More demanding than 3 - cushion?

[Island Drive]

Don't most 3-cushion events use round robin and if so, is the format as tough or as long as whats going on in Reno?

 

[iralee]

Round Robin in 3-cushion

Internationally, the professional 3-cushion tournaments are played in single elimination.

In the US, however, 3-cushion professional events are still held in round robin. The Sang Lee International Open is a fairly large field (80+) that plays in staged round robins. IPT has more players (200) so you have many more games overall, but the SLIO is usually played with flights of eight players each with 2 or 3 people advancing (depends on the round). The Sang Lee events have always have always been designed to be pretty greuling.

www.sangleeinternational.com has the results from the last event from a few weeks ago (click on Results link). Not the same scale as the IPT in size or prize fund (of course), but it is growing slowly and the players/spectators love the format.

-Ira

 

[sjm]

Three cushion is a multi-stage round robin, but the elite are often given a bye into the final stage, sometimes not even showing up to the event until the final stage is about to begin.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Don't most 3-cushion events use round robin and if so, is the format as tough or as long as whats going on in Reno?

As Ira said, international 3-C events now are mostly single-elimination. Usually there will be a "qualification" stage in which the players will play in 3-player round robins so everyone is guaranteed two matches. The winners of the qualification brackets go on to the single-elimination main tournament.

It used to be that the World 3-C Championships were round-robin. The downside of this was that the number of players was severly limited. For example, the 1978 World Championship in Las Vegas that Ceulemans won with a record average was a 12-player round-robin. I think that the 1939 or 1940 tournament (held at "The Navy Pier" in Chicago?) was a double round-robin, and that's what was used in some 14.1 events as well.

I think there has never been a round-robin-based tournament with a field as large as the IPT events. Most organizations are not able to provide enough tables. The IPT is also unique in the number of matches that the champion will have to play:

4 round of 200
5 round of 120
4 round of 60
5 round of 36
5 round of 18
5 round of 6
1 final
---------
29 matches

There is a round robin 3-C event held every year in Monte Carlo. Eight top players are invited and they each play one match per day for a week. It's a more relaxed pace than in Reno. Expenses are paid and there is a $100k prize fund. Admission is free.

 

[iralee]

Three cushion is a multi-stage round robin, but the elite are often given a bye into the final stage, sometimes not even showing up to the event until the final stage is about to begin.

At the last Sang Lee International Open (and similarly for the 2005) the top seed s (Blomdahl, Jaspers, Sayginer, Caudron and Ceulemans) did not have to play the preliminary round robin stage. But they were not seeded into the final stage either. They were seeded into the 2nd round of play - having still to play for 5 days and qualify into the money-paying final round.

 

[sjm]

At the last Sang Lee International Open (and similarly for the 2005) the top seed s (Blomdahl, Jaspers, Sayginer, Caudron and Ceulemans) did not have to play the preliminary round robin stage. But they were not seeded into the final stage either. They were seeded into the 2nd round of play - having still to play for 5 days and qualify into the money-paying final round.

Thank you for the clarification.