Research · October 2, 2026 CT
Rodgers CPT, Roman Wilson, and a 120-Point Tie for First: PIT @ CLE Showdown Takeaways
A mid-owned Rodgers captain build with cheap Roman Wilson tied for first; chalk Warren CPT missed the top tier.
Cash games · Double-ups
NFL DFS double-up strategy
NFL DFS double-up strategy for DraftKings Showdown: where the cash line lands, and why the chalk build is the line you have to beat.
A double-up pays when you beat a little more than half the room. You do not need the highest score on the slate. You need to be on the right side of the cash line, and that line is often the score of the lineup the field already copied.
In the $2 Sunday night double-up, 555 of 1,149 entries (48.3%) played the same captain and five flexes. Another 294 played that build with a different kicker. Together those two lineups were 73.9% of the room, and the kicker slot was what separated a tie at the cash line from a miss. Across all 12 of those double-ups, the version with the lower-scoring kicker cashed in none of them.
That is the double-up lens we use on later slates, including Monday Night Football Showdown: start from the chalk build, then decide which one or two slots are worth changing. The lineup we actually submit is in the subscriber half of each weekly note.
Questions
How does NFL DFS double-up strategy differ from tournament strategy?
Tournaments pay the tails, so unique lineups can win. A double-up pays roughly the top half of the field. In our Sunday night sample the cash line was the chalk lineup’s score in 10 of 12 rooms, so a full fade of that build was a bet against the line itself.
Do you publish the double-up lineup for free?
No. The public note names the matchup, the angle, and one chart. The lineup, our results, and the locked rules are subscriber-only and are not included in the HTML for logged-out readers.
More questions and answers: Showdown, double-ups and golf DFS
Notes
Post-mortem · September 29, 2026 CT
Case Keenum, Kalif Raymond and a Double-Up That Split in Two: PHI @ CHI Showdown Takeaways
Two near-identical chalk builds split every PHI @ CHI double-up room — and only one was the cash line.
Research · September 28, 2026 CT
The Chalk Is the Cash Line: What 3,631 Showdown Double-Up Entries Taught Us
What 3,631 DraftKings Showdown double-up entries say about the cash line, chalk, and NFL DFS cash-game strategy.
Research · September 28, 2026 CT
DraftKings NFL Showdown Strategy: The Chalk Is the Cash Line, So What Do Top-10 Lineups Do Differently?
Our DK Showdown standings data: the chalk lineup set the double-up cash line, while top-10 tournament lineups made small, specific pivots off it.
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