Fresh Set of Eyes..

After a nice little run two weeks ago, I hit a bit of a skid last week.  After taking three consecutive

losing days, I decided to hold off play this weekend.  Center and refocus.  Came back today with a vengeance.
Taking a short break is an excellent thing to do when you hit a skid.  The same thing that happens in Season Long Fantasy happens to players of the Daily Game.  You fall in love with players.  You figure that Melky Cabrera brought you $50 last week,so he'll always do it.  That is not the case.  Players get hot; they cool off; other players get hot.  Learn it, Live it, Learn to Love it.  When you take a break, you assess your roster the way you need to: Making the decision about who will add to your totals the most this day, not last week, last month or last year.  Today is all that matters in DFS.

So, I looked at the basics: best pitching matchups for the money & what hot hitters are facing weak pitchers.  Could have been a lot better night, if I had gotten something out of Gregor Blanco. Or if Scottie Kazmir would have done me proper.   I came in 9th Place in the Quarter Arcade--That's a single digit finish [Ticked back to 10th place due to some late inning scoring by the Braves off Craig Kimbrel, so the new total is $34.84], something I'm not ashamed to brag about.  With the clear head and refocus on the truths of the game I fielded an exemplary roster.

Something you should consider.  If you're having a bad time of it, you only have a couple of choices.  Quit Playing, Double Down, or Take a break.  I understand why people quit.  DFS isn't easy.  Doubling Down, more often than not, leads to bad things.  How many stories have you heard from people about going to Vegas losing a bunch of money and then making it all back?  Usually, they lose more cash, right?  Taking a step back is really good advice, and something I'd hope you keep in your DFS playbook.

Understanding the New Draft Kings NASCAR game, finally..

I wrote a few notes about how to choose a NASCAR lineup on Draft Kings, and had 13 winning weeks out of the first 15.  Then Draft Kings changed the rules, and thus changed the game.  I went O-2 trying two different strategies.  Today I went back to a more basic strategy, I'll talk about more if it works more than one week, but I think I see something.  Today's happy numbers:

Sure there's a few laps to go, but things look up.  And, of course, I got lucky enough not to have a car crash....yet.

Breaking DFS News.

A few weeks ago, Yahoo entered the DFS market.  I thought this was going to be huge thing, but it hasn't played out as such, just yet.  Yahoo has all that money and all those Fantasy Sports players, it simply had to impact the nature of the world of DFS.  But they rolled out a product that was pretty similar to what others already had.  I like what they did, but it failed to shake the ground beneath the feet of the DFS player.  I still think it will have long term repercussions across the entire DFS Universe given time, but not for now.

But then something happened today that I think will be just if not more important than Yahoo entering the fray.

I play on Victiv.com, and I like their game.  It's a bit different with it's lack of individual pitching and it's hitter replacement concept.   I joined there for two basic reasons: (1) it had the best offerings for a person looking at the game, before deciding to deposit, and (2) it has the lowest commission structure in all of DFS.

Today, they sent me an email that I think, might change DFS forever.
They announced that Amaya, Inc, a multi-billion dollar international gaming company out of Montreal, Canada has bought them out and they will be transitioning me, and other Victiv members like me, to Starsdraft.com, without changes to our accounts in a seamless manner as soon as it is ready.

This is a huge backer, and the first of what I believe will be several takeovers of DFS Sites.  And I'll admit I didn't see this one coming.  Amaya is a publicly traded company on the Toronto exchange and their stocks along are worth nearly $4 Billion dollars.  It's no Yahoo, but who is and it vaults the Starsdraft/Victiv Daily Fantasy into the position of second deepest pockets.  And it has synergies that rival if not surpass Yahoo.

There are two aspects of Daily Fantasy.  The first mirrors the wants and desires of the Fantasy Sports enthusiast, which Yahoo hopes to capitalize on.  The second is for the gamblers out there, and that's what Poker Stars brings to the table, being the largest online poker community in the world.  I think it will be easier to teach gamblers about a game based on baseball or football, that to teach baseball or football fans how to gamble effectively.

But more importantly, Victiv had always tried to be innovative, and with the takeover, new innovations will probably be very gambler friendly, as that is what there ownership is used to managing in their customers: the gambler's wants and needs.  If they make the new Starsdraft site, the "gambler's choice" for DFS, it could change the industry.  I have hopes to push the site share down, as this is key to retaining any but the most devoted DFS player.

I think this new influx of competition from big players from both sides of the DFS spectrum will make DFS better in the long run.  It's an exciting day in this little world of ours, and I bet you didn't even know it.