RG Member, Daniel Stevens, Rides Podcast Advice to $30,000 GPP Win
RotoGrinders member, Daniel Stevens, goes by the alias lottopick on FanDuel. That name was quite appropriate this past Monday, as he turned a small investment into a life-changing sum of $30,000 after winning the FanDuel Squeeze.
Dan took some time to answer a few questions for the RotoGrinders community after his big win.
Dantar just took down a $30k tourney thanks to the tools at
— Daniel Stevens (@dantarrr) June 13, 2017RotoGrinders</a> !! S/O to <a href="https://twitter.com/stevietpfl">stevietpflTheSeigeDFS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Pepsi7DFS">Pepsi7DFS for DFS tips! pic.twitter.com/cRGwTRmOIQ
RotoGrinders: Congrats on the big win, Dan. Can you tell the RG community a little bit about yourself? Where you grew up, went to school, what you did before DFS, your “real” life?
Dan: Other than my time in the military, I’ve always lived in good ol’ Mustang, Oklahoma. It’s not as bad it sounds. I was very involved in sports (mainly baseball) growing up. I pitched and played outfield. I like to think I would have played college ball, but I nearly lost my life at the age of 15 in an ATV accident. My left leg snapped in half and I was never the same physically after that. I was a medic in the United States Air Force for 7-ish years after high school. I was stationed near St. Louis during my first 4 years, where I fell in love with the St. Louis Cardinals. I deployed with the Army to Afghanistan in 2011 where I got to ride around IEDville for 5K+ miles. Talk about a fun time! I finished my B.A. in Leadership at the University of Oklahoma after my time in the military, which pains me to say because I’m a die-hard Oklahoma State fan. Go Pokes! I’m married to a beauty named Taylor and we have a 3-year-old son, and are expecting a daughter in early August. I’m currently employed as a Team Leader for a very successful technology company based out of Oklahoma and also play poker on Friday nights at a local casino. With all of that going on, I try to squeeze in my passion for DFS through the tiny cracks of personal time I have in my day. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of the DFS professionals who get the opportunity dedicate their lives to it.
RotoGrinders: When and how did you get into DFS?
Dan: It’s hard for me to remember exactly when. I’ve always played year-long fantasy football and have always sucked at it too. I remember seeing the DK commercials of guys winning big money, and I guess that’s what sparked my interest.
RotoGrinders: Everyone has a different story about their struggles and successes in DFS. Tell us some of yours.
Dan: I’ve always struggled (lit money on fire) in DFS because I did not understand the game theory aspect. I would play every sport and get so frustrated because I would never win anything significant. I signed up for RotoGrinders and all of that changed, and it changed fast. I started to hit first in some smaller NBA tournaments and was just starting to catch my stride in NBA DFS as the MLB season started. It took me a while to understand the intricacies of MLB DFS, but then things started to click. I remember my first solid win of $5K was a call by Travis Mangone. He was dialed into a Diamondbacks stack, which was spot on that night. I started to gain confidence after I saw I could place in large GPPs. I had several more legit finishes before this big win. I’m feeling confident due to having a 3rd and 1st place finish in 40K+ field GPPs just months apart while only playing a few lineups a day.
RotoGrinders: What approaches do you use in terms of DFS on a daily basis?
Dan: I always listen to the Morning Grind on my way to work and then listen to Dan Back at lunch in my truck where I start my daily research. Grinders Live starts right when I get off work, so I listen to that on the drive home. When I get home, I start my “process” of identifying plays using what I have heard throughout the day on podcasts. I don’t always play the guys I hear on the pods as I often go the opposite direction for a pure game theory/ownership perspective. I typically have an idea of which teams or players I like by the time I start building my lineups and then turn to the ownership projection and PlateIQ tools on RG to complete my builds.
RotoGrinders: Whose advice do you follow, if any, when it comes to DFS? What do you try to glean from the content you do read and listen to?
Dan: I only look at and listen to RG. The time I have during the day is so minimal due to work and family that I must rely on the RG content and feedback from RG podcast hosts to strategize for attacking each slate.
RotoGrinders: Tell us about your typical MLB research process. What resources do you utilize? If you make your own model, what factors do you weigh the most?
Dan: Like I said, I only use RG as my DFS resource. I don’t currently have my own working model, but one is in the works. I can’t say I always use one factor. Each slate is unique and finding the standout factors is half the battle in my opinion.
RotoGrinders: How many lineups did you enter in this contest? How many do you usually enter? How do you go about focusing on certain players – do you stack or just build what you think is the best possible team?
Dan: I only had three entries and will usually play between one and ten lineups depending upon the day. I play heavier on weekends because I have more time to sit and focus without feeling rushed. It is probably not ironic that all my nice wins have come on days that I did not work and had lots of time to focus. I prefer to stack because of the “double dipping” on points if games play out with high totals, but I usually play a lot of low owned or contrarian stacks. Yeah, you are going to go through stretches that it doesn’t pan out, but the nights that it does work… Cha-Ching!
RotoGrinders: You had a huge five-figure night. What was your immediate reaction? Any plans for an extravagant purchase? If no, what are you plans with the bankroll increase?
Dan: Disbelief. It still doesn’t seem real. I never thought I could take down a large GPP without max entering. We currently live in a big renovation house, so we will probably add some equity to the house by remodeling the kitchen with a portion of the payout. Nothing crazy planned though. I might use some of the bankroll increase to start playing in some higher stakes single entry GPPs. I realize it’s not likely I’ll be taking down another large field GPP like this one at the volume I play.
RotoGrinders: Tell us about each lineup spot in your lineup. What were your thought processes on utilizing the players you did? Specifically, why Tanaka when he had been struggling, why the Seattle stack, and then why the four individual position players (what did you see in their matchups that you liked)?
Dan: The funny thing is when I was asked to provide my winning lineup I said to myself, “Tanaka… I’m gonna get trolled!”. And here we are. I’m most excited to talk about this part though because Tanaka and Gregorious were not initially in this lineup at all when the first games started. I had Meyers and Simmons from LAA. When the Seattle stack started to go off, I got this gut feeling that I needed to be more contrarian with the pitching and Tanaka was basically my only pivot. I figured I had to move to Gregorious as well, so I made that change just before first pitch of that game. Plus, Tanaka does have a nice ceiling, so I made the move. That was how those two made the lineup. The Seattle stack fell together for me about a half hour before the slate started. I was already on Nelly Cruz and I heard on the last live RG podcast that Haniger was popping on PlateIQ. I felt like Valencia and Zunino were solid pieces for a complete stack against a questionable southpaw. Jay Bruce was my lock and load because Lackey is a joke this year. At this point I was just trying to plug one-offs at 2B and 3B. It’s hard to recall exactly what led me to them, but Murphy and Harrison were two names I liked in good offensive spots for the slate so I rolled them out.
RotoGrinders: After your win – you thanked RG and some of our contributors. Tell us about how RG and the contributors were able to help you with this big score.
Dan: The contributors I reached out to are just a few of my favorite personalities on RG. You know, I listen to them basically every day of my life so after a while you start to feel like part of the DFS family. I’m not going to say I always use their advice, but their advice is still valuable if you use it in the right way. They take the time to do the research that I’m unable to accomplish due to my regular job, and I’m very appreciative of that. The live RG podcast moved me on Mitch Haniger, which is what also led to the full SEA stack. If it wasn’t for that foundation in my lineup I wouldn’t have taken down the GPP. Thanks again, RG crew!