Pick 'em - AMS Miami 2008

[steven]

You can now enter the MIAMI AMS PICK 'EM via http://www.britishtennis.net/Competitions.html

IMPORTANT - If you intend to change the name you enter with or your team, or you can't remember whether there is usually a space in your pick 'em name, how many ~~~s there are in it or anything like that, please read post 6 on this thread first!

Entries close when play starts at 14.00 GMT on Wednesday - changed, see post 82 on this thread. However, neither Bethan nor I will be available very much on Wednesday, so if you can get your entry in before 09.30 GMT on Wednesday, please try to do so. Entries received after 09.30 (but before play starts) will be accepted, but may not appear on the results pages until the end of Thursday.

Update: Qualifiers have now been placed in the draw.

[steven]

WHAT IS THE ATP BRACKET CHALLENGE?

The ATP obviously think that pick 'ems are a good idea, because they are going to run their own version, which they (being American) call a 'Bracket Challenge' for all of the remaining 8 AMS events this year - see http://www.atptennis.com/5/en/fantasy/bracket.asp

The two competitions work in the same basic way, i.e. you pick the winner of every match in the main draw before the main draw starts. Attempting to compare the two competitions reasonably objectively, the differences are:

ATP comp advantages (a few big ones)

- prizes (though chances of winning one are one in 10s of thousands per event)
- they've thrown lots of money at it, so there's a proper log in system and you can go back and amend your picks any time before their deadline (this is the one enhancement I'd most like to make to our system, but it's a LOT of work and won't be happening any time soon)
- up to 199,999 other players to play against
- they cover all of the AMS events
- they may update scores after every single match

Our comp advantages (some big, some small)

- you can enter up to when play starts (ATP comp closes 2 hours earlier)
- you can enter before qualifiers are placed if you won't be around between when they are placed and when entries close
- our pick 'ems include a teams competition
- you will be able to see all of the entrants' scores on one web page
- it's much easier to see how you're really doing against your friends
- we've got the robot entrants and the gorillas, so some targets to go for even if you are not at the top of the table
- we've got a better scoring system (theirs is almost the same as the one we dumped at the end of last year)
- although we miss a few AMS events, our pick 'ems (and rankings) include slams
- generally, there's much more scope for fun and a bit of banter

Entering both

I would encourage pick 'em addicts (especially those who do lot of research into their picks) to enter both competitions. If you use the same picks for both, filling in the second entry form should only take a minute or two if all you are doing is copying picks.

Hopefully, experience gained doing regular pick 'ems here will help some people do well in the ATP version too!

Of course, another option would be to hedge your bets and enter different picks for each one.

Finally (since I'm sure someone will put 2+2 together and make 5 after reading this ), yes you can enter our pick 'em comp without entering the ATP one. (or vice versa, naturally)

Will we continue to do AMS pick 'ems?

I was wondering whether we should stop running pick 'ems for AMS events and just run them for the slams, but Bethan and ASE convinced me that we should continue running them for AMS events too, mainly for the banter/fun reasons I mentioned up above.

So, we will continue with the planned schedule, at least until we see whether the ATP comp is having any adverse effect on entries, but there is a small chance that we might switch to just slams at some point.

[steven]

Miami 2007 was the first team pick 'em we held (yes, we really have been going for a year already!), so Miami 2008 is the first tournament where a few people have points to defend.

POINTS BEING DEFENDED FROM MIAMI 2007

N.B. position points were based on the way of breaking ties in individual tournaments that has been used since RG 2007, i.e. if total scores are equal, look at R1 scores then (if R1 scores are equal) R2 scores and so on, so they might not exactly match the positions shown on the final table for each tournament before tRG 2007.

Format: Total points = position points P + bonus points B for player-name (doing it this way means that one Excel formula can be copied down for all entrants and I don't have to type any of this stuff in!)

RANKING POINTS - AMS MIAMI 2007

(some of these points may not really be being defended as such, if they are no longer in the player's Best 7)

626 = 500 P + 126 B for cazza99
590 = 490 P + 100 B for Douglas M
560 = 480 P + 80 B for Guy
546 = 470 P + 76 B for Rob Harris
533 = 460 P + 73 B for seagull
511 = 450 P + 61 B for lj2007
489 = 440 P + 49 B for SarahWiser
469 = 430 P + 39 B for Johnnylad
459 = 420 P + 39 B for goldfish
442 = 410 P + 32 B for Donna
425 = 400 P + 25 B for Paul Dyer
413 = 390 P + 23 B for Xenon21
403 = 380 P + 23 B for murraymaniac
390 = 370 P + 20 B for Shaun7879
375 = 360 P + 15 B for Kels
365 = 350 P + 15 B for Grundon
353 = 340 P + 13 B for RedCabbage
341 = 330 P + 11 B for David Edwards
328 = 320 P + 8 B for David Cox (sheddie)
318 = 310 P + 8 B for Wimblyfan/Ellen
308 = 300 P + 8 B for Sarah
296 = 290 P + 6 B for Akhenaten
283 = 280 P + 3 B for andyjmr
273 = 270 P + 3 B for Jambondusoleil
263 = 260 P + 3 B for eblunt
251 = 251 P + 0 B for Michael
241 = 241 P + 0 B for bellamy11
231 = 231 P + 0 B for andys_ipod
221 = 221 P + 0 B for Drew
211 = 211 P + 0 B for Sound
201 = 201 P + 0 B for Speedy Hawk
191 = 191 P + 0 B for Steven
181 = 181 P + 0 B for WallaceEMann
171 = 171 P + 0 B for Vimto
161 = 161 P + 0 B for AllyB
151 = 151 P + 0 B for Chrissi
141 = 141 P + 0 B for ForeverDelayed
131 = 131 P + 0 B for Allan
121 = 121 P + 0 B for RobC
111 = 111 P + 0 B for Josh
101 = 101 P + 0 B for Aria81
91 = 91 P + 0 B for silk
81 = 81 P + 0 B for Rochelle
71 = 71 P + 0 B for mintsauce
61 = 61 P + 0 B for Mkkreuk
51 = 51 P + 0 B for Dusty Dick
41 = 41 P + 0 B for Count Zero
31 = 31 P + 0 B for Spraggz
21 = 21 P + 0 B for Imoen
11 = 11 P + 0 B for Vamos08
1 = 1 P + 0 B for Matt Fitzgerald

N.B. Some names have changed since this list was produced.

[Count zero]

so i can gain a lot then?

gonna knock me down a shed.

[Sallydaisy]

You and me both Jac!!!

The Queen of the Gorillas is gonna swing through the tree tops in the Pick'em Jungle......

(I am so going to regret saying that................

[steven]

My last post for now, promise.

IMPORTANT The overall rankings use an Excel lookup on the results of previous tournaments, which means that any difference between pick 'ems in the name you use on the entry form will result in your overall ranking points not being added together.

Capitalisation doesn't make any difference, but even a single extra letter, an extra space, using "-" when you used to use "_" or calling yourself "SONIque__" when you used to call yourself "SONIque_____" (had to be one of the ducklings from AR.com, didn't it ) is enough to mess things up.

At the end of each tournament, I try to correct for any changes when I spot them (checking email addresses to make sure that it really is the same person first), but it involves pasting the changed name back into up to 9 previous spreadsheets and it is the single biggest hassle and waste of time out of anything connected to pick 'em.

So, when you enter, please either:

- use exactly the same name you used last time
- if in doubt, go to the overall rankings page and copy and paste from there
- if you have the same name as a player from another team who has played in previous tournaments, e.g. there is a Linda (AM) and a Linda (AR), please enter with the team code in brackets as shown on the rankings table (please don't do this though if your pick 'em name is currently unique)

OR

- email me at btpickem@hotmail.com after you enter and tell me what you have changed your name from and to (just posting here is not enough, we might miss it)
- also, to avoid me having to check whether or not you are really a new player, if you are changing teams from the one shown for you on the rankings, please email me at btpickem@hotmail.com and make it clear that you are doing this (I will continue to check for and correct these myself too though, since in this case it isn't the entrant's fault that this has happened like it is with name changes)

Thank you!

Notes

Clearly having logins would save a lot of this hassle, but as I mentioned in the first post, much as I would love to implement that at some stage, it's a huge amount of work. I imagine the ATP threw thousands of $s at it to get it done, because they expect to gain financially from having people taking part (which we obviously don't), and the time needed to do it is simply not worth is for the size of pick 'em we have. (which doesn't mean I never will, but it won't be soon!)

Finally, for your own sake, please don't be tempted to change your pick 'em name because you have had some low scores in the past. At worst, these scores will be making no difference to your overall ranking and if you haven't got 7 higher scores to count, they will be making your overall ranking higher than it otherwise would be.

[Fitzy]

Yes, I'm defending 1 point! I'll keep entering as Fitz if the "y" is too complicated to add on, haha.

[Michael]

Hi Steven

I only joined this recently and my name is Michael(AM). The name Michael on your list seems to relate to Michael(BT).

Steven have I got this right or have completely misunderstood the final rankin list?

Thanks for your help.