How Much Salary Can we Leave on the Table?

Believe it or not, the title to this lesson represents a question that a lot of people ask in DFS, and it all comes down to personality.

Some people only feel comfortable if they zero out their lineup.

Some people feel comfortable with $100 or $200 left on the table, but that’s it.

Some people feel comfortable leaving around $500 on the table.

Some people will leave up to $1,000 or more on the table.

The best answer I can give to this question is that there is no rigid requirement here, especially in tournament formats! The more money that you leave on the table… the better odds you have of getting a unique lineup.

In fact, one of the most impactful DFS articles that I have ever read was written by RotoGrinders’ own Dan Back a few years ago. It was generated for purposes of golf discussion, but it still has bearing on our NBA discussion here. Take a read of the article real quick before we move along (it’s a free piece).

DraftKings Milly Maker Strategy

The most impactful thing about that article for me was the salary distribution usage in those two golf tournaments. In a “Millionaire Maker” GPP on DraftKings, 54% of lineups had less than or equal to $100 remaining for The Masters, and 53% of lineups had less than or equal to $100 remaining for the U.S. Open. Around 75% of lineups had $500 or less in salary remaining.

Think about that for a second. If you simply build a lineup with $600 or more left on the table, you were competing with just 25% of the overall lineups in order to avoid a duplicate team. In large field GPP games, you should absolutely be trying to avoid making a duplicate team. You’re playing to win the large first place prize, not to share it with ten of your closest friends!

This is a critical thing to get as part of your thinking process as you build lineups. It’s naturally intuitive to try to use up as much of the salary cap as possible, but that’s what everyone is doing. Leaving money on the table, especially if it’s something along the lines of $600 or $700 or $800, often feels like an optimal strategy in GPP formats. This is especially true on nights where everyone is building stars and scrubs lineups, as those tend to be duplicated with relative ease. This would provide a way for you to differentiate those lineups a little bit.

To reiterate, in cash games, it’s certainly not imperative to use up all of the salary cap. However, in tournaments, it does offer additional leverage. Don’t be afraid to leave some money on the table. On shorter slates (two or three games slates), I’ll sometimes even leave $1,500 or $2,000 of salary cap space. It’s much more difficult to build unique lineups on those shorter slates, and you can bet that virtually every zeroed-out salary lineup will be duplicated in the larger fields on those slates. GPP play is all about leverage, and leaving salary on the table gives you that in bunches.

About the Author

stlcardinals84
Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84)

Justin Van Zuiden (aka stlcardinals84) is a longtime RotoGrinders contributor and show host. He’s appeared in numerous Live Finals, has logged countless 6-figure wins in a host of different sports (including 5 in PGA), and is a former DFS Writer of the Year Nominee by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. You can find Justin’s ‘Covering The Bases’ series on weekends during the MLB season. He is also a main contributor of sports betting picks at our sister site, ScoresAndOdds, and is a co-host on the RotoGrinders Game Night show on SiriusXM. Follow Justin on Twitter – @stlcardinals84