Advice on setting up a tournament

[mehmi36]

Hey guys,

couple of weeks ago decided to set up a handicap tournie at me local snooker club. Got a throat infection and been bed ridden so literally have this week to set things up! Any advice generally on organising such an event. Like to think ive covered most things but as its my first time you can never be sure. Im having it filmed aswell so hopefully the event will go well! Also any players interested in playing and live in south east london let me know and il put you down to play.

Many thanks guys hopefully you can help!!

Sam

[circle]

In my experience - You need to decide on the maximum number of entries you can cater for and on how many players you can rely on to turn up on time and from this you can derive a format and schedule. Also, a tournament organiser needs to be hard but fair, and if you keep to the rules and treat all the players the same then there will be no complaints. Good luck!

[DeanH]

also, decide and announce to all particpants/referees(?), before the start, if the Miss rule will or will not be applied to this event.

[mehmi36]

Thanks guys.. Yep @circle its going to be max 16 player tournie but lot of players reluctant to play but hopefully after this more will come. Thanks @DeanH too probably would not of made that clear before the tournie. Anymore tips would be great!

[DeanH]

rule of thumb (pardon the pun)
1) if you have impartial referees for each match - Miss rule should be used - ensure the refs know it well
2) if no referees (i.e players refeeing themselves - Miss rule not used, but inform the players what you expect instead.
3) if all participants are "amateur club" players then no miss rule but - as above

[circle]

A format that works well in my area is a round robin tournament - and it suits players of all abilities - as the lesser players get to play a few matches for their entry fee, and better players like it as first round upsets are not so frequent. Most of all the club managers / owners like the round robin as their club is busy all day!

[SnkrRef]

A round robin format certainly provides a fuller day's play for everyone but be aware that the size of the groups has a massive impact on the number of games in the group: 3 players is 3, 4 players is 6 games, 5 players is 10 games, 6 players is 15 and 7 players 21!

In my experience, average Bof3 matches is about 50 mins, Bof5 about 75-90 mins, and Bof7 about 110-120 mins, although the longest matches can be double those times!

For a flat knock-out draw, the number of matches will be one less than the number of players in the draw.

Work out how many matches you can get through in a day (bear in mind you can only have four quarters, two semis and one final on at a time), and then see what format works best for the time and number of tables.