Sports and Fantasy betting
Major League Baseball fantasy betting events at Draftbug
Thursday, April 16th, 2009 | Sports and Fantasy betting | 5 Comments
Here’s a quick update on some of the current Major League Baseball fantasy betting events available at Draftbug:
- 5$ daily freerolls with a 100 player cap. Players in these freerolls are selected by Points Cap.
- Heads up and 5 player events up to 20$ buyin. Players in these freerolls are selected by Points Cap or Live Draft.
Points Cap
Each participant in the contest has a fixed amount of points to set his team. Individual players cost a certain amount of points and can be chosen from all the MLB teams featured in the event.
Live Draft
Participants in the contest take turns to chose players for their team from the MLB teams featured in the event. If 6 players registered for the contest and they picked in order, A,B,C,D,E,F in round 1, the Round 2 draft order goes F,E,D,C,B,A.
Results
Once the contest starts you can follow the performance of your selected team live on the Draftbug site.
It’s free to sign up to Fantasy betting at FanDuel.
Winning Daily Fantasy Baseball Contests: Part I (The Basics)
Friday, March 27th, 2009 | Poker Articles, Sports and Fantasy betting | 1 Comment
Submitted by Alex, this article belongs to the Sports and Fantasy betting series
Alex Zelvin runs three websites. Fan Duel offers daily fantasy sports contests. Draftbug Millionaire tracks the progress of a group of fantasy baseball enthusiasts seeking to ‘go pro’ as fantasy sports players. The Waiver Wire contains general fantasy baseball advice.
This is the first in a series of articles on winning at daily fantasy baseball contests. For those who aren’t familiar with them, daily fantasy contests allow you to pick a team and win (or lose) based on the results of that day’s games. They’re perfect for those who like fantasy sports, but don’t have the time to maintain their team throughout the season. They’re also a great (legal) alternative to sports betting. The most common format for daily fantasy contests are ‘salary cap’ contests, although some site also offer a ‘live draft’ format for those who like the feel of a traditional draft. This article will cover some of the basis strategies needed to succeed in these contests. Future articles in the series will look at some more advanced topics.
Look for bargains – This is kind of obvious, but the salary cap limitations in these contests means that you’re not usually going to be able to use an all-star type lineup. You’re going to need to search out some undervalued players and use them. One common source of these is players who will have an expanded role today due to an injury to another player.
Check the news – Check the news to make sure that you’re not using anybody in your lineup who won’t be playing today. Lineups in these contests typically lock in after starting lineups are announced, so ideally you should make sure that your players are actually in the lineup.
Understand the rules – This goes for any format of fantasy baseball – you should always know the rules thoroughly. In particularly, the scoring system vary in different daily contest formats, and you should make sure you’re selecting players who fare well in the scoring system your contest uses. A player like Jason Giambi is a pretty valuable if your system uses walks, but not so much otherwise.
Larger contests require more risks – In a two person contest you should just go with the best possible lineup. In a larger contest (say 100 people), where the prize payouts are typically very top heavy, you’re going to need to take some chances to have a shot at the top spot. Play for 1st place…not 10th.
Take opponents into account – When you evaluate players for your team, consider who their opponent is today. For pitchers, how strong is the opposing lineup? How strong is the opposing starting pitcher? For hitters, how strong are the opposing starting pitcher and bullpen?
Take park factors into account – Where is the game being played? Ideally you want pitchers to be in favorable pitchers’ parks and hitters in favorable hitters’ parks, although there are plenty of cases when other factors may override this.
Check out fantasy betting at FanDuel
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100$ MLB (Major League Baseball ) fantasy bet freeroll
Monday, March 23rd, 2009 | Sports and Fantasy betting | 9 Comments
Draftbug.com hosts a 100$ fantasy betting Major League Baseball freeroll starting April 5th. There are 200 seats available and currently 106 have been taken.
The freeroll involves picking a team of 10 hitters within a salary cap prior to the start of the season. Points will be scored based on how many home runs your team hits during the month of April.
It’s free to sign up to Fantasy betting at FanDuel.
An introduction to fantasy betting
Monday, March 23rd, 2009 | Poker Articles, Sports and Fantasy betting | No Comments
Fantasy betting is a big deal in the US, but not so much in Europe yet (most likely because sports betting is not illegal in Europe). I like the community aspect of fantasy betting so much that I decided to devote a page on the pokerbankrollblog entirely to Sports and Fantasy betting. Hope you enjoy the first article about fantasy betting, submitted by Alex.
Many statistically minded sports fans are tempted to try their hand at sports betting. After all, with a solid understanding of Sabermetrics, baseball handicapping should be pretty easy to beat. Right? Oddsmakers set the betting line based on the beliefs of the ignorant public. How hard can it be to pick winners better than the public?
Unfortunately, achieving a positive expectation in sports handicapping is not so easy. All it takes is one person with better information than you, and you’re facing an uphill climb. Not only is the best handicapper likely to be betting the maximum amount allowable at any sportsbook they frequent, but differences in the odds from one sportsbook to another are quickly eliminated as line shoppers arbitrage away any significant differences.
So if you’re a sports expert who wants to profit from your knowledge, are there any easier ways to do so? The answer is ‘yes’, as a new form legal online sports ‘betting’ has emerged recently. A number of new daily fantasy sports sites have launched, and they all share a number of advantages over traditional sports betting.
-They are completely legal. Thanks to fantasy sports being specifically excluded from laws affecting online sports betting, these sites are not illegal in any way.
-Money can be deposited via credit card or Paypal, and easily withdrawn via check. There is none of the jumping through hoops and uncertainty found when transferring money to and from gambling websites.
-Because contests are based upon the performance of individual players, a much wider variety of contests are available.
Don’t get the wrong idea though, these are not traditional fantasy contests. Rather than tying up your money for the full duration of the season, most of these contests just last one day. You pick a team for the day, and results are based on the performance of your players that day. Contests can range from heads up (two players) up to 100 players or more. The sites that host the contests have the look and feel (and the business model) of online poker sites.
Some of the features that differentiate these sites from each other include:
-Widely varying user interfaces
-All sites offer ‘salary cap’ format contests, some also offer ‘live draft’ contests where player selection resembles a traditional fantasy sports draft.
-Varying rake, from as high as 20% to less than 10%.
-A variety of sports available. Most sites offer baseball, football, and basketball. Some also offer one or both of hockey and NASCAR.
-Chat features give some sites more of a communal feel than others.
Two of the more popular fantasy contest sites are Fantasysportslive.com and Snapdraft.com. Fantasysportslive was the first to launch and at this point offers the highest limit contests. Snapdraft is the first site to be heavily advertised, and features the highest traffic at this stage. Unfortunately, Fantasysportslive has done little to upgrade their product during the past two year, and Snapdraft has 20% rake, which eats away players bankrolls very quickly.
One recently launched site of this type is Fan duel. Fan duel is part of a network of sites that operate on the same platform and share the same contests. It has a more modern user interface than some of the competitors, and a reasonable 10% rake on most contests. Traffic has been light so far, mainly because the launch took place in the slow season between football and baseball. However, early sign-ups for a $100 freeroll baseball contest show the potential for a large traffic spike over the next few weeks.
Fan Duel has a few features that set it apart from other daily fantasy contest sites:
-Live draft contest format is available as well as the typical ‘salary cap’ contests
-A chat area allows players to get to know each other and engage in some friendly trash talking
-The contest ‘engine’ is very flexible and can support contests with a variety of scoring systems, roster configurations, and durations.
Check out fantasy betting at FanDuel
You could be posting your articles on the Poker Bankroll Blog. Read all about it here.
188bet Betting Bonus
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 | Sports and Fantasy betting | No Comments
New bonus available through WOSB.Up to EUR70 First Deposit Bonus for all members!
All you have to do is to make a deposit with 188bet and receive your bonus.
How to receive your bonus in 3 easy steps:
- Register an account with 188bet.
- Make a deposit to your 188bet sportsbook account. Bonus is 30% of the deposited amount. Desposit EUR234 to receive maximum bonus.
- Using your 188bet registered email address, send an email to promo@188bet.com with the following:
- Email subject: (Promo code: FTD1208)
- Email contents: Member’s Code and deposit transaction ID.
The bonus amount will be credited to your account within 24 hours, a notification email will be sent to you.
Visit 188bet.
Read more about 188bet.
5Dimes Sign Up Bonus
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 | Sports and Fantasy betting | No Comments
5Dimes offers all new sports betting customers a 20% free bet bonus up to USD 400.
Getting the bonus is easy:
1: Sign up at 5Dimes
2: Make a deposit. Click here for 5Dimes money transaction details.
3: Wager five times your deposited amount, and receive your 20% in free bets. Please remember to contact the 5Dimes support after your first deposit.
5Dimes can be contacted by email, live chat and phone.
Customers outside the United States can get a sign up bonus maximum of USD 250.
Please visit bookmaker bonus section at WOSB.com to see other bonus and free bets offers. Further readings: 5Dimes review
Bingo and Poker
Monday, August 18th, 2008 | Sports and Fantasy betting | 3 Comments
Bingo is mentioned more and more in advertising and in the media in general. I keep being amazed how fast this gambling segment is growing. 888 Holding plc (Pacific Poker) reported just a few days ago that the company revenue on Bingo, through the brand 888ladies, was up fourfold to $12m in just one quarter.
So I had to see what it was all about, just like the first time I tried poker at Party Poker back in 2003 or betting at Bet24 in 2001. I signed up at 888ladies and received $20 in free “chips” to play with. Bingo is mostly targeted the ladies, hence the lobby is pink… I used all the chips at once and bought 20 $1 cards with my numbers.
My first surprise was that it is not possible to calculate how large your chances to win are. You are informed how many players have joined the Bingo session but not how many cards have been purchased in total. This is rather annoying compared to poker where mathematics plays a very significant role.
Second surprise was that the game ran automatically. A number was drawn and this was instantly noted on the cards. So it is not like offline Bingo where you must be focused all the time to make sure that you get all the numbers right.
Third surprise was that the people on the live chat board really seemed to have a good time. So my conclusion is that even though Bingo is “just another casino game” in my view, I do understand why many people seem to enjoy the game, but I can’t imagine many poker players migrating to the Bingo tables instead of poker.
Michael, 18 August 2008
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188bet bonus
Monday, August 18th, 2008 | Sports and Fantasy betting | No Comments
New bonus available through WOSB.
The 188bet bonus will be open to all new customers and valid from from 18th August to 31st August 2008 .
Terms and Conditions:
1.This €18 Bonus promotion is entitled to First Time Depositors Only.
a.This offer is valid between 18th August, 2008 00:01(GMT-4) to 31st August, 2008 23:59 (GMT-4).
b.To enjoy this one time €18 bonus, a minimum approved one time deposit of EUR 88 or equivalent in other currencies during the promotional period is required.
2.Please email to promo@188bet.com to claim the bonus using your registered email with 188Bet indicating the following:
a.Member Code in the email subject.
b.Date Of Birth
c.Promotion Code: 188P18
3.Bonuses will be credited to member’s account within 48 hours upon email received.
4.All bonuses are non-transferable to other 188Bet accounts.
5.The amount of the deposit plus the bonus is subjected to a rollover of at least 3 times in wagers at our Sportsbook, before any withdrawals.
a.Only stakes that generates a win/loss return during the promotional period will constitute the 3 times rollover requirement. i.e. bets that are cancelled or refunded do not constitute as one rollover. So you need to wager a total of EURO 318 to be able to withdraw the bonus amount.
b.Only bets placed on European odds 1.60 or higher will be considered as meeting the rollover requirement.
c.Matched Bet Stakes are not included in the rollover requirements.
Read more about 188bet.
Michael – 18 August 2008
Bookmaker Bonus
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 | Sports and Fantasy betting | No Comments
If you are into online betting the bonus search feature at WOSB could be very useful. Check it out here:
The feature helps you find a bonus that suits you. Furthermore and probably most importantly, it is possible to get a good insight into the financial status of the bookmakers offering different bonuses with the ratings given at WOSB.
There are six criteria you can put on your search. These will be explained here:
Minimum Bonus Rating:
All bonuses are given a rating based on how much value the offer gives you. A rating of 10 is the highest.
Only Show Bonuses With +EV:
The term EV stands for “Expected Value” and is the parameter we use to measure the value of a bonus. If EV is positive you are expected to profit from this bonus. There is a saying that the house always wins; this is not the case when the bonus offer has a positive expected value.
Minimum Bonus Percent:
This allows you to adjust which bonus percent size you a searching for. If you only want 100% sign up bonuses, just type 100 here.
Cash / Free play:
This choise allows you to state which kind of bonus offers you are interested in. The difference between Free play and Cash bonuses, is that you can’t withdraw the free play amount given to you by the bookmaker.
Odds Conditions:
Some bookmakers require that the playing odds have to be over a certain amount before the bet counts towards the rollover, typically over odds 2 (even). If you select “No” only bonus offers that do not have any requirements are shown.
Prepaid / Initial Rollover Requirement:
If a bonus is Prepaid it is given to you when you make your first deposit. Alternatively some bonuses require you to place some bets before you receive the bonus offer.
Michael, 23 July 2008
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