[pbmserv] Broadcast from dshort via PBM Server

[pbmserv <pbmserv@gamerz.net>]

Announcing a BRAND NEW    SCRAMBLE tournament from DSHORT!

Many people have asked me if it would be possible to set up a double 
elimination
style tournament for many of the games I have organized tournaments for on
Richard's PBM server. In actuality this is very difficult. However, I think 
I have come up
with a format which will come close to approximating that. I have come up 
with a
format which will allow players to win their way back into the tournament 
following
a loss in one or more of the first three rounds of the tournament.

Here is how it works. The tournament is open to the first 22 players who 
sign up.
Once the field is complete, the players will be seeded 1 to 22 according to 
their
current PBM Scramble ratings, seeding established players over provisionally 
rated ones
and seeding all unrated players at random at the bottom of the field.

The first round pairings will then be: 1 vs. 22,  2 vs. 21,  3 vs. 20,  4 
vs. 19,  5 vs. 18,
6 vs. 17,  7 vs. 16,  8 vs. 15,  9 vs. 14,  10 vs. 13,  and 11 vs. 12

The 11 first round winners automatically advance to Round 2.
However, all first round losers EXCEPT for the player who LOST their game 
with the
LEAST amount of point (NOT MARGIN OF DEFEAT BUT FEWEST OVERALL POINTS)
in their loss of all eleven first round losers will advance to a "Round 1.5" 
and have a
chance to win their way back into the tournament. The player from Round 1 
who
lost their game with the least amount of points is dropped from the 
tournament.
The remaining 10 players will then be re-seeded 1 to 10 according to their 
first round
seeds. That is, the highest seed from round 1 to qualify for Round 1.5 is 
the new
seed # 1, the second highest seed is the new seed # 2, and so on.
The pairings for Round 1.5 are:

1 vs. 10,  2 vs. 9,  3 vs. 8,  4 vs. 7, and  5 vs. 6

Obviously, the first round winners must wait until the completion of Round 
1.5
before Round 2 can begin.

Before Round 2, the entire field will be re-seeded according to all 
surviving players
most recent and up to date scramble ratings, once again seeding established 
players
over provisionally rated players, with the exception that first the first 
round winners
will be seeded 1 to 11 and then the Round 1.5 winners will be seeded 12 to 
16.

The round 2 pairings will then be:

1 vs. 16,  2 vs. 15,  3 vs. 14,  4  vs. 13,   5 vs. 12,  6 vs. 11,  7 vs. 
10,  and 8 vs. 9


After round 2, the eight winners automatically advance to Round 3.
However, all second round losers will advance to a "Round 2.5"
The remaining eight players who lost second round games will be reseeded 1 
to 8
according to their second round ratings. That is, the highest seed from 
round 2 to
qualify for Round 2.5 will be the new # 1 seed, the second highest seed from 
round 2
will be the new seed # 2, and so on.

The pairings for Round 2.5 will be:

1 vs. 8,  2 vs. 7,  3 vs. 6,  and 4 vs. 5

Obviously, the second round winners must wait until the completion of Round 
2.5
before Round 3 can begin.

Before Round 3, the entire field will be re-seeded according to all 
surviving players
most recent and up to date scramble ratings, once again seeding established 
players
over provisionally rated players, with the exception that first the second 
round winners
will be seeded 1 to 8 and then the Round 2.5 winners will be seeded 9 to 12.

The Round 3 pairings will then be:

1 vs. 12,  2 vs. 11,  3 vs. 10,  4 vs. 9,  5 vs. 8,  and 6 vs. 7

The six winners from Round 3 automatically qualify for Round 4.
However, all third round losers will qualify for a "Round 3.5"
Those six players will be reseeded 1 to 6 in a manner consistent with what 
has
been previously described and then the pairings for Round 3.5 will be:

1 vs. 6,  2 vs. 5,  and 3 vs. 4

Obviously, the third round winners must wait for the completion of Round 3.5
before the 4th round can begin.


ONLY TWO of the three Round 3.5 winners will advance to Round 4.
The player who does not qualify for Round 4 will be the player who won their
game with the fewest number of points (NOT MARGIN OF VICTORY)

The round 4 players will then be reseeded according to their most recent
Scramble ratings, except that the 6 Round 3 winners will be seeded 1 to 6 
first
and then the Round 3.5 winners who qualify for Round 4 will be seeded 7 and 
8.

After Round 4, no reseeding will be made from new scramble ratings.
The seeds for subsequent rounds will be based on the Round 4 seeds.

Starting with Round 4, the tournament now becomes single elimination.
One loss and you're done.

The pairings for Round 4 are:

1 vs. 8,  2 vs. 7,  3 vs. 6,  and 4 vs. 5

The pairings for Round 5 are:

1 vs. 4,  and 2 vs. 3

Round 5 winners advance to a best two out of three games match for the 
championship.
Round 5 losers play one game for third place.


Please remember that because of the extra rounds this tournament will likely 
go on
for many many months. Please be patient between rounds for the necessary 
intermediate
round games to finish before subsequent round games can begin.

I would like to request that players take no more than 21 days vacation time
during the course of this tournament. If you must take more than 21 days you 
may
be asked to drop out and forfeit all of your remaining games to keep the 
tournament
from being delayed any longer than necessary.


To sign up for the tournament please email me your PBM userid to me at

davidnyj889@hotmail.com


Also send the board numbers that the server assigns you for your games to me 
at
that address when you receive your boards in each round and also winners 
should
send copies of the finished games to me at this address. It is optional for 
losers to
also send a copy.

IN THE EVENT OF A TIE GAME IN ANY ROUND the game counts as a WIN
for the LOWER SEED. I do not endorse the "ratio of words played" tiebreaker
that the system uses. Sorry!

In the event of a tie in score after Round 1 or Round 3.5 for determining 
who
will advance or be eliminated (i.e. 2 players tie for the worst score in 
round 1)
the higher seed is eliminated and the lower seed advances. The burden is 
always
on the higher seed to out-perform the other players. Please keep in mind 
that in
Round 1 it is important for you to try to score as many points as possible 
even if you
are losing your game because you have a chance to advance to Round 1.5
Please keep in mind in Round 3.5  it is important for you to try to score as 
many points
as possible even if you are winning your game because you are competing 
against
the other 2 players in Round 3.5 and the winner with the least amound of 
points
will not qualify for Round 4.


Because there are only 22 spots open in this tournament, i suggest that you
sign up as soon as possible. I will likely have to turn people away after 
the field is
complete. I reserve the right to replace players who unexpectedly withdraw 
from
the tournament soon after it has begun with a new player and give them the 
seed
that the withdrawing player had. If too much time has passed where inserting 
a new
player into the tournament at that stage and having a new game played would 
adversely
delay the tournament, I would likely just award a forfeit win for the player 
whose opponent
withdrew. A player who gets a forfeit win in Round 1 or Round 3.5 is exempt 
from
being eliminated by the special tiebreakers described above.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL PLAYERS! Please keep this email throughout the tournament
to remind yourselves to email me before each round with board numbers and
tournament results and to remind yourself of the format and structure of 
this event.

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