The Ultimate Guide To Fantasy Sports – Where To Start

Fantasy Sports. Sounds familiar? Or you’ve never heard of it? But given its popularity, there’s a high chance you have heard about it. So many people play it and yet there’s a portion that’s yet to discover this extraordinary game of skill. Here we’ll look at everything you need to know about fantasy sports.

Fantasy Sports – What Is It?

Fantasy sports is different from traditional sports betting as you don’t have to bet on the outcome of any sporting event. Instead, you have to come up with a fantasy team that will compete against opponents and sometimes try to win money through fantasy sports leagues. The concept has been there for a while and has since turned mainstream crossing borders up to India. Most Indian users prefer cricket and football fantasy more than any other sports. The free-to-play version is also more popular than the pay-to-play fantasy sports in the country. 

How Fantasy Sports Works?

As you create your ultimate fantasy team, you’ll be given a draft with eleven slots to pick players (i.e in fantasy premier league). The players you choose have different statistics derived from the real game which are then compared and compiled. For instance, in EPL fantasy, a player’s stats are updated each game week and in accordance with the player’s performance. You can view and track statistics of your players through third-party apps and websites.

In every game week, your total points are calculated based on each player’s performance and rounded up.  These points will then be tallied against other fantasy managers in a league or competition.

Value Of The Players

The concept of value comes from the fact that you have a limited budget to choose your fantasy team. If there was no set budget, it would be obvious people would choose the best players possible. But with a limited amount to spend, you need to find value in your signees. In baseball, you can look at the number of hits, batting average, earned run average, and RBI’s just to mention a few. In fantasy football, there are goals scored, goals assisted, yellow cards, clean sheets, and bonus point system among others.

Scoring

Now the exciting part of every fantasy sport is scoring. Here is where you earn maximum points and in almost every fantasy sport, score points are awarded based on several activities of each player. In playing fantasy leagues scoring is based on two factors; win/loss or points system. In the win/loss, fantasy teams are put head to head and the winner is the team with the highest points. The winning team then scores 3points in a league and the losing team gets 0 points. In the points system, the actual points per game week are used in the league.

Draft

Whenever the game is not in play, you need some time to line up your team and make changes if possible. The draft layout is a pitch with your selected players and indicators showing if they are fit/available for the next event. The indicator also shows the next fixture and gives you a quick insight into the difficulty level of each game. You can use the drafts section to make substitutions, change formations, and captain band.

You Can Become A Fantasy Sports Manager!

Once you understand the basics of selecting players by value and checking points, you are ready to start your fantasy sports journey. All you need to do is come up with a team before the season starts and make small changes as you progress. 

Fantasy sports require more long term strategy and the changes you make may come to fruit in the next three to four fixtures. So as a manager, you need to be keen on your fantasy golf or fantasy cricket game players, even when they are off the pitch or in other matches (international breaks, friendlies, other leagues, etc). It is a fun experience once you know the tiny details and starts earning big points.

Legality Of Fantasy Sports in India

Fantasy sports is a booming industry in India and as per its laws, the sport is allowed all over India except for a few states like Odisha, Telangana, and Assam. In India, fantasy sports is not defined in the fine prints. That’s because the sport is considered a game of skill rather than one of chance. Games of chance belong to gambling and are restricted through India’s gambling laws. As a result, fantasy sports in India is regulated by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS).

Applies on All Sports

One of the things that make fantasy sports so fun is the fact that it applies to all sports. Millions of people enjoy playing because they can try their luck and strategies on football, hockey fantasy, tennis, f1 fantasy league, cycling, athletics, NBA fantasy, etc. It is a phenomenon that connects people from all over the globe as leagues are not just based on local countries alone. You can try Formula 1 fantasy league even if you don’t know how it works. The challenge will be worth it.

Fantasy Cricket

As a popular sport in India, cricket also has its fantasy sports version. You can back your favourite players from IPL and form your ultimate team of cricket. To get the most out of your cricket league, you can use stat trackers like Dream11 and HalaPlay to see how your team performs throughout the season. Fantasy cricket gets you points in player-run, half-century bonus points, six bonus, captain, and vice-captain points.

Fantasy Kabaddi

Playing fantasy kabaddi requires fast thinking at all times. It is also an Indian favourite and winning on kabaddi is not as easy as some may think. Points systems are calculated by looking at factors tackle, touchpoint, crossing bonus line, per super raid, etc. Just like cricket, you can use third-party apps like Dream11 kabaddi to find stats and other useful information prior to the games. These details are key to influencing your player selection and positioning play.

Real Vs. Fantasy Sports

Real-life sports usually occur for the entire season and gamers will not be able to find which team won until the end of the season in the fantasy draft. It also keeps you with the same players for the whole season unless you get an opportunity to trade. For instance, in premier league fantasy football you can only trade one player per game week. In actual daily fantasy sports, you get competitors chosen randomly and by the time the events are over in the afternoon you get to know which team has won.

Conclusion – Why Should I Play Fantasy Sports?

Fantasy sports has taken the internet sporting experience to a whole new level. The whole realm is expanding and stretching out to all countries, e.g India. The fact that it is a game of skill, makes it a nice experience and excludes it from harsh gambling laws. You can try it today and find out if you have what it takes to be the next fantasy sports manager.

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