Below is a Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) Terminology Glossary tailored to include terms relevant to NFL, NBA, MLB, College Sports, and esports, while also covering general DFS concepts.
A
- ADP (Average Draft Position): The average spot where a player or team is selected across DFS drafts, commonly used in NFL, NBA, and MLB.
- Arbitrage: Exploiting pricing differences across DFS platforms (e.g., DraftKings vs. FanDuel) to secure low-risk profits, applicable to all sports and esports.
B
- Bankroll: The total funds a player allocates for DFS contests, critical for managing risk in NFL, NBA, MLB, college sports, or esports.
- Buy-in: The entry fee for a DFS contest, varying by sport or game (e.g., $1 for an NFL slate, $5 for an esports tournament).
C
- Cash Game: A contest where approximately 50% of entrants win a fixed payout, such as head-to-heads or 50/50s, common in NFL, NBA, MLB, and esports.
- Ceiling: The maximum fantasy points a player or team could score, e.g., an NFL quarterback’s ceiling in a high-scoring game or an esports player’s potential in a kill-heavy match.
- Chalk: A heavily rostered player or team expected to perform well, e.g., a star NBA player like LeBron James or a popular esports team like FaZe Clan.
- Contrarian: Choosing low-ownership players or teams to differentiate your lineup, e.g., rostering a lesser-known college football running back or an underdog esports team.
- Correlation: Pairing players whose performances are linked, like an NFL QB and WR (stack) or an esports team’s star player and support.
D
- Double-Up: A cash game where winners double their buy-in (minus rake), common across NFL, NBA, MLB, and esports.
- DFS (Daily Fantasy Sports): A format where players build daily or weekly lineups for real-world sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, college sports) or esports, competing for cash prizes based on performance.
- DNP (Did Not Play): A player who doesn’t participate, scoring zero points, e.g., an injured NBA player or an esports player benched for a match.
E
- Exposure: The percentage of your lineups featuring a specific player or team, e.g., 50% exposure to a college basketball star in a slate.
- esports DFS: Fantasy contests based on competitive video game performances, such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike, or Call of Duty, with points for kills, assists, or objectives.
F
- Fade: Avoiding a popular player or team, e.g., fading a chalky MLB pitcher or a hyped esports team to reduce competition.
- Floor: The minimum expected fantasy points for a player, e.g., a consistent NBA point guard’s floor or an esports player’s base points in a losing match.
- Freeroll: A free-entry contest with real prizes, often used to attract new players in NFL, NBA, or esports.
G
- Game Stack: Rostering multiple players from the same game for correlated points, e.g., an NFL QB and WR, an NBA team’s playmakers, or an esports team’s roster.
- GPP (Guaranteed Prize Pool): A tournament with a fixed prize pool, offering large payouts to top finishers, common in NFL, MLB, and esports slates.
H
- Hedge: Reducing risk by diversifying lineups or entering cash games, e.g., balancing an NFL tournament lineup with a 50/50 entry.
- Head-to-Head (H2H): A one-on-one contest where the higher scorer wins, available in all sports and esports.
L
- Late Swap: Adjusting lineups after a contest starts for later games, e.g., swapping an NBA player in a West Coast game or an esports player in a late match.
- Leverage Play: Selecting a low-rostered player or team with high upside, e.g., a college football sleeper or an esports underdog.
- Lineup: The selected roster of players or teams for a contest, constrained by salary cap and positional rules (e.g., NFL’s QB-RB-WR-TE-FLEX or esports’ team-based slots).
M
- Max Entry: The maximum number of lineups a player can submit in a contest, often higher in large NFL or esports GPPs.
- Multi-Entry: A contest allowing multiple lineup submissions, common in MLB and NBA slates for diversification.
O
- Optimizer: A tool generating optimal lineups based on projections and salaries, used across NFL, NBA, MLB, college sports, and esports.
- Ownership: The percentage of lineups rostering a player or team, e.g., high ownership for an MLB ace pitcher or a star League of Legends player.
P
- Pivot: Switching to a less popular player or team with similar upside, e.g., pivoting from a chalky NFL running back to a teammate.
- Projection: Estimated fantasy points for a player or team, based on stats, matchups, or esports meta (e.g., expected kills in Counter-Strike).
- PPR (Points Per Reception): An NFL scoring system awarding points for receptions, impacting player value in DFS.
R
- Rake: The platform’s fee taken from contest prize pools, e.g., 10% in NFL or esports contests.
- Roster: Synonym for lineup, used across all DFS formats.
- Roster Construction: The strategy of building a lineup, balancing stars and value picks, e.g., stacking an NBA team’s core or an esports team’s key players.
S
- Salary Cap: The budget for selecting players, varying by platform and sport (e.g., $50,000 on DraftKings for NFL or $25,000 for esports).
- Satellite: A contest awarding entry to a higher-stakes tournament, e.g., an NFL satellite for a major GPP or an esports qualifier.
- Shark: A skilled DFS player who consistently wins, active in NFL, NBA, or esports.
- Showdown Slate: A single-game DFS contest, common in NFL (e.g., Monday Night Football), MLB, or esports tournaments, with unique rules like a Captain slot (1.5x points).
- Slate: The set of games or matches for a contest, e.g., NFL Sunday Main Slate, NBA evening slate, or League of Legends Worlds slate.
- Stack: Selecting multiple players from the same team or game for correlated points, e.g., MLB pitcher and hitters, college football QB-WR, or esports team.
- Sweat: Actively monitoring a contest to track lineup performance, common in all DFS formats.
T
- Tilt: Emotional decision-making after losses, leading to poor choices in NFL, NBA, or esports lineups.
- Tournament: A large-field contest (like a GPP) with top-heavy payouts, popular in MLB, college basketball, and esports.
V
- Value: A player or team whose expected points exceed their salary cost, e.g., a cheap MLB hitter with a good matchup or a low-cost esports player.
- Variance: The unpredictability of performance, high in MLB due to pitching volatility or esports due to match outcomes.
W
- Whale: A high-stakes player entering many contests with large buy-ins, seen in NFL, NBA, and esports.