DYNAMICALLY STRATIFYING GAMES: WHAT IS IT AND WHY?
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Dynamically stratifying a game is stratifying a game
AFTER all of the names have been entered so as to
have relatively the same number of persons in each
stratification and (hopefully) meet the ACBL requirement
that at least 5 pairs be in the lowest stratification.
HOWELL GAMES ARE EASIEST TO DYNAMICALLY STRATIFY
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A Howell game is a "single Winner" movement where all
of the pairs are competing against all of the other
pairs. Note that this is different than a "Mitchell"
movement where there is a winner North-South and a
winner East-West. In a Howell movement it is possible
using ACBLscore to get a linear list of the pairs
sorted by masterpoint holding.
RECOMMENDED NUMBER OF PAIRS IN EACH STRATIFICATION
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Strat Strat Strat
A B C
6 Pairs 3 3
7 Pairs 3 4
8 Pairs 3 5
9 Pairs 4 5
9 Pairs 2 2 5 above will work as well
10 Pairs 2 3 5
11 Pairs 3 3 5
12 Pairs 3 4 5
These are "recommended" stratifications. You may wish
to deviate from these especially when following one of
the above distributions results in an inappropriate pair
being included in a lower stratfication. For instance,
in a 7 pair game, assume the lowest 4 pairs have the following
masterpoint holdings: 30, 50, 150, 900. Obviously, the
pair with 900 masterpoints is really not in the same
league as the other pairs. Hence, it is probably better
to have only the first 3 pairs in the bottom strat, so
choose an appropriate limit for the bottom strat (such
as 160) so that the pair with 900 points is moved into
the higher strat.
MOVE MORE PAIRS INTO LOWER STRATIFICATIONS
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Remember that pairs can win the higher stratifications but
not the lower ones. Hence, it is better to have more pairs
in the lower stratifications than the higher ones since the
pairs in the lower stratifications have more chances at
awards (i.e, they can win their strat or any of the above
strats). It helps to maximize your players' chances of
winning masterpoints which is what we want. We wish as
many players as possible to win masterpoints so they will
be encouraged to return.
DYNAMICALLY STRATIFYING: DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS
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Create a game as you normally would (enter anything
for the stratifications since you will change them later).
Enter all of the names using the database. Then from the
main game screen (reached after entering all of the names
and exiting the enter names screen):
1) Press F9 or type SET in the command field and hit enter
2) Select "11 Assign/change/show STRATA letters/field sizes"
3) Select "1 Assign stratum letters in section A"
4) Press F4 to sort by masterpoints if not already sorted
5) Select the top masterpoint limit for the lowest strat
by counting up the number of needed pairs for that strat
from the bottom and choosing the lowest rounded number which
will include all of those pairs but none of the pairs
with more masterpoints. Choose the upper limit for the
next higher strat in a similar manner. In an open game,
the top strat will have no upper limit. Remember these
numbers as you will need them later.
6) Press F9 to exit screen
7) Press F9 from the main game screen or enter the SET command
10) Choose "10 Set masterpoint rating" from SET menu
11) Configure the game as you did initially except enter the top
limits for the strats which you determined in step 5 above.
Choose "3 Other Upper MP Limit" as necessary to enter the
limits you determined in step 5 above.
12) Press F9 or enter the SET command after arriving back
at the main game screen. Execute steps 2 thru 4 above again.
13) Press F3 to auto stratify. Type "Y" for yes when it asks you
to "Confirm Auto Stratify (Y/N)"
14) Press F9 to return to main game screen. You are done.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR LIMITED MASTERPOINT GAMES!!!!!
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When stratifying a limited game (such as our 299er on
Thursday night), use the "3 Other Upper MP limit" selection
and enter the number for the first or "top" strat rather than
choosing one of the "fixed" choices such as "6 Upper MP limit=300".
If you choose the fixed choice "6 Upper MP limit=300" you will
NOT be able to choose "3 Other Upper MP limit" for the other
strats. In other words, you will NOT be able to set the top
limits for the other stratifications to anything you want but
will be constrained to the small number of choices that the
ACBLscore program offers. Hence, you will not be able to do a true
dynamic stratification of the game. Just a warning.
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