if all of the elite forwards are off on a particular night? If the slate dictates you play mostly mid-tier players, or go cheaper at forward than at guard, then that is what you should do. You should always be willing to react to the slate rather than trying to make the players fit into a pre-conceived strategy.
2. Enter your cash lineups in at least one GPP as well.
My best GPP payouts this past NBA season were with my cash lineups, and I know Jon and James had some cash lineups that took down big prizes as well. We choose our cash lineups based on players who have a high floor or we think are underpriced, but that doesn’t mean their ceilings are lower. If everything breaks right, those cash lineups can still score a ton of fantasy points.
3. Who run the W? Forwards
The WNBA is moving towards threes along with the rest of the basketball world, but this game is still dominated by post players dominating in the paint and versatile forwards like Elena Delle Donne, Candace Parker and Maya Moore who can score both inside and on the perimeter. As I said before, each slate is different, but in general, I would like to go cheaper at guard and save myself some money to spend on at least a couple expensive forwards.
4. Trust your process, don’t overreact to late news → but be reactionary to news necessary to the slate.
You took the time to research the slate or read my Playbook; are you really going to throw that out the window because the Fever changed up their starting lineup? There is nothing worse than changing a lineup you really like due to some last minute news only to have that original lineup go off. One of the most difficult skills in DFS is knowing which news to react to and which to ignore. If you’re not sure, ask a question in our subscriber chat. We’re always happy to help.
5. Understand you won’t win every night.
Trust me, nobody cares more about winning every night than us. I root for my calls more than I root for my hometown team or my fantasy teams, because I want to provide the best possible information above all else. If you’re going to live and die by the results of every contest, that’s a tough way to live. Try to take the long view, and know that if you follow these strategies, you’ll probably win in the long run, even if it isn’t always pretty.
6. You need security in cash games.
I’m often shocked at how often I’ll discuss a player in the Playbook who I clearly don’t trust for cash only to get a bunch of questions in the chat about whether or not to use that player in cash lineups. I know how tempted it is to want to play a cheap bench player and hope that game script will go their way, but that isn’t a great strategy for cash. I know how badly you want to fit Tina Charles in your cash lineup, but you shouldn’t throw away another lineup spot to do it.