EV: A term derived from probability theory, Expected Value (EV) is used to describe the long term average value resulting from repetitions of a specific experiment. Originally used in Poker, the term has transitioned to daily fantasy as a descriptor for a player that has positive or negative expectations denoted +EV or –EV. In relation to the players price, +EV players would offer you a greater return than their average, while –EV would offer you negative results. A player who consistently fields +EV players and lineups will find success over the long run.
50/50: A type of tournament where the top 50% of the field is paid. All players in the top 50% will win the same amount. It is a safe option for a player looking for a reasonable return on their investment. It is best to field a “safe” lineup for this tournament format, using players with a very high floor, ie consistent performers as you only need to outperform half of the field.
Bankroll: The amount of funds a player has set aside for daily fantasy sports.
Buy-In: The entry fee one must pay to participate in real money games.
BvP: The most controversial statistic in daily fantasy MLB, Batter v Pitcher measures a batters success vs a specific pitcher. Proponents argue it is a good indicator of future returns if a player has had success against a pitcher in the past, while opponents argue that the sample size for batter vs pitcher is far too small to derive any actionable information from.
Cash Games: Although all daily fantasy tournaments can be described as cash games, the community at large prefers to designate cash games as all non GPP styled tournaments. This includes 50/50, double ups, triple ups, and head to head. Cash games is another carryover from Poker, indicating that you would employ different strategies when playing a large tournament vs one in which your return is a doubling of your investment.
Ceiling: Used to indicate the high end of a players projected points vs cost. Players with a high ceiling should be utilized in GPP styled tournaments. When projecting a players potential performance, your projection should tell you not only the most likely outcome, but also the range of potential outcomes.
Chalk: Borrowed from the sports betting industry, chalk indicates the favored team in a given match. Converted to daily fantasy, a player with high chalk would be one that you anticipate would have a high ownership percentage.
Contrarian: A contrarian play is one in which you go against the market, taking a player who is not expected to have a high ownership percentage.
DFS: An acronym for Daily Fantasy Sports.
Dong: A nickname referencing a home run in MLB.
Donkey: Donkeys or Donks are an uneducated player who routinely contributes to the prize pool while rarely withdrawing anything from it.
Double Up: A tournament where your buy in is doubled if you win. Similar to a 50/50, a double up does not pay the top 50% of the field because you receive a 100% return on your investment. In a 50/50 styled tournament, although the top 50% win, their winnings have the rake removed.
Exposure: The amount of money you have invested in a particular player or lineup.
Fade: Fading a player in Daily Fantasy is similar to a contrarian play in that you are go against the market thinking. How to properly fade in daily fantasy is up for debate. Generally used to describe avoiding a pitcher, it can be argued that if one believes a pitcher will not be successful, the proper fade would be to take batters facing him.
Field: The amount of entrants in a given tournament.
Fish: Similar to donkeys, a fish is a player who only contributes to the prize pool but rarely withdraws from it.
Floor: The other end of ceiling, a player’s floor is the low end amount of points you expect them to score. It is suggested to build lineups for cash games using players with a high floor, as they tend to be the most consistent scorers.
Free roll: A tournament in which the buy-in is free with cash or prizes awarded to the winners. Generally used to draw attention to a site, free rolls will become more prevalent as more operators enter the market.
Head to Head: A tournament where you play against a single player.
Late Swap: A feature on DraftKings which allows you to adjust your lineups after the first game of a tournament has started.
Millionaire Maker: DraftKings signature tournament format, in which the first place finisher is awarded $1,000,000.
Multi-Entry: A tournament format that allows multiple entries to be fielded by the same player. Common in GPPs, and generally capped at 100 entries, multi-entry players are generally accepted as being responsible for the large guaranteed payouts that are offered.
Overlay : A situation in which more money is available to be won than there are buy-ins to the contest. The site operator adds money to the pool to entice players to enter. When not enough players enter, the operator covers the remaining prizes, essentially covering the buy- ins needed to meet the guarantee without actually entering any lineups.
Ownership Percentage: The amount of lineups that have used a particular player. Displayed via percentage.
Prize Pool: The total amount of prizes which will be awarded in a given contest.
Rake: The rake is the commission charged by a daily fantasy site to enter their contests. Rake fluctuates between 10-20% depending on the contest and operator.
ROI: Holding a twofold meaning in DFS, ROI or Return on Investment is the amount of points you expect to receive per dollar spent on your lineups. As well, it is used to indicate a players overall success when investing in daily fantasy contests.
Shark: A sharp or skilled player that feasts on fish.
Stacking: A strategy in which you use multiple players from the same team in your lineup, operating on the assumption that if you can receive multiple points from multiple players off of the same play. Think of it as such, to stack a football team you would use the QB and a WR from that team, assuming that if the WR gets a TD, it was the QB who threw it. Thus, you receive points for 2 touchdowns (WR catching, QB throwing), when in reality only one was scored.
Survival Tournament: A survivor tournament is a format where roughly half of the participants are eliminated after each round. The top half of the entries move on to the next round until the final day of the tournament where the remaining players compete for the prize pool.
Sweat: Sweating is a term used to describe worrying over the anticipated outcome of a game/lineup/event.
Triple Up: A tournament type where players finishing in the money receive triple their buy-in.
Turbo: A tournament format which does not use the full slate of games. Generally used for the late slate of games in a given sport.
Value: Value occurs when the odds offered on an event are higher than the probability of the event happening. In Daily Fantasy, this occurs when a player is priced lower than his expected output indicates he could be.
