Former Poker Pro Must Relocate To Keep Playing Daily Fantasy SportsAssani Fisher Is A Top 10 DFS Player, But Can No Longer Play In Nevada |
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According to RotoGrinders, Assani Fisher is the seventh best Daily Fantasy Sports player in the world, having made huge scores in contests ranging from MLB, NBA, PGA, NFL and even NCAA football and mixed martial arts. But because of the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s recent decision that DFS contests are considered gambling under state law, Fisher can no longer play in the state that he resides in.
The news couldn’t have come at a worse time, right in the heart of the busy NFL season when there is millions of dollars up for grabs. In order to keep playing, Fisher is being forced to uproot his life, move to a different state which has yet to rule on DFS contests, and hope to establish residency as soon as possible so he can finally log in and set his lineups.
The 33-year-old from Gaithersburg, Maryland came up in the poker world and racked up more than $600,000 in online poker tournaments, along with another $70,000 in live tournaments, but DFS has been much less of a grind for Fisher in the past year with a reported $800,000 in winnings.
Card Player caught up with Fisher after the news broke that Nevada residents would no longer be allowed to play on DFS sites.
Julio Rodriguez: Where were you when you heard that Nevada was requiring gaming licenses for DFS sites?
Assani Fisher: I was on vacation, having a great time. FanDuel hooked me up with a box suite for Monday Night Football in San Diego for the Steelers vs. Chargers game. They take care of their top players and this was part of their VIP user experience. I came home to Las Vegas that Wednesday night and I heard the news that there was going to be an issue in Nevada.
JR: How did you take the news?
AF: The thing is, I need to be playing DFS right now, as soon as possible. The money is too good right now to just sit back and see what happens. I’ve emailed both sites (DraftKings and FanDuel) and now I’m just waiting to hear what the official rules are going to be. If need be, I’ll be moving sometime this week to California or something so I can start playing right away, but no one is really sure right now what will be required to prove your location or establish residency.
JR: Can you talk a little bit about how you got into DFS?
AF: I started playing DFS at the beginning of last football season, so I guess it was September of 2014. I had heard about it from my friend Aaron Jones, another poker player, and he had been trying to get me into it. I dismissed it for awhile, but then Scott Seiver mentioned it to me and I decided to give it a shot. I made a deposit of $600 to get the maximum bonus and turned a small profit initially. In December, Aaron and I got really into the NBA and I was able to run it up to somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000, but I lost it all back in late December, early January.
In late January, I went back to poker and started grinding $2-$5 cash games at the Wynn. Then in February, I started taking DFS more seriously and things started clicking. Ever since then, it’s been nothing but DFS outside of the World Series of Poker.
JR: So you aren’t playing much poker right now?
AF: These days, I’m playing almost entirely DFS. I played about 10 WSOP events, but after playing professionally for over ten years, I was ready to focus on something else. When I travel to Toronto to visit friends, I’ll play a little bit of poker online, but it’s not my priority anymore. My income is from DFS.
I spend a lot of my day on DFS. If it’s during the NBA or NFL season, then I’m working over eight hours a day. During the summer, it’s a little easier because I’m mostly just working on golf or MMA events.
JR: You are ranked in the top 10 of DFS players in the world. What does an average weekend look like for you, in terms of buy-ins?
AF: The first few weeks of the NFL season, I was getting between $100,000 and $150,000 down every weekend. The biggest weekend was probably around $275,000. But this is very new to me. Like I said, I was playing $2-$5 no-limit earlier this year. This is really my first experience with this big of a bankroll and that much money in action. But of course, just to clarify, my rosters are diversified so it would take a complete disaster to lose all of that money in one week. I might have one player I really like in something like two-thirds of my teams, so if he manages to get hurt on the first play of the game, then I might be in a lot of trouble, but I don’t put more than $75,000 on any one particular team. I know that’s still a ton of money, but it’s not as crazy as it might look to an outsider.
JR: Given all of the regulation issues currently facing the DFS sites, what do you think will happen with the industry?
AF: I’m not overly optimistic when it comes to the future of DFS, to be honest. We’ve seen this happen before with sports betting and poker. The public debate is on the definition of what constitutes gambling, but in reality, it’s just the politics distracting us while the corporate interests find a way to get their cut of the profits. It seems like a clear money grab to me, and because of what we saw with online poker, I don’t see things getting any easier for the DFS industry. We’re not going to be able to sit down and have a reasonable debate about the morality of DFS, protecting children and problem gamblers or how to regulate it. Instead, we are going to get caught up in the endless cycle of what is, and what isn’t gambling, and that’s a shame.
You can learn more about Assani Fisher from his vlog on RotogGrinders or follow him on Twitter @AssaniFisher.
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