lopsided round-robin tournament format
January 21st, 2011 at 12:55:41 AM
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Apologies if this is the wrong forum to ask.
I am seeking an analysis on the the play-off format to be used for our pool (billiards) league play-off format.
There are 12 teams, all teams make play-offs, but are constrained by having 5 sets of tables, limited to 3 matches per day and need to play over one weekend, the proposed format is as follows:
Final round 4 teams play round robin
1st place gets a bye to the final on Day 2
The rest play on Day 1 divided into 3 houses. Winner of each house goes to Day 2
1 house would have 3 teams, the other 2 would have 4 teams. Again, round robin.
What arrangement of teams is a better/fairer distribution (numbers are in order of ranking for the season):
House 1: 2 7 10
House 2: 3 5 8 11
House 3: 4 6 9 12
or:
House 1: 2 9 12
House 2: 3 5 7 11
House 3: 4 6 8 10
My simple assessment is Team 2 gets an advantage of one less team to play and has 1st bye so they can decide their own fate.
==>> Question is make them play the weakest teams or balance it across all three?
The other catch is there is a handicap system in place. Not sure if it really matters, but I'll try to explain as I think it might bias the outcome.
Each match is 5 players from each team play each of the 5 from other team per leg.
10 pts for a winner and 1pt per ball down to loser, so max 50 per leg. Team's winning legs, not points determine overall winner.
Each player has carries average from the season, the player's averages are added up and the rounded difference is the handicap added to the weaker team.
eg: Team A, Average is 40 (8.0 per player), team B is 30 (6.0 pp).
In a leg, say score is A:44 to B:35. Add the handicap (10 pts) to B and they win the leg.
I think this could seriously affect the outcomes if the spread is very wide since it could make it tough to beat a lucky-on-the-day weak (playing over their handicap) team. Right now the top 4 teams all are in the 40-41 range, the rest between 40 and 36, except the last team with 31. So a 9-10 pt spread from 2nd to 12th. During the season we have seen as high as a 12 pt spread, which is like playing 5 players against 6+. If the spread were not so skewed, I would favor 2/9/12.
.
==>> Would Team 2 be too heavily handicapped playing 9/12 versus 7/10?
If you put your money on a format to get Team 2 and 4 into Day 2, which schedule would you pick?
Thanks for everyone's feedback on this.
I am seeking an analysis on the the play-off format to be used for our pool (billiards) league play-off format.
There are 12 teams, all teams make play-offs, but are constrained by having 5 sets of tables, limited to 3 matches per day and need to play over one weekend, the proposed format is as follows:
Final round 4 teams play round robin
1st place gets a bye to the final on Day 2
The rest play on Day 1 divided into 3 houses. Winner of each house goes to Day 2
1 house would have 3 teams, the other 2 would have 4 teams. Again, round robin.
What arrangement of teams is a better/fairer distribution (numbers are in order of ranking for the season):
House 1: 2 7 10
House 2: 3 5 8 11
House 3: 4 6 9 12
or:
House 1: 2 9 12
House 2: 3 5 7 11
House 3: 4 6 8 10
My simple assessment is Team 2 gets an advantage of one less team to play and has 1st bye so they can decide their own fate.
==>> Question is make them play the weakest teams or balance it across all three?
The other catch is there is a handicap system in place. Not sure if it really matters, but I'll try to explain as I think it might bias the outcome.
Each match is 5 players from each team play each of the 5 from other team per leg.
10 pts for a winner and 1pt per ball down to loser, so max 50 per leg. Team's winning legs, not points determine overall winner.
Each player has carries average from the season, the player's averages are added up and the rounded difference is the handicap added to the weaker team.
eg: Team A, Average is 40 (8.0 per player), team B is 30 (6.0 pp).
In a leg, say score is A:44 to B:35. Add the handicap (10 pts) to B and they win the leg.
I think this could seriously affect the outcomes if the spread is very wide since it could make it tough to beat a lucky-on-the-day weak (playing over their handicap) team. Right now the top 4 teams all are in the 40-41 range, the rest between 40 and 36, except the last team with 31. So a 9-10 pt spread from 2nd to 12th. During the season we have seen as high as a 12 pt spread, which is like playing 5 players against 6+. If the spread were not so skewed, I would favor 2/9/12.
.
==>> Would Team 2 be too heavily handicapped playing 9/12 versus 7/10?
If you put your money on a format to get Team 2 and 4 into Day 2, which schedule would you pick?
Thanks for everyone's feedback on this.
