Question about tournament pairings

[bdorman]

My group is having an informal 16-person 10-ball tournament, double elimination. We range from "able to run 3 balls" to "able to run 7-8 balls". The prize money would barely buy dinner for two...at Taco Bell, so suffice to say this is all just for fun.

We handicap by what I call a "Need To Win" number: if I'm a 6-handicap and you're an 8-handicap, I need to win 6 racks or you need to win 8 racks to win the match.

So here's my question: For the first round how do you pair up the players?

1. Random (i.e. names drawn from a hat)?
2. High handicaps vs. high handicaps?
3. High handicaps vs. low handicaps?
4. Other?

Can I assume that you'd pair up the loser's bracket using the same method?

Many thanks!

 

[hang-the-9]

If you are doing it handicapped, does not matter how you do the draw. The one thing you may want to avoid is pairing up two people who drove in together or a relatives in the same bracket. The place I play in, they move things around so people that come in together don't have to play each other till at least a round or two into the tournament. I like that.

 

[rmw]

I would say random draw.

Past experience is that any attempt to optimize the initial pairings by manipulating them manually will upset some percentage of the players who disagree with the way selections were made.

Random draw could lead to occasional matches where players who came together end up playing each other in the first match. I think that is less of an issue in double elimination than in single elimination. It can also increase the odds of having some colorful matches between spouses (where one of them may have to determine whether they are willing to accept celibacy as the cost of winning).