DFS players have a language all their own. FantasyLabs co-founder CSURAM88 once said, “The GPPs overlayed and the payouts were super flat, so I was really +EV. I faded Arizona and stacked Colorado because I was bullish on the Rockies at home, and I ended up seeing 5x on my investment because Tulo is the GOAT.”
If you have no idea what this means, don’t worry…here’s a DFS glossary for you to check out if you’re new to the game.
+EV
Positive Expected Value; a situation in which you expect a positive return on your investment. Daily fantasy players are constantly searching for +EV situations.
$/Point
Dollars per point; the number of dollars you must spend (in cap space) for every point a player is projected to score. A lower $/point is preferable.
50/50
A league type in which the top half of all entrants get paid and the bottom half lose their entry fee. 50/50 leagues are generally considered safe, but they can become dangerous if you enter the same lineup into multiple leagues.
Bankroll
The amount of money you’re willing to invest in daily fantasy sports
Barbara Walters Game
Courtesy of Al_Smizzle, a game/performance that was “obvious” with 20/20 hindsight
Bearish
A pessimistic outlook on a particular player, team, or situation. If you’re bearish on a player, you wouldn’t use him in your lineups.
Bullish
The opposite of bearish; an optimistic outlook on a particular situation. If you’re bullish on a player, you’d use him in your daily fantasy lineups.
Buy-In
The amount of money needed to enter a particular league
BvP
Batter versus Pitcher; a batter’s history against one particular pitcher
Cash Game
Usually considered any league that pays out at least one-third of entrants (50/50s, heads-up games, and three-mans)
Ceiling
A player, team, or lineup’s upside; the maximum number of points they could score
Chalk
The most obvious plays; the players who clearly offer a lot of value and will be highly owned
Commission
The fee charged by the daily fantasy sites to play in a league; typically around 10 percent of the total buy-ins
Confirmation Bias
The tendency to search for or confirm information that fits with preexisting beliefs
Contrarian
To go against the grain—the opposite of “chalk”
DFS
Acronym for daily fantasy sports
Dong
A home run, a.k.a. dinger
Donkey
A bad DFS player; someone who is -EV
Exposure
The amount of money invested in a player; if you have a lot of exposure to a particular player, it means you have a relatively high percentage of your bankroll placed on him.
Fade
To avoid a particular player or game, i.e. “I’m fading the Rockies game because I think the teams will be really highly owned.”
Fish
The same thing as a donkey; a poor player
Floor
A player, team, or lineup’s downside; the minimum number of points they could score
Freeroll
A daily fantasy league that’s free to enter but has cash prizes
GOAT
Greatest of All-Time (in opposition to WOAT)
GPP
“Guaranteed Prize Pool”; a league in which the prize is guaranteed, regardless of the number of entrants
Head-to-head (Heads-Up)
A one-one-one daily fantasy league
Hedge
Actions taken to reduce the overall risk of your lineups; if you’re excessively bullish on a particular lineup, for example, you would hedge by creating other lineups without any of the same players, even if it’s sub-optimal. When you hedge, you’re reducing risk at the cost of also reducing upside.
High-Low
Also known as “stars and scrubs”; when you select multiple elite, high-salary players to accompany low-priced, bargain bin players (in contrast to a balanced strategy)
Late Swap
To edit your lineup on DraftKings after a contest has started; you can edit players whose games have not yet begun
Lock
A must-play
Multiplier
A league in which you can multiply your entry fee by a certain factor based on the payouts; in a 5x multiplier, for example, the winners get paid out five times their entry fee. The higher the multiplier, the more high-risk/high-reward the league.
Narrative
A widely accepted explanation for a particular phenomenon, whether true or not; a “revenge game” is a type of narrative
Nuts
The best possible lineup; similar to “the nuts”—the best possible hand—in poker
Overlay
When a daily fantasy site loses money on a GPP; if $20,000 is guaranteed but there are only $18,000 worth of entrants, the overlay is $2,000.
Pivot
To move away from a player you previously had in your lineup; if you liked Troy Tulowitzki and he’s scratched, you could pivot to a shortstop with a similar price tag.
Player Prop
A Vegas line that projects a particular stat for an individual player
Punt
A calculated, low-priced risk at a certain position used to save money elsewhere; if you go min-priced at second base, for example, you’d be punting the position so you can load up on studs. Punt plays lead to high-low lineup construction.
Qualifier
A league in which the winners don’t receive cash, but rather win a “ticket” into another league; a 10-team qualifier with a $12 buy-in might give away one ticket into a larger league with a $100 buy-in, for example; in opposition to cash games
Reach
To select a player who doesn’t provide great value, i.e. a high $/point; reaches typically result in -EV (negative expected value) situations
ROI
Return on Investment
Shark
A really good DFS player
Splits
A player or team’s stats broken down into different categories; ex: lefty/righty splits
Stacking
To pair multiple players from the same professional team in an effort to increase upside; stacking is particularly popular in daily fantasy baseball
Sweat
Watching games with a lot on the line; ex: I was in first place in a huge GPP and sweating the final game of the night.
Tilting
To develop stress or anxiety from game outcomes that often leads to sub-optimal decision-making
Train
Entering the same lineup into one league multiple times (only advisable in qualifiers)
Whale
A high-volume DFS player (whether good or bad)
