Fantasy Sports Subreddits and DFS Discussion Forums
Fantasy sports are a game of information. Those who have the best information and know how to use it tend to win more than often than everyone else. There is chance involved in all things, but ultimately success in this endeavor comes down to putting good information to proper use. The highest value information is often found at daily fantasy sports forums, particularly reddit.
This is not the most groundbreaking strategy advice, I know, but it is helpful to spell it out plainly and succinctly. All contests of skill involve being skilled at something; daily fantasy sports involve being skilled at accumulating and sorting information and then using that information to build lineup stacks with a higher likelihood of winning.
There is no lack of information online between the many thousands of sports new websites, statistics resources, fantasy sports blogs and even special apps designed to help people build better lineups.
Finding information is the easy part. What’s not so easy is sorting through all that information and figuring out what to keep, what to discard and how to put it all to use in order to build effective lineups.
In my experience, the best way to do that is to follow and participate in discussions with other daily fantasy players. If you hang out with other fantasy players long enough and simply soak in the various things they discuss, the strategies they employ and their general thoughts on fantasy sports, you won’t be able to help but become a better manager of information.
That brings us to today’s post. Today, I present a collection of the best fantasy discussion resources. Reddit is perhaps the single best collection of discussions on topics of all sorts and this list will include a number of subreddits that are dedicated to sports news and daily fantasy. I will also list a few other discussion forums that reliably generate useful DFS discussion.
This list primarily deals with daily fantasy sports, but you will find some useful season-long resources as well.
Best Fantasy Sports Subreddits
For those of you still not familiar with it, Reddit is basically a giant collection of discussion boards and is one of the world’s most-visited websites. Individual discussion boards dedicated to specific topics are called subreddits, and anyone is free to start a new subreddit dedicated to any topic. There are subreddits for funny pictures, political discussion, news, bird watching, fantasy sports and many thousands of other topics.
Reddit is free to use and I recommend signing up for an account. Doing so allows you to subscribe to subreddits that interest you. Then, any time you log in, your front page on Reddit will show the hottest discussion threads collected from all subreddits to which you are subscribed.
There are actually a few subreddits dedicated to fantasy sports in general, but only one of them has enough users to keep a steady stream of discussion running all the time. The remainders are subreddits dedicated to the discussion of specific sports as they relate to DFS.
1. /r/DFSports
/r/DFSports is the biggest general fantasy sports subreddit and is definitely worth a subscription. This subreddit does not limit itself to any one sport and therefore supports discussions that run a wide range of fantasy sports concerns.
This is an especially useful subreddit if you’re new to fantasy sports due to the general strategy advice that is often discussed. While there are regular sports-specific topics, a lot of the advice and discussion posted here pertains to DFS in general such as how to manage your bankroll, finding the right balance between cash games and tournaments, understanding how each site’s unique scoring rules should impact your strategy and much more.
DFS players should also make sure to check out the /r/DFSports FAQ page for additional strategy tips, basic FAQ questions and links to other useful resources (such as where to find breaking news just before NBA tip-offs or where to find historical fantasy scores for individual players).
2. /r/fantasyfootball
/r/fantasyfootball is by far the biggest fantasy sports subreddit with more than 300,000 subscribers, which results in lots of discussion and content to read through. This one is specific to fantasy football of course, but beyond that it’s wide open as people discuss NFL and college ball, daily fantasy and season-long fantasy, lineup strategies, player news and much more.
The fantasy football subreddit also hosts regular AMA (Ask Me Anything) events in which noted fantasy players and pundits spend a day doing nothing but answering questions submitted by users. This subreddit also hosts its own fantasy football league each year at /r/NarFFL.
If you play fantasy football, this one is an obvious addition to your subscriptions list.
3. /r/fantasybaseball
/r/fantasybaseball does not have nearly as many users as /r/fantasyfootball, but it is still an active and informative subreddit for anyone interested in fantasy baseball. This subreddit supports discussion on a wide range of topics ranging from strategy and breaking news to Ask Me Anything events.
This subreddit has a handy “sort” feature that you can find on the right when viewing on a desktop. The sort feature is organized by topic and you can click on any of the topic buttons to show all discussions related to that topic. For example, you can filter the subreddit to show discussions related to closers, matchups, sabermetrics, rankings and so on.
4. /r/fantasybball
This the biggest fantasy basketball subreddit and it is similar to the other sport-specific DFS subreddits with discussions related to players, strategy, news and more. Many of the topics are related to individual players, but you will also find those discussions useful in a more general sense as you can see how other players think when considering who to draft.
Make sure to also check out the sidebar for useful links and other subreddits.
5. /r/fantasyhockey
/r/fantasyhockey is an active subreddit with discussions related to individual players, useful stats that other users have found, strategy discussions and just about everything else related to fantasy hockey.
This one also has a useful sidebar with links to websites that provide useful stats, advice and fantasy hockey podcasts. The sidebar also provides links to daily threads for who to start, who to trade and nightly general discussion threads.
6. /r/findaleague
The number of subscribers to this subreddit does not do it justice as this one is quite busy, but people don’t tend to subscribe because /r/findaleague serves a short-term purpose. The point of this subreddit is to help people either find a fantasy league or to find a replacement for their own league after someone else abandoned an existing league.
If you’re looking for a league to join or need other people to join yours, this subreddit is for you. Daily fantasy sports contests don’t really apply since DFS contests only last a day or so – this one is all about season-long leagues.
Other Daily Fantasy Sports Forums
The following fantasy sports discussion boards all exist outside of Reddit as standalone websites, but the basic idea is the same: people meeting online to talk about fantasy sports.
1. RotoGrinders Forums
The RotoGrinders forum is one of the largest standalone websites dedicated entirely to daily fantasy sports discussion. Topics here run the gamut from discussing the latest contest results to advanced strategy for specific sports.
The main forum is the most active and contains topics of all types, but make sure to also check the various subforums for more specific topics. The subforums cover a wide range of topics such as industry updates, getting started, bankroll management and useful tools as well as individual forums for each sport.
2. The DailyRoto DFS Forums
The DailyRoto forums are also quite busy with thousands of thread topics and hundreds of thousands of posts all sorted into individual subforums dedicated to individual sports. These forums are especially busy when it comes to discussing the major North American sports. Fantasy football, baseball and basketball are the three most popular topics of discussion here.
3. Rotoworld Forums
The Rotoworld forums are extremely busy and highly active discussion boards with millions of posts to date. These forums take a unique approach by organizing most threads into discussions of specific players and their outlooks going forward. This should be on your shortlist of websites to check when looking for views and opinions regarding individual players in all of the major US sports.
Wes Burns has more than a decade’s worth of experience as a writer, researcher and analyst in the legal gambling industry and is co-founder of BettingUSA.com. As a former professional online poker player, Wes approaches his work from the viewpoint of players.
