Handicapping

Six possible ranks are assigned to players at the Star Lite tournaments. Each player retains two ranks: one for doubles and one for singles. The possible ranks are:

• Beginner (zero points to 399) - jumps to 700
• Rookie (400 points to 899) - jumps to 1100
• Amateur (900 points to 1399) - jumps to 1500
• Expert (1400 points to 1899) - jumps to 1950
• Pro (1900 points to 2399) - jumps to 2400
• Master (2400 points upward)

The names of the ranks are not truly descriptive of the players; however ranks are generally reflective of the player's ability to play well in local Draw Your Partner tournaments.

Players are handicapped based on their ranks. The handicaps are designed so that higher-ranked players win more often than lower-ranked players, but lower-ranked players have a chance to win. This provides motivation for lower-ranked players to improve (resulting in higher points and more money and recognition), but avoids the discouragement of relentless losses. It also means higher-ranked players have to play hard to win, which helps to keep their games in tune for when it matters.

Here's how it works. In a game, the lower ranked team has to score 5 to win. Higher ranked players have to score additional goals to win. For doubles, the number of additional goals is determined as follows:

1. Take the differences in ranks between the teams. For example, let's say a Master and an Expert are playing a Pro and an Amateur. Let's see, that's a 6 and a 4 (10) playing a 5 and a 3 (8). 10 - 8 is 2, that's a difference of 2.
2. Divide the difference (in this case 2) by 2 and that's the number of additional goals the higher ranked team has to score. In this case, the Master/Expert team has to score one additional goal, for a total of 6. Let's take a moment to feel truly sorry for the higher ranked team. OK, we'll give them the first drop of the game out of sympathy.
3. The more observant among you will be wondering, what happens if the difference isn't evenly divisible by 2? In that case we round down and give the first drop of the game to the lower-ranked team. To be nice. For example, if a Master/Amateur team plays an Expert/Expert team, that's (6+3) - (4+4), all divided by two for a result of one-half. We round down to zero, meaning the higher ranked team needs five to win, but we give the first drop of the game to the lower ranked team.

For singles, some additional handicapping is allowed, on the basis that singles is more difficult for the lower ranks because of the requirement to have forward skills. In the following table, the number represents the different in ranks between the two opponents, with an accompanying description of the handicap against the senior player:

1. Junior (lower-ranked) player gets first drop of every game.
2. Senior (higher-ranked) player goes to 6, junior player gets first drop of every game.
3. Senior player goes to 7 and gets first drop of every game.
4. Senior player goes to 8 and gets first drop of every game.
5. Senior player goes to 8, junior player gets first drop of every game.

Points

Please note: Points algorithms below are out-of-date, but the general principles still hold.—R.T.

Points are used to determine what rank to assign to each player. Winning a match causes a player's points to go up. Losing a match causes a player's points to go down. I hope you're paying close attention, because there will be a test on this later.

If a player's points go up enough, they are bumped to the next highest rank. If a player's points go down enough, they are bumped down to the next lowest rank. Players may also be re-ranked at the discretion of the tournament organizers. This may happen if the player is new and was mis-ranked to start with.

Points are awarded to the winning team and taken away from the losing team. This approach was arrived at after much deliberation.

Just to make it interesting (and also for a host of other reasons), the less likely you are to win, the more points you get for winning! Here's how it works in doubles:

• If two very low ranked players beat two very high ranked players, the winning team would get 40 points, and the losing team would lose 38 points. 40 points is the most you could every win, and 38 is the most you could ever lose.
• If two evenly matched teams play, the winning team gets 20 points, and the losing team loses 20 points.
• If a very high ranked team beats a very low ranked team, they get zero points.
• In between all these combinations, points are awarded based on a highly scientific third-order calculus approach known as a "straight-line graph".
• To summarize: how much you go up or down depends on who won and the difference between the existing points rating for the two teams.

This approach means that you aren't awarded just for winning tournaments; you are awarded points for winning more often than you used to! This system also automatically causes more recent performance to be more relevant to your points than less recent performance. How this works is left as an exercise to the reader.

If you really want to know, here's how to calculate the points: Take the winning team's total points and subtract the losing team's total points. Call this number d for "difference". d is not allowed to exceed 4000 or be less than -4000. The points awarded to each of the winning players, and subtracted from each of the losing players is (4000 - d)/200. Then, if the losing team was rated quite a bit lower than the winning team, a point or two is awarded back to the losing team, as it is likely the winning team was underrated, so the winning team shouldn't be penalized as much. Makes sense? The maximum that can be gained in one match is 40; the maximum that can be lost is 38.

In singles, take the winning player's points and subtract the losing player's points. Call this number d for "difference". d is not allowed to exceed 2000 or be less than -2000. The points awarded to the winning player, and subtracted from the losing player is (2000 - d)/80. Then, again, a small upward adjustment (1 to 5 points) to the losing players points if he or she was rated quite a bit higher than the winner. The maximum that can be gained is 50; the most that can be lost is 45. In singles, this maximum is higher, because we play less often, and it lets the players "settle in" faster to where their points belong.

If you've read this far, give yourself a pat on the back. If you're more interested, read this (now somewhat out of date) explanatory e-mail.