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BGonline.org Forums
"Dual-Duel" Tournament
Posted By: Bill Riles In Response To: Innovative Side Event Format in San Antonio (Bill Riles)
Date: Thursday, 12 April 2012, at 5:13 p.m.
As an exciting new side event, an innovative tournament format will be introduced at the 2013 Texas Backgammon Championships in San Antonio, February 1-3, 2013 – we will likely start this event on the evening of January 31.
Ideally, the Dual-Duel is envisioned as a sixteen player, high entry fee event – we are thinking $1,000, with two optional $500 side pools (one applicable to each side of the bracket, see below), but we will ultimately decide entry fee and field size based upon interest. The field size will be increased if participation is significant. All matches will be to eleven points – except in the possibility of a playoff, see below.
The bracket will be filled by random draw. First round matches will be recorded onto computers while played or, alternatively, played on computers. Score-based winners will advance to the right side of the bracket. PR-based winners will advance to the left side of the bracket. If the field is an even eight, sixteen, or thirty-two players, no redraw will be made after the first round. If the field is another even number of players, redraws will be made among the score-based winners and the PR-based winners, including the random assignment of byes, to initiate those portions of the bracket.
PR-based winners will be determined by XG analysis. The specific analysis parameters will be determined by consultation with various experts and will be publicly announced at least sixty days prior to the tournament. Obviously, speed, accuracy, and consistency will be the objectives. As with scores in all matches, cumulative PRs will also be announced and posted at the conclusion of each game within a PR-based match. Strategic decisions may well be influenced by the cumulative PRs, as they are influenced by score in score-based matches.
The right side of the bracket will be played using score-based matches. The left side of the bracket will be played using PR-based matches; again, these PR-based matches will be recorded onto a computer as played or, alternatively, played on computers. Any duplicate pairings (an identical pairing on both sides of the bracket) will not be played as a single match – strategic differences associated with PR-based play and/or score-based play would make it unfair to those players, in comparison to their fellow contestants in the PR-based or in the score-based brackets, if both score and PR winners were derived from a single match. Note: First round matches will determine both score-based and PR-based winners from a single match, but in that circumstance all players will be playing under the same rules – that would not be the case in a later ‘identical pairing’ situation.
If the same person does not win both sides of the bracket, a playoff will determine the champion. Single matches will be played, of decreasing lengths, until a player wins based both on score and on PR within the same match. The first playoff match will be to eleven points; a second, if necessary, to seven points; a third, if necessary, to three points. Then, if necessary, single point games will be used until the champion is determined – a kind of ‘sudden death’ playoff.
From the prize pool, the PR-based and the score-based winners will each win 25%. The PR-based and score-based finalists will each win 12.5%. The playoff winner will win the remaining 25%. Thus, if one player wins both sides of the bracket, the champion will receive a total of 75% of the prize pool. If a playoff is required, the champion will receive a total of 50% of the prize pool.
We think this will be a most entertaining and interesting event. We intend to stream many of the key matches – certainly including the finals -- for the enjoyment, interest, and benefit of the global backgammon community. Within a single event, a player can experience matches based totally on score, matches based solely on PR, and matches wherein both PR and score are important (in the first round advancing based on either and in the championship playoff having to win both). How will the players alter their strategies based on the need for a PR-based win, a score-based win, or in the attempt to win by both measures? As with the score in score-based matches, will the game/match strategies change with the cumulative PR in PR-based matches? Will we begin to resolve the longstanding argument of who is the best overall player? Let’s find out.
May the Giants and the master technicians of the game step forward !!
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