| Rule Submission Title | Round-robin tie-breaker criteria |
|---|---|
| USAP Board Vote | Approved |
| USAP Rules Committee Vote | Approved |
| USAP Rules Committee Vote Reason | This will return the rule to the tiebreaker method that was used in 2023 and earlier. Neither round robin tiebreaker option is perfect when there are three or more teams with the same number of wins. Both have an aspect that can be argued as unfair. Under this method, there will always be one or more teams who could claim unfairness when they finish lower than a team they beat head-to-head but who had a better point differential. However, the nature of a round robin is based on playing all other teams in the bracket, so using point differential throughout is the more consistent and appropriate measure of who performed better overall in the bracket. |
| Existing Rule # | 12.C.4 |
| Proposed Rule Change | 12.C.4. Round Robin. All players/teams play each other. Games may use any of the approved tournament scoring options. (See Rule 12.B.) The winner is determined based on number of matches won. If two or more teams are tied, ties shall be broken in accordance with 12.C.4.a. through 12.C.4.e. The method that succeeds in breaking the tie will be used to rank all tied teams. |
| Original Rule Text | 12.C.4. Round Robin. All players/teams play each other. Games may use any of the approved tournament |
| Reasoning Behind Suggested Change | Remove this sentence: Once a tie has been broken, any subsequent ties in the bracket shall be broken by going back to 12.C.4.a. and continuing through each successive tie-breaker until a winner is determined.
With the "restart" of the process after each tie is broken, the tiebreaker weighs too heavily on head-to-head, not taking into account point differential among tied teams or point differential of all teams in the pool. This especially affects 3+ way ties. The determining tiebreaker factor should have more basis in statistics, not just the head-to-head component. Round robin winners tiebreakers should be determined by competitive play as demonstrated in statistics.
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| Scenarios In Which the Rules Applies | Teams that are tied with 3 or more teams are often impacted. Close games are not considered, only head-to-head wins when the tiebreaker "resets." For example, 3 teams tied after the round robin with a 3-1 record. Team A beat Team C 15-4, Team C beat Team B 15-13, Team B beat Team A 16-14. Team A automatically moved on out of the pool since they had the biggest point differential in the pool of 5 overall teams (by 1 point). The game between Team A and C was not as competitive as the other games, according to the score. Team B lost only one game by 2 points, but Team C advanced since they beat Team B. |
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| Rule Book Year | 2025 |
| Rule Change ID | 1838 |
| Date Created | May 15, 2024 |
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