It’s been a long time coming, but here comes the most comprehensive daily fantasy sports (DFS) glossary you’ve ever seen. From terms to teachings, the goal is to provide true knowledge (aka the mission of the DFS Army) rather than vocabulary flash cards from some boring high school English class. Follow along as we make additions and updates to both serious and fun DFS terminology across the industry.
Glossary of Terms
Contest Types
Cash Game – Widely considered “safe” games where you have roughly a 50 percent chance at winning. Head-to-heads, 50/50s, and double up league types are all considered cash games. These types of contests are generally the backbone of a bankroll-building strategy for experienced players.
GPP – Guaranteed Prize Pool; a contest in which the prizes are guaranteed, no matter if it completely fills or not. Usually, contests where a small number of entrants (typically ~20 percent) get paid, and winners receive a substantially greater share of the prize money. The term “GPP” is generally used interchangeably with “tournament”, although some “cash games” also have guaranteed prize pools.
Hybrid – Unique to DFS Army, this term was coined by founder and CEO, Kevin Alan (aka Ffootballgeek). A hybrid is a “blend” of cash games and gpps. Not as top-heavy as a true gpp, but it still rewards building for some upside. Great examples are head-to-heads, leagues, and even flatter pay structured gpps.
You may be wondering why defining these three contest types is important? After all, shouldn’t we strive to build the best lineups, score the most points and win some money? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Each contest type rewards different things and therefore in the pursuit of an edge on the competition we can use our definitions to narrow down our lineup construction methodologies for each contest type and hopefully increase our ROI. For more study on our contest types, and which may better suit your game, consult our NFL Training Camp Series located in our NFL Strategy section.
50/50 – A league type where the top 50 percent of entrants are paid out the same amount (generally a little less than double the entry fee). These are considered “cash games”. They are riskier than head to heads if you only play one lineup, because in a bad week you will lose all of your entry fees, unlike head to heads where even a bad score can still win some matchups.
Multiplier – A contest that pays a certain multiplier of your buy-in for cashing in it. Examples of these contests are four times multipliers and ten times boosters.
Double Up – A multiplier contest where winners double their entry fee. Even though you have to finish in roughly the top 40 percent of entries, this is considered a cash game.
Triple Up – A multiplier contest where winners triple their entry fee.
Quintuple Up – A multiplier contest where winners quintuple their entry fee.
SE – A contest where only one entry is allowed.
ME – A large-field tournament that allows a player to enter multiple line-ups up to a specified cap. A player can either hedge their exposure by creating multiple line-ups or submit the same lineup multiples times (“train”).
MME – When a player submits hundreds and sometimes thousands of line-ups into a LARGE GPP. This will usually be done by a computer program or “script.”
League – A league is a smaller tournament, which are usually 4-100 entrants. They are typically top-heavy in their payouts, but can range from WTA (winner take all) to paying out quite a few places in a flatter structure. 20man contests, for example, can pay 1, 3, or even 6 winners depending on the creator.
Exploiting the usage of cash games, multipliers, and leagues make up the foundation of the DFS Army created “Ladder System.” Many of our members have turned into profitable players after gaining an understanding of contest structures and learning to exploit them. Ladder System 2.0 by @UW81 modernizes the already revolutionary system first articulated in 2016 by @Choppodong.
Popular Terms
(Many of these statistical terms for baseball can be much better explained at fangraphs.com in their glossary. In effort to avoid duplication, I am focused more on terms in our own Research Stations.)
Hard-BABIP – Hard contact tells you how solid a guy hits the ball. BABIP (see definition at fangraphs) is just a measure of how often a guy gets a hit when he puts a ball in play. Sort of a luck measuring stick. If he has a low BABIP, it means he’s putting it in play but not getting results. Maybe he is hitting it right at someone, but maybe he is not making good contact. So, infusing the hard contact part tells us who is both hitting the ball hard but NOT getting results………….these players are due for a turnaround. A high hard-babip differential (25% or maybe 30%+) indicates a guy getting pretty unlucky and maybe someone we should expect to start getting results as luck balances out.
KScore – A measurement of strikeout upside. Derived by adding a pitcher’s K% to the opponent’s K% and dropping the decimal. For example, pitcher A has a K% of 28.2% and faces team B with a K% of 25.6%, the KScore would be 28.2% + 25.6% = 53.8%, drop the decimal for a score of 538. Over 500 has proven to be a solid matchup and is a primary component in Choppodong’s valuation of pitchers on a slate.
WOBISO – A measurement of hitting. Woba + ISO (see both definitions at fangraphs) = WOBISO. For example, hitter A carries a .420 woba and a .215 ISO, his WOBISO would be .635. Over .600 is considered elite over larger sample sizes covering the majority of a given season. Shorter samples will show WOBISOs well over .600 and even .900. These are very hot hitters. The .900 is unsustainable, but why not consider hopping on the hot train while you can?
MU WOBA – Woba for the hitter averaged with Woba allowed by the pitcher. Both are to “handedness.” For example, a right handed pitcher allows a .500 woba against right handed bats, and a right handed hitter hits for a .400 woba against right handed pitching. The average of this matchup would be a .450 MU Woba. Over .400 is elite.
MU ISO – Same as MU Woba only using ISO. For example, a left handed pitcher gives up a .300 ISO to right handed bats and faces a right handed bat today hitting .200 against left handed pitching, the resulting MU ISO would be .250. Over .200 is elite.
Total MU – Simply an average of MU Woba and MU ISO to give an overall MU rating. Over .300 is very strong given .400 is elite for WOBA and .200 is elite for ISO and the average of these numbers would be .300.
WScore – Adding MU Woba and MU ISO together and dropping the decimal. For example, player A has a MU Woba of .385 and a MU ISO of .290, his WScore would be 675. Over .600 is believed to be strong, but this is a very new metric with very little data currently supporting it. The logic behind its derision is the focus at this point in time.
(to be continued…)