Daily fantasy has its own vocabulary, and much of it shows up before you have entered a single contest. Below are the terms you will see most often in lobbies, contest rules, and strategy articles, in alphabetical order and in plain English. If you are brand new, start with how daily fantasy works and come back here whenever a word stops you.
0 to 9
50/50. A cash game where roughly half the field wins. Each winner gets a little less than double the entry fee, with the difference going to rake.
B
Bankroll. The money you set aside only for daily fantasy. Sizing entries as a small share of it keeps one bad night from doing real damage.
Beginner contest. A contest limited to newer players. Many operators label these in the lobby.
Best ball. A format where you draft a team and never set a lineup. Your top scorers at each position count automatically every scoring period.
Bring back. A player from the opposing team added to a stack. If the game becomes a shootout, both sides of it are scoring for you.
C
Captain. The featured slot in a DraftKings Showdown lineup. The Captain earns 1.5 times the points and costs 1.5 times the salary.
Cash game. Any contest that pays a large share of the field a flat prize, such as 50/50s, double ups, and head to head games.
Ceiling. The score a player can reach on a great day. Tournament lineups are built around ceilings.
Chalk. The most popular players on a slate. Chalk is comfortable in cash games, but in tournaments it pays to know when to go against the chalk.
Contrarian. Building a lineup that differs from the crowd on purpose, usually in tournaments, so it stands out if the less popular picks hit.
Correlation. The tendency of certain players' scores to rise and fall together, like a quarterback and his receivers. It is the logic behind stacking.
D
Double up. A cash game that pays winners exactly twice their entry fee. A little under half the field cashes.
DST. Short for defense and special teams, the team defense slot in a football lineup. Some operators label it DEF.
E
Exposure. The share of your own lineups that include a given player. If 6 of your 10 lineups use the same receiver, your exposure to him is 60 percent.
F
Fade. Leaving a player out of your lineups on purpose, often because you expect them to be popular or overpriced.
Field. Everyone else entered in your contest.
Flex. A roster spot that accepts more than one position. In football it usually takes a running back, wide receiver, or tight end.
Floor. The score a player is likely to reach even on an ordinary day. Cash game lineups lean on players with dependable floors.
Freeroll. A contest with no entry fee that still awards prizes, often tickets or small cash amounts. It is a cheap way to practice.
G
Game stack. A stack built from both teams in one game. It counts on that game becoming the highest scoring of the slate.
GPP. Short for guaranteed prize pool, the common name for tournaments. The full prize pool is paid even if the contest does not fill.
H
Head to head. A contest against a single opponent, where the higher score wins nearly double the entry fee. Often written as H2H.
I
Implied team total. An estimate of how many points one team will score, worked out from the game total and point spread. Higher implied totals usually mean better fantasy chances.
L
Late swap. The option to replace players whose games have not started yet, even after the slate has begun. See using late swap wisely.
Leverage. Gaining ground on the field by rostering players who are less popular than their chances deserve, or by skipping players who are more popular than they should be.
Lineup optimizer. Software that builds the highest projected lineups under the salary cap from a set of projections, following any rules you add.
Lock. The moment a player or contest can no longer be changed, usually the scheduled start of a game.
M
Max entry. The most lineups one person may enter in a contest. Large tournaments may allow up to 150, while single entry contests allow one.
Min cash. The smallest prize in a tournament, paid to the lowest finishing spots that still win money.
Multi entry. A contest that lets one person enter more than one lineup, up to the max entry limit.
Multiplier. A contest that pays a set multiple of the entry fee, such as 3x, 5x, or 10x, to a matching share of the field.
MVP. The featured slot in a FanDuel single game lineup. MVP points are multiplied, and the contest rules show by how much.
O
Overlay. Extra value that appears when a guaranteed contest does not fill. The operator still pays the full prize pool, which lowers the effective rake for everyone who entered.
Ownership. The percentage of lineups in a contest that include a player. You see actual numbers after lock and projected numbers before it.
P
Payout structure. The table showing how much each finishing spot wins. Flat structures spread money evenly, while top heavy ones save most of it for the leaders.
Pick'em. A format where you predict whether players go over or under a stat line and combine several picks into one entry. Learn more in how pick'em contests work.
Pivot. Swapping a popular player for a similar one at a nearby salary who will appear on fewer rosters.
PPR. Points per reception. DraftKings classic football awards a full point per catch, while FanDuel awards half a point.
Prize pool. The total money a contest pays out after rake.
Projection. An estimate of how many fantasy points a player will score. The best projections are treated as the middle of a range, not a promise.
Punt. A very cheap player used to free up salary for stars elsewhere. A smart punt still has a path to useful points, such as a backup stepping into a starting role.
R
Rake. The share of entry fees the operator keeps. It usually falls between 10 and 15 percent, and the rake guide shows how to calculate it.
S
Salary cap. The budget for building a lineup. DraftKings classic football uses $50,000, and FanDuel classic football uses $60,000.
Satellite. A contest that awards tickets into a larger contest instead of cash. Also called a qualifier.
Showdown. DraftKings' name for single game contests that use players from one game, with a Captain slot. Read up on Showdown strategy before your first one.
Slate. The set of games a contest covers, such as the main Sunday afternoon games in football or a full night of baseball.
Snake draft. A contest where a small group takes turns drafting players, with the order reversing each round. There is no salary cap.
Stack. Two or more players in one lineup whose scores tend to move together, most often a quarterback with his receivers or several hitters from the same baseball team.
T
Tiers. A format with no salary cap. Players are sorted into tiers, and you pick one from each.
V
Value. How many points a player scores compared with salary, often measured in points per $1,000. A player who outscores the price is a good value.