This is similar to the disappointment I feel when playing in a large GPP tournament on Fanduel or Draftkings, once I realize that my 100th place lineup has no chance of winning the top prize due to the fact that numerous other players ranked ahead of me have the same remaining two players in a Monday night contest.

We have all been there.

We check our phone after the Sunday night game is over. First we look to see how we fared against our opponent in our season long league of record. Then we close down the ESPN or Yahoo app and open up DraftKings to see if we are placing in the money in any of our GPP’s or head-to-head games. The excitement level goes through the roof when we see that our GPP entry is currently in the green, with a chance to make some real money with our final running back playing on Monday Night Football.

But then, the dream of giving your boss the bird and quitting your job on Tuesday comes crashing down when you realize that most of the players ahead of you also have Le’Veon Bell. It looks like it will be another week of pushing papers and TPS reports.

Introduction to Game Theory

After a few years of going through this same scenario multiple times a season, I finally realized that I needed to make a change to my large tournament strategy.

I researched advance DFS strategies from many platforms. I read a few books and articles on game theory, and played around with a few theories of my own, including my layering theory that I wrote about in this column last season.

The conclusion that I came to is simple in nature and makes sense when you think about it: I have been spending too much time trying to maximize points instead of maximizing the probability of winning the contest, and I need to put far more value in ownership levels in large tournaments to give me an advantage over the competition.

For those wondering about game theory, you can define it as a type of mathematics concerned with the analysis of strategies for dealing with competitive situations where the outcome of a participant's choice of action depends critically on the actions of other participants.

Simplified for DFS purposes, the players I chose to be in my GPP lineup is critically dependent on the actions of my opponents in the contest.

Why Ownership Percentages Matter

Yes, I want to score as many points and possible, but if I continually put together a team of heavily owned players who score well, by definition the probability of hundreds of other people having those players on their team is high, and my advantage over the masses is low.

Consider this basic example.

If wide receiver A is projected to score 15 points and wide receiver B is projected to score only 10, on face value the former is certainly more attractive, especially if they have similar salaries.

But when we add in ownership rates to the mix, say 30% for player A and only 8% for player B, things become much more interesting.

A big game of 25 points from player A would give me an advantage over 70% of the field who did not pick him, and I would be on an even playing field with the 30% of owners when it comes to my remaining players.

A similar big game of 20 points from player B would not give me the same amount of total points as player A, but I would still have excellent production from my player and I would have a advantage over 92% of the remaining field and will compete on an even level with only 8%, respectively.

I used similar salaries for each player in the scenario, but the lack of usage and ownership of my player improved my probability of winning over a larger part of the player pool. With a solid roster of other top producing players for their respective positions, I should fare well compared to those who did not choose player B.

Now before I get bombarded with comments poking holes in my basic game theory argument, it should be said that for this scenario to work your other picks need to excel and you cannot have a dud game from any other players in order to win. That should go without saying, and it applies to all lineups looking to place in the top tier of large tournaments.

Figuring out usage rates prior to the contest starting is difficult to do unless you work for Fanduel or Draftkings, which if that is the case you are not allowed to participate in these games in the first place. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t use some of this logic to improve our chances in large tournaments this year.

Continue using all of the numerous online tools available to research matchup values, including prior history, weather, injuries, and all of the other variables I have discussed in previous articles. Study large-field tournament results and take note of player ownership percentages – patterns will emerge. Most importantly, understand how lower ownership rates and high production is the golden ticket to tilting the playing field in your favor.