Daily Fantasy Sports Glossary
Does the banter in your favorite Daily Fantasy site’s chat box have you confused? Do you feel like you’re missing out on some valuable strategy day-in and day-out? This is a good place to start.
RotoGrinders.com will be periodically updating and growing our Daily Fantasy Sports Glossary and Definitions as the Daily Fantasy industry grows to give you a thorough breakdown of the terminology you should know. Have a term, phrase, definition, or any other word that is Daily Fantasy related that we should add? Email Us, and if we agree we’ll put it up and give you credit!
| Buy-In | The Buy-In is your entrance fee to participate in a Daily Fantasy League. The Buy-In or Entrance Fee generally consists of two components: The Buy-In portion and The Rake. |
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| Daily Fantasy League | Depending on the site, a Daily Fantasy Game is called a Draft, Game, Contest, Matchup, or Challenge |
| Field Size | The Field Size is the number of contestants competing in a Daily Fantasy Game. Each of the Daily Fantasy Sites offers a variety of field sizes ranging from Two Players (often called Heads-Up) to unlimited entrants, so make sure to try them out and figure out what field size you enjoy most. The most common Field Sizes are Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Ten Players. |
| Freeroll | Some of the Daily Fantasy Sports sites offer freerolls. These are contests that the sites run entirely for free. Sometimes they are simply for fun, but sometimes a site will put up a Prizepool for a Freeroll. |
| Game Variants | Game Variants refers to the different Daily Fantasy Game option rules and styles available to you. There are several Game Variants for Daily Fantasy Sports, across all of the sites. No one site covers all of the options, and each Drafter has their own personal preference, so make sure to try them all out and figure out which Daily Fantasy site is best for YOU. In general, there are two main Game Variants |
| Prizepool | A Prizepool is the total amount of money that will be paid out to winning contestants in a league. Generally it is all of the Buy-Ins from all contestants less the Rake. Some sites however, offer Guaranteed Prizepools! This can create an Overlay between the Prizepool and the actually Buy-In total, creating extra value for the contestant and sometimes HUGE first prizes! |
| Rake | The Rake is the portion of each contestant’s Buy-In that each Daily Fantasy Sports site keeps as revenue for their operations. The Rake will vary between Daily Fantasy Sports sites, so make sure to check them all carefully to find the best value. |
| Reach | In Daily Salary Drafts, a Reach pick is when a contestant selects a player whose Daily Salary Cost is noticeably more expensive than his actual value would indicate his Salary Cost should be. In Daily Sit and Drafts, a Reach pick is when you select a player in a Draft Spot that comes before where that player is traditionally, or should be, drafted. A Reach pick is not necessarily a bad thing. Balancing skillful Reach and Value picks together will lead to higher profits and more wins for the skilled Grinder. |
| Salary Cap | You select your team roster from a pool of players that are playing on the day you choose to compete. Each player has a price assigned to them from that Daily Fantasy Site. Each team in the league has the same salary cap. The objective is to fill up your roster with the team that will score the most Fantasy Points for that day without going over the Salary Cap. Each team in the league chooses from the same player pool. Each of the Daily Fantasy Sites has their own method for assigning costs to players, so make sure to try all of them out and find which one works best for you. |
| Sit and Draft | The traditional draft used for season-long fantasy applied to Daily Fantasy Sports. You sign up for a Sit and Draft league, when it fills up each person is assigned a draft spot. You go down the line in Snake Draft order selecting the best available player for your roster. Whoever picks last in Round 1, picks first in Round 2. Whoever picks first overall, picks last in Round 2 and first in Round 3, and so on. Each player drafted is unique to one team. |
| Sleeper | A Sleeper is a player that is generally undervalued for a particular sport. Finding good Sleeper picks will lead to higher profits and more wins for the skilled Grinder. |
| Value | In Daily Salary Drafts, a Value pick is when a contestant selects a player whose Daily Salary Cost is noticeably cheaper than his actual value would indicate his Salary Cost should be. In Daily Sit and Drafts, a Value pick is when you are able to select a player in a Draft Spot that comes after where that player is traditionally, or should be, drafted. Finding good Value picks will lead to higher profits and more wins for the skilled Grinder. |
This Version Created: 06/15/2010