June 24th, 2009. This is an article written by writer Eric Balkman after an exclusive telephone interview with 2008 FFPC Champion Chad Schroeder.  Click here for the press release as well as a PDF format of the article.

"Your Fantasy, His Reality: A Year in the Life of a Professional Fantasy Football Player"

by Eric Balkman

Matt Forte dives to the left, and then on the next play he dives to the right. After a quick timeout by the Green Bay Packers to try and ice Robbie Gould, the Chicago Bears kicker calmly drills a 38-yard field goal to end sudden-death overtime of the final game of Week 16 of the 2008 NFL season. And with that boot, most fantasy football seasons across the county also come to a close.

While this season is not unlike any of the ones before it, thousands of fantasy football players around the country are suddenly now well aware of the name Chad Schroeder.

Why? Because chances are he probably just won your fantasy football league.

Schroeder, a 35-year-old professional sports gambler from Omaha, Neb. competed in 66 fantasy football leagues last year and didn't just dip his toes in the pool of high-stakes fantasy football; he leapt in with a cannonball dive. Spending nearly $60,000 in entry fees wasn't a big deal for Schroeder, especially since he ended up winning the inaugural Fantasy Football Players Championship Main Event this past December, which rewarded him with a cool $75,000 purse.

Yet Schroder could not have been more disappointed with how his season finished. You see, he also entered the Fantasy Football Open Championship which featured a $1 million prize. The FFOC included thousands of different teams, with no limit on how many teams any one contestant could buy-a fantasy footballer's nirvana. Schroeder, being the conservative gambler that he is, only bought 23 teams at $125 each. For those of you reading this whose math skills are as bad as mine, let me save you the time of looking for a calculator. Schroeder spent a total of $2,875 to enter the FFOC, otherwise known as a half-year's rent to people like you and me.

The FFOC is divided up into 10-team leagues. In order to advance to the rounds where the cash gets paid out, each team must win its individual league. After Week 9 of the NFL season, teams are "cut" each week until Week 16 when the owners of the top 15 teams are invited to the Bellagio in Las Vegas to see who will be crowned champion. And while Schroeder would have been as happy as a post-PAT Martin Gramatica to have just one of his 23 teams in the running, two of the "Vegas 15" teams were his.

So despite coming into Vegas with a roar, Schroeder walked out Belichick-style after the Giants beat him the Super Bowl-bewildered that he didn't come away with a championship. Still today Schroeder's voice trails off when he talks of the FFOC, as if he is still shell-shocked at what happened.

"It's just a one-week race at that point and I had a huge lead going into Sunday night, and it looked like I had the thing pretty much wrapped up," he says. "And then-wow. That happened."

Being a fantasy football player myself, I don't need to ask what "that" is. I already know. "That" is DeAngelo Williams-a name that Schroeder audibly grits his teeth when uttering. The Carolina Panthers running back made fantasy dreams come true for a lot of players in Week 16 with his 108-yard, four touchdown performance. But he destroyed many teams as well including Schroeder's FFOC team, which placed second (a mere 14.71 points behind the winner) and earned him $100,000. His other team finished 12th, which was good for $5,000. Not bad, but certainly not good for Schroeder

So while Schroeder didn't win the FFOC, he was indeed lucky (and skilled) enough to win the FFPC-a bittersweet victory of sorts. In fact, for all intense and purposes, he had already chalked up the FFPC prize as money in the bank earlier that Sunday.

"I had my computer there, so I pretty much knew I had it won [at] about halftime of the afternoon games that day. Which I still had DeAngelo Williams left and I was already ahead. But I didn't need him to do what he did," Schroder says with a laugh. It's unmistakably the laugh that comes from a man who knows unless he finds humor in the irony, he'll never shake off the disappointment.

Being a pro sports gambler requires the guts of someone who can stand losing thousands of dollars on a ball caroming off an upright, a putt rimming out of a cup, a relay throw from the outfield being an inch off, or a 50-foot buzzer-beater swishing through a net. It wasn't the first time Schroeder had lost, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Back in 2000, Schroder lost his job as a stockbroker when the market floundered. In need of a way to make money, he started to bet on golf tournaments and enjoyed success. When his wallet began to experience a Costanza-like bulge, Schroeder diversified it into several different sportsbooks (all on the up-and-up of course) and discovered the joys of prop betting.

Prop betting is the pitting of two measureable outcomes against each other, but not necessarily having anything to do with the final result of the game. For instance, will Tom Brady throw for more or less than 287 yards against the Bills? Who will have more catches in their game on Sunday-Chad Ochocinco or T.J. Houshmandzadeh? How many inches below the belt will John Madden's tie hang? Things like that. Schroeder, who says he always tries to pounce on each prop before the line can move, had now found yet another aspect of sports on which he can earn some extra dough. That is until he started getting denied by many sportsbooks for placing and winning too many high-end wagers.

That's when Schroeder branched out to "CDM" salary cap fantasy leagues which are now run by Fanball.com. In order to win these contests, each player is given an initial cap figure in which they must sign an entire team. Player values fluctuate as the season progresses, and the owner that gets the best bang for his buck is the one who wins. When Schroeder started dominating these leagues in baseball, basketball, golf, and NASCAR, it was only natural that he gave high-stakes fantasy football a try.

After participating in the 2002 World Championship of Fantasy Football in Las Vegas, Schroeder already had some high-stakes fantasy football experience under his belt. In 2007, he bought and operated between 15 and 20 teams, before running his 66-team monstrosity in 2008. But his prop-wagering career is really what prepared him for his foray into national fantasy football contests.

"Well, I make quite a few high stakes wagers every day, so I guess it kind of goes hand-in-hand with that," he says. "I mean you can win a lot of money too, without risking a tremendous amount of money."

And how does one run a fantasy football empire like Schroeder's? By pulling a page from the Beatles' handbook and getting by with a little help from his friends. Schroeder owns about 60% of all the teams he runs, with a stable of eight investors sharing the remaining 40%. All investors have remained happy as Schroeder has come out well ahead in his high-stakes career. But in fantasy football, money isn't the only thing to worry about.

For instance, imagine you own 66 fantasy teams and you have Eagles running back Brian Westbrook in the starting lineup in 60 of them. It's 45 minutes before kickoff and he is declared out-what do you do? While most of us would probably soil ourselves and increase the bandwidth on our computers to quasi-nuclear levels trying to switch lineups, Schroeder takes a different approach.

It just so happens that he has indeed already run into this problem, but Kelly Schroeder-Chad's uncle-is only a phone call away to lend support. Especially when a certain quarterback is vomiting up breakfast 20 minutes before kickoff.

"Matt Schaub was sick one time and we needed to get him out of a lot lineups, so I called him up and said, ‘Hey, you look over these 30 and I'll look over these 30 and let's get him out of there,'" Schroeder says as he takes me through his pre-game routine.

Being a 1997 University of Nebraska Business Administration graduate, Schroeder likes to tailgate before and party after each ‘Husker game in Lincoln. Any Nebraska fan will tell you those Saturday nights obviously make for some dreary Sunday mornings. So Schroeder takes a pre-emptive approach to lineup care. After the NFL injury reports are released on Friday, he'll set all of his lineups, noting any potential "game-time decisions" (the three most-hated words in fantasy football).

Sunday mornings usually begin with a 9 am wakeup, followed by a jaunt to the closest gas station for a gigantic fountain soda. Then, Schroeder anchors himself in front of his computer until all of his final lineup decisions are made. Depending upon how much fun he had the night before, he'll either watch the games at home or saunter over to his regular watering hole with three or four buddies to enjoy the day of NFL action. Nothing like a little hair of the dog while checking out Kurt Warner putting on a passing clinic on an NFC West secondary.

The waiver wire is much less hectic since it is spread out over the course of three days. About a third of his leagues process transactions on Wednesdays, another third on Thursdays, and another on Fridays. Schroeder says that's more than enough time to eliminate mistakes and correctly bid on any player of his choosing, given his weekday workload.

"Obviously I got a lot of time to do it, since I don't do anything else really," says Schroeder who has no additional income to support himself other than fantasy football and other sports wagering.

Schroeder - who is single ladies - didn't exactly have his family's blessing at the beginning of his nine-year gambling career, but he certainly does now.

"Their primary concern was that it was a healthy lifestyle for me, and that it wouldn't have adverse effects and stuff like that," he says.

Schroder's father, who runs one of the biggest fertilizer companies in the United States, now more than approves of his son's chosen line of work given the results that he has seen.

While Schroeder says he believes there are only handful of jobs better than his (i.e. NFL head coach or general manager), he loves what he does. But there are simple pleasures he does miss out on because of the increased time by himself or with his television.

"I can do whatever I want, whenever I want-I don't have to answer to anybody. But kind of at the same time, there's a negative there, too. It's kind of fun to go out with co-workers for a beer after work sometimes and stuff like that."

However, if he does not suffer through the chaos of always trying to please the boss at work, Schroeder says the hectic fourth quarter of Monday night games more than makes up for it. (I know if I were him, at about 10 pm on those nights I would probably end up looking like Nick Nolte's drunken driving mug shot.) And while some of us might think that the fun of watching football on Sunday-especially with so much on the line-might be sucked out entirely, Schroeder doesn't concern himself with every single yard from scrimmage or incomplete pass, either.

"I pretty much just worry about a couple of the bigger teams and focus on them while I'm watching the games on Sunday, and that makes it a lot easier," he says. "If I was trying to watch all 66 of them, it wouldn't be so fun to watch football."

Something Schroeder says he always keeps in mind is that in high-stakes fantasy football, there's not a lot you can do after you're done drafting. Sure, a guy like Matt Cassel or Donnie Avery can be had on the waiver wire sometimes. But Schroeder says you need to be confident in your drafting skills if you want to win. And that's why his job is more fun than being tortured in our 9-5 cubicle dungeons.

"It doesn't seem like work really," he says. "When I get done drafting, I'm pretty comfortable that I have a pretty good team in every league. It's just a matter of playing itself out-it's not worth really stressing out over."

Schroeder says he is a die-hard Miami Dolphins fan and always roots for them to win. So what does he cheer for when a Pennington pass, a Ricky run, or a Brown touchdown might threaten a fantasy win? His fantasy squad and his bankroll, or his beloved fish and his heart? Schroeder says he believes in having his cake and eating it, too.

"It adjusts throughout the game," Schroeder says. "I root for both things to happen, but at some point you got to choose. I usually just find myself rooting for the Dolphins. I think that the few extra points here or there isn't going to make the difference anyway in that fantasy game."

And it's not like the John Beck/Cecil Collins/Tony Martin Dolphins have cost him anything fantasy-wise in the last decade, either.

"They weren't really a fantasy gold mine team by any means this year, so it was a little easier because there weren't a lot of high-end fantasy players on the Dolphins," he says with a bizarre mixture of melancholy and glee. "I didn't have to root against people too much. I pretty much just root for the Dolphins to win, and when you have 66 teams it's impossible to be following them all anyway. I just pretty much look Sunday night and see how I did."

Also, if you are wondering if all his recent success has changed his lifestyle, it hasn't. Schroeder only plans on making minor changes to his fantasy football career, like not entering any leagues with an entry fee of less than $1,000 this year. (He was in 15 $500 entry fee leagues last year.) He also doesn't plan on adding any more fantasy teams, if for no other reason than the NFL would have to expand in order to give him a big enough player pool to choose from. Schroeder says he does not play in any local small-stakes fantasy football leagues with friends either, but does play in smaller leagues with no national prize. And while he's not willing to give away too much strategy in the differences in his approach to the two formats, he does say there is one difference he has experimented with over the past two years.

"It's not bad to try to get a combination wide receiver/quarterback that maybe gets hot during that three-week playoff run," Schroeder says. "...if I'm torn between [Green Bay wide receiver Greg] Jennings or a similar receiver and I have [Green Bay quarterback] Aaron Rodgers, I might lean towards Jennings in the [league] where there's a race for a big prize at the end. Whereas I might try to hedge it a little more in something that's just ‘league only' and take the other receiver."

Schroeder says he would try to dissuade anyone from leading the same lifestyle as him because the government is making it increasingly difficult for gamblers to sustain profitability. However, if any fantasy football players-as in a fellow FFPC player like me-come to him for advice from an accomplished professional, Schroeder says that his experience has shown him sometimes the best outside-the-box thinking is staying inside the box during fantasy drafts.

"Don't be your own worst enemy; don't overanalyze things," he says. "It's OK if you like a guy higher than where he's going, but...look over a bunch of experts' ratings. That's why they're getting subscriptions-because they're supposed to know more than I do about how these guys are supposed to be ordered. And if you try to get too creative, sometimes that is a detriment; you're not getting the most value out of each pick."

Schroeder says that his 66-team conglomerate was so draining on him this past season that he did not enter any baseball leagues this year. When the NBA playoffs ended-which he says is usually the most profitable part of his gambling year-he began enjoying a nice long summer vacation.

"That was wear and tear on my brain in doing all those teams," he says. "So I just needed to kind of be fresh and ready to go when the fantasy football drafts roll around this year, and not be worried about baseball."

Schroeder also says that he has no plans to ever stop wagering on sports or putting an end to his career of choice.

"It's almost sort of like I'm retired now because I can do whatever I want anyway," he says with a chuckle.

The 2009 NFL season is now bearing down upon us. Some leagues are drafting and fantasy footballers across the nation are chomping at the bit, trying to become champions in their own right. It won't be too much longer until Chris Johnson and LenDale White will be trying to juke Troy Polamalu for extra yards and Ben Roethlisberger will be zipping passes to Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes on Opening Night. Many fantasy seasons will begin that Thursday evening in September and Chad Schroeder will be at it again, downing a fountain soda while studying his player personnel. He will be looking at hundreds of lineup decisions while trying to win every single league in which he enters one of his dozens of teams.

You'll probably see "Cocktails and Dreams"-Schroeder's fantasy team name of choice named after the bar Tom Cruise's character wanted to open in "Cocktail"-in a lot of leagues this year, maybe even yours.

Chances are he probably will be playing you at some point during this year. But you know his name now, don't you?

Guaranteed $75,000 Grand Prize &

 over $300,000 in Overall Prizes

Up to 300 teams will draft live, Friday September 11th
at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
with two Online draft options.

New York, NY (PRWEB) June 21, 2009 – The Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC) is back and better then ever for 2009.  After a ground-breaking inaugural year, the FFPC continues to raise the bar for player-friendly high stakes fantasy football.

"We continue on our journey to bring high stakes fantasy football back to its grass roots beginning and return it to the players with this event," said Gerczak. "Our main focus continues to be on what the high stakes fantasy player would want; a secured prize pool, a higher payout percentage, a message board community, more teams making the playoffs, more flexible rules, and a 5-star draft venue."

For Players-By Players is the mantra behind the FFPC, a high stakes fantasy football event run by veteran high stakes fantasy football players David Gerczak and Alex Kaganovsky.

The FFPC is the only high stakes fantasy event with a hybrid draft format, allowing for a Live draft in Las Vegas and now two online draft times.  With those three draft options, the $1400 entry fee offers players a shot at winning the $75,000 grand prize as well as $8,000 in league prizes.   Over $300,000 in prizes will be awarded.   The prize structure may increase if entries exceed 228 teams but the FFPC is limiting the amount of entrants to 300 teams and fully expects a sell-out.  The FFPC guarantees an 80% payout. 

“High stakes players commented to us that they preferred to have more of the prize pool be allocated to league prizes”, said Kaganovsky, “so that is what we will offer.”

The Live Draft will be held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Friday, September 11, 2009 at 6:00 pm Pacific and will consist of a minimum of 14 leagues each containing twelve teams. After the first eleven weeks of the NFL season, each FFPC league will have a two week playoff round, followed by a three week chase for the Championship, where one team owner will take home $75,000 and a custom-made Titlecraft trophy as the 2009 Fantasy Football Players Champion.

"The FFPC is the first and only high stakes fantasy contest that secures 100% of its Main Event prize pool in an independent Attorney Escrow Account." said Gerczak. "Given what has occurred in past years with past operators defrauding their prize winners, we understand that players should feel comfortable that all prizes are fully secured." The Fantasy Football Players Championship has a number of unique features, including the Hybrid Draft Format. "We wanted to give all high stakes fantasy players a chance to compete in the inaugural Fantasy Football Players Championship, even if they are unable to travel. So if they can't be in Vegas - no problem - they can draft in online FFPC leagues, and still compete in the main event, even taking two teams if they want.  With draft times on two days, we expect many Live and Online players to take a 2^nd team.” said Kaganovsky.

The FFPC will again offer its interesting, yet easy-to-understand combination of rules and scoring, including the unique Dual-Flex starting line up option instead of the more common single flex. "The Dual-Flex gives fantasy players more options in terms of draft strategy and weekly team management decisions, which will make for a better contest. For example, an owner could start 4 running backs one week and 3 tight ends the next." said Gerczak. "Since we are scoring 1.5 points per reception for tight ends (all others 1 ppr), starting 2 tight ends truly becomes a viable option in this format." One of the most popular advances brought forward by the the FFPC was the 4 team playoff format.  While many other high stakes contests only allow for two playoffs teams, the FFPC is more inclusive, permitting four teams the chance to win the league and advance to the Championship Round.  The 2008 FFPC Main Event players raved over this positive option, and as many as 8 or 9 teams were still in the hunt late into the regular season.  The 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship continues to offer other player-friendly rules, including automatic Elias stat changes, extended waiver period for playoff teams as well as Action scoring for all touchdowns, which adds value to players like Leon Washington and Devin Hester. The FFPC continues its innovation with a new & exciting way for the high stakes player to win - the FFPC Free-peat™ - a bonus system which awards 2-time league champions with a free entry the following year. The FFPC Free-peat™ will also apply to all 2009 & 2010 satellite league winners.   All 2008 league winners are now trying for the Free-Peat in 2009. 

The FFPC is still going with out a co-manager fee in its 2nd season and invites all co-managers to participate in the Live draft and enjoy the event at no extra charge. There is a $125 Live draft event fee per team; none for Online drafters. Complimentary food and beverage will be served to all participants as well as 2 alcoholic drinks per team included. The FFPC has again secured the Las Vegas icon, Caesars Palace - for its second season "Everything is based on what players have told us they prefer, including an upscale venue," said Kaganovsky. "We are excited about staying at Caesars Palace and this year we are moving to the Palace Ballroom.” 

The FFPC will continue to work with a league management site that is well respected, well run and familiar to many fantasy football players. MyFantasyLeague.com will again be the official league management site for the FFPC.

The 2009 FFPC will again offer ancillary events like Live Auction leagues and the popular Big Payback league.    The Big Payback league has a $5,000 entry fee, and an excellent 92% is returned to players in payouts.  The Big Payback is a live league at Caesars, but the FFPC is permitting online players to phone-in to draft if they prefer and the FFPC will provide a live surrogate to assist in drafting.

Gerczak and Kaganovsky have over 30 years experience playing fantasy football and have embarked on this venture due to their passion for the hobby.  Kaganovsky owns his own medical management business, and Gerczak owns a number of retail stores along with an ecommerce site, www.WatchCo.com. Both have played in high stakes fantasy football events for years with much success, including Gerczak winning a national high stakes contest in 2008.  High stakes fantasy players may know them better by their team and message board names Leroy's Aces and Nag'.

Entry information, as well as complete rules and an FAQ can be found at www.myFFPC.com.

Guaranteed $75,000 Grand Prize &

 Over $200,000 in Overall Prizes

168 teams will draft live, Friday September 5th
at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
with an Online draft option.

(PRWEB) April 8th, 2008. (Click here for this news release in a PDF format.)

The Fantasy Football Players Championship.  For Players, By Players.  It is the theme behind a ground-breaking high stakes fantasy football event launched by three veteran high stakes fantasy football players, Louis Tranquilli, David Gerczak and Alex Kaganovsky.   With either a Live or an Online draft option, the $1375 entry fee offers players a shot at winning the $75,000 grand prize as well as $7,500 for each league prizes.  Over $200,000 in prizes will be awarded.  Prize structure will increase if entries exceed 192 teams but the FFPC is limiting the amount of entrants to 300 teams for its inaugural season.

"We are taking high stakes fantasy football back to its grass roots beginning and returning it to the players with this event." said Tranquilli.  "Our main focus while planning the FFPC was centered on what the high stakes fantasy player would want; a secured prize pool, a higher payout percentage, a message board community, more teams making the playoffs, more flexible rules, and a 5-star draft venue."

The Live Draft will be held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Friday, September 5, 2008 at 6:00 pm Pacific and will consist of a minimum of 14 leagues each containing twelve teams.  After the first eleven weeks of the NFL season, each FFPC league will have a two week playoff round, followed by a three week chase for the Championship, where one team owner will take home $75,000 and a  custom-sculpted bronze trophy as the Fantasy Football Players Champion.

"We started our event by first securing our $75,000 grand prize using an independent Attorney Escrow Account prior to accepting a single entry - an industry first", said Gerczak. " Given what has occurred with AFFL & Turfwar defrauding their prize winners last season, we understand that players will now demand their prizes are secure.  All funds will continue to be placed in this escrow account as entries are recieved."   The Fantasy Football Players Championship has a number of unique features, including the Hybrid Draft Format.  "We wanted to give all high stakes fantasy players a chance to compete in the inaugural Fantasy Football Players Championship, even if they are unable to travel.  So if they can't be in Vegas - no problem - they can draft in online FFPC leagues, and compete in the main event", said Kaganovsky.

The FFPC will offer an interesting, yet easy to understand, combination of rules and scoring, including the unique Dual-Flex starting line up option instead of the more common single flex.  "The Dual-Flex gives fantasy players more options in terms of draft strategy and weekly team management decisions, which will make for a better contest.  For example, an owner could start 4 running backs one week and 3 tight ends the next." said Tranquilli.  "Since we are scoring 1.5 points per reception for tight ends (all others 1 ppr), starting 2 or 3 TEs truly becomes a viable option in this format."   The FFPC will allow for more teams in the playoffs and offer other player-friendly rules, including automatic Elias stat changes,  extended waiver period for playoff teams as well as Action scoring for all touchdowns, which adds value to players like Leon Washington and Devin Hester.  The FFPC will introduce a new & exciting way for the high stakes player to win - the FFPC Free-peat™ - a bonus system which will award 2-time league champions with a free entry the following year.  The FFPC Free-peat™ will also apply to all 2008 & 2009 satellite league winners.

The FFPC has opted to eliminate co-manager fee in its inaugural season and invite all co-managers to participate in the Live draft and enjoy the event at no extra charge.  There is a $125 Live draft event fee per team;  none for Online drafters.  Complimentary food and beverage will be served to all participants as well as 2 alcoholic drinks per team included.  The FFPC has secured a Las Vegas landmark - the Caesars Palace - for its inaugural event.  "Everything is based on what players have told us they prefer, including an upscale venue," said Gerczak.  "We are excited about holding our inaugural event at the Caesars Palace and we anticipate a memorable experience for all participants.  High stakes fantasy players have high expectations, and we plan to exceed those expectations.” continued Gerczak.

After careful consideration the FFPC decided to work with a league management site that is well respected, well run and familiar to many fantasy football players. MyFantasyLeague.com will be the official league management site for the inaugural FFPC.

Tranquilli, Gerczak and Kaganovsky have over 30 years experience playing fantasy football and have embarked on this venture due to their passion for the hobby.  Tranquilli is a financial advisor, and owner of BFDFantasyFootball.com, Kaganovsky owns his own medical management business, and Gerczak owns a number of retail stores along with an ecommerce site, WatchCo.com. All three have played in high stakes fantasy football events for years with much success.    High stakes fantasy players may know them better by their team and message board names 3intboy, Leroy's Aces and Nag'.

Entry information, as well as complete rules and an FAQ can be found at www.theFFPC.com.

Note:  Louis Tranquilli aka 3intboy, was one of the three founders of the Fantasy Football Players Championship but was forced to give up ownership due to a conflict of interest with his carreer in the finance industry.  Read here for more details.

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