GPP stands for Guaranteed Prize Pool, which is a type of daily fantasy sports contest that has a specific total prize amount regardless of how many people join to play. The prizes are guaranteed, no matter if the contest completely fills or not. GPPs have most of the big prize payouts being dished out to those who finish at the top of the contest. The large payouts on websites like DraftKings and FanDuel get people excited about these guaranteed prize pools and it usually leads to thousands of DFS players competing by building their lineups.

GPPs have a different strategy than cash games, which can include head-to-head matchups, 50/50 contests, double-ups, and more. In cash games, almost half of the contestants end up winning money, so the strategy is to take players who are considered “chalk” plays, as many other DFS players will also gravitate toward those players. In GPPs or tournaments, 20 percent or fewer of the lineups win money, with the top finishers getting a big percentage of the winnings while that percentage drops quickly as you go down the list of winners. A GPP is all about high risk and high reward, so the strategy is to differentiate your lineup from the crowd and pick players who can put up big numbers but will likely be less consistent.