How to Play Fantasy Football

Pull together a group of friends, family, co-workers, etc. who enjoy football, to serve as team owners. Generally, an even number of teams works best (makes for easy scheduling), and 8, 10 or 12 teams is optimal. A team can have more than one owner, but be sure owners are compatible. Elect a commissioner.

This person is the focal point to whom all Fantasy owners submit their weekly lineups, sees that scores are tabulated each week and distributes the results. Many Fantasy leagues (the generous ones) allow the commish a free entry into the league. Decide on a scoring system. If this is your league's first season keep it fairly simple, a scoring only based system will do just that. The idea of this system is that Fantasy points are based solely on actual points scored.

Here's an example: Some leagues use a scoring system that awards points for yards gained by a player in addition to the actual point method. Although a combination system makes things more interesting, it also creates more work for the commissioner who must calculate the teams' stats each week. On the next page is an example of the yardage based system. Determine roster size. This decision will determine the total number of rounds in your Fantasy draft. The league also needs to agree on the number of players that can be activated each week.

Examples are provided below

A consensus decision should be arrived at for the following issues:

1. A time when weekly line-ups are due to the commissioner.

2. Get everyone to decide how line-ups will be submitted. Phone, by hand and fax are a few ideas.

3. Decide what to do about undrafted players. Regardless of how you decide to handle free agents be sure that the league is in total agreement.

4. It's best to require a league consensus to approve all trades. It's also important to establish a trade deadline such as three or four weeks before the Fantasy playoffs begin.

5. Determine how many teams will qualify for the Fantasy playoffs and the playoff schedule. Reserving the last 3 or 4 weeks of the NFL regular season for your playoffs seems to work well.

7. Devising a prize structure. Once again, the commissioner's job is to get consensus. We don't ignore the fact that many leagues have a monetary payoff to the winning team(s). However, we have seen many leagues offering such things such as a traveling trophy or a dinner hosted by the league members to "honor" the Fantasy Bowl champ. Use your creativity!

8. Finally, decide on a place and time to hold your draft. Be sure everyone can make it (accept no excuses!).

Always check the injury report. Injuries are huge in nfl gambling and can mean the difference between a win and a loss.

Don’t be afraid to double up on Monday. If you are down and like the Monday game double your wager.

Keep your cool. Never chase your money. Meaning never wager on games because they are the only thing to place a wager on.

Control you bankroll. Set a certain amount you are going to bet and stick with that all season.

Start early. Usually the lines are a little looser in the beginning months of the season. So start your season with the nfl season.