Condia Interview
Condia became an overnight legend in the Daily Fantasy Community this football season when both DraftStreet and FanDuel “implemented a rule” limiting the number of games a player could take on their sites. To most, Condia is an intriguing and mysterious figure in the daily fantasy community, primarily due to the transparency of his massive bankroll through his volume of play, and his lack of participation in the chat boxes. I’ve heard people question if he’s real, or a sports-betting machine who sets the lines in Vegas. After our interview with Condia on the Podcast at the beginning of NFL season, our readers wanted to hear more, so we reached out to Condia for another interview to get in the mind of one of the top Grinders we’ve seen in Daily Fantasy to date. Here’s what he had to say:
RG: Hope all is well, Charles, and thanks for your time for this interview. Right now the readers are probably asking, who is this Charles guy, because everyone knows you by one, prolific moniker: ‘Condia’. That name screenname represents different things to different people: A new rule, a top-ranked RotoGrinder, thousands of games, loads of cash…so let’s start this interview by asking, what does it mean to you? Why did you choose the name ‘Condia’?
Condia: At the time I signed up for Fanduel, I was thinking of creating a new unique login name because I was getting tired of the old ones I was using. My two favorite bands at the time were Conditions and Lydia, so I combined the two names as a tribute to those bands. The avatars I have used are covers from Lydia’s albums “Illuminate” and “Paint It Golden”. “One More Day” by Lydia is my all-time favorite song. I am actually listening to a Lydia mix as I am doing this interview :)
RG: Our readers would like to know a little more about Charles: Tell us more about your golf experiences. Did you play in HS/College? What golf tournaments did you win? Do you still play?
Condia: I played in high school, but I was not very good because I could not hit the ball very far, so I did not even try to play in college because I knew I couldn’t compete at the time. By the time I had finished school, I had gained some weight and hit it far enough to be competitive, so I thought I would give golf a shot. I gave it two to three years, but this daily fantasy sports thing came around and ruined my golfing career lol.
RG: Have you played any other sports?
Condia: I enjoy playing basketball, racquetball, and football with friends or at the gym, but have never played those sports on a school team or anything like that.
RG: What are your favorite sports teams?
Condia: I have loved the Denver Broncos ever since I lived in Hawaii, and when I was 12 years old, my parents told me we were moving to Denver and I remember being so excited. I also love the San Antonio Spurs, mainly because of Manu Ginobili. I think he’s so fun to watch (flop… haha), and he’s super clutch. To all you Manu haters: I don’t blame you lol. I know the Spurs don’t have a great chance at winning it all anymore, but it would be great to see Timmy get one more before he’s done. I used to be a huge Atlanta Braves fan when I was young, but I started hating baseball all of a sudden for some reason.
RG: What was your online poker success like?
Condia: I got off to a hot start playing the Double-or-Nothing tournaments on PokerStars and thought I could make some good money at it, so I played about 20 of those tournaments at a time. However, after about a year of playing, I noticed the competition was getting stiffer and I wasn’t making enough money to make it worth my time. It was also taking away too much time from my golf, and I wanted to give golf 100%, so I quit.
RG: Before we get too deep into this interview, you know, there’s one question I can’t get out of my head, and I’m dying to ask: I took a match vs. you early this NFL Season. I can’t remember if it was Week 1 or Week 2 of NFL Season…but you took Chad Henne, let me pause and take it in again…Chad Henne, in your lineup. I could never put that much money on a Michigan grad not named Tom Brady. What am I missing!? How does Condia go about selecting his value Quarterbacks?
Condia: Hahaha, I still can’t believe he did that well in Week 1!!! I think the reason I chose him is because I heard a report that the Dolphins decided they would trust Henne in running the offense, and they were playing the Patriots, so I figured they would be playing from behind for most of the game. Plus, they have a beast in B-Marsh, and Reggie Bush was still unproven, so I thought he would check down to him several times.
RG: You mentioned on our podcast that you made a deal with your parents that if you passed the CPA exam that you could pursue a career in golf. I actually received my undergraduate degree as an accounting major in undergrad before realizing accounting wasn’t my cup of tea. Do you plan to go back and become an accountant, or are you enjoying the combination of Golf and Daily Fantasy too much to go back to a traditional job?
Condia: Oh, thanks for reminding me, I have to apply for my license! But no, I do not plan on ever using that. Ever. One of my closest friends is CPA and he hates his job, so using my degree is my absolute last resort. I think I will try to live on the streets before I even think about becoming a CPA.
RG: Right now, you and Rudzia are battling it out for the #1 spot in the RotoGrinders Overall Daily Fantasy Player in the world. How does it feel? Do you think that at this time next year you will still be one of the top-ranked Grinders?
Condia: I believe Rudzia took the #1 spot last week, but it looks like Maxdalury is gaining ground very quickly. It’s ridiculous that maxdalury has won $250,000 this month alone. There is no way I will be able to catch up to these guys next year because my bankroll is not big enough if I’m just playing NFL. Plus, I am spending a lot more time helping my friends build a new daily fantasy sports site, which we’ll be announcing soon.
RG: From our last interview with you on the podcast, we know that Week 1 went well and Week 2 went relatively poorly…let’s wrap up Condia’s NFL Season: What happened weeks 3-17 + the Playoffs?
Condia: Week 2 was not “relatively” poor; it was horrible… like murder-suicide bad haha. I don’t have my spreadsheet on me right now, but from what I remember, Weeks 3-7 were okay, Weeks 8-11 were a repeat of Week 2, Weeks 12-14 were ridiculously amazing, and I gave back a lot of it in Weeks 15-17. I feel like as a high-volume daily fantasy sports player, NFL is the most stressful and has the most variance because there are only 17 weeks in the regular season, you’re putting out so much money every week, and everybody knows their football because fantasy football is so popular, so it is difficult to get a great advantage over your opponents. I feel like the real money is in the other sports.
RG: What was your best NFL Week this Season? What was your squad like that week?
Condia: I think Week 13 was my best week. I scored over 200 points on Draftstreet, which I thought was impossible, and more than doubled up for the week.
RG: What are your plans for NBA Season, since so far, NFL seems to be your cup of tea?
Condia: I am enjoying my time off too much to even think about starting NBA or other sports right now.
RG: On the podcast, you also said you viewed Daily Fantasy as a “good investment.” Now that NFL Season’s over, were you right? Or is it too early to say still?
Condia: If you have the bankroll, time, and knowledge about sports and stats, the rake is definitely beatable and you can make a living doing this. Of course, there is a learning curve, but you can catch on to things pretty quickly by comparing your teams to the teams that the “sharks” put out and improving that way every day.
RG: HixvilleHunk went on a mission to turn $60 to $60,000 during MLB Season. At the time of the interview he had $20,000 in profit. How much did you profit this NFL Season?
Condia: Enough to try it again next season ;)
RG: After week two, you “contemplated quitting.” I take it you didn’t…How often did that though surface throughout NFL Season? Do you think you ever will quit?
Condia: I really wanted to quit again after Week 10 or 11, but anytime you have a losing week, it sucks. Especially with NFL because you have to wait an entire week to try to earn that money back.
RG: Last I heard, it sounded like you believed in using one optimal lineup per site, maybe two to reduce variance, if you had close choices at certain roster spots. Did you finish the season still using this strategy? Do you think it’s a strategy that players of all skill-levls should employ?
Condia: Using only your optimal lineup will probably be the most profitable in the long-run, but it’s hard to put that much money out there on one team unless you have a huge bankroll. No matter how good you think your team looks, they can always underperform.
RG: What did you learn the “hard-way” this season?
Condia: I learned that I am a slow learner and that being out of school and not having a real job is making me stupid. And I learned to not trust what NFL coaches say, especially Mike Shanahan.
RG: What did you learn at your opponents’ expense (aka the easy way)?
Condia: That the rake is beatable haha :)
RG: What was your most profitable site during NFL Season? What was your favorite site to play on?
Condia: I did well on DraftStreet and DraftZone, but lost consistently on FanDuel for some reason. I spent most of my time on DraftStreet.
RG: You told Dan that you made an agreement w/ Rudzia so he wouldn’t take your action last NBA Season? Is that true, haha? What was the agreement? Are you going to ask for it again this year?
Condia: Of course; I don’t lie! I think the deal was that he would leave my contests in the lobby alone if I played in $500 or $1,000 worth of games against him every day for NBA. I think I played NBA for about ten days, so he must have about $5,000 of my money lol. He’s actually a really cool guy though, and I think most of the sharks have a lot of respect for each other because we know how much work goes into trying to do this for a living.
RG: What other DF Grinders do you respect the most? Do you avoid playing against anyone in particular?
Condia: I have only really chatted with Rudzia and Westy, but I respect anybody who is trying to make daily fantasy sports their career. I pretty much avoid playing against anybody in the top 20 of the Rotogrinders rankings, and any other names that I have seen put up respectable teams because if you’re playing against other good players, then you’re probably both essentially just giving away money to the website through the rake.
RG: Which sport (NFL, NBA or MLB) gives you/Grinders (if the same/different) the best chance at long-term profitability based on the roster formats and game structures?
Condia: I believe people are most knowledgeable about their NFL because fantasy football is so popular. This, combined with the fact that there are only 17 weeks to do your damage, makes it the most difficult, in my opinion. I am not very experienced with NBA or MLB, but I would think these sports are easier because the average daily fantasy player is probably not as knowledgeable about these sports, and the variance is probably a lot easier to handle because you can usually have a chance at winning your money back the very next day.
RG: You commented on the Player Editing functionality not working well enough for you to use multiple lineups on the podcast. Is this still a concern of yours? How can the sites improve this?
Condia: I am working on building a fully functional multiple roster editing tool for my friends’ new Daily Fantasy site, so you will have to wait and see :)
RG: You’ve talked a lot about Bankroll Management. What are your theories on the topic, now that you’ve experienced more DF NFL Games than anyone on this planet?
Condia: My basic rule is to never have more than 30% of my bankroll out there. Otherwise, a couple bad weeks in a row could ruin you.
RG: We like to end our interviews with some fun, quick questions. Let us know your answer for:
What’s your favorite golf prop-bet you’ve made on the course (I’m guessing you’ve had a lot of experience with this ☺ )?
Condia: I usually just do a $5 nassau or a small skins game, nothing crazy.
Who’s your favorite NFL Player used this season?
Condia: I had MJD on every single one of my teams the weeks he bust out for 4 touchdowns, so he is high on my list.
Who’s your pick to win Super Bowl?
Condia: The Patriots because that’s what the oddsmakers say, and I’m fairly certain that they do much more research than I do.
Which team will win the NBA Title?
Condia: The Spurs… I wouldn’t put my money on it though!
Who will win the NBA MVP Award?
Condia: Manu Ginobli … duh