American Backgammon Tour (ABT)
Players in the Main Event are eligible to receive American Backgammon Tour (ABT) points. Membership in the U.S. Backgammon Federation is required to play in the Main Event. Renew or join at usbgf.org. The schedule and events are subject to change at the Director's discretion.
Players in the Main Event are eligible to receive American Backgammon Tour (ABT) points. Membership in the U.S. Backgammon Federation is required to play in the Main Event. Renew or join at usbgf.org. The schedule and events are subject to change at the Director's discretion.
3 Divisions: Open Championship, Intermediate, & Novice
Format:
Format:
- Open & Intermediate:
- MoreSwiss Quadruple Elimination
- 5 Rounds Friday starting @ 11:00 AM
- 5 Rounds Saturday starting at 11:00 AM
- 1-3 Rounds Sunday to crown a Champion starting at 11:30 AM
- 5 Rounds Friday starting @ 11:00 AM
- Unlucky Dice Last Chance for players eliminated on Friday
- Starts 11:30 AM Saturday
- Starts 11:30 AM Saturday
- MoreSwiss Quadruple Elimination
- Novice:
- To be determined by the number of entrants
- Likely Round Robin followed by a playoff
MoreSwiss Format Details
Pairing Rules
Handling 3-Way Ties
Some tournament formats may play down to a 3-way tie. That tie must be broken to determine a tournament winner, as well as second and third places. A round-robin playoff is undesirable because it requires 4 matches on average. A standard elimination playoff is undesirable because the late bye awards a very large equity bump to one player at the expense of the others.
The following “contingent bye” playoff format requires only two matches, but drastically reduces the equity swing produced by the late random draw to a level of only 1.3% for the ~5:3:2 payouts typical of Swiss, or 2.4% for the 4:2:1 payouts typical of Elimination.
All 3-way ties that occur at ABT tournaments must be resolved using the following playoff format:
- Players will be eliminated when they lose their forth match.
- Byes will be treated as wins.
- Players with three losses are still eligible to cash, but can no longer win the tournament.
- When the tournament starts, we will identify the maximum number of places that we are willing to pay.
- Open Division: We will pay 15% of the field rounded up. (i.e. if we have 32 players, we will pay up to five places)
- Intermediate Division: We will pay 20% of the field rounded up. (i.e. if we have 32 players, we will pay up to seven places)
- We will develop several payout structures and post them as soon as practical. For example, if are willing to pay to seven places, we will develop payout structures for five, six, and seven places.
- If at the end of any round, the number of players with fewer than four losses is less than or equal to the maximum number of places we are willing to pay, we will transition to the "playoff rules"
- Under the playoff rules:
- Everyone remaining will cash and continue playing. Payouts will be determined by the appropriate payout structure.
- All players eliminated with the same record will receive the same prize money.
- There will be more rounds of Swiss until there is a clear winner. i.e. one player left with two or fewer losses.
- If we reach a point where only three players remain eligible to win the tournament and they have equal records we will transition to the USBGF 3-player playoff format listed below
- If we reach the point of a championship match or a 3-player playoff, three loss players will be eliminated and will share 3rd or 4th places respectively.
- Excluding the times we have reached a 3-player playoff, if we reach a point where only two players remain eligible to win the tournament and both players are eliminated from contention with another loss, those two players will be playing a championship match and will finish the tournament in 1st and 2nd place alone.
- At the appropriate time the Director will gather the remaining players before posting the next round pairings to explain all possible scenarios.
Pairing Rules
- No player can receive a second bye until all remaining players have had at least one bye.
- Byes are awarded to a player with the worst possible record.
- Players will be paired against players with as similar a record as possible.
- Players will be paired against players they have not played in previous rounds.
- If a player has played a previous round against an opponent with a better record, they will not be paired against a player with a better record again, if possible.
- If a player has played a previous round against an opponent with a worse record, they will not be paired against a player with a worse record again, if possible.
Handling 3-Way Ties
Some tournament formats may play down to a 3-way tie. That tie must be broken to determine a tournament winner, as well as second and third places. A round-robin playoff is undesirable because it requires 4 matches on average. A standard elimination playoff is undesirable because the late bye awards a very large equity bump to one player at the expense of the others.
The following “contingent bye” playoff format requires only two matches, but drastically reduces the equity swing produced by the late random draw to a level of only 1.3% for the ~5:3:2 payouts typical of Swiss, or 2.4% for the 4:2:1 payouts typical of Elimination.
All 3-way ties that occur at ABT tournaments must be resolved using the following playoff format:
- Label the three tied players A, B, C.
- A contingent bye is awarded to one player randomly chosen from among those who received the fewest byes previously in the event. Suppose A is chosen.
- B plays C. Suppose B wins.
- B plays A.
- If A wins, then A has earned the bye. Player A places first; B places second and C places third.
- However, if A loses, then the bye is given to player C instead of player A. The A vs. B match is recorded as the semi-final, and the B vs. C match is recorded as the final. B places first; C places second and A places third.
Please contact Rory Pascar with any questions...
Email: [email protected]
Mobile/WhatsApp: 617-699-9100 |