RADIO
There are hundreds of fantasy sports options for fans, with everything from the Premier League to Six Nations rugby recreated virtually. Fans can pick their best players and compete against their friends online, often with bragging rights or money on the line.
Selecting your team is often done based on your favorite players, previous season's performance or sheer blind picks if you don't really know much about the sport. In reality, a lot of comparisons can be drawn by the way we pick our players and the way be decide which hands to play with in poker. Beyond the novice luck element there is a lot of strategy, experience, tactics and probability that all must be taken into consideration. We'll be taking a look at how some of the strategies used when playing poker can be applied to make your fantasy sport picks.
Before an experienced player even starts playing a game of poker, they will be looking at the opposition. Known or unknown, bully or quiet assassin, there will be an element of analysis and research that happens before the game takes place. This allows experienced players to understand how the opposition will perform based on past outings, whether they will look to take control or if they are a fish that doesn't know much about the game.
Take a look at the others in your league. If the guy who has won office league the last three years in a row is picking the same players as last year, it may make sense to adapt your team to try and keep up with him. If a lot of people are picking the same player, figure out if that's because of a pundit's recommendation, if they are cheap or if they are guaranteed to get points week in week out based on previous form. Copying a winning expert's style, tactics and strategy works in poker, as it does in fantasy sports.
Looking at previous form to work out the best performers is also a good way of picking fantasy sports players. In poker, keep track of previous outcomes and likelihoods. Applying a probability percentage of a certain thing happening, known as odds theory, is a good way to decide whether it's safe to play a hand or to get a picture of what's going on elsewhere.
In most fantasy sports, there will be recommendations on which players are tipped to do well and which are likely to flop, so use the expert's opinions along with your own judgement to get a mix of players that have decent probabilities of coming good along with a few 'unknowns' who are tipped to have a good season.
Being able to see ahead is a key advantage used in poker that allows you predict which cards could be a possibility in the next hand or draw. Memorizing your own hands as well as your opponent’s is a great way to build a picture of what could happen next, so you can use past outcomes to influence your future choices. This can also be applied to your fantasy sport picks.
Take a look at how they did over last season and work out the probability of them replicating this; have they moved team? Did they have a dip in performance at a certain time last year? Do they always seem to perform well against a certain opposing team? Are they guaranteed a starting place?
Although poker pros and fantasy team managers alike can spend many hours analyzing probabilities, past form and statistics, both games need a considerable amount of luck to cement a solid performance. No matter how much effort you put in, there is always that one fish who gets dealt a full house, or that one annoying colleague who makes a completely blind choice that results in a huge points bonus. However, the hard work is boosted considerably if you do have some help from lady luck along the way.
