Devig source: Default vs Custom

How the devig source works

Every pick in the Fantasy optimizer has a fair, no-vig price behind it. That price is what determines whether a DFS prop is worth including in your slip — it is the yardstick the optimizer measures each pick against. The Devig source control lets you choose where that reference price comes from.

The control lives in a single Devig Books chip in the Fantasy filter bar. Selecting it reveals a Default / Custom toggle, and switching to Custom animates the Sharp Books configuration open beneath the toggle in the same chip. This is different from Positive EV, which keeps the devig source and the Sharp Books menu as two separate controls.

The devig method — how the vig is mathematically removed from the reference line — is a separate setting that operates regardless of which source you choose. See Devigging & fair value for a full explanation of the five available methods.

Default

Under Default, SmartStake selects the reference books automatically. For each pick, it finds the best qualifying sharp book with an available price and uses that line. If no single sharp book prices the prop, it falls back to the SmartStake aggregate — a canonical-grouped, outlier-filtered weighted average across many books. The aggregate fallback is only available under Default; it does not apply under Custom.

Default is the right choice for most users. You get broad coverage, automatic handling of props that only a few books price, and no configuration required. Start here unless you have specific reasons to change the reference books.

Custom

Switching to Custom replaces the automatic selection with the same fair-value calculation that the Positive EV tool uses. Specifically:

• SmartStake applies a weighted blend across the sharp books you have configured in the Sharp Books menu, respecting each book's weight, any required-book constraints, and your minimum-liquidity thresholds.
• A pick is only included if enough of your selected books price it. If the configured books do not collectively meet the minimum-books threshold for a given prop, that pick is dropped from the optimizer rather than falling back to the aggregate.
• The Sharp Books configuration — the book list, weights, required flags, and minimum-books setting — is shared directly with Positive EV. Adjustments you make in one tool carry over to the other.

When to use each

Default covers most use cases. It maximises the number of picks available, handles books coming on and off the board automatically, and requires no setup. If you are new to the Fantasy tool or not already using a custom Sharp Books configuration in Positive EV, Default is the right starting point. See the Fantasy optimizer overview for context on the full filter set.

Custom is useful when you have already dialled in a sharp-book configuration for Positive EV and want the Fantasy fair-value calculation to match it exactly. Because both tools run the same weighted-blend algorithm when Custom is active, the fair prices they assign to overlapping props are consistent. If you weight certain books more heavily or mark some as required for Positive EV, switching Fantasy to Custom ensures those same preferences govern which picks the optimizer surfaces. For background on how to configure the Sharp Books menu itself, see Custom devig in Positive EV.

Your chosen source and its full book configuration are saved with any filter preset you create in the Fantasy tool, so a saved filter restores both the source toggle and the exact book weights.