DFS Bankroll Management

For those of you who played poker or have any financial background at all, you know just how important bankroll management is.

If you’re not familiar with the concept of bankroll management, don’t fear! The concept is simple and recommended for players at all levels. Particularly for anyone who is interested in starting with a small bankroll and looking to build it.

I am going to run through a few tips for both bankroll management in daily fantasy sports and a few advanced lineup selection tips.

If you want to play for free, many sites have excellent Freerolls to get you started. Be sure to check out our list of daily fantasy sports freerolls to sign up.

Bankroll Management Tips

Start With a Large Enough Bankroll to Give Yourself a Chance to Sustain Play

Take advantage of first time deposit bonuses and free game like DraftDay’s $5 challenge. They can be a big boost to your bankroll on both winning and losing nights and helps cover your rake while you learn the ropes.

I usually recommend serious players starting with the max matched deposit amount, check our list of daily fantasy sports bonus codes

For beginners we recommend Draftday.com and Fanduel.com for both their ease of use and freeroll tournaments.

Never Play More Than 15% of Your Total Bankroll on any Given Night

I didn’t always obey this rule but it is absolutely crucial!

To some extent it depends on what type of games you are playing. Still I say stick with a 15% max and you shouldn’t burn through your money before you have a chance to really conquer the game.

It risks enough to be worthwhile, but it also won’t cripple your bankroll if you have a rough night.

When you first start out look for single-entry & 50-50 tournaments

This is something many overlook.

Anyone that tells you allowing multi-entries to players doesn’t decrease a single-entry players’ chances of winning is misguided when it comes to beginners.

By allowing only one lineup per player, it forces every player in the game to make the same lineup decisions as you are, instead of being able to spread the risk to multiple variations of a lineup.

Until you have the bankroll to be that multi-lineup guy, you want to avoid the people that have the money to do that.

Trust me, we’re smart :).

Make sure to opt-in to the sites rewards program

Aspects of daily fantasy sports have taken clues from the online poker community for sure. One of the most beneficial things you can do as a daily grinder is take advantage of every possible way of adding to your bankroll and minimizing your risk.

Most sites have programs that will pay you rake back as you cross certain levels, which is basically just money returned to your bankroll for the games you are playing anyway.

They also enter you in freerolls at different levels, depending on how much you play.

Make sure to enter and opt-in to any rake back or credit programs with every site.

Play mostly Heads Up and 50/50 games to start

I mentioned this above, but this is the best way to build a bankroll.

Sure, the big guaranteed games are fun and exciting, but that’s not going to consistently win you money.

Heads up games allow you to only have to beat one player as opposed to many in order to make money.

These simple tournaments have salvaged plenty of disgusting nights with a few wins over people with even worse lineups than the sad abomination I played that night.