Daily Fantasy Sports

Daily Fantasy Sports has emerged as one of the hottest trends over the last couple of years. Traditionally, when you think of playing a fantasy sports season, you draft a team before the playing season starts, and you manage that one team the entire time.

With Daily Fantasy Sports, it’s basically a new season every day.

Daily Fantasy Sports: How Do You Play?

Pretty much all major sports are available to play on Daily Fantasy:

  • MLB Baseball
  • NFL Football
  • NHL Hockey
  • NBA Basketball
  • NCAA Football
  • NCAA Basketball
  • PGA Golf
  • NASCAR Auto Racing
  • MMA Fighting
  • eGames like League of Legends

How Do You Play Daily Fantasy Sports?

  • You are given a salary cap for the day to choose a player for each position. This varies per website, but DraftKings fantasy baseball, you’ll draft:
    • 2 pitchers
    • Catcher
    • First Baseman
    • Second Baseman
    • Shortstop
    • Third Baseman
    • 3 Outfielders
  • Each player will have a salary associated with them based upon their recent performance. The websites usually select the salary the night before. (There is a strategy involved with finding values; stay tuned for more information in our eBook)
The DraftKings Lineup Creation Interface

The DraftKings Lineup Creation Interface (Click to Enlarge)

  • The key when doing Daily Fantasy Sports is that you have to fill up all of the positions while staying at or under your salary cap
  • There are points given based upon a player’s performance. The following is FanDuel’s fantasy football scoring:

FanDuel Scoring Example – Football (Click to Enlarge)

  • Each website varies as to what positions they have you draft, and how their scoring works. There is obviously a strategy to keep in mind based on how various plays are scored or not scored on each platform.

Types of Contests

  • Tournaments: You pay an entry fee and depending upon your score, you are paid out based on what place you finish in.
  • Leagues: A fixed-number of teams enter, and payouts are made to only the top teams.
  • Head-to-Head: Play against one or more people, usually winner takes all.

We’ll go in-depth into strategies, tips, and tools that you can use to improve your performance on a day-to-day basis.