DFS Tournament Tracking – NFL Week 1

Daily fantasy NFL tournaments provide opportunity for all kinds of players to get into the game. Whether you are a low-stakes grinder, casual player, or nose-bleed stakes sharp, the tournament space has a contest for you. But how to select the right ones? 

That’s where DFS Tournament Tracking comes into play. This piece will give all the information you need to know about various tournaments on DraftKings and FanDuel. Here are some of the terms you will need to know to get full value out of this data:

• Rake – Percent of entry money paid to the contest provider.
• First – Percent of prize money to first place.
• Top 10 – Percent of prize money to the top 10 places.
• Pays – Percent of entrants finishing in the money.
• Min Cash – How much a minimum cash is worth divided by the entry fee.

The tournaments will be put into similar groups so you can easily compare based on your bankroll and play style. 

Mass multi-entry 

High stakes

• Both DraftKings and FanDuel will change up their offerings in Week 1 to provide players with more incentive to join and stick with DFS for the season. This year, DraftKings has put two different Millionaire-Makers in the lobby for Week 1. The $100 version offers some of the lowest rake you’ll see in an MME contest. 

• If you don’t feel like ponying up for the Milly, the Combine on DraftKings has the flattest structure of this group of tournaments and will provide users with the full 2x min cash that many players seek. 

• The Bomb and Bootleg provide something in between the Milly and Combine, with the former being the only high stakes MME contest available on FanDuel.

Mid-stakes

• If you aren’t looking to pay massive rake, these are not the tournaments for you. Every GPP in this section has a rake between 14.98 and 16 percent.

• Both sites are offering lower-dollar contests with a million up top. The DraftKings version has a larger overall prize pool, and flatter payout structure. If you don’t mind the differences in scoring, it should be your preferred target. Both tournaments are candidates for major overlay

• The Hail Mary has the smallest prize pool but also has less than 5,000 entrants. It also comes with a very favorable payout structure.

• The Slants on DraftKings is perhaps the best overall tournament in this group. The number of entrants is not terribly large versus other MME contests, and it has a flat payout structure. What differentiates this from the Hail Mary is that it offers a nice $30,000 prize to first.

Low stakes

• If your account does not have the experienced player designation on FanDuel, then the Huddle is an amazing opportunity for you. The Rake is more than 33% lower than any other low stakes MME contest, and the payout structure is flat. It also has the largest prize pool of the bunch.

• FanDuel is likely the place to go if you are an MME baller on a budget. Only the Mini-Max makes this group from DraftKings, and it pays the least number of entrants by a fair amount. 

• Most of these prize structures are fairly flat, but the Dive, Hail Mary and Pooch Punch are aggressively so.

• The Pooch punt is a massive contest but provides players grinding micro-stakes the chance to win a legit prize. First place will win $1,500 at just a five-cent entry fee. You can max enter this for just $7.50.

Between 10 and 50 entries

High stakes

• Those playing nosebleed stake games typically are paying the least amount of rake, and we see that here with most contests coming in under 10%.

• The prize-structures appear to be aggressively top-heavy at first, but they all have a fairly low number of entrants. 

• Contest selection here appears to be a lot more about how much you’re looking to get down versus the overall quality of the contests.

Mid-stakes

• The Blitz on FanDuel has a huge prize pool versus the other tournaments in this group, but it also is incredibly top-heavy, paying out a third of the money to first.

• DraftKings has smaller prize pools and fields but pays out about half as much to first place. The entry limits are also a little smaller.

Low stakes

• There are a lot of different contest types here, but all have flat payout structures.

• The Play-Action and First Down have huge prize pools for lower stakes players to attack.

• Though all of these tournaments are on DraftKings with a 20-entry limit, there is a huge range in the number of entries. Those looking to play against smaller fields may prefer the Front Four or Safety.

Less than 10 entries

High stakes

• All of the high stakes games with low entry limits feature low rake and small contest sizes.

• DraftKings is offering the Mega Bargain Bin, which features guaranteed overlay. The prize pool is 10% bigger than the total entry fees.

• The SWEAT on FanDuel is perhaps the most unique tournament in all of DFS. It pays about as much of the field as a double-up would, but min cash only rewards a user his or her money back. It also comes with a very flat payout structure. This is a great tournament for those looking to dip their toes into high stakes for the first time.

Mid-stakes

• There is another Bargain Bin contest at the mid-stakes level, with the same parameters as the high stakes version.

• The FanDuel Touchdown gives users more than 2x their fee with min cash and is a five-entry max. You won’t get rich for winning first, but it is a very balanced tournament.

Low stakes

The maximum number of entries in these contest are higher than at the other levels, so it will be a little tougher to get to first place. Fortunately, the payout structures are all very balanced, and many contests return a 2x min cash

• The Onside Kick on FanDuel is one of the exceptions here. The tradeoff is a lower first place prize, but it could be worth it if you are someone who prefers to target smaller fields

• The Hard Count on DraftKings has the least flat of all the payout structures, giving almost 40% of prize money to the top 10. It also has the largest field in its price point.