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BGonline.org Forums
Some more thoughts...
Posted By: Chuck Bower In Response To: Tournament format+schedule -- proposal (Chuck Bower)
Date: Sunday, 9 November 2008, at 11:54 p.m.
I know I've been a bit long-winded, but obviously you don't have to read what I write if you don't want to. Bob and Neil (so far) have taken my proposal seriously which I appreciate.
I realize that the chances of this being adopted are pretty slim. But for it not to be seriously considered....
Let me list some pluses and minuses of my proposal:
Plus -- matches starting times are scheduled and (hopefully) scribed in stone.
Plus -- (at least for a full 64-bracket) EVERY MATCH is contested between players with identical records. (I think this is a significant argument for my proposal, and one that isn't obvious from what I've stated so far.)
Plus -- matches are at least 9 points in length with the exception of very late rounds in the Main and Consy (which are longer) and the last three rounds of the LC (which are shorter). BTW, I shortened the LC matches so that the LC would be finished by 4:30 PM GUARANTEED. If 6:00 PM is the benchmark then the last three matches could also be 9-pointers. BTW (and in reply to Neil), the Main semi's (13-points) are the last matches in the main on Saturday, starting after the dinner break and lasting (at most) three hours -- until 11:00 PM. The Main final (17-points) starts Sunday at 11:00 AM and will last no longer than four hours (likely much shorter) and at worst be over by 3:00 PM. The Consy final (13-points) starts at noon on Sunday and is finished no later than 3:00 PM. The only Open match that go past 3:00 PM on Sunday (if you go along with the 7-point match quarters and semi's for the LC) is the LC final.
Plus -- everyone (including staff) gets the opportunity to get eight hours of sleep and still have time for breakfast on Sunday.
Plus -- you NEVER play an opp the second time until (possibly) one of the following occurs: A) you're in the Consolation finals (and guaranteed $) or you're in the quarterfinals (or semifinals or finals) of the LC.
Minus -- side events may not have as much time to be played (this isn't obvious and needs more study).
Minus -- Calcutta is on Friday. I don't know if this is as big of a minus as people have and will argue. From what I've observed, the people who actually bid (or more importantly WIN bids) in the Calcutta arrive on Friday, anyway. Yes, some (including me) enjoy the spectacle of a Calcutta, but I always get there on Friday and so do (and CAN) a lot of others, if that is an important issue to them. BTW, the "toss out the door prizes" can be compromised. I don't want to insult anyone but, IMO, about 2/3 of the door prizes I've seen at tournaments aren't worth much. I've won a bunch of both kinds, and the ones I value are the discount entries to future events and the discount vouchers to restaurants. The fuzzy dice, t-shirts, salt shakers, etc. I can buy at yard sales or on e-bay if I want them (and, BTW, it should be obvious that I don't). Hopefully not to belabor the point, but IMO there is too much time wasted at Calcuttas with the random draws for door-prizes, especially since often the 'winner' isn't present and they have to do it all over again. (I better quit my bitchin' or I'll alienate some possible allies.)
Minus -- 9th place lottery in LC. But for ONE LOWSY anti-bye concession you get NO BYES (again, for full 64-bracket; less will clearly mean byes) and NEVER play an opp with a record that isn't identical to yours. Nor do you play the same opp until very late in the Ty (if at all). Show me ANY Ty ever played in which these pluses are true.
A couple issues like the bathroom breaks, lunch breaks, etc. can be worked out so I don't see these as worth calling minuses.
Finally I want to emphasize that trying to speed up brackets by playing shorter matches or trying to avoid the 9-for-8 anomoly don't work in progressive tournametns. You end up waiting for the drop downs in the end. If you're going to be waiting around for drop downs, why compromise the no-byes, always-playing-equal-record-opp, and get to play the longest matchlengths possible?
One may ask "why do Ty's have this (IMO unnecessary) habit of shortening matches as you drop down in brackets?" It's surely under the assumption that it speeds things up, but I argue this isn't true (except in a statistical sense) for progressive events. Probably part of this goes back to Ty's (like MC WC) where there are non-progressive consolations and non-progressive LC's. If you want progressive brackets you might as well play longer matches else you'll have spare time to use up. Don't we want skill to be rewarded (within the current BG rules)? Longer matchlengths reward skill.
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