Larejo is a mid-stakes tournament mastermind who specializes in outmaneuvering 150-max players with a small number of entries
I am not an entrepreneur. I don’t think I’d be very good at it. I have plenty of thoughts, opinions, and ideas, but I’ve frequently pursued the paths available to me as they present themselves, to maximize the things that are important to me. To this point in my life, I’ve been fortunate that the pros have largely outweighed the cons but as I’ve gotten older, there’s something about entrepreneurs that give me inspiration.
What I have always admired about entrepreneurs (other than the staunch commitment to betting on themselves) is how if you believe in something, create it, and succeed, the people in this world will mold around you. And when that happens, the game is redefined. It takes real courage to act differently, to push a boundary, and to establish a new thing, but if that new thing is valuable, the world will acquiesce to it. This is all counterintuitive – as humans, we are programmed to act similarly to one another. When we act differently, we’re often met with skepticism and the pessimists out there will chime in with the usual, “Why would you do that?” But then, when it works, some of the same people, and many new people, will praise you for what you’ve created or built that they now get to enjoy. It’s one of life’s paradoxes.
Many of us have played DFS for close to a decade (or more). The game today is much different than even three years ago. The landscape has changed, the websites have changed, the voices, and of course the actual athletes and coaches are new, too. The change is constant. It’s all too common to come into Week 1 and expect the same. Try not to be one of those people. We shouldn’t look to last season’s Week 1 optimal lineup for inspiration. We shouldn’t assume any lineup can’t win, is irrational, or doesn’t correlate enough or correlates too much. Don’t be reckless and stack the Patriots or anything, but build with belief. We all see this differently and that’s what amazes me. We should be empowered to redefine what a winning lineup looks like…now go do that this week!
