The Contest Simulation sheet describes the contests your pool is simulated against. Each contest is a scenario with its own size, entry cap, your entry count, and payouts. The same controls live on the Sim tab of Build Settings in Build & Sim mode, and the scenario list is shared between the two places.
Before you start
- Build a pool, then open the sheet with Simulate in the lineups panel. See Run your first sim.
- If you uploaded an entries CSV, the scenarios are locked to the contests in the file. See Upload your entries.
The sheet
The scenarios sit in a rail on the left, and the selected scenario's detail on the right. The footer button reads Run Simulation for one scenario and Run N Simulations for more.
Every control
Sim Scenarios
| Control | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Add scenario | Adds a scenario with the default economics. Disabled when an entries file sets the scenarios. | One scenario, Sim 1 |
| Scenario row | Name, then size, type, and fee. Click a row to edit it. | |
| Same as Sim 1 | Marks a scenario whose settings equal an earlier one. Both return identical results, so change one field before you run. | |
| Name field | The scenario's label. A prefilled scenario takes a short name from the contest. | Sim N |
| Duplicate scenario | Copies the selected scenario. Change one field to compare two contest sizes. | |
| Remove scenario | Deletes the selected scenario with an Undo toast. Disabled on the last scenario and when an entries file sets the scenarios. |
Prefill from Contest
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Prefill from Contest | Opens a searchable list of the slate's contests. Picking one fills the scenario. It never starts a sim. |
| No contest (enter manually) | Detaches the scenario from its contest and clears the entry cap, so every field is yours to set. |
| Your Entries / Most Popular / All Contests | The contests you entered, the 5 with the most entries, then every other contest. A contest already used by another scenario is disabled. |
A pick sets Contest Size, Entry Size, Entry Fee, and Prize Pool from the contest. 1st Place and Paid % change only when the contest carries a real payout ladder. Entry Size and My Entries both take the contest's per-user cap, so a 20-max contest reads 20 and a single-entry contest reads 1. Lower My Entries by hand to enter fewer. Each row in the list shows that cap ("Single entry", "20-max") beside the entry fee and field size. A cash or head-to-head contest becomes a cash scenario; everything else becomes a GPP.
Contest Size
| Control | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Contest Size | Total entries in the contest, from 2 to 2,000,000. The 500, 2K, 10K, 25K, and 50K buttons set common sizes. | 10,000 |
Top 1% and Top 5% are shares of the contest field.
Entry Size
| Control | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Entry Size | Max entries per user in this contest, from 1 up to the contest cap (500 when the cap is unknown). The 1, 3, 20, and 150 buttons set common values. | 150 |
Entry Size caps how many of your lineups sit inside the simulated field. The number that co-enters is the smaller of My Entries and Entry Size.
My Entries
| Control | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| My Entries | How many of your lineups enter this contest, from 1 up to the contest cap (10,000 when the cap is unknown). The 1, 3, 20, and 150 buttons set common values. | 150 |
My Entries sizes this scenario's share of the working set. After the sim, the total of My Entries across the scenarios locks the Entries Preview count on the lineups panel, the same way an uploaded entries file does. A value above the contest's cap shows Over this contest's limit. with a Set to N button.
Payout Structure
| Control | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Entry Fee | The fee per entry, above $0. Sets the rake and the ROI base. | $10 |
| Prize Pool | The total prizes, at least $1. | $85,000 |
| 1st Place | The top prize, at least $1. | $10,000 |
| Paid % | The share of the field that gets paid, above 0% and up to 100%. | 20% |
| % to 1st | 1st Place divided by Prize Pool. Reads Satellite when 1st Place is above the pool. | 11.8% |
| Reset to defaults | Returns the tab-level settings to their defaults. Every scenario keeps its contest and economics. |
How it works
The payout ladder
For a GPP, rank 1 gets 1st Place and the rest of the Prize Pool decays down the paid ranks, steeply at the top and flat near the bottom. For a cash contest, the Prize Pool splits evenly across the paid ranks and 1st Place is ignored. A cash contest with an unknown Paid % pays 50% of the field. A FanDuel contest with a real per-place ladder uses it as is.
There is no GPP or cash switch. A prefilled contest sets the type. A hand-made scenario is classified from its payout shape, and the rail row shows the type it will use.
Scenarios from an entries file
With an entries CSV on the slate, the sheet holds one scenario per contest you entered, with that contest's size, entry cap, your entry count, fee, and prize pool. You cannot add or remove scenarios or edit the numbers. Remove or replace the entries file to set the scenarios by hand.
Warnings that never block
- Satellite. "1st prize is larger than the prize pool, so this is a satellite. Its seat value is ignored and payouts are modeled as a flat split of the pool."
- Prize Pool above the fees collected. "The prize pool is bigger than the $<fees> this contest collects in entry fees. That is real overlay only when a guaranteed contest does not fill, so confirm the contest values before you trust the ROI below." Prefill from the real contest, or check the Prize Pool, Entry Fee, and Contest Size you typed.
- Rake above 50%. "This contest keeps <k>% of the $<fees> it collects in entry fees. Real contests keep about 15%, so the ROI below will read far worse than any contest you can enter."
A run sims at most 50 scenarios. Past 50, it sims the contest with the largest field, then the contests with the most money entered; the others fill without a sim of their own.
Tips
- Prefill from the real contest first, then edit only what you must. A guessed Paid % moves Cash% more than any other field.
- Match My Entries to what you will really enter. It decides how many of your lineups fight each other in the field and how many the panel selects.
- For a hand-made single-entry scenario set Entry Size and My Entries to 1. A prefilled single-entry contest sets both for you. The sim then shows how one lineup fares alone.
- Keep the Entry Fee honest. ROI is measured against it, so a fee lower than the real one makes every lineup look better than it is.
Troubleshooting
"Scenarios come from your uploaded entries" : remove or replace the entries file to add scenarios by hand.
"Same settings as Sim 1. The simulation is deterministic, so this scenario will produce identical results. Change its contest size, entry fee or payouts to test something different." : change one field on the second scenario, or remove it.
"Over this contest's limit. This contest allows N entries per user. The simulation will use N." : click Set to N.
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