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If you’re new to daily fantasy sports, the first thing I’m going to tell you is that “daily fantasy sports” is a pain to type over and over, so we call it “DFS”. If that was a revelation, this glossary is for you. If you have no idea what “fading Calvin Johnson in GPPs is a great contrarian play” means, you’d better read on. DFS introduces a whole new set of terms that you just won’t come across if you’ve only played in traditional fantasy football leagues. Understanding some of these terms can even be crucial to your DFS success. Many of these terms will pop up throughout the year in our weekly strategy guides, so feel free to refer back to it at any time.

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There are currently 87 names in this directory
50/50 / Cash Games
50/50 is an event in which the top 50% of the players divide the prize pool evenly and the rest of the 50% lose the entry fees. Players can play small as well as large 50/50 contests where large contests render bigger price pools. Head to Head, and double up are referred to as cash games that allow players to play safe. 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.

$ / Point ┃ Point / $
Dollar per point is the number of dollars the player is supposed to pay for each projected point cost. It is recommended to keep this number low. The lower it is, the better. Point/$ is exactly the opposite of $/Point. Generally 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 “grinders”. Tournaments are the opposite of cash games. Dollars per point; the number of dollars each projected point costs. For example, if a player is priced at $10,000 and is projected for 20 points, you would divide $10,000 by 20 to get $500/point. The lower this number, the better, as you want to pay the least amount of salary possible for each point. The inverse of Point/$ (points per dollar). Points per dollar; the number of projected points per each dollar of salary. If you have a player projected to score 16 points with a salary of $8,000, that’s good for $0.02 points per dollar. The higher this number, the better, as you want to maximize projected points for every dollar you spend.The inverse of $/Point (dollars per point).

Action
The sum of money or the contests in play on any given site is known as Action.

ADP (Average Draft Position)
It refers to the spot where a player will be drafted.  

Auction Draft
Auction drafts give every manager the opportunity to build a team on his budget by bidding on the players. Needless to say, the highest bidder acquires the player. 

Bankroll
In daily fantasy sports Terms, bankroll refers to the sum of money participants are willing to invest in DFS. The amount of money you have available to invest in daily fantasy sports.

Bearish
The negative views about a given situation or the player. If someone holds a bearish outlook about a player, he won’t pick him for his lineup. 

Bench Players
Players that you’ve picked but won’t be present in the starting lineup for the week are known as bench players. 

Blind Bidding
To keep the biddings fair, several online fantasy sports platforms permit the players to place bids without exposing the real numbers to the other bidders.

Breakout
The player who performs better than expected is known as a breakout in the terms used in daily fantasy sports. 

Bullish
This is the exact opposite of bearish in the glossary of important DFS terms. It means positive views about a given situation or a player. If someone holds a bullish outlook about a player, he’ll include him in the lineup. 

Bust
A player that is expected to play good but doesn’t do well in the field and underperforms is known as a bust.

Ceiling / Upside
Ceiling is the maximum number of points a team, a lineup, or a player can score. The existence of potential favorable outcomes that would result in a player outperforming his salary. For example, a minimum priced player who is slated to get a starter’s workload is said to have a lot of upside (ability to outperform current salary). An expensive player like Calvin Johnson can also have upside because he is always liable to go for 100+ yards and multiple TDs. Upside can also refer to how much prize money you can win relative to your entry fees. For example, if you put all your money in play into tournaments, you have more upside than if you put all of it into safer “cash games”. The best possible outcome for a particular statistic. This usually refers to a projected outcome -- for example, a player's projected ceiling in our Floor/Ceiling Projections -- but can also refer to an actual outcome -- for example, Antonio Brown's highest receiving yardage output in 2015 was 284 yards, so it can be said that he has a ceiling of 284 yards. Ceiling is the opposite of floor. Ceilings are best used to optimize for tournament lineup construction.

Cheat Sheet
In DFS glossary, cheat sheets are simply the ranking guides.

Commission / Rake
It is the fees that are charged by daily fantasy sports websites to play. It is usually around 10% of the buy-ins.

Confirmation Bias
The inclination towards confirming pre-existing beliefs and to look and search for information that fits is called confirmation bias. 

Contrarian
Going against the grain with a selection, in hopes that the player will not be highly used, thus making the selection more valuable in tournaments where your score needs to beat a large majority of entries. Using a stud in a tough matchup is a common contrarian strategy.

Correlation
A statistical technique that is used to measure and describe the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables.The scale is -1.0 to 1.0. The larger the absolute value, the stronger the relationship is. An absolute value of 1 means perfect correlation. Absolute values above 0.7 are considered strong, those between 0.3 and 0.7 are moderate, and those under 0.3 are weak. Positive values indicate a relationship where the variables move in the same direction, while negative values indicate a relationship where variables move in opposite directions. Usually notated as "r" in regression output. Not to be confused with "r2" or "R-Squared", which is the square root of r.

Cut / Drop / Release
In the daily fantasy (DFS) glossary of terms, these three words mean the same and refer to the player you don’t want in your team anymore. 

CV (Coefficient of Variation)
The standard deviation of a data set divided by its mean. In DFS, can be used as a measure of consistency. For example, if Jimmy Graham averages 16 fantasy points points per game with a standard deviation of 8 points per game, the CV is 50%. In a given week, Graham can be expected to score 50 percent more or 50 percent less than his average. The lower this number, the more consistent a player is.

Deep League
Leagues in DFS consisting of more than 12 leagues are known as deep leagues.

DFS (Daily Fantasy Sports)
DFS is a game where entrants draft a team for one day (or weekend) of games only using a salary cap format and compete for real cash prizes.

Donk / Donkey
A poor DFS player who seemingly enjoys throwing away money.

Double-up
When winners double the entry fees amount, it is known as double-up. A 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.

Draft
Draft refers to how participants build up their teams of players. 

Entry Fees / Buy-in
In simple terms, it is,the sum of money that is required to enter any league or contest.

eSports (Electronic Sports)
eSports are organised and competitive multi-player video games played online for an audience. Professional eSports involve payment or major prizes for players. Some games have players competing as individuals, others have competing teams. Multi-player Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games are currently the most popular genre. Global audiences are estimated in the hundreds of millions.

EV (Expected Value)
It is the measure of what a bettor can expect to win or lose on each bet placed on the same odds time and time again.

Exposure
Exposure is the sum of money that’s placed in a particular player. Also, it can be referred to as the percent of the bankroll that you have invested in a player. The amount of money or percentage of bankroll you have invested in a player. For example, if you put Tom Brady in every one of your lineups, you have 100 percent exposure to him. The more exposure you have to a player, the riskier.

Fade
When you avoid a particular game or a player, its called fade. To avoid a certain player or players. This is generally done either because you expect the player to be heavily owned and want to have a contrarian lineup, or because you think the player is simply a bad value proposition.

Fish
A poor or inexperienced DFS player is known as fish. An inexperienced or poor DFS player. Usually preyed on by “sharks”.

Flex
A lineup slot that can be occupied by more than one position, typically by a RB, WR, or TE.

Floor
The minimum number of points a lineup, a team or a player can score is called the floor. It’s exactly the opposite of the ceiling. The worst possible outcome for a particular statistic. This usually refers to a projected outcome -- for example, a player's projected floor in our Floor/Ceiling Projections -- but can also refer to an actual outcome -- for example, Antonio Brown's lowest receiving yardage output in 2015 was 24 yards, so it can be said that he has a floor of 24 yards. Floor is the opposite of ceiling. Floors are best used to optimize for cash game lineup construction.

Flyer / Flier
A player who is added to the team as a free agent because there is a probability that he might perform well and exceed expectations.  

Free Agent
In fantasy sports glossary of terms, a player who is not owned by any team in the league is known as free agent. 

Full-PPR
A daily fantasy scoring system that awards one point per reception.

Game Versions
Game versions refer to the type of contests that are offered by daily fantasy sports websites. Multipliers, qualifiers, H3H, GPP, 50/50 are some of the examples.  

GOAT (Greatest of All Time)
Greatest of All Time is a term used to describe the ultimate incarnation of anything, from an athlete to an automobile, frequently used in popular lists of superlatives. It is typically abbreviated as G.O.A.T. or GOAT.

GPP (Guaranteed Pool Prize)
Guaranteed Prize Pool; a contest in which the prizes are guaranteed, no matter if it completely fills or not. These are usually where a small number of entrants (typically ~10 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.

Grinders
A daily fantasy player who treats it as an investment, placing the majority of their money in play in safe cash games with the aim of turning out gradual profits over time. In daily fantasy sports(DFS) glossary, grinders are players that play to boost profits and usually participate in cash games.

Head-to-Head
A contest where you square off against another daily fantasy player for a prize (typically just under double your entry fee minus the site’s rake). Head-to-heads are the safest “cash game”; even if you do poorly you still have the chance to win matchups versus those who did even worse.

Hedge
In the glossary of important DFS terms, hedge refers to the measures taken to avoid the loss of a large percentage of bankrolls. Actions and strategies deployed to reduce the overall risk (usually resulting in the reduction of potential reward as well) of losing a large portion of your bankroll. For example, you can hedge your main lineup with a second lineup with completely different players.

High-stakes
Contests where the entry fees are on the high end of the spectrum.

Injury Report
Report that lists all the players that were injured. This report is published by the NFL.

Keeper
The player from the previous season that’s kept by the same owner is known as the keeper. 

Late-swap
A site feature where a player may be swapped out of a lineup for another player until his actual game has started, as opposed to lineups locking completely when the first game starts. Editing the lineup of players after the start of the contest is known as late-swap in the key terminology of daily fantasy sports.

Lean
Favoring a particular game, team, a situation, or a player is known as lean in the daily fantasy sports (DFS) glossary. 

LU (Lineup / Roaster / Starting Lineup)
In sports, a starting lineup is an official list of the set of players who will participate in the event when the game begins. This is particularly true in sports with limited substitutions, like baseball or association football (soccer).

Manager
The person who takes all the decisions regarding trades, free agents, drafts, etc of a team is known as the manager. 

Minimum Salary
Minimum salary is the lowest salary at a position for a player.

Mock Draft
Mock draft is the practice draft that enables you to create and practice strategies.

Multi-Entry / Multiple Entry
Some contests allow you to enter multiple lineups in the same contest. This is known as multiple entry in daily fantasy sports Terms. A contest where multiple entries are allowed. Large GPP tournaments and qualifiers typically allow multiple entries. The opposite of Single-Entry.

Multiplier
Multiplier leagues allow you to multiply the sum of money that you paid as your entry fee.

Narrative
The explanation for a situation that’s accepted by everyone is called narrative. 

Overlay
When a DFS site loses money and pays more than the total entry fees collected in a GPP content, it’s known as overlay. The result of a GPP not completely filling. The prizes will still be allocated out as if the contest filled, but entrants have to beat less players. A daily fantasy site loses money on these. Amount of overlay can be calculated by subtracting (entry fees * entrants) from prizes guaranteed. For example, a contest with a $1 entry fee and $100 guaranteed in prizes would have a $50 overlay if only 50 contestants entered.

Pay Up / Paying Up
Spending money on the most expensive player is known as paying up in the glossary of important DFS terms. Spending a premium amount of salary on a player or position, i.e. “there isn’t much value at TE, so I’m going to pay up for Jimmy Graham.”

Pickup
A player that is picked up from the free-agent pool is known as pickup.

Player Pool
Pool of players that are available for drafting is known as the player pool.

Player Prop Bet
Refers to a line set by Vegas sports books on the occurrence or non-occurrence during a game of an event not directly affecting the game's final outcome. For example, Vegas will have a prop bet on how many receiving yards Calvin Johnson will get. These can be used to make lineup decisions.

PPR (Half Point per Reception / 5 PPR / 0.5-PPR)
A daily fantasy scoring system that awards 0.5 points per reception. Refers to the daily fantasy scoring system that grants .5 points per reception. 

Prize Pool
Prize pool refers to the total payout amount in a particular contest.

Projections
Projections are predictions for a player’s performance for the season or week.

Punt
Spending minimum or near-minimum salary on a position, usually because a position is very unpredictable or low-scoring, or because you want to fit other high-priced players in your lineup. Spending a small amount of salary reduces the impact of a bad selection, but puts more stress on the rest of your lineup to exceed value. In order to save money elsewhere, contest participants often take low priced calculated risks which are known as Punt key terminology of daily fantasy sports.

Qualifier
A tournament in which the grand prize or prizes is free entry into another league, usually one with a large prize pool. Many qualifiers pay out non-ticket winnings entrants in the same structure as tournaments, but some only award tickets to other contests and no cash prizes. Qualifiers are GPP contests in which players receive entry tickets in the award for bigger contests.

Rake
The amount of commission the site takes off each entry fee. The industry standard rake is 9-10 %, but can be less in higher-stakes games.

Reach
Reach is referred to as the player that is predicted for bare minimum production.

Regression
A phenomenon that if a variable is extreme on its first measurement, it will tend to be closer to the average on its second measurement—and, paradoxically, if it is extreme on its second measurement, it will tend to have been closer to the average on its first. Typically if a player posts a very good or bad score in the previous week or weeks, DFS players may want to account for some natural regression to the mean occurring. Not to be confused with linear regression, an appraoch for modeling the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables.

ROI (Return on Investment)
Can apply to how many points a player returns relative to his salary, or how much profit you make relative to money in play.

Salary Cap
The total sum of money that’s spent in drafting a lineup is known as salary cap in daily fantasy (DFS) glossary of terms.

Shark
An experienced or professional DFS player is known as Shark. A skilled DFS player who preys on poor or inexperienced players (“fish”), especially in head-to-head matchups.

Single-Entry
A contest where only one entry is allowed. The opposite of Multi-Entry.

Sleeper
A sleeper is a cheap player that could have loads of potential.

Snake Draft
Snake draft is a drafting pattern in which a team that drafts first in round one is the team that drafts last in round 2.

Stack / Stacking
Stacking is the process where multiple players are picked from the same game or the same team. A pairing of multiple players from the same team or in the same game. This can be done to increase lineup volatility or decrease lineup volatility. To increase volatility, you would stack multiple players from the same team that are dependent on one another. The most common stack is a QB with at least one of his receivers; if the QB goes off, it’s likely his receivers will as well and vice versa. To decrease volatility, you can stack players that cannibalize each other's value, such as a QB and RB on the same team. It’s unlikely both will go off, but it’s a safe bet that you’ll get credit for all of that teams yardage and TDs that day.

Stars & Scrubs / High-low
A type of lineup where you combine a bunch of very cheap players with a bunch of the most expensive players. When high salaried players are picked along with low-priced players to achieve the balance is called high-low.

Tier
Grouping players with similar ranks on the basis of position is known as tier.

Tilt / Tilting
Poor lineup or bankroll decision making, typically caused by frustration and sometimes exacerbated by alcohol. Making bad decisions due to building up of stress that results from the game outcomes is known as tilting in the key terminology of daily fantasy sports. 

Trade
The exchange of players between the two teams is known as trade.

Train
The same lineup being entered multiple times into a multi-entry tournament. When you enter the same lineup in one league multiple times, it’s called train in daily fantasy sports terms.

Transaction
Line up actions such as dropping, picking,  or trading a player is known as a transaction.

Triple Up
Contests where winners triple the amount of their entry fees.

Undroppables
The elite players that cannot be dropped from a lineup are known as undroppables.

Value
The amount of points a player is projected to score relative to his salary. This amount is usually calculated by dividing a player’s projected points by (salary/1,000). For example, if LeSean McCoy costs $9,000 and is projected for 18 points, 18 / ($9,000/1,000) = 18 / 9 = 2. The higher a player’s value, the more attractive that player is. Value is similar to “$/point” and “points/$”.

Value Pay
A low-priced player who exceeds expectations is known as value pay in the DFS dictionary.

Vegas Line
Refers to the spread, money line, or over/under total of Vegas sportsbooks for a given game or slate of games. These are useful to determine likely game outcomes and make lineup decisions based off those outcomes.

Viable
Used to describe a selection that can be reasonably expected to return value at his current price, i.e. “Larry Donnell at $5,000 is a viable option”.

Waivers
A player is considered to be on waivers when he is dropped from a team.
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