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BGonline.org Forums
Doubles events - pro / am Caution: long
Posted By: mamabear In Response To: Doubles events - pro / am (Keene)
Date: Monday, 21 October 2013, at 6:27 p.m.
As a player who has found many good partners to carry me to the win in doubles events, I have thoughts on your proposal:
1. Team must be comprised of one Open player, and one Advanced or Novice player.
Fine. If you are calling it a "pro am" doubles, you are right that you will need to define what a Pro is, and what an Am is. You are also right to start doing so early! However, I think you should reserve your right to disqualify someone as an Am if they normally play Open but have never cashed, and so still can go back to the Advanced; or, they are a known sandbagger.
2. Entry fees are staggered - something like $50 for the open player and $75 for the Advanced player. (or some other reasonable amount)
I don't buy this at all. Let each team decide for themselves how to split the entry fee and the payout.
3. The Advanced player assumes the Captaincy - they will sit and roll and play for every game, and have final decision on all plays and cube decisions. It is the role of the Open player to advise, and make the case for their recommended play.
That's not a bad concept, and I've played doubles that way, but again I think whatever procedure is used should be chosen by the team, not imposed. Also, if they change their minds partway through they can mutually agree (at the end of a game, of course, not mid-game!) to do something else if they feel it isn't working.
4. Random pairings - if you want to play in the event, then you sign up, once the appropriate number of entries are in, then the teams are drawn.
You gotta be kidding! The only way I'd play with a randomly drawn partner would be for a free trophy event, or possibly some kind of charity and/or publicity event.
5. Must be clocked - but reasonably so - usual doubles time should work - 3m/18s
I agree these time controls are normally fine for doubles. However, if you go ahead with #3 and #4 above, they will not be. Regarding #3, there are many plays that cannot easily be explained with an 18-second "sound bite". Regarding #4, if the players have been randomly matched and know nothing of each other's style of conversation (For example, what does "Really?" mean when they say it? Does it mean, "Please explain it one more time or way," or "What the %^$# do you think you're doing, you sorry excuse for a hominid?") or their game in general, for that matter, they will burn up a lot of time just getting the gears to mesh.
To sum up: I am fine with the pro-am concept, and with clear definition in advance as to who is what. I am also fine with doubles being clocked, which seems to be the trend anyway. But these other proposed rules will definitely keep me on the sidelines.
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