How to Build a DFS Player Pool
A DFS player pool is the set of players you are willing to roster on a slate, plus the limits on how often. Build it by removing players for a stated reason, limiting the ones you want less of, and leaving a note on anyone you are unsure about. Every exclusion should have a reason you could say out loud.
Start with the slate and the job
Pick the site and slate, and decide what the pool is for: one lineup, a shortlist, or a full set for entries you have already made. A pool for one lineup can be narrow. A pool for 20 has to be wide enough to build 20 different lineups.
Out is not the same as unsure
A made-up pool of six: Arden, Bell, Cruz, Dune, Ellis and Frost. Bell has been ruled out. Frost's role this week is unclear.
- Bell: excluded, with the reason and the time you confirmed it.
- Frost: kept, marked "check before lock."
Removing Frost because he might not play turns a guess into a rule, and you won't remember making it. Leave him in with a note and decide when you know.
Exclude, limit and boost do different things
On the Lineups page the controls are:
- Max caps a player's share of your set. A Max of 0 excludes him.
- Min asks for at least that share.
- Glb sets the default maximum for everyone without a Max of his own.
- Bst moves a player up or down the priority order. A boost of +100 is a preference. It is not 100% exposure and it does not change his projection.
Minimums round up to whole lineups and maximums round down. With 7 lineups, a 30% minimum needs 3 and a 30% maximum allows 2.
Check the pool can do the job
Tight rules can leave too few lineups to choose from, and the tool tells you which limit couldn't be met. When that happens, relax a rule, widen the pool or ask for fewer lineups. Don't quietly put an excluded player back to make the count work. That undoes a decision you made on purpose, without deciding to.
After the build
Count the finished set. Excluded players should be absent. Limited players should be at or under their limit: a player in 3 of 12 lineups is 25%. Keep that number apart from his ownership estimate. Exposure is about your lineups. Ownership is about everyone else's.
Leave a note
Write one line for each change, with the reason: "Bell removed, ruled out, 6:05." A note that says "improved the pool" tells you nothing next week.
Where to see it
Lineup browsing and the Portfolio Builder are part of Apex, for NFL and MLB. Open the NFL tool for the current slate, read the field guide for the step-by-step workflow, or compare memberships. Once the set is built, run the six-point lineup review.
Related: DFS ownership vs. projections