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BGonline.org Forums
Some facts to ponder
Posted By: Joe Russell In Response To: Some facts to ponder (Chuck Bower)
Date: Monday, 16 February 2015, at 11:20 a.m.
I have always hated playing in the Last Chance. Many times I have forfeited my small equity in the Last Chance because I had played in a chouette past midnight, after being knocked out of the Main and Consolation. Chouette play is a a social aspect of tournaments that many people enjoy and is often more appealing than the allure of the Last Chance, where you must go to bed very early in order to have time to shower,eat, and feel sufficiently energized to attack 5 to 8 rounds of tournament play.
Rather than doing away with the Last Chance, which many people like, make it an optional event. The tournament director would still require the same entry fee from everyone, but those that chose to not participate in the Last Chance, would have an option of having that percentage of their entry fee applied to a variety of side-events that take place on Sunday. All side-events on Sunday, other than blitzes and Speedgammon, should be limited to 8-man or 16-man fields and be closed when filled. The TD's should not allow anyone that is still active in the Main, Consolation, or Masters to participate in the Last Chance or optional side-events. Players that are still alive can have the percentage of their entry fees that went towards the Last Chance or optional, preselected, side-events refunded, donated to the staff, or, should they fail to make the finals of their event, applied to one of the available side-events, time allowing.
An example of a potential Sunday Schedule:
9 a.m. to 11 a.m Main and Consolation matches continue as needed.
10 a.m. Last Chance, for those that like it.
11 a.m. Last Day Doubles (first 8 teams, but could handle 12 or 16, with two unique brackets)
12 p.m. Faster Masters ($200) and 8-man knock-outs ($50, $25)
1 p.m Main Event and Consolation finals.
1 p.m. SpeedGammon ($100), 8-man knockouts ($100,$50,) and Very Last, Last Day Doubles (first 4 teams).
4 p.m. After Tournament, Tournament.
With this option, the portion of the original entry fee that was designated for the Last Chance would be applied to the side-event of the player's choice. If it was $35, he apply that towards his chosen Sunday side-event at registration or be given a voucher worth $35 that can only be used on Sunday for one of the side-events. The vouchers would be use-it-or-lose-it, only refunded if a side-event that was entered was not held. This would certainly increase the equity of the TD's, as there would be some players that would not use the vouchers and the TD's would get those forfeited funds.
I believe this would serve the purpose of keeping players interested and involved on Sunday. It would make the tournaments more fun for more people. It would result in very few players waiting for matches and would speed up the Last Chance, as it would be smaller and have no players involved in other events participating. It would, also, add money to the TD's pocket
ABT points would have to be adjusted so that they were only awarded to the Main and Conslolation brackets or at least adjusted for them to receive additional weight, based on the number of participants in the Last Chance.
The TD's could be very creative in deciding what side-events to hold and would likely draw more players to their tournaments to play in creative and exciting events, rather than boring, run-of-the-mill Last Chances.
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