Every Friday in August Fantasy Feud gives you the chance to win a spot in September 7th’s invite-only $500 Grandslam Freeroll. Just sign up for the weekly Grandslam event and finish in the top 10 to earn an invite into the prestigious Freeroll.
Congratulations to week 1 winner a25smith. We were fortunate to have him share a few tips and strategies with us.
1) What was it about this tournament that grabbed your attention?
The idea of 4 GrandSlam tournaments with the top 10 finishers in each gaining an entry into a final $500 FreeRoll was just too cool of a concept for me to pass up. Also the $1000 guaranteed prize pool was nice as well.
2) At what point during the night did you actually start thinking you had a chance to win? Is this your first big win in Daily Fantasy Sports and what was your reaction?
Because it was a Friday night, I was out at a bar with some friends and saw highlights of Cody Ross and Prince go yard. My hometown Astros were also on the TV getting dominated (what’s new) by one of my pitchers, Mark Rogers. So I knew I had a good chance to finish at least top 10. Luckily a three run bomb from John Jaso put me over the top to finish first. Needless to say I was excited.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have some other nice wins in daily fantasy. But up until this year though I had never played fantasy baseball and hadn’t even followed MLB since 2006. I told myself I wasn’t going to play daily fantasy baseball, but the boredom of no daily fantasy got to me so I started playing and I SUCKED. So I started using RotoGrinders for increased research and looked at lineups some of the top players put together the night before to try to see why they used the player they did. Gradually I started to improve as the season went on and the win in the first Grand Slam event validated my improvement.
3) When you assembled your team, did you use a particular strategy?
I targeted some right-handed hitters like Ross, Pedroia, Kemp against some suspect lefties, along with some guys that had good batter vs pitchers numbers like Jaso. With regards to the pitchers, I put in two aces in Kershaw and Strasburg and then gambled with cheap guys like Mark Rogers and Tyler Chatwood. Rogers was only 20k and facing my sadly pathetic Astros and Chatwood was a relief pitcher making a start for only 15k so I took the gamble.
4) Two Starting Pitchers Two Relievers or Three SP and one RP and WHY?
In most instances, I prefer three starting pitchers and one RP. I’d rather target players that I know will play than risk two relief pitchers who may or may not even pitch.
5) Are you content with having earned your first seat or are you planning to play in the remaining three Grand Slam Events?
I am definitely playing in the three remaining Grand Slam Events. I only entered one team in the First Event but will be using some of my winnings to enter two or three teams in the remaining events. There are so many great players that will have multiple seats so I need to give myself the best opportunity by hopefully gaining another seat or two myself.
6) What are your first impressions with Fantasy Feud and why do you enjoy playing on the site?
I really enjoy it so far. The interface is smooth with import and export features along with a great rakeback. I also really like the innovative idea of the Grandslam tournaments and can’t wait to see what is on tap for football.
7) What advice do you have for people new to daily fantasy sports?
I’m pretty new to the daily fantasy industry myself, especially baseball, but I’ve figured out a few things. The first is bankroll management. I’ve learned that there are lots of ups and down in the daily fantasy world. Inevitably there is going to be an injury or your team might not perform how you thought. So don’t risk too much of your bankroll on one night’s set of games or else one bad night could cripple you. My other advice to new players is to check out the leaderboards to see which players are successful. This is important for two reasons. The first is you might want to try to initially avoid those guys while you are getting your feet wet. The second is that it is never a bad idea to review the previous night’s results by looking at the rosters the top players put together. It’s not just dumb luck that the same guys are consistently winning. Take a look at their roster and see if you can learn something from them.
You, like a25smith, can earn your way into September’s $500 FreeRoll by signing up for the remaining 3 GrandSlam GPP Events.
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