Guaranteed Prize Pool Leagues (GPP's)
by Derek of RotoPicks.com

If you are new to the daily fantasy sports world or have never heard of a Guaranteed Prize Pool League, this article will help explain what they are and how they work. It will also give you some pointers to use when making a team and how a different strategy comes in to play when you are playing in these types of leagues.

Tournaments and Guaranteed Prize Pools (GPP s) In addition to leagues of all different sizes (three-man, five-man, 10-man, and so on), FanDuel has a number of tournaments. These leagues have a lot of entrants—usually thousands and sometimes even five figures. Games tip off January 25th for six weeks of daily fantasy basketball action. Seven finalists (top finisher from each week, two finishers from the week 6 doubleheader) will compete in the online final for a guaranteed prize pool of $30,000, with first-place winning a cool $10,000. Here’s the schedule for the 2021 FanDuel NBA Single Entry Series.

A Guaranteed Prize Pool League (GPP) is a large field tournament where the payouts and size of the tournament are locked regardless of how many players actually join the league. A quick example of a GPP league is one that costs $5 to enter with the capacity for 100 entrants. These leagues are referred to as guaranteed because even if the league doesn't fill, it will still run and the prize pool will remain the same. In the $5 example above, even if the league doesn't reach 100 entrants, the league will still run and the total prize pool will still be $500 no matter how many people actually joined. This is one of the unique features of a GPP that you don't see with other types of leagues and can often result in overlay which is always good for daily fantasy players.

GPP entry fees can range anywhere from $2 and up, so regardless of whether you like to play in the smaller leagues or larger leagues, there will be GPP's that fit into your daily fantasy budget. As far as the amount of players in GPP's, that varies depending on the day and which fantasy site you play on. Draftkings is a great daily fantasy site that arguably puts out the best GPP's in the business. They run a ton of different GPP's every day that range from smaller fields (50 players) to larger fields (thousands of players). During the NFL season, they run a really cool league called 'The Millionaire Maker' in which 1st plays pays a cool million bucks!

Now let's get to the payouts which are by far the most attractive feature of a GPP. These leagues offer you the potential to win a much larger payout than in a traditional head to head league. In two man leagues, you face one opponent in a winner take all style, minus the rake of course. For instance, if you join an $11 head to head league on Draftkings, the winner will get $20 which isn't too bad. But if you are looking to win big, it's going to take you a long time to do it if you are only playing in head to head leagues. GPP's on the other hand offer huge payouts every day. For an example, here are the payouts for an $11 GPP on Draftkings with 100 players in it:

1st - $300.00
2nd - $210.00
3rd - $150.00
4th - $110.00
5th - $80.00
6th - $60.00
7th - $40.00
8th - $30.00
9th - $20.00

Fanduel Guaranteed Prize Pool

As you can see from the payouts above, a GPP offers you the potential to win a lot more than you would if you were in a head to head league. GPP's are also nice because you don't have to win the league to make some money; all you have to do is place in top certain amount of spots. The difficult part of a GPP is that instead of competing against one other person, in this case you would be competing against 99 other people. So while the payouts are much higher, your odds of winning or placing in the money are a lot lower.

As you can see, there are advantages and disadvantages of playing in GPP's. You can make a lot more money by winning a GPP than by winning a head to head league, but it is also a lot harder to do. So now the real question is how to make a team that will place in the money. From a strategic standpoint, playing in head to head leagues and GPP leagues are much different. When you're playing in a head to head league, you can afford to play it safe sometimes and pick a lot of players that you think are low risk, medium reward type of players because you only have to beat one opponent and you will win.

On the other hand, in a GPP, depending on the size of the league, you might have to beat 249 other players. This should change your approach when making a team. In a GPP, taking fantasy players that are safe, low risk, low reward type of players isn't usually going to help you win a GPP. In order to do that, you need to take much bigger risks and hope that your players come through for you. If a certain player is really cheap and has the potential to have a big game, then take that player and hope for the best.

Fanduel Guaranteed Prize Pool 2019

In order to win GPP's, you have to take a lot of risks and you have to have a lot of luck. But if you are looking for more bang for your buck, this is the type of league for you.