Contest selection is one of the most important yet overlooked aspects of DFS Baseball. Understanding what type of contest you are in and what contests are available will go a long way in determining your success in daily fantasy. Some contests carry more risk than others and the roster that you construct should be dependent on the type of contests that you are entering. Let’s look at the most common DFS contests for MLB:

CASH GAMES

Cash games are generally Double-Ups and 50/50 contests. The winners in Cash-Type games will normally double their investment (minus the 10% or so rake that the site keeps). Cash games do not require a lineup with a huge score, just enough to beat 50% of the field. So, in an 80-person Double-Up, the player that finishes 40th will receive the same amount of prize money as the player that finished in the first place. 

Cash games are the “security blanket” of most DFS players. Bankrolls are built off cash games and as will be discussed in an upcoming Bankroll Management article the rule of thumb is that players should play 80% of their daily investment in Cash games and 20% in the riskier GPPs.

Consistency and minimizing risk are the key to cash games. You do not need risky plays since you are only trying to finish in the top 50 percent. Look for players with high floors that get on base and hit near the top of the order. Paying up for good pitching is another cash game strategy, especially for pitchers who are the heaviest favorites with the lowest run total against strikeout-heavy teams. 

GUARANTEED PRIZE POOL (GPP)

So, do you ever go on Twitter and see people posting big DFS money wins? Those huge prizes come from Guaranteed Prize Pool contests or GPPs. In GPPs usually, 20% or less of the lineups playing will win money (compared to 50% in Cash games) with the top finishers gaining the biggest percentage of the prize pool. GPPs carry much more risk than the other type of contests but also have higher payouts- high risk and high reward. There are mass multi-entry GPPs where players can enter up to 150 lineups in a single contest and then GPPs that are capped at a lower number of entries. The popular limit entry GPPs are 20-entry max, four-entry max, three-entry max, and single-entry max contests. While the big multi-entry GPPs are more like a lottery and take a little luck to take down a huge prize the single-entry GPPs are popular since it puts you on a more level playing field with everyone only allowed to enter one lineup.

If you want to win real money at DFS then GPPs are the route. Just know that there will be immense swings compared to the safety of Cash games. You are going to lose on more nights than you win but if you play the contests right your wins will more than makeup for the losses. GPP strategy is for the long-term players that have a long-term process. 

HEAD-TO-HEAD

This contest is self-explanatory. It’s you against another player. The highest score wins the total of the entry fees. You may want to take a little more risk than large field Double-Ups but not as much as in GPPs as you just want to separate yourself a little bit from your opponent.  

MULTIPLIERS

Multipliers are a combination of Cash games and GPPs. You can play 2X (like 50/50 or Double Ups), 3X, 5X, and even 10X. The higher the multiplier, the higher that you need to finish to cash but the payouts are fixed based on your buy-ins. These contests can be profitable but risky so you would be using GPP-type builds.