I know this happens to you. It’s in the middle rounds, you’re targeting the soon-to-be breakout player of the year. But Lamar Miller’s name is called a pick before you, leaving you to wish death upon that manager’s mother as you scramble for another RB that won’t be nearly as good.

Say this with me now: “I won’t let this happen to me again.”

Good, now realize that it will. There’s nothing you can do to stop it. But what you’re about to read will reduce your chances this happens by about 75%.

Plus, this tool adds value to your draft and we know drafting is all about value. You win leagues because your 3rd round pick performs like a 1st rounder, your 7th round pick performs like a 2nd rounder, etc.

That”s two extra ways this tool will help you. It will definitely give you an extra inch, and we know when we add up all those inches, that’s going to make the fucking difference between winning and losing! (I watch that speech from “Any Given Sunday” before my drafts)

A quick history on how I developed this drafting technique. It”s from my days of playing Texas Hold ‘Em. Like poker, there are two states of a fantasy draft: when the action’s on you and when it isn”t. When it’s not the turn of good poker players, they’re studying their opponents, getting a read, and figuring out both the next moves before they happen. When it’s not the turn of bad poker players, they double check their cards and hope the flop hits their gut shot straight.

Drafting in fantasy football is the same. Chumps sit and watch the best players available list, hoping their targets will fall to them each round. Champs are scouting their opponents, keeping track of their opponent’s draft, and using this information to know what their opponent’s next move will be before it’s even made.

So here’s the tool. Before every one of my drafts, I take out a blank piece of paper, turn it sideways, and draw a column for each team in the league. Then I go down the left side and put down each position that is required in the league and bench spots.

During the draft, I keep track of every player drafted for every team. Once the middle rounds kick in, I have a solid idea of what each team manager is going to draft. I can see which manager takes the best available player on the board, which one has an idea of sleeper picks, which one targets the big names, and so on. This information doesn’t win drafts for sure, but it adds that extra inch.

Let me show you how.

You’re drafting 8th mobile casino in a 12 team league. It’s round 6. You’re stuck deciding between DeMarco Murray and Jordy Nelson. You check your sheet. Team 9 and 10 has drafted 3 RBs, 1 WR, and 1 QB. Team 11 has 2 RBs, 2 WRs, and 1 TE. Team 12 has 4 RBs and 1 WR. You decide to take the Nelson, knowing that there’s a great chance Murray swings back to you. You just added value to your team.

This tool is also great when using a tier list (If you’re not using a tier list when you draft, you should. I’ll explain why in another article). Heck, it’s even useful if you just use an overall best player available list. Here’s why.

Action is to you in the 4th round. You need an RB or WR. You look at your tier list or BPA and see Montee Ball and Darren Sproles as the last RBs before the drop off to Chris Ivory and Reggie Bush. You look at your WR list and notice there are about 7 WRs left in this tier. You take Ball or Sproles knowing that you they are great value at this pick and taking a WR here is not.

This method has obvious limitations in rounds 1 and 2. But you don’t make the playoffs from drafting great in these rounds, you make the playoffs from guys drafted in rounds 3 and beyond.

Using this tool, you’ll also know when you might have to reach on a specific target and when you don’t. If you’re targeting a sleeper pick, say Tavon Austin at pick 6 in the 8th round and teams 1-5 still need multiple WRs, you know you have to take him then or he’s going to be gone by the 9th round. But if the teams ahead of you are stacked at WR, you will get better value by filling your QB spot with Tony Romo.

This tool also lets you know if another opponent has the potential to steal a sleeper pick away from you. You’ll learn which opponents did their homework and you have to watch out for them and which opponents just draft the big named famous players. This will help you predict your opponent’s draft picks better, which helps you find value.

But wait! There’s more! Just keeping track of what the other teams draft gives you a great idea of when certain runs will take place. If you want a backup QB, you’ll have a good idea when they’ll start to go off the board. Same thing goes if you want to target a top defense or kicker. (Depending on your league scoring system, these can be important positions or a last pick throwaway).

So next time you draft, try this out. You will end up with a better team because of it. Plus, you can also start making fun of other team’s as soon as the draft ends. “You’re starting wide receivers are Eric Decker, T.Y. Hilton, and Chris Givens? Hahaha!”