Establish The Run subscriber Alexander Cole took down DraftKings’ Week 7 Milly Maker for $1,000,000! We caught up with Alexander to learn more about his DFS and fantasy background, his experience with ETR, and how he constructed his winning lineup.
When did you start playing fantasy sports?
Oh man, a long time. Since I was a kid, so at least 25 years ago. Started like most in the late 90s, in a Yahoo season-long league with my buddies.
How did you get into DFS?
I started playing FanDuel and DraftKings NFL and NBA against a handful of friends in essentially a H2H format, with a small winner-take-all on Sundays (NFL). It really blew up for us during the NBA seasons when one of our buddies had a big appetite to play high stakes, but often lost.
No more NBA for me these days, as it’s a daily grind/commitment — time I don’t have now with a wife and family. We still play as a group of 12 in NFL DFS, still head to head each week vs. each other, with a small winner-take-all. And yes, I still take everyone’s money by the end of the season. Big thanks to Adam here, as I often play his cash lineup — even though it pisses people off, and I get accused of copy/pasting. Guess they hate money.
When did you join the ETR community?
It’s been a handful of years now. One of my best friends, Tyler Fulgum (watch him every evening on ESPN BET Live, on ESPN 2), started beating me more than usual, so when I asked him who he’d been using for his evaluations, he told me. Big mistake really, because things quickly turned around for me — sorry, Tyler.
What does your DFS process look like?
So I am mostly a cash-game player, putting the most importance on my weekly guys league that plays vs. everyone H2H. I know that If I can get a top-half finish every week in that, then I will win money by season’s end. Therefore, if I just play a chalk/cash-game lineup every week, it’ll be successful in the long run.
I play that same lineup against the field for relatively small stakes in cash each week as well, split ~50/50 between head-to-heads and double-ups. I also usually play 3-5 single-entry tournaments, so I can play the guys that I really want to play (IKB).
What led to you entering the Milly Maker in Week 7?
A few weeks ago, I got second place in the $150K Spy for a $15K win. I had also just started using The Solver to help build my tournament lineups, so with the money I won, I figured I’d take a shot at entering 150 lineups into the Milly Maker using The Solver. Thank God for Oronde Gadsden II! (You may see me around Chicago wearing his jersey moving forward).
How did you utilize The Solver to help build your winning lineup?
For The Solver, I would build my rules — mostly centered around the particular game I wanted to stack, and run 25 lineups through the optimizer. Then, I would simulate those 25 lineups with the Milly Maker sims and save ones I liked and/or simmed well. I ran through this process quite a few times (had a handful of games I stacked) until I had 150 lineups saved — which happened by Saturday night. Sunday morning, I woke up and manually adjusted lineups to bring down ownership on certain guys. I didn’t want anyone over 30%, but think I did end up with both JT and CeeDee around 35-40%.
One interesting tidbit is that I recall going through both Olave and Rashee lineups to bring down their ownership on Sunday morning — which was originally too high for the Milly Maker. Good thing I didn’t touch either in this particular lineup, however. Really just an example of the luck involved, even after I spent many hours and worked hard leading up to kickoff Sunday.
What decisions led to you winning?
My lineup was a mix of chalk with a Colts-Chargers game stack. That was my favorite game of the day. JT has been dominating all year, so I was all over the game script that actually played out perfectly — JT dominating, and Madison Beer’s boyfriend having to throw it all over to come back in the second half. I had quite a few lineups that were similar to the winning one, and actually preferred McConkey and QJ over Keenan — but thankfully this particular lineup had Keenan and Gadsden.
I would also mention that heading into Friday, I had been unchecking the “TE in Flex” button on The Solver when building lineups, until I listened to the ETR Friday night show. Shout-out to Wiggins for being adamant on this being a two-TE week, so I ended up being quite heavy on two-TE lineups out of the 150. The winner had Gadsden at TE and McBride at Flex.
What aspects of ETR do you find the most valuable?
Love listening to the shows. I rarely miss the Tuesday team by team and the Friday position by position. I try to catch the weekend shows as well, as long as my wife isn’t too annoyed (although she has no excuse whatsoever now). **She actually first noticed me watching Evan and Adam on the last-minute livestream show on a Sunday 5-6 years ago, and she started calling the show, “The guys that live in their parents’ basements show.”
Projections are also my favorite in comparison to the rest of the market. I actually think other sites use ETR’s to make their decisions, as you can sometimes see their projections move after ETR’s do.
Has ETR helped you improve your fantasy game? If so, how?
Absolutely. The guys are incredibly knowledgeable on both how to win playing DFS and the NFL itself. For example, Evan’s recent takes on backs being great pass blockers — leading to more playing time — which leads to more opportunities and touches, is just elite football knowledge. Something you just don’t get in other places, and something I respect as a former football player myself.
Also, now a huge fan of The Solver, and of course have been a huge fan of the projections for quite some time. The best in the business, teamed up with an easy-to-use tool that helps tremendously in tournaments.
What will you do with the money?
First and foremost, an Oronde Gadsden II jersey. My new favorite player.
No Ferrari for me (Sorry, Evan). I’m fortunate enough to already have a great life, with a great job and family. My wife and I had planned on moving into a new home in the next three or so years, so this likely moves that date up a bit and allows us the opportunity to be more picky about what we want. We’re very grateful and fortunate for the win and the money, and want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone at Establish The Run. It truly wouldn’t be possible without all of you, and all that you do. Thank you all so much!
