Perhaps the latest thing taking fans by storm are fantasy sports. Fantasy is not a new concept at all; in fact, it has been around for ages. But it seems that operators are only now managing to catch up to others and are creating their very own fantasy offers for various sports.
If you are new to this concept, then this is the right place to be. Our Fantasy Sports explained article aims to capture the essence of playing fantasy sports and will help you understand how to do it, no matter if you are just starting out or are familiar with the concept.
Fantasy Sports in Simple Terms
Playing fantasy sports has gained popularity because people have started betting on them. There are two main ways to bet on fantasy: head-to-head contests and tournaments.
In H2H matchups, you go up against a single person in an attempt to defeat him. The winner doubles their money. It is a short-term type of contest that you can play nearly every week or depending on when games are played.
Tournament-style betting lasts much longer, but the returns are much bigger as well. Participating in a league usually guarantees a return for a certain number of people, depending on their rank at the end of the season. Of course, the winner of the entire league is the one who gets the biggest return on their investment.
How Fantasy Sports Games Are Played
Fantasy sports, no matter the type of sport, involve assembling your own team from a pool of real-life players. There is a budget that you have to maintain, so picking only the strongest players is not possible; you need to find budget options that could guarantee returns.
The results that these players put on during each game count towards your own points tally. Depending on how the payers that you’ve chosen in your team perform in real life, you will get more points.
The biggest advantage here is that if you are familiar with the league it can be quite easy to assemble a good team in a matter of minutes. However, the greatest drawback could be understanding the points system, particularly for novices. For instance, NFL fantasy sports are very difficult to understand particularly due to different point structures that each operator provides.
Top Sports for Fantasy Players
You have the option of playing different kinds of sports and creating your very own fantasy sports league. So if you are a basketball fan, you are very likely going to play NBA fantasy. Still, fantasy football is the number one fantasy sport for all as it was the first to develop. The NFL is probably the fantasy sport that people in the US bet on the most.
Depending on your liking, you can play:
- NBA
- NFL
- NHL
- MLB
- NCAA Football
- Soccer
- Golf
- NASCAR
Fantasy Sports Examples
To give you a brief explanation of how fantasy sports work, we will use a fantasy sports NBA example. As we mentioned, you are working with a budget, so you will probably not be able to stack up your starting five with star players. Usually, you can get two or three and then fill out the rest of the roster with players that are starters and or have the potential to provide returns.
Now when your team is set, you wait for the games to finish. So let’s say that Jayson Tatum scored 38 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and dished out 5 assists. All of these parameters will count towards your overall points tally. Add the performance of the rest of your players, and you will have your final score.
However, there are negative aspects and parameters that could deduct points as well. Missing shots, missing free throws, lost balls, and even fouls could negate your overall score. For that reason, picking players who make smart players and have better shot efficiency is much better than going for one with a large shooting output.
Quick Tips for Starters
In order to begin experiencing the fun of fantasy sports straight away follow these quick tips for starters:
- Pick a fun team name – many players come up with creative and funny names for their teams which adds to the entertainment. These names have inspired many blog posts about the worst and best ideas.
- Think carefully about which type of game you enter. For example: if you intend on playing regularly the type of league where you change the roster every week might be a good choice, but if you are more casual a single line-up that remains the same throughout the season might be better.
- Join a fantasy sports league with some friends, this way you can bet against them for fun and watch the game together just like in the TV show ‘The League’
FAQ
To end our fantasy sports explained article, we also added some FAQs to provide you with a better understanding of the matter.
The most popular fantasy sports include NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, and NCAA football.
Fantasy sports is a system where you assemble your team out of a pool of players and then get results based on their performance in real games.
Your fantasy sports team earns points based on how the players perform in real-life games. The better they perform, the more points you will earn and advance the league table or simply win in head-to-head matchups.
