So you’ve finally played your first tournament (or your fiftieth) and you’ve gone to the web site and looked under rankings and saw you had a point ranking. Now you wonder…..just how did that point ranking come about? Well, our system is a fairly simple one that we'll explain.
To start with, if you played in a men’s round robin in a tournament you don’t receive any points. Giving points in a round robin would give someone points for a third place finish when in reality they may not have even been competitive in the event. If you are in a men’s division with fewer than six players we don’t count your points either. It’s the same reasoning as with round robins. When you have a good ranking we want it to be because you are a good player, not because you participated in a lot of round robins in tournaments.
Women receive points in a round robin, but only for first place, and at a level 1. Many of the women’s divisions are round robins so otherwise some women would never get any points.
The ranking system is based on average tournament finishes plus points accumulated. It is on a 12-month rotation so points are based on the tournaments you have played in the last year. Rankings are listed with all players with two or more tournaments listed first in order of rank and then all players with only one tournament recorded in that division listed in order of rank. We do that since our system is based on an average finish in tournaments and you can’t have a real average with just one tournament.
You receive points for where you finish in a tournament (no matter what size) according to the following table. These points are averaged by the number of tournaments you have received points in for that division. This is called your tournament index. (TI)
Round 64 32 16 8 (Qtrs) 4 (semis) 2 (finals)
Points 2 5 8 10 13 17-2nd 20-1st
The Power Index Ranking (PIR) is used to give an advantage to players that participate in a lot of tournaments and tournaments that have a large draw. (which usually means tougher and more competition) In addition, everyone that participates in a tournament receives five bonus points. If you lose in the first round of your division those are the only points you receive for that tournament. Using the following method arrives at your PIR based on the tournament level multiplier in the following table. PIR points accumulate and are not an average.
Level I up to 100 players multiplier 1.0
Level II 101 to 125 players multiplier 1.25
Level III 126 to 150 players multiplier 1.5
Level IV 151-up players multiplier 1.75
Level V State Championships multiplier 2.0
The PIR formula is (TI x mutiplier) + bonus points / 100
Example
Joe Player participates in the State Singles and finishes in the Quarter Finals.
He plays in New Bern and finishes in the Semi Finals.
He plays in Fayetteville and finishes 2nd in the Finals.
State Singles - Tournament Points 10
New Bern - Tournament Points 13
Fayetteville- Tournament Points 17
10+13+17 = 40/3 = 13.33 average tournament points
State Singles - .25 PIR = 10 (tournament points) x 2 (multiplier) + 5 (bonus points) / 100
New Bern - .18 PIR = 13 (tournament points) x 1 (multiplier) + 5 (bonus points) / 100
Fayetteville - .35 PIR = 17 (tournament points) x 1.75 (multiplier) + 5 (bonus points) / 100
So Joe Player’s ranking from these 3 tournaments in this division would be:
13.33 (average tournament points) + .25 + .18 + .35 = 14.11 ranking
To determine when someone has to move up a division we use the following guidelines.
If you win a division twice in one year and the division has eight or more players in it, then you must move up one level for the remainder of the season until State Singles. You may play in the lower division at the Singles to try and win a State Championship but regardless of the outcome you must move up to the next higher division permanently after that. In addition, if you win a State, Regional, or National Championship with eight or more in the division you must move up, even if that’s the only tournament you won all year. If after a year of playing at the higher division, you feel like you don’t belong there, you may petition the NCRA Board of Directors to restore your previous level of play.