Uriah Wesson 
Introduction into contest NFL DFS contest selection:
As a newer DFS player most of us started off the same way. We were either watching television or listening on SiriusXM and we heard a commercial that went along the lines of “Do you think you know NFL? Do you play seasonal fantasy sports? Do you want to win money instantly? Have a chance to be like (insert name here), he/she won a million dollars playing daily fantasy sports on (insert website). Well sign up today and start winning”. In 2013 that was me, the site was Fanduel, and the player was Chris Prince. I proceeded to enter my money, and I was immediately hooked. Unfortunately, I also was not aware of sites like Win Daily Sports for a couple of years and I was doing like most new players and did nothing but chase the bright shiny Millionaire Maker contests. It took me a long time to realize what full time players already understood, the Milli Maker contests are a waste of money for the average player and that I needed to focus on single entry tournaments and 50/50’s. Not just that when you dig into it because not all single entry contests are created equal. With Win Daily Sports NFL Contest Selection Week 9 and going forward we will tackle individual contests selection and why It is important. It took some time for me to get this formatted and written for future articles so this week will be DraftKings only. Week 10 I will have both DraftKings and FanDuel so stay tuned.
Win Daily NFL Contest Selection Week 9: Daily Fantasy Jargon and Definitions
One thing that I feel is tremendously important is understanding the vocabulary within DFS. New players can sometimes be overwhelmed and a little embarrassed to ask what in the world we are talking about in our articles and in discord. First thing, don’t be. There is not a single content creator that will give you a hard time for not knowing what something means. We have a lingo all our own and it can take a little time to get up to speed and experienced players can sometimes get into the weeds when having nuanced conversations and inadvertently leave newer players not having any idea what we are saying.
GPP or Guaranteed Prize Pool/Tournament:
These are tournaments where the pay structure is pre-defined prior to the start of the contest and the pay structure increases the higher you finish in the final standings. They can either be single entry or multi entry. The Millionaire Maker is the most notable example.
Cash Contests/Double-Ups/50-50’s:
These are contests where if you finish above a certain point in the field you are payed a pre-determined amount that does not change based on final standings. Finishing in the top 50 percent (50-50’s) on FanDuel or roughly top 40 percent (double ups) on DraftKings will result in a positive outcome. These are the easiest contests to cash and the best place for new players to focus on while building bankroll.
MME/Multi Entry/Mega Multi Entry:
Contests where you are allowed to enter more than lineup in a given contest. These contests can range from 3-entries up to 150 entries per contest. These are the most difficult kinds of contests for people to win and with the exception of the 3 entry max should be avoided by most players who do not have an already established bankroll.
Single Entry Contests:
Contests that only allow you to enter a single lineup in a given contest. All new players and even established players should focus the majority of their bankroll on this style of contest. The potential winnings are not nearly as attractive to new players as the giant MME contests but they are by far the best choice for sustained growth. There are both GPP and Cash versions of single entry contests.
Rake:
Rake is the percentage of the overall prize pool that a given site will remove as profit from what is payed out in the player prize pool. Typically, MME GPP’s and smaller entry fee contests have the highest rake sometimes reaching 16% of entry fees removed while higher entry fee contests can see as low as 8% rake. That 8% will directly affect where the pay line sits as well as payout structure i.e. Top 24% of players will cash as opposed to top 18% or top 5 players winning $10K, $8K, $6K, $4K, $3K as opposed to top 5 players winning $10K, $5K, $2K, $1K, $750. These percentages change every given week and will give us the basis for many of our plays on a given week.
Overlay:
You don’t see this one all that often in NFL contests but overlay does still happen. Overlay happens when GPP’s do not fill up and it provides an additional advantage in your overall chances to win. As an example if a contest that has 10,000 maximum entries and only pays the top 2,000 players that means 20% percent of people will win. If only 8,000 people enter that contest they will still pay the top 2,000 people and you now have a 25% chance to win. That 5% improvement in your odds is huge over the long term for your success. It’s harder to predict but if you have a lineup that you feel very confident in and you watch the contest lobby you can give yourself an edge that not everyone will be looking for.
Win Daily NFL Contest Selection Week 9: Cash Contests
It’s less about rake or percentages here so this will be the same every week. When it comes to cash contests stick to single only and play in events with between 100-1000 total entries. This range eliminates the random variance that comes with smaller contests and the slightly higher scores that inevitably come from contests with the multi-thousands of entries of games. We’ll get more into that in the coming weeks as we gather data. If you are just starting out a minimum of 70% of your weekly bankroll needs to go towards these types of contests.
Win Daily NFL Contest Selection Week 9: $1-$25 Range
$1 Daily Dollar (Single Entry): $20,000 Total Prize Pool, 27% cash (1.5x Min Cash), 1st place 5% Prize Pool , Top 10% 16.25% Prize Pool, 15.9% Rake. Both $1 contests pay the same, flat pay structure. $1,000 to first
$1 Singleback (Three Entry Max): $20,000 Total Prize Pool, 27% cash (1.5x Min Cash), 1st place 5% Prize Pool, Top 10% Payout 16.25% Prize Pool, 15.9% Rake. Both $1 contests pay the same, flat pay structure. $1,000 to first
$12 Fair Catch $250K (Single Entry): $250,000 Total Prize Pool. 21.53% Cash (2.08x Min Cash), 1st place 10% Prize Pool ($25,000), Top 10% Payout 24.60% Prize Pool, 14.99% Rake. The largest of the two $12 contests gets the nod this week with a slightly better Min cash line and flatter pay structure up top. $25,000 to first.
Win Daily NFL Contest Selection Week 9: $25-$100 Range
$27 Blind Side $50K (Single Entry): $50,000 Total Prize Pool, 22.88% Cash (2x Min Cash), 1st Place 10% Prize Pool, Top 10% Payout 30.90% Prize Pool, 14.23% Rake. You can see here the top heavy approach becomes apparent with top 10% taking 31% of the winnings but the 2x min cash with payout just shy of 23% is pretty good on the smaller of the two Blind Sides. $5,000 to first.
$50 Red Zone $100K (Single Entry): $100,000 Total Prize Pool, 22.62% Cash (2x Min Cash), 1st Place 10% Prize Pool, Top 10% Payout 27% Prize Pool 11.97% Rake. Here we see a big drop of more than 2% in rake and the pay structure is way better in all aspects compared to the larger Red Zone contest. Go here for your $50 entry. $10,000 to first.
$100 Spy $500K (Single Entry): $500,000 Total Prize Pool, 20.88% Cash (1.5x Min Cash), 1st Place 20% Prize Pool, Top 10% Payout 41.20% Prize Pool 9.99% Rake. We finally get under sub 10% in rake but the min cash drops way down to 1.5x and the top 10% payout balloons to over 40%. Honestly I think I’m avoiding both $100 Spy contests but the smaller one is even worse with the top 10% accounting for over half of the total prize pool. They need to fix this one honestly. 100K to first.
Win Daily NFL Contest Selection Week 9: $100-$500 Range
$150 Power Sweep $555K (3 entry max): $555,000 Total Prize Pool, 23.72% Cash (1.5x Min Cash), 1st Place 18.02% Prize Pool, Top 10 Payout 39.01% Prize Pool 10% Rake. Back to our 3-entry max contests this one is pretty good all the way around. 10% rake, sub 40% flattened pay structure (not perfect but manageable) which at this point that’s what you’re going to see, and you are still over 23% for the cash line. 100K to first
$300 Spin Move $125K: $125,000 Total Prize Pool, 20.35% Cash (2x Min Cash), 1st Place 16% Prize Pool, Top 10 Payout 51.20% Prize Pool 9.81% Rake. Extremely top heavy at over 51% going to the top 10 and only a hair over 20% cash but it checks off every other thing we want. Sub 10% rake, under 500 entries, 2x min cash, and single entry. I’m probably firing this one up this week.
Thanks for taking the time to look through my Win Daily Sports NFL Contest Selection Week 9 . Looking forward to seeing some green screens this evening. If you have any questions about the breakdown, I will be available all day in the WinDaily Discord chat. Don’t forget to subscribe to the WinDaily Youtube channel and follow @WinDailySports on Twitter to stay current and up to date on all of our fresh new content!
