Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) takes fantasy football into a single slate. Whether it’s a week, a day, or just one game, this glossary provides a core list of terms.
This resource is dynamic and will be continually updated.
Editor’s Note: Check out the DFS Pass where Chris will be contributing weekly for our DraftKings content.
A – G
50/50 – Cash game contest where the top half of lineups win, usually about double the entry fee (minus rake).
Bankroll – Total money set aside for DFS.
Boom – A player scoring well and hitting a ceiling (best) outcome.
Bring Back – Player(s) from the opposing team included in a lineup to pair with a stack. Based on the idea that if a stack succeeds, the other side must score to keep the NFL game competitive. Also known as a run back.
Bubble – The cutoff point in a contest where entries miss cashing, finishing outside the minimum cash point.
Bust – A player scoring poorly and hitting a floor (worst) outcome.
Buy In – How much a contest costs to enter.
Cash Games – A contest with flatter payouts, where roughly half the field wins the same amount. These include 50/50s, Head-to-Head (H2H), and Double Ups.
Ceiling – A player’s max potential score.
Chalk – High owned, popular play.
Chalk Donkey – Someone who eats chalk unthinkingly and creates highly owned (often duplicated) lineups.
Chop – When multiple players tie for the same prize position due to duplicate lineups. The total prize money allocated to that position is divided equally among all tied players.
Combinatorial Ownership – The ownership of two or more players in a contest.
Condensed Player Pool – Narrowing down players in a slate to make selections easier when building lineups.
Contest – The DFS game entered.
Contrarian Player – A low-owned or unpopular player.
Contrarian – When a DFS player does something not popular or expected in a lineup.
Correlation – A mutual relationship or connection between two or more things.
Dart Throw – Low-owned, low-probability upside play.
Dead Lineup – Lineup with no chance to cash.
Diversification – Spreading out player selection across multiple contests to reduce risk.
Donkey – A bad DFS player.
Double Up – Contest where winners double their entry fee. Lineups need to finish in roughly the top 45% to cash due to the rake.
Dupe – An exact lineup that matches another entry with the same player selections; also called a duplicate.
Entry Fee – The amount of money to enter a contest. Same as buy-in.
EV (Expected Value) – The long-term average return of a lineup or play, calculated by weighing possible outcomes against probability.
Exposure – % of lineups a player is in.
Fade – Intentionally not playing a player
Fish – An inexperienced and usually poor DFS player.
Flex – A lineup slot available for more than one position (RB, WR, or TE usually).
Floor – Player’s safe minimum output.
Fragile – A player with an easily breakable projection.
Freeroll – A contest with no entry fee offering real prize money or rewards.
Game Script – The flow of an NFL Game (score, pace, momentum) that influences how teams call plays and how players score fantasy points. Also used to describe teams’ style of play based on the score and situation.
Game Theory – How lineup decisions interact with other contestants. Lineups balancing projection with uniqueness gain an edge by exploiting how the field is likely to build rosters rather than relying solely on raw player projections.
GPP (Guaranteed Prize Pool) – Tournaments with a guaranteed prize pool regardless of the number of entries.
H – Q
H2H (Head-to-Head) – Conest vs one opponent, winner takes all (minus the rake).
Handbuilding – When a player manually sets a lineup without the help of an optimizer, simulator, or other multi-entry tool.
Hedge – Entering a lineup or making a player choice that reduces risk by offsetting exposure to another lineup, player, or outcome.
High Stakes – Contests with large buy-ins.
Implied Total – Projected points based on Vegas odds.
Late Swap – The ability to replace players in later games after other games have started.
Late Swap Equity – The value in keeping lineup flexibility for late games, giving users an edge when unexpected news breaks or chalk busts in earlier games.
Lean – Preference towards a player or outcome when making lineup decisions.
Leverage – Using lower-owned players as pivots off popular chalk plays to gain an edge on the field.
Lock – Time at which the contest begins and lineups become fixed for players in games that have started.
Max Entry – Maximum number of lineups allowed per user in a contest.
Min-Cash – Lowest payout spot in a contest.
Multi-Entry (MME) – Any contest allowing more than one entry.
Negative Correlation – When one player’s outcome hurts another player. For example, an RB scoring a TD hurts a DEF.
One-Off – Solo player in a lineup not stacked with a teammate.
Optimizer – Lineup-building software tool.
Overlay – When a contest fails to fill, leaving extra prize money in the pool, boosting the value for every entry.
Ownership % – How many lineups roster a player in a given contest.
Overweight – When a user intentionally puts certain players into more lineups compared to the field.
Pace of Play – How fast a team runs plays.
Pay Up – Spending a large portion of the salary cap on a high-priced player.
Pivot – A player that differentiates from the field by swapping off a chalk option to another viable play in the same price range or lineup slot.
Player Pool – Players available on a slate.
Point Per $ – A player’s salary divided by projection. If a player projects for 10 points and costs $5,000, the PP$ would be $500. The lower, the better.
Positive Correlation – When one player’s outcome helps another player. For example, a QB throws a TD to his WR.
Prize Pool – The total amount of money distributed to winners in a contest.
Projection – Predicted fantasy point for a player.
Punt Play – A low-salary, low-owned player carrying low expectations but enabling access to higher-priced players and leverage.
R – Z
Rake – Fee a site takes from entry fees.
Relative Value – How much a player’s ceiling matters within a position group compared to the slate as a whole.
ROI (Return on Investment) – Profit relative to entry fees.
Run Back – Player(s) from the opposing team of a stack. Also known as a bring back.
Salary Cap – The maximum budget a lineup must stay under when selecting players.
Sharps (Sharks) – Experienced, winning DFS players.
Sims (Simulations) – The process of running a lineup (or lineups) against a data set to forecast a range of outcomes with similar projections/ownership via software.
Single Entry – When each user can submit only one lineup.
Slate – The set of NFL games included in a contest.
Stacking – Playing teammates to maximize correlation.
Stud – High-salaried player with strong projections expected to deliver top-tier production.
Sweat – Watching results as lineups score in real time, often creating excitement or disappointment as games play out.
Tilt – Emotional frustration from how events play out often causing users to make poor or impulsive decisions.
Tournament – Large field contest.
Train – A group of identical lineups (dupes) entered by multiple users in a contest.
Upside – Player’s potential to exceed projections for a ceiling outcome.
Value – A player whose projected performance exceeds the expectations by salary, providing more production per dollar.
Viable – A player or lineup decision based on salary, role, and matchup that may or may not be an optimal choice.