What Is DFS (Daily Fantasy Sports)? A Beginner’s Guide To DFS

 Daily Fantasy Sports or DFS is an online sporting game that involves betting on your favorite sports teams and players. The DFS is very similar to fantasy sports but is played over a shorter period.
  

How Is It Played

DFS
When you enter an ongoing or available DFS game on one of the gaming websites, you will have to pay an entry fee. All entry fees are collected and are used to pay the various prizes after the hosting website takes it cut or rakes.
 Each player is given a salary cap and is allowed to bid on players with the available resources. Each player has a cost. One has to choose their fantasy team by carefully apportioning the available salary money to buy each player from the list, based on their costs.
 When a player from your fantasy team performs well in the ongoing tournament or game happening in real life, you make money in this fantasy game. The better your players perform, the bigger your earnings are.
  

Duration Of The Games

 
The fantasy sports games – the original format and inspiration for DFS are played over the entire season of a game or the entire length of a tournament. For example, if a Cricket World Cup is happening in reality, you can choose your fantasy team players. Their performance in real matches is used to increase or decrease your earnings against other game players. This goes on for the entire tournament, and the winners are declared when the finals match is done.
 In DFS, the games are much shorter. As the name suggests, they last a day, and some games go on for a week. You can choose your game and team based on the options given by the betting website.

How Are Players Chosen

 
When you enter a DFS game, you will be provided with a lineup of players along with their costs. You will have to form your team based on the costs and the salary cap. The players offered in this line-up are those playing in the real match.

Tips To Choose Players

 
New to DFS? Not sure about how to choose players for your fantasy team? Here are some tips to make the right choice, so that you can earn big!
  • Know Your Game
One should be aware of what can go wrong, what can or cannot happen, how mistakes can happen and how the match can be won or lost. If you are choosing to bet on a fantasy team on daily fantasy sites 2021, you must also be well-versed with the rules of the sport and also all other nuances of the game. Knowing all these details will help you make the right choice of players for that day or week, based on how the games have been progressing.
 
  • Know Your Players
 
To bet on a player, even though it is just a fantasy team, one should have good knowledge about the player in real life. This not only includes their records, wins, scores, etc. This should also include injuries, roadblocks faced so far, how they have overcome obstacles or why they have lost past games, etc. This will help in choosing the right lineup of players.  
For example, if a player has performed poorly against a particular opponent, you need to be aware of this information. What if this particular nemesis is on the opposite side of the match today? You need to make a wise choice not based just on your players, but their opponents too.
  
  • Compare Previous Games
 
Learn about their previous games, recent wins, losses, etc. A sports person’s performance is never the same throughout their sporting journey. They may be having a very good year or rather a bad year due to personal issues, injuries, etc. Studying their most recent games will give you an idea about their performance and if they are on a winning or a losing streak.
  
  • A Well Balanced Lineup
 
When you choose your players, ensure your entire team is well balanced. For example, if you are betting on a cricket fantasy game, be sure to choose not just the top batsmen but also good bowlers and fielders too. Your team has to be well balanced within the given budget. You may have to choose one or two not-so-well-performing players too.
    

DFS Games Available

 
A number of games are available in DFS. The most popular options to choose from are:
  

Most Famous Games

 
  1. NFL – Football
  2. NBA – Basketball
  3. MLB – Baseball
  4. NHL – Hockey
 

Other Games

 
  1. Soccer
  2. Golf
  3. College football
  4. College basketball
  5. NASCAR
  6. Mixed martial arts
  7. Esports
 
These are normally the games to choose from on the most popular DFS sites like FanDuel and DraftKings. Other smaller websites have more games to offer.

Prize Money     

 
The prize money or the money you can win is based on the type of game chosen. Some of the options are:
  
  • Prize Pools. All players pay an entry fee. The prize pool money is fixed and is shared among the winners.
  • Cash Games. One can join an already existing game or start their own league and bet on their own fantasy team. There is no guarantee that these games will run the full course.
  • Head-to-Head. Two players play against each other. The entire prize pool money is given to the winner.
  • 50/50. Here, the top half of the bets will get almost double of what they paid to enter the game. The bottom half will get almost nothing.neup of players.
   

What Not To Do 

Here are some things one should never do while playing or choosing your players for DFS:
  • Do not go with the same set of players all the time. What worked once may not work out the next time. Choose based on knowledge of the game and not based on past victories.
  • Do not spend all your money on just one or two-player, no matter how excellent their performance is. Try to maximize and diversify your investment.
  • Do not choose players based on what your friends or random articles suggest. Though there will be a thorough analysis of the players and the games in the news, do not follow them blindly.
  • Do not guess. If you are not too sure about the outcome or the lineup today, you can always come back and play another day. There is no pressure to bet on every match or game.
DFS can be a really fun game if you know the rules and are well versed with the nuances of it. Though one may take time to understand the game fully, it is not rocket science. A little patience and effort are needed to gather a good fantasy team and earn you some success.