My First Big Win
Daily Fantasy Sports is an emotional game. It is the ultimate second-screen entertainment on game day. You do your research, build your lineup, fall in love with your team and prepare to go to battle.
Two years ago I took one last look at my screen and then shut my laptop, packed up, and left the library. It was a Monday night and I had sacrificed watching the Monday night NFL game to cram for a test. I had a DFS lineup live with a stack playing in the night’s game (stack: term normally associated with pairing a QB and his WR in the same lineup). By the time I left the library I was winning $100, not bad, considering I paid $5 for the entry. I was satisfied.
On my walk home it started raining. I figured that not much would happen in the time remaining in the game, I would maybe drop to winning $90 or climb to $110, but I figured my destiny was sealed. I got to my apartment building, and while I waited for the elevator in my soaked shoes I decided to take a peek at my lineup one last time on my phone. I remember feeling a false sense of hope, anxiety was building, like I was destined to be shocked once my lineup loaded. But, to no surprise, in big green numbers was “$100”. The funny thing is that just minutes before I was quite satisfied with this, but now, a sense of disappointment came over me. That’s DFS for you, it’s an emotional game. Your expectations can sky rocket and bottom out in mere seconds.
As I ascended closer to my apartment floor, I reloaded the app to see how much time was left in the game. I ran my thumb down the screen and the spinning wheel appeared. That’s when I saw it… In bright green bold numbers… $5,000… What had happened?! Was this a bug?! Some sort of sick joke!?
No, it was very real. My quarterback, in desperation, threw a deep ball to my wide receiver, who went for a 72-yard touchdown. In one play, my team gained over 20 points! Which catapulted me from middle of the pack to first place.
I told my roommate, “I just won 5 thousand dollars”. He asked me how, and I just said “A TOUCHDOWN! A TOUCHDOWN IN THE LAST MINUTE.”
“You picked that guy?!” he said.
“Of course I did!”
This was my first big win.
That’s how DFS works, any player can surprise you and every play counts.
