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.
3 Divisions: Open Championship, Intermediate, & Novice
Format:
Open & Intermediate – Modified Swiss, Triple Elimination
Novice – To be determined by number of entrants, most likely Round Robin
| Division | Entry Fee | Side Pool(s) | Length | Clocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open | $300 | $300 & $150* | 9pt | Required 2m/12sec |
| Intermediate | $150 | $50 | 9pt | Required 2m/12sec |
| Novice | $30 | – | 5pt | Optional |
* Players in Open may enter both, just one or neither of the side pools.
90% return on entry fees and 100% return on side pools.
Modified Swiss Format Details
1. Players will be eliminated when they lose their third match.
2. Byes will be treated as wins.
3. Players with two losses are still eligible to cash, but can no longer win the tournament.
4. When the tournament starts, we will identify the maximum number of places that we are willing to pay.
5. Payout structures will be announced after play has begun.
6. If at the end of any round, the number of players with fewer than three losses is less than or equal to the maximum number of places we are willing to pay, we will transition to the “playoff rules”
7. Under playoff rules:
a. Everyone remaining will cash and continue playing.
b. All players eliminated with the same record will receive the same prize money.
c. There will be more rounds of Swiss until there is a clear winner.
d. If only three players with equal records remain eligible to win the tournament, transition to USBGF 3-player playoff.
e. Under the 3-way tie, all 2 loss players are eliminated.
f. Excluding the 3-player playoff, if 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.
g. At the appropriate time the Director will gather the remaining players before posting the next round pairings to explain all possible scenarios.
Pairing Rules
1. No player can receive a second bye until all remaining players have had at least one bye.
2. Byes are awarded to a player with the worst possible record.
3. Players will be paired against players with as similar a record as possible.
4. Players will be paired against players they have not played in previous rounds.
5. 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.
6. 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.
For more information, contact event directors:
| David Todd | (636) 299-6406 |
| Jim Feher | [email protected] |