What a DFS optimizer does
Every daily fantasy contest gives you a salary cap and a set of roster spots. Out of hundreds of players there are billions of legal lineups, and an optimizer finds the ones with the most projected points, in seconds, without breaking the rules.
It is a math problem, not a guess: the optimizer searches every combination that fits the cap and the positions and keeps the best. What you put in (projections and rules) decides what comes out.
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1
Projections
How many fantasy points each player is expected to score, plus a floor, a ceiling and projected ownership.
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2
Rules
Salary cap, roster spots, and your own limits: locks, excludes, stacks, exposure.
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3
Lineups
The best lineups that satisfy every rule, each one different from the last.
Projections are the input
An optimizer is only as good as its projections. DraftDime projects every player with five sets you can build from: Normal, GPP, Cash, Floor and Ceiling. Cash leans on safe production, GPP and Ceiling on upside.
You can blend sets (for example mostly Normal with some Ceiling), boost or cut a player you have a read on, or upload your own projections and mix them with ours.
Building many different lineups
One optimal lineup is easy; tournaments reward a portfolio. The optimizer keeps finding the next-best lineup that is different enough from the ones it already has, until you have as many unique lineups as you asked for.
Rules shape that portfolio:
- Minimum unique players between any two lineups
- Exposure limits: the most (or least) share of lineups a player can be in
- Locks and excludes, including locking a player into one roster spot
- Salary range, minimum projection and maximum players from one team
- Player groups, like "at most one of these three running backs"
- Ownership rules, like "at least two players under 10% owned"
Stacking and correlation
Fantasy points are not independent. When a quarterback throws for 350 yards, his receivers caught them; when a game turns into a shootout, both teams score. Stacking puts correlated players together so your lineup gets the upside of the same outcome.
Pick a stack type and the optimizer applies it to every lineup: teammates (a team stack), players from one game (a game stack), or teammates plus a player from the other side (a bring-back). Save your setup as a strategy to reuse it every slate.
Ownership and leverage
In a large tournament, beating the field matters more than scoring the most points on average. If everyone plays the same chalk, a lineup full of it splits the prize with everyone else.
Projected ownership tells you who the field is on. Ownership rules, like "at least two players under 10% owned" or "at most two players over 30% owned", build in leverage without giving up much projection.
After the build: entries and late swap
Every build is saved with its lineups and an exposure report, so you can see how much of the portfolio each player is in before you enter.
Export a CSV for DraftKings or FanDuel, or assign lineups straight to your contest entries. When news breaks after the first games start, late swap replaces players whose games have not started and keeps the rest. To see which lineups are actually profitable, run them through the DFS simulator.
Try the optimizer
Open the optimizer for your sport, browse the slate and set up your rules before you sign up.
FAQ
It searches every combination of players that fits the salary cap and roster spots and keeps the lineup with the most projected points. For more lineups it keeps taking the next-best lineup that differs enough from the ones it already has.
Yes, with the right rules. Stacks, exposure limits and ownership rules turn a list of high-projection lineups into a tournament portfolio that can beat the field.
An optimizer builds lineups from projections. A simulator plays out the contest thousands of times against a realistic field and ranks lineups by expected ROI.
Yes. Upload a CSV of your projections in the DraftDime optimizer and build from them alone or blended with DraftDime projections.