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Fantasy football can fulfill your gaming and coaching fantasies without you having to break a sweat (unless you count that finger workout you have get with your computer mouse). Using statistics of real life players, along with virtual representations of these real life players, fantasy football is all about winning the game online and strategizing the draft by knowing players capabilities early on.

Just as in the real world, there are the big leagues and the little leagues, the pro leagues and the amateur leagues, the good leagues and the bad ones. You create your leagues in fantasy football, and you find your own players. You just need to know exactly how the fantasy football world works, and how you can use it to your advantage.

Your Run-of-the-Mill Leagues

First, you have to be part of a league. There are different kinds of leagues in fantasy football, with each of them comprising as few as eight, and as many as fourteen teams each. There are also three major leagues. The redraft league begins with a clean slate: that is, each owner has no players at the start of the season, and thus enlists a fantasy team to play for him or her. The keeper league is for owners with a little more experience, where the owner keeps a few players from the last season, depending on who played best and who might play well in the future.

The dynasty league is for advanced players who already have enough experience to predict player performance. In the dynasty league, owners can keep as many players as they wish from their last season, and draft rookies into a team. Drafts can happen via the serpentine method, where each player is called out to join a team; or through an auction, where owners put their bargaining powers to the test.

The salary cap leagues are part of the dynasty league type, but this time, they add the salary cap, which makes the play even more realistic. In salary cap leagues, players not only posses statistics and play integrity; they also have salaries. There is a maximum total of salaries that each team can have, and this salary cap can be carried over into the fantasy football dynasty league. This is an added challenge for owners, who want to spend a lot on good players, but who need resources for training as well.

Knowing which players to keep and which ones to trade can be complicated by the fact that some leagues also allow trading within the season. There are no real rules on how to trade and who to trade, although an important rule to follow is not to dump good players on another team forcing the other team to win. Trading can usually still happen about a third into the season, but all trades are closed after.

The New, Emerging Leagues

There are actually new leagues coming out of the fantasy football arena. The familiar survivor pool wagering style in the NFL has carried over into online football games. Offline, a member of a pool can pick a team to win every week. The team can be picked only once the entire year. Online, fantasy leagues can also allow their owners to draft new teams every week, with seven players added fresh, and with every player of the seven available for only a week out of every play year. This can pose yet another challenge for owners, as they have to match their players perfectly every time and think ahead (as well as on their toes!).

Simulation football is also gaining popularity. In old fantasy football leagues, touchdowns and passes and their like are counted, but no game actually occurs that the participants can see. In simulation football, however, a computer can actually simulate the games with players, instead of relying on statistics and offline players.

So, are you ready to get into the big fantasy football leagues? All you need is some Internet savvy, as well as some free time on your hands. Look for fantasy football sites online that you can work with and fit into your schedule. Read the rules and regulations carefully, and see that you don't break any, especially as they pertain to behavior and league creation. Lastly, play well and enjoy the game!