[TonyOct57]

I am trying to understand how Clocked vs Unclocked tournaments work.

The https://blog.bridgeb...manager-manual/ says

Clocked = Mitchell
Unclocked = Fastest pairs move to next round as soon as they complete the boards

What does that mean, exactly? If you set the option to Unclocked, is the Minutes Per Board still used?

In any movement a pair cannot move to the next table, until the new table has finished. So does unclocked mean that pairs will move as soon as the next table has finished? Will an EW moving pair leave a table so that the next EW can join, even if the first pair cannot join the next table?

I have tried an unclocked game, but could not really see what exactly was different.

Thanks

[m00036]

TonyOct57, on 2020-September-08, 06:02, said:

I am trying to understand how Clocked vs Unclocked tournaments work.

The https://blog.bridgeb...manager-manual/ says

Clocked = Mitchell
Unclocked = Fastest pairs move to next round as soon as they complete the boards

What does that mean, exactly? If you set the option to Unclocked, is the Minutes Per Board still used?

In any movement a pair cannot move to the next table, until the new table has finished. So does unclocked mean that pairs will move as soon as the next table has finished? Will an EW moving pair leave a table so that the next EW can join, even if the first pair cannot join the next table?

I have tried an unclocked game, but could not really see what exactly was different.

Thanks

A clocked tournament follows a standard Mitchell or Howell. The next round starts when the clock expires or all tables have finished, whichever comes sooner.

In unclocked tournaments, the clock is purely used as a guide and has no effect on the movement. When 3 or 4 tables have finished, those tables move to the next round with a random movement to allocate pairs. This continues for the next 3 or 4 tables etc. until all tables have moved to the next round. It means that the faster tables complete the event more quickly but results will be biased as you will play against either the faster or slower pairs (assuming that slow pairs are less experienced, the best slow pair will score very highly despite not being in the top half of the field on merit alone, as a very simple example). You're not stuck in the same speed group for the entire tournament necessarily but the first 3 tables to move for Round 2 are likely to be in the fastest 3 tables for the next round since they start earlier and are quicker etc.

[criptik]

TonyOct57, on 2020-September-08, 06:02, said:

I am trying to understand how Clocked vs Unclocked tournaments work.

The https://blog.bridgeb...manager-manual/ says

Clocked = Mitchell
Unclocked = Fastest pairs move to next round as soon as they complete the boards

What does that mean, exactly? If you set the option to Unclocked, is the Minutes Per Board still used?

In any movement a pair cannot move to the next table, until the new table has finished. So does unclocked mean that pairs will move as soon as the next table has finished? Will an EW moving pair leave a table so that the next EW can join, even if the first pair cannot join the next table?

I have tried an unclocked game, but could not really see what exactly was different.

Thanks

The clock does get used in Unclocked but only to the extent that the final board must be started before the clock gets down to 3 minutes. But once a board is started, it will be allowed to finish no matter how long it takes.

I have directed 30 or so very small tournaments (3-5 tables) all unclocked, and I will add that if I set NumRounds = 2*NumTables - 1, I always seem to get a nice Howell like movement where every pair plays every other pair exactly once. But I don't know if this is guaranteed.

As for when the move can occur, I do not have access to the source files, but in my experience, the system needs your next round opponent to be ready (may be selected dynamically based on who you have not played yet and who is finished with this round), and also your current opponent's next round opponent to be ready.

[pescetom]

criptik, on 2020-September-08, 10:26, said:

The clock does get used in Unclocked but only to the extent that the final board must be started before the clock gets down to 3 minutes. But once a board is started, it will be allowed to finish no matter how long it takes.

This is of course in line with the laws of bridge. Pity one can't have the same behaviour with a regular Mitchell or Howell movement.

[pescetom]

criptik, on 2020-September-08, 10:26, said:

I have directed 30 or so very small tournaments (3-5 tables) all unclocked, and I will add that if I set NumRounds = 2*NumTables - 1, I always seem to get a nice Howell like movement where every pair plays every other pair exactly once. But I don't know if this is guaranteed.

I suspect it was just a fluke because your players all took similar time. Certainly I have had unclocked tournaments with not many more tables than that which were a disaster due to the slowest pairs playing each other time and time again. And I was advised by an experienced director to set number of rounds lower than 2t-1.

[TylerE]

Unclocked = Just don't do it.