Different Daily Fantasy Competitions

It might be incredibly confusing to sign up for the first time on a daily fantasy sports website. Most websites provide a wide variety of contest and league sorts, many with names that might not be very clear. This might easily overwhelm you, yet things aren’t as difficult as they may seem.

There are only two primary forms of DFS competitions and leagues, which are versions of one other. These broad categories can be used to group them.

Casino games

Tournaments

The rest is just minutiae that is quite simple to master if you understand the principles underlying these two primary types. You should be aware that cash games have a relatively high chance of winning a relatively little amount of prize money, whereas tournaments have a relatively low chance of winning a relatively large sum of prize money.

The rest of the information you require regarding the different leagues and tournaments in daily fantasy sports is provided below. We go into further detail about cash games and tournaments as well as the numerous subtypes of each. We also provide some suggestions for selecting the competitions to enter.

Daily Cash Fantasy Games

The two types of cash game competitions you’ll typically see are 50/50s and head-to-heads. These are incredibly well-liked in large part due to how easy they are to use and how good of a chance they offer to win some money. Now that we have described how they operate, let’s look at some other cash game categories.

50/50s

There are several participants in a 50/50 fantasy sports competition, and the top 50% of the participants receive money. A 50 percent portion of the total prize money goes to each participant whose score falls within that range. Participants with scores in the bottom 50% of the field do not receive anything.

Here’s an illustration of how a 50/50 raffle might operate.

• $10 entry cost for a 50/50 raffle
• The competition has 100 paid participants.
• 50% of the field has a chance to earn cash prizes (50 entrants).
• $1,000 is the total amount of admission fees collected (100 x $10).
• The website charges a 10% fee ($100).
• ($1,000 in entry fees less $100 in commission) equals a $900 prize pool.
• ($900 / 50) The top 50 participants receive $18 apiece.

Giving yourself the highest chance of finishing in the top 50% is basically the right strategy for contests of this nature. The objective is not always to achieve the best score possible because there is no incentive for finishing in first place as contrasted to 49th place. Since there is no reward for placing in the top few slots, there is little purpose in taking any chances. Instead, you should just choose a strong lineup that should do well.

Front to front

A heads-up league or competition is quite similar to a 50/50. In fact, the concept is the same, but there are only two competitors. The participant with the highest score prevails; the loser is eliminated. The right approach for head-to-head matches is much the same as for 50/50 matches. Instead of aiming for the biggest score possible, you should aim for a low-risk strategy that will be sufficient to defeat your opponent.

Due to the roughly 50% probability of nearly doubling your registration fee, head-to-heads and 50/50s are also referred to as double-up competitions. Take note of the word almost. Because of the commission fees the website charges, it’s not nearly double.

Additional Cash Games

The double up idea can be used in a variety of ways, such as triple up, 4X, or 5X contests.

Despite the fact that you must position higher to win, these are still regarded as cash games. The payouts are better than the entrance, which is a positive.

Here is one of these as an illustration.

• Contest Triple Up: $10 Entry Fee
• The competition has 30 paid participants.
• 33% of the field has a chance to earn cash prizes (10 entrants).
• $30 in admission fees were received (30 x $10).
• The website charges a 10% fee ($30).
• $300 in entrance fees less $30 in commission equals a $270 prize pool.
• The top ten participants ($270 / 10) get $27 each.

As you can see, a triple up functions quite similarly to a 50/50. Although winning is a little bit more difficult, the benefits are bigger. Only the top 25% of competitors would win in a 4X event, and only the top 20% in a 5X tournament.

Daily fantasy competitions

Contests with tournaments generally draw a sizable number of participants. For the winners, they have stepped payout schedules. Although your chances of winning are smaller, these leagues reward high variance play with a bigger payout.

Concerning The Payment Structures

Typically, only the top 10% or top 20% of competitors in a tournament receive payouts due to the tiered payout structure. You receive more the higher your score. For instance, the prize money for winning a tournament might be $10,000, $5,000 for second place, and $2000 for third place.

Cash games and tournaments fundamentally have two key differences. The first is that fewer participants are rewarded in tournaments, and the second is that the prize money gained in tournaments fluctuates according to the placing. The tactics used in tournaments differ greatly from those used in cash games.

Overlays and Guaranteed Prize Pools

Daily fantasy sports services frequently host tournaments with guaranteed prize pools to create excitement (GPP). This indicates that regardless of the number of participants in the tournament, the prize pool is guaranteed. In a GPP tournament, it’s probable that the site will have to make up the difference as the buy-ins often cover the prize pool.

Here’s an illustration:

• $20 entry fee, $20,000 guaranteed in the GPP Contest
• The competition has 800 paid participants.
• (800 x $20) equals $16,000 in admission costs overall.
• Due to the guarantee, the prize pool is remain $20,000 today.
• The $4,000 discrepancy is made up by the DFS website.

An overlay is the sum of the admission fees actually paid and the guarantee. Overlay circumstances should be loved by competitors since they produce wagers with favorable expectations.

Assume that all participants in the aforementioned example tournament have an equal probability of winning (i.e., they are all equally skilled). Let’s also suppose that only first place pays out, and that the victor receives the full $20,000 to keep the math simple.

You would have had a 1 in 800 chance of winning if you had spent $20 to enter this competition. Your investment would receive a 1,000:1 return in that payout. According to the chances, if you enter 800 contests just like this, you’ll only win once and lose 799 times.

You receive a $20,000 payment if you win. You lose $20 the remaining 799 times, for a grand total loss of $15,980. Over $5 per tournament, or $4020, was made from those 800 tournaments. Another way to look at it is that your $20 entry fee to each tournament is actually worth slightly more than $25.

Not all of the math is necessary for this, after all. Just be aware that overlay scenarios are advantageous. Even if you never improve your team selection skills above average, if you exclusively participate in tournaments with overlays, you can virtually always make money.

Please remember that the likelihood of finding an overlay situation decreases as a site’s popularity increases. As a result, it may be advantageous to test out new websites that are still in their infancy because they may offer more opportunities for value-added overlays. However, you should also keep an eye out for overlay opportunities at the well-known sites.

Additional Tournament Changes

There are a few additional tournament type options. The most popular are qualifications and step competitions.

Steps are designed to allow for numerous buy-in levels for events. You can buy in for a bargain at the lower levels and work your way up to the higher buy-in steps by winning.

Here’s an illustration of how a standard step tournament is set up:

• Step 1 is a $10 competition with 10 participants.
• Entrance to Step 2 is free for the winners and runners-up.
• Third and fourth place winners are given free access to Step 1 again.
• The six losers receive nothing.
• Step 2 involves a $10 contest with 10 participants.
• Step 3 is complimentary for the winners and runners-up.
• Third and fourth place winners are given free access to Step 2 again.
• The six losers receive nothing.
• Step 3 is a 10 person contest with a $25 entrance fee.
• 1st place and 2nd place earn free access to Step 4.
• 3rd place and 4th place gain a free entry back to Step 3.
• The six losers receive nothing.
• Step 3 is a 10 person contest with a $25 entrance fee.
• 1st place and 2nd place get $200 apiece.
• The bottom 4 get nothing.

Step contests are interesting because they give the possibility to parlay $2 into $200. You don’t absolutely have to go through the first three steps to get into the final tournament though, as you can purchase right into steps 2, 3, or 4 if you choose. The exact specifications for step contests differ from one site to the next, but they all follow the same fundamental formula.

Qualifiers are closely related to step tournaments. These are contests with a reasonably modest entry price, but you don’t gain any money for winning them. Instead, you get admission into a higher-priced tournament. For example, there might be a qualifier with a $2 entrance cost to a tournament where the prize is a ticket to another tournament which ordinarily requires an entry fee of $100.

Qualifiers are also sometimes termed satellites. As with steps, you can go through many qualifiers or satellites before arriving to the final tournament with the cash prizes.

Which Contests are Best?

There’s no correct answer to this question. It really comes down to what your goals are, or simply what you prefer playing. Recreational DFS players might play a wide variety of leagues and contests just for their entertainment value. Serious players might be more interested in grinding out small profits over large numbers of cash games. Some players might just prefer the challenge of trying to win a big payday.

No matter what your goals or preferences are, you’re sure to find a contest or league type to suit. The best approach is probably to experiment with various options and then decide which ones you enjoy the most, or which ones give you the best chance of making money. Just remember that strategy varies according to which kind of contest you’re playing in though.

For example, in cash games, you’d rather have a roster that gives you a 70% chance of landing in the top 50% than a roster that gives you a 20% chance of landing in the top 10%. You don’t get any kind of bonus for a super-high score. On the other hand, in tournaments, you want to aim for the top 10%. This means taking risks, such as embracing players who aren’t performing great but might have a breakout week. You’ll also stack players differently in tournaments versus cash games.