LEARN TO PLAY DRAFTKINGS
Beginners Guide To Playing DraftKings!
One of the questions we get all the time is “How do you play DraftKings?” A huge chunk of our customer base is here for sports betting and has never entertained playing daily fantasy sports before. For someone new to DraftKings, it can certainly be quite confusing with the plethora of contest types, single and multiple entries, ceilings, floors, and about one hundred other terms you likely haven't heard before. That being said, DraftKings is a fun way to spend fight day and can be consistently profitable if you use the established strategies that have proven profitable over time. If you aren't using these strategies then you are placing yourself at a disadvantage and donating your money to more experienced players. In this strategy guide, we are going to teach new players how to play DraftKings on the most basic level. Once you complete this course you can then move on to the intermediate and advanced DraftKings content. So learn to play DraftKings with We Want Picks and start seeing more green screens when you play Daily Fantasy Sports.
Inside The Course
Below you find a complete list of including topics as well as hyper links to each chapter of the Beginners DraftKings Course. Even if you have never played daily fantasy sports before you learn to play Draftkings daily fantasy in as little as just one day with the information offered in our beginners guide to playing DraftKings! If you know how to play already and are just looking for a refresher on specific topics then you can click the topic below to be taken right to that chapter. If you would like a brief overview of what is included in each chapter you can read the summaries on the tabs below.
DraftKings Glossary
50/50
A “50/50” is a type of contest on DraftKings where the top 50% of entries win approximately double their money (slightly less than double to account for the platform rake). These contests are part of the group of contests generally referred to as “cash games.”Â
Bankroll
This term refers to the amount of money you have available for use in DraftKings contests. Good bankroll management can make or break a DraftKings player.
Cash Games
This term refers to a group of contests that pay out roughly double your entry fee. This group includes 50/50s, double-ups, and head-to-head contests. These contests are the backbone of building a bankroll on DraftKings.
Ceiling
Ceiling refers to a particular fighter reaching their peak scoring output. Ceiling is the opposite of “floor” and is the performance metric you should use when building tournament lineups for large contests on DraftKings. Ceiling can also generally be related to the term “upside.”
Double-Up
A double-up is a DraftKings contest where winners double their entry fee. Since there is no rake taken out of your winnings, only the top 40% of the field will win. This contest is part of the group of contests on DraftKings commonly referred to as ‘cash games.'
Floor
The ‘floor' is a term used to describe the worst performance possible from a fighter. This term is the opposite of ‘ceiling' and is used as the benchmark for choosing fighters to place in cash game lineups.
Field
The ‘field' is the total number of entries into a specific contest. Contests with less than 1000 entries are usually considered “small-field” and contests with over 5000 entries are considered “large-field.” The area in between is a gray area and would generally be considered small-field but would come with more risk than your typical small-field contest.
GPP
This acronym stands for “Guaranteed Prize Pool” and is used within the DraftKings community as a synonym for tournament contests. The advertised prize on these contests is guaranteed to pay out, regardless if the contest fills up or not. While each DraftKings GPP contest can have a different payout structure, it is usually only about the top 10% of entries that receive a cash prize.
Head-To-Head
A head-to-head contest is part of the group of contests commonly referred to as ‘cash games.' As the name implies you are competing against only one other person, and whichever one of you have the highest score at the end of the contest win almost double your money. A small portion is taken out of the winnings for DraftKings' rake.
Multi-Entry
Multi-Entry, or multiple-entry, contests are contests that allow you to submit more than one lineup. The amount of allowed lineups can vary from 3 unique lineups, all the way up to 150 unique lineups. When someone says mutli-entry they are usually referring to a tournament contest, but there are also multiple-entry cash games as well.
Punt
A ‘punt' play is a conscience decision to spend as little as possible on a particular fighter in your DraftKings lineup. You don't expect your punt play to win, and are generally making the play to free up salary that will allow you to spend more in the higher salary ranges.
Rake
When the term ‘rake' is used it is being used to describe the commission taken by DraftKings on each contest. The industry standard rake is about 9-10% – however can be less when it comes to high-stakes games.Â
Single-Entry
The term ‘single-entry' is used when describing GPP contests that only allow each person to enter one unique lineup into the contest. This contest type is the opposite of multiple-entry.
Tournament
A ‘tournament' is a contest type where the top 10-20% of entries win the bulk of the prize money. These contests are generally high-risk high-reward DraftKings contests that have large payouts for those with the best lineups.