Bob Jewett Double-Elimination Formats Another loss isn't necessarily the player's gain. In the past two months I've tried to con- vince you that round-robin or single-elimi- nation formats are the best. This month, we'll go over what has become the standard for large tournaments in the US, the dou- ble-elimination format. I don't like the DE format myself, but it's useful to understand it if you're going to be a tournament direc- tor or even a player in one. The basic goal behind DE is to allow every player to have more than one match; the main complaint about single-elimina- tion is that everyone who loses in the first round only gets one match. You stay in the DE tournament until you have two losses. (Interestingly, you don't hear about tennis players clamoring for DE in tennis tourna- ments.) The problem is how to arrange the matches fairly, and for a reasonably speedy conclusion. ly determined, she or he comes over to play twice as many rounds as for single-elimina- Diagram 1 shows a standard DE chart for the winner of the winners' side in match 14. tion. Tournament spreadsheets on the Web eight players. The first matches are down There are two basic ways to do this final sites mentioned before will keep track of the middle. Seeding and byes for the first match. In the old days, if the winners' final- these details for you. round are done the same as for single-elim- ist lost, then each player would have only An alternative DE chart is shown in ination, which was covered last month. The one loss, and in keeping with the concept Diagram 2. The idea here is that the losers matches are numbered for reference. of DE, there would have to be another from each round on the winners' side form The winners of the first round advance match. The potential of needing a whole their own single-elimination tournament. towards the right, while the losers move to extra match at the end of the tournament The winners of each mini-tournament come the left. The winners' side remains simple. can really mess up scheduling, especially if back together to find the overall winner of The losers' side is complicated by the need it is being taped for TV. The solution that is the losers' side. This chart is easier to fol- to make room for the later losers on the used nearly always today is to have a single low and plan the schedule for than the nor- winners' side. This is shown by the appear- final match. Sometimes this single match is mal DE chart. ance of L7 and L8 in matches 10 and 9, made longer to make it a better decider of The main problem with this system is that who are the losers of matches 7 and 8. who's the best. if the original chart has nearly 50% byes, An important thing to note is that when One problem while scheduling the rounds the bracket for the losers in the first round L7 and L8 move over to the losers' side, for DE is that there are twice as many will be very sparsely populated, and the they swap top and bottom. This is to avoid rounds on the losers' side. This means that players will have an easy ride into the repeated matches. For example, if L7 were if you play the winners through as quickly money. This can be corrected by combining not swapped to the bottom, he might have as possible, the winner of match 11 will be the first- and second-round losers into a to play the same person he played in match waiting for several rounds, getting rusty single bracket, as shown in Diagram 3. It is 1 or 2. While there is no way to avoid and fretting. If matches are played in the like part of the DE chart folded over. repeated matches at some point in the tour- order numbered on Diagram 1, there will A final system that lets players have a nament, they should be delayed as long as be fewer long waits. second chance is the "buy-back" format. possible, so that they can only occur If you lose in the first round, winning the For this, you have a bunch of preliminary, between players who are already in the tournament will be a real challenge, since small single-elimination groups. Eight money. With eight players, you can't do you have to win twice as many matches to players is usually a good number. The win- better than this one swap, but with 64 or get to the finals as the person who just beat ner of each flight goes on to the main com- 128, things get more complicated. A good you. The best example of someone who petition. The seven players who lost can re- large DE chart will do at least two levels of met this challenge was Jimmy Caras in the enter the tournament. Usually they will pay mixing/shuffling to delay repeats. 1967 U.S. Open 14.1 tournament, who lost another entry fee, but you could also I shudder to think of all the DE events in the first round and came back to beat include one re-entry in the original fee. It is I've played in that didn't do this shuffling, Luther Lassiter twice in the finals to win possible for a player to get back in the tour- and I ended up losing twice to one player. I the tournament. nament several times, depending on how would have much preferred to play some- For scheduling, it's important to note that much time is available and how quickly the one else for my second loss. there will be nearly two matches for each maximum number of entries (and re- When a winner on the losers' side is final- player entered, and there will be about entries) is reached. I've seen one player 14 I BD-JANUARY 2002 Bob Jewett they sign up and you have to wait before the "main" event, but have flights with a they can know when that will start and mixture of new and re- schedule their time accordingly. entered players. It is This "buy-back" format offers the best of best to form two double-elimination — players get as many groups at a time, so chances as they want — and single-elimi- that no one knows nation — with the straight-forward chart exactly who will be in and schedule. It works best in an handi- their flight when they capped event, since the players don't care start five times and eventually end up with sign up. so much whether Efren is going to be in third place in the main event. Once all the preliminary groups of eight their flight, but with the second and third One advantage of this format is that you are played out, the main event begins as a chance, an initial bad draw can be over- can start play when only some of the play- single elimination. You can use seeding so come. ers are present. For example, as soon as 16 that any byes go to those players who qual- If you have a competition format you were at the site, you could draw into two ified first. This encourages players to arrive enjoy, please send it in and I'll discuss the groups of eight. As more players arrive, early. The winners of the initial groups do most interesting in a future column. B D • JANUARY 2002 15 Bob Jewett 8-Ball Rules The many different versions of one of today's most common games. Do you think you know the rules of 8- special rule for the 1 and 15 balls. These had for the 1 and 15 were gone, perhaps because ball? Unless you check the rule book fairly to go in the right and left-side pockets, as of the growing number of coin-op tables for often, your knowledge is likely out of date. indicated in Diagram 2. Although the rule which it was expensive to spot balls. Since an early version of the game appeared book said nothing about where those two Choice of group was determined on the in 1925, there have been at least four major special balls should be racked — only the break shot if only one kind of ball was made, revisions and many minor modifications. eight was specified —I've played in an old- or by the first person to legally pocket a ball Fig. 1 is taken from page 53 of the 1925 time room where the standard spots were as from a chosen group. The requirement to hit Brunswick-Balke-Collender publication, shown, presumably to keep them out of play your own ball was in, and if you made balls Rules Governing the Royal Game of at the start of the game. on a bad hit, you had to spot your own but Billiards. It is quite clearly 8-ball, but it is a If you made your special ball in a wrong not your opponent's. Slop was still allowed kinder, simpler form of the game. It is also pocket, it spotted up, and you went on shoot- except on the 8. apparently a marketing ploy, since it ing. This rule is actually quite useful to a 1970 through 1974 saw only one minor requires a special set of balls to play it.