Fantasy sports were a common pastime long before the internet came along, but with the advent of daily fantasy sports sites, it’s experienced a meteoric rise in popularity.
It’s now become something that encompasses serious gamblers as well as hobbyists, meaning the need for daily fantasy sports strategies are more vital than ever. That’s where this article comes in. Read on to find out more about various daily fantasy sports strategy games.
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Daily fantasy sports strategy is essential for anyone who hopes to make money from betting on fantasy sports. Whether it’s
daily fantasy sports football
strategies, fantasy baseball basics, or some other sport, having a solid daily fantasy sports strategy can help you make informed decisions about when to wager.
Even though the sports may differ, every type of sports strategy still has some things in common. For example, whether you’re looking for a strategy for daily fantasy football, or hockey, you need a suitable understanding of the sport itself.
The rules, top teams and players – even if it’s the type of sport where players are prone to injuries on a regular basis. All of these things and more are critical to developing and understanding a worthy daily fantasy sports strategy.
If you’re new to daily fantasy sports strategy games, or consider yourself familiar with daily fantasy sports, you can always learn something. Below we go into greater detail about daily fantasy sports, DFS fantasy football strategy, and other respective strategy tips.
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Playing to Win – Your Guide to Daily Fantasy Sports Betting
1. The Basics of DFS Betting
What constitutes a fantasy sport?
If you’re completely new to daily fantasy sports strategy you’d be forgiven for picturing betting on whose dragon is going to beat whose dwarf. As entertaining as that would be, daily fantasy sports strategy is always based on real sports.
American football and soccer are two of the most popular sports that prove fashionable in the world of fantasy sports, although you’ll probably find there’s a fantasy league for just about any sport.
Whichever real-world sport appears as a fantasy game, a daily fantasy sports strategy always involves picking (real) players for your fantasy team. Your team then ‘plays’ other players’ fantasy lineups across various games, until one team is left as the overall winner.
Depending on the fantasy sport, the above can happen in one day or week, or sometimes longer. We’ll look at all this in more detail below.
Is DFS legal?
One of the most interesting aspects of daily fantasy sports is that many states in the US consider it a game of skill, rather than outright gambling. However, this is where we would like to remind you that many states have different laws to each other, so always double-check that DFS betting is allowed where you live, before you dive into daily fantasy sports strategy.
DFS as a professional activity
This is an idea that is a little harder to get into, given how each daily fantasy sports strategy changes depending on the sport it’s for. What we would say is that, as with gambling on real-world sport, of course it’s possible to try your hand at becoming a professional at DFS betting.
However, bear in mind that this is a serious route to take that involves extensive research and gambling nuance. As such, we strongly recommend devouring any daily fantasy sports strategy you can find before diving into DFS betting. Reading this article is an excellent start, so keep going.
2. Ways To Play DFS
There are generally considered to be two main ways you can play fantasy sports: Guaranteed Prize Pools (GPPs) and cash games. Let’s take a look at these below:
Guaranteed Prize Pools
Often referred to as tournaments, GPPS are typically better suited to more experienced players. These also usually involve playing against more people, and incorporate lower floors (a low floor means a player picked for a DFS team has a risk of doing little or nothing statistically, whereas high floor players perform well in real life, affecting their DFS stats).
Cash games
Most cash games are short-lived, ie. take less time than a GPP game, making them an ideal avenue for new or inexperienced players. Daily fantasy sports strategy for cash games also tends to be more streamlined, with match-ups involving less complicated stat management and rosters.
Beginner DFS games
Moving on from the above point, there are a few game types that make using a daily fantasy sport strategy that bit easier. Chiefly, Head-To-Head (H2H), Double-Ups and Experienced Players Excluded(EPE) games.
H2H is exactly what it sounds like – often it’s just you and one other person, making these types of games the perfect environment for testing and refining a daily fantasy sport strategy.
Double-Ups can involve multiple players, but can also pay out double your contest entry fee if you’re in the top 45% of players. At the most basic level, it’s a good daily fantasy sport strategy to play these games, as they have the potential to be low-risk, high reward. These types of DFS games are also sometimes referred to as ‘50/50’.
EPEs are also what they sound like – low-level DFS players can take part in these games and not worry about a more professional player coming in and utterly obliterating them.
Advanced DFS games
Double-Ups and 50/50 games are known as Multipliers, as they involve a prize that relies on some form of – you guessed it – multiplier. However, many GPP also involve Multipliers, but considerably more complex and involved. For example, a GPP tournament may take place over several games, with each win increasing the overall prize multiplier.
As you can imagine, if you’re going to dip your toes into these sort of DFS tournaments, then having a decent daily fantasy sports strategy is especially crucial. The same goes for other higher-level DFS betting options, particularly any tournament that takes place over a prolonged period of time.
However, having said that, one daily fantasy sports strategy that can be useful for newer players is to play an EPE tournament. These can provide vital practice and take some of the stress off putting all your skill into a single game.
3. DFS Scoring Guides
We’ve talked about how a daily fantasy sports strategy depends entirely on the sport itself, even though there is common ground between, say,
daily fantasy basketball strategy
or a daily fantasy football strategy.
One example of how daily fantasy sports strategy is simultaneously the same but different, is in scoring guides. In other words, every daily fantasy sports strategy relies on understanding, perhaps even exploiting, a scoring guide. Each fantasy sport involves certain actions or events equating to points, so we’ll have an eyeball at a few examples now.
DFS NFL Scoring Guide
First, a caveat. These scoring guides are by no means extensive – they’re more to whet your appetite with regards to daily fantasy sports strategy. If you’re interested in knowing more about a particular DFS scoring guide, we recommend checking out other articles on our site.
Now, though, here’s some information on football scoring. This is broken into two parts: Offense and Defense. A few quick examples of Offense scoring include:
Punt return touchdowns: 6 points
Field-goals from 50+ yards: 5 points
Receiving yards: 0.1 points
Defensive scores include:
Return touchdowns: 6 points
7-13 points allowed: 4 points
35+ points allowed: minus(-)4 points
As you can start to see, pretty much any in-game action can lead to points, both positive and negative. Now, as a comparison, let’s take a look at DFS baseball scoring.
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DFS MLB Scoring Guide
As with DFS NFL, Major League Baseball is split into two forms of scoring. However, since the sport is played differently, points are accrued by either a Hitter or Pitcher. For example, a Hitter can score by:
Hitting a home run: 12 points
Reaching second base: 6 points
Getting to first base: 3 points
Pitchers can score points by doing the following:
Win: 6 points
Quality Start: 4 points
Strike Out: 3 points
Something that potentially complicates a daily fantasy sport strategy is that scoring guides may change from place to place. For example, should you use a well-known DFS betting website, they may award more points for certain actions than others. Also, if you play with friends or a private league, they may well use their own scoring guide.
In short, to help develop the best daily fantasy sports strategy you can, always make sure you’re familiar with the scoring guide being used for that particular sport.
4. Money and bankroll management
Responsible gambling
Although bankroll management is self-explanatory, it still bears reiterating that responsible money handling is a key factor in gambling well. Whether that’s as part of a daily fantasy sports strategy or trying your hand at online casino slots, the principal’s the same.
The core tenants of sound fiscal management should always incorporate: Only bet what you can afford to lose, don’t wager in a game you’re not experienced in, and be mindful of promotions (if you’re DFS betting via an online site).
Promotions and bonus wagering
Let’s take a closer look at that last point. It’s common for online gambling sites to offer bonuses and promotions, usually to new players. By all means accept one of these offers if it seems worthwhile, but if you’re looking to develop a daily fantasy sports strategy, it would help to find a relevant bonus.
In other words, make sure that a bonus can be used on DFS betting before you claim it. Otherwise, you’ll potentially find yourself in a situation with money in an online gambling account but no desire or ability to use it on whatever it’s supposed to be used on for the bonus.
DFS operator terms and conditions
This also leads onto another point, which is to check a
best daily fantasy sports sites’ terms and conditions. Not just to ensure you’re able to make use of any promotions for DFS wagering, but that the website is legal in your state, for example.
Reputable gambling sites are always as transparent as possible, but if you’re trying to find or develop a daily fantasy sports strategy then it never hurts to double-check a site’s policies.
VIP/Loyalty programs
Loyalty points, even VIP status levels, are things fast becoming more popular – perhaps even expected – on gambling websites. We can’t speak for every site out there, so therefore recommend checking out other articles on here related to the best rewards promotions available.
5. Ultimate Tips For DFS Betting
1. Know your sport
We’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but it really is one of the most crucial aspects to DFS betting, and gambling overall. Learn whatever you can about a sport, its top teams and players, and relevant vocabulary.
2. Familiarise yourself with a scoring guide
As we’ve shown above, different fantasy sports incorporate different scoring guides. Make sure you know which one is being used for the DFS games you’re playing.
3. Don’t punch above your weight
As tempting as it might be to dive right into big money DFS games, take your time and get a few practice or low-level games under your belt first.
4. Understand DFS lingo
Similar to the first point, but DFS specific. If you’re still not sure what a ‘floor’ is, 3-100 means, or what CV refers to, check out other DFS guides before starting on your own daily fantasy sports strategy.
Your Most Asked Questions About DFS Strategy
If you’re using, or developing, a daily fantasy sports strategy, these are five of the most common questions you might have:
🏈 Which sports can I play as a DFS?
Practically any! If you’re using an established DFS site, the choices will likely include American football, soccer, baseball and basketball, but almost any sport can be played as a fantasy sport.
📈 Is there a ‘one size fits all’ daily fantasy sports strategy?
No. Although we’ve established that there’s overlap between sports, in terms of available contests and scoring principles, the sports themselves remain different enough from each other that each one requires a specific daily fantasy sports strategy.
❓ How do I know what points each player is worth?
Part of every daily fantasy sports strategy involves knowing the best way to create a stellar lineup. This always involves choosing players by their points value. However, different DFS betting sites and leagues may well use different systems, so make sure to check.
⁉️ Which is the best daily fantasy sports strategy?
This depends entirely on personal preference, as well as the sport. Our comparison guide for daily fantasy sports strategy guides can help you find the right daily fantasy sports strategy for you.
💵 Is there ever a betting limit when wagering on DFS
Again, this entirely depends on who you’re playing with/against. Usually a limit is placed on the number of points you can use to make a team, or the number of teams you can create.
Conclusion – Your Strategy for Even More Sport Enjoyment!
There is no easy answer when it comes to finding the ultimate, or best, daily fantasy sports strategy. As we’ve outlined in this article, there are many factors to consider. Whether it’s the sport itself, type of contests or even your gambling allowance, there’s a lot to think about.
Something else also worth keeping in mind is if you’d prefer to play daily fantasy sports with friends, colleagues or strangers. Or perhaps even all three! Playing DFS with friends can be a brilliant way to learn the ropes in a safe environment – maybe contests are played for bragging rights rather than money.
Chances are, if you’ve read this far, that DFS betting is right up your alley. Why not try asking around among your friends, or at work, to see if anyone already has, or is part of, a fantasy sports league.
Finally, if you’re taking DFS betting seriously, it pays to keep an eye on
value picks
for the fantasy sport you’re playing. Plus, keeping abreast of
daily soccer news, or the news for whichever sport you pick, can help you make the right choices when it comes to choosing a daily fantasy strategy and lineup.
Whatever the sport. Whatever the moment. It’s Never Ordinary at bet365. That’s why if you sign up now you’ll get the choice of two great New Customer Offers, the First Bet Safety Net up to $1000 or Bet $5 and Get $200 in Bonus Bets. Deposit required. Bonus Bets wager excluded from returns. T&Cs, time limits and exclusions apply.Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler 21+
Whatever the sport. Whatever the moment. It's Never Ordinary at bet365. That's why if you sign up now you'll get the choice of two great New Customer Offers, the First Bet Safety Net up to $1000 or Bet $5 and Get $200 in Bonus Bets. Deposit required. Bonus Bets wager excluded from returns. T&Cs, time limits and exclusions apply.Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler 21+
21+ and present in VA. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
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