If you’re a faithful reader, you already knew the second you read today’s blog headline where this is going.

If you’re new here, this is something you’ll want to add to your annual bag of fantasy tricks. Every little edge you can get counts.

This method has been handed down from generation to generation of poolies because as any good politician knows, there’s always a loophole in every set of rules. The effectiveness of this little trick depends on the way your fantasy system is set up. It can work weekly in H2H formats or it can be used on the last day of your season in rotisserie leagues.

So here’s the deal…

There is a limit to the number of games in which you can play at each position, right? In my keeper league, for example, we’re maxed at the following GP totals: 738 F, 410 D, 82 Utility and 164 G by season’s end. For forwards, as an example, that product is based on using nine forwards on the active roster with 82 GP per season for each. Hence the 738.

As you know, on most nights you have at least a handful of players going at any given position. So how is your fantasy service application supposed to know which is your 738th GP at forward if you have nine forwards starting?

It doesn’t – and there’s the dodge.

On the final weekend of the regular season this year there are 10 games on the Friday (April 8), 11 on the Saturday and five on the Sunday. All you have to do is make sure that you’ve played one fewer game than the max on whichever of those three days allows you the most of your players to be active that day. It’ll highly likely be either the Friday or the Saturday based on the total number of games played on each of those days and the players on your roster (and their schedules) will determine on which day is better-suited for you to end.

So with my league’s limits, if I decided to max out my forward games on the Saturday, then I’ll have ideally played 737 F GP at the conclusion of that Friday night’s action. My D GP total will be 409, if the schedule suits my defence to max out on the Saturday as well.

Then when Saturday’s schedule begins, I’ll ideally be able to roll out an active forward in every F slot and an active blueliner in every D slot. I haven’t even had a chance to map out my own schedule yet (and this season it’s a pointless exercise since, for the first time since before the lockout, I won’t have a chance to win on that final weekend), but if things go well then when the last night is over, I’ll have gotten in 746 F GP (I can play nine F per night in my league) instead of the normal max of just 738, while also using 414 D (I can play five D per night) instead of just 410.

That’s what I like to call the Slingshot Effect since you’ve basically propelled yourself past your fellow owners who got stuck at 738 or 410 because they just didn’t realize the way the system is set up.

Keep in mind that D and F GP are generally entirely independent of each other, so you could max out one of them the day before the other if you wanted. It really just depends on which specific players you have on your roster and when their teams play.

You can also do this with goalies. If you have two netminders going on the final day of the season and your team is one below the max in G GP headed in, then you can get two goalie starts on that last day as well. Utility slots, assuming you only have one per team, can’t be used for this trick because you can only stick one guy in there per night.

One key component to this strategy is that you have to map out your GP schedule a week or two in advance, which means one of these coming weekends might be the ideal time to set aside an hour to do just that. Use an Excel spreadsheet or a Word table or whatever works for you.

To help manipulate your numbers so they work out on the final Friday or Saturday (to make sure you’re one under the max on the right day), you may have to sit one or two players along the way. That would be a good time to sit a fringe forward against a tight defensive team, as an example. The further ahead you plan this out, the less likely you are to have to miss out on any games from your studs. It’s just one more reason why staying on pace for games during the season instead of being way over is a great idea for roto owners.

If you map out your pace several weeks in advance, just be very aware ** I emphasize – STAY ON TOP OF THIS ** of any time one of your players misses a start due to injury, since one game is all it’ll take to mess everything up and have you accidentally max out the night before your big finale.

But yes… otherwise, sneaking a few extra GP onto your roster is really this simple.

This little bit of trickery, which is completely legal and ethical, is something fellow poolies don’t often tend to share. Why would they want to give anyone else an edge? In fact, every single season for as long as I’ve been running this blog I ALWAYS get emails from readers who are a bit peeved (maybe this year I’ll get tweets?) I’ve disclosed this info in case someone in their league happens to be reading and didn’t already know about it. Oh well…

Now you know.

Now you’ve got the secret weapon in your hands.

Use it wisely.