As a regular ‘season-long’ fantasy sports player it can be somewhat intimidating to make the switch to daily games, or it may be something you think simply lacks the fun of a standard game. After all, half the fun of traditional leagues is having season-long comment threads on the message board and going into battle week after week with the players you invested in on draft night. Make no mistake, daily games aren’t intended to replace traditional leagues, although I think you will find with REAL money riding on your lineups each week, it may make traditional fantasy look a little less exciting.
What Are Daily Fantasy Sports?
In a nutshell daily fantasy sports are like day trading athletes. Instead of drafting a team in the beginning of the season, and essential being stuck that group of players all year, daily fantasy allows you to draft new lineups weekly, and in many cases multiple lineups per week with the sole intention of winning money. The games follow many of the similar formats (head to head, rotisserie scoring) except that every player selected has a specific salary for that week (the better the player the higher the salary) and each daily fantasy player must construct a lineup that stays under the salary cap. Instead of searching for a yearly advantage, you select your team based solely on that day’s matchup. DFS as they are called, have been around since 2007 and are completely legal since they are considered a game of skill instead of gambling.
Legislators insist that daily fantasy sports are based on stats instead of scores which helps contribute to the legality. Not only that the MLB, NHL, NBA, and UFC have developed partnerships with two of the major sites (DraftKings and FanDuel) which means they aren’t going anywhere. Being recognized by both the state governments and the major sports leagues means you get your money right away and it can be deposited right into your bank account.
How To Get That Money?
Unlike year-long leagues where the biggest motivation is beating your friends and co-workers or holding a $20 trophy for the year, most people play daily fantasy sports to make money. Beginners can enter in free contests to get the hang of how daily games differ from year-long leagues. From there, most sites offer contests for as little as $1 ranging all the way up to $500 or $1,000 contests for high-rollers.
Of course like every fantasy game, DFS starts with picking your team. Finding quality players for that day involves a completely different evaluation process than traditional fantasy. Not only are you looking to maximize each dollar invested in a player, as the stakes get higher you must find players that make your lineup different form others,
More About Picking Rosters
Nearly all of the DFS leagues operate in a salary cap capacity, meaning you must play the role of GM and field a team while staying under a salary cap of ‘fake money’. FanDuel for instance, gives each player a salary cap of $60,000. It is up to each owner to determine how to spend that money most efficiently. Like the stock market, the price of individual player salaries fluctuates each week depending on their matchup and projected score for that week.
One thing to remember about salary cap is that different teams in the daily game can have the same players which is where roster strategy comes into play. The Roto Wolf provides some tips on draft strategy here (link). Do you splurge for the star player and fill in with ‘sleepers’ or do you field a well-rounded team without the potential for breakout performances? You will find a lot of your drafting strategy will depend on the type of contest you plan on entering. The general rule of thumb is the higher the percentage of contest is paid out (usually 30% or higher) the less chances you want to take.
Different Types of Daily Contests
One of the things that makes daily fantasy sports so fun (and easy to pick up for beginners) is the multiple types of contests that you can enter. A quick breakdown of those contest types includes:
Head to Head – If you simply want to get the hang of daily games (or challenge a friend), head to head games are the route to take. In H2H games all you have to do is beat one opponent and you’ll double your money.
50/50 and Triple Up –. A great way to avoid this until you gain experience is with 50/50 games. In these all you have to do is finish in the top 50% of the contest to double your money. Once you learn the nuances of 50/50 games you can enter triple up contests where if you finish in the top 1/3 you get 3X your entry fee.
GPP (Guaranteed Prize Pool) – Not patient enough to grow your bankroll by doubling and tripling your buy in? Want to win lots of money – then play GPP. These types of games are basically large tournaments where you might be in a league with anywhere from 10 to 1,000 other competitors or more. The payout structure usually pays out 20% of participants or less, with payouts getting larger and larger as you approach the winner who takes a large sum of the pool. Many DFS players call this ‘the lottery’ because you can enter a team for as little as $2 and if it wins you could receive $1,000’s depending on the size.
These games offer the best ways to get started in DFS. Later on you can enter satellite tournaments and qualifiers to try and gain access to end of the year tournaments and trips to Las Vegas for live events. It’s best to get comfortable forming lineups for daily contests first though.
So, Can You Win Real Money?
The great thing about DFS is that you can set up leagues and invite your friends / co-workers / enemies for some daily bragging rights instead of waiting a whole season. For the most part though you’ll be playing against strangers from around the world in an attempt to have some fun but more importantly win some money. The biggest asset in DFS isn’t sports knowledge, it’s experience. You’ll have to cut your teeth learning how to put together a roster but that’s why you start off with free or $1 games.
As many as 200 or more competitors actually play fantasy sports as their job and that number is continually growing as prize pools grow larger. All it takes is one big win to change your life – you can leave work on a Friday afternoon and come back Monday $150,000 richer. That sure beats a $20 trophy.
