While looking for an old post I ran across two fictionalized sagas from four years ago. That got me thinking, life is stranger than fiction. I have witnessed the following:
In the main match at the Fastest Gun Alive, I saw KK Kid shoot the winning shot of a match setting a new ladies world record. Because it was a world record time she was given three shots to back it up in three attempts. Since she could not back it up, the shot was by rule declared an anticipation and therefore the match was still tied 2-2. Then in the next shot she wins the match with a shot that was fast enough to back up the world record. Sorry was the response to KK Kid, no world record for you, even though you shot one and did back it up in the match. Rules are rules.
I saw Quick Cal set a new world record in a title match which he conceded was an anticipation even though any grade school math student would calculate that he started his draw at least 50 to 75 milliseconds after the light came on. I don't buy for a second that he was just following the cowboy way in conceding anticipation but believe it was not wise to test out the new rules he had just put in place to protect the integrity of the world record.
I saw a Territorial champion win the event even though the champion did not compete in 4 of the last 5 rounds of the event. The champion entered the last three with 3 x s and the other two had 2 x s and 1 x respectively. The champion won four bye shoot offs in a row and therefore did not have to compete in 4 of the last 5 rounds of the event.
I have seen many title events won by a shooter that had reached the elimination factor. 4 x is 4 x except when it isn't. We don't believe in resurrections unless we need to fill a spot. I can remember this happening frequently, most recently Quick Cal at the 2018 Southern.
There are relatively easy fixes to all of these aberrations, but to do so, we need to get over our "you can't do that" mentality or maybe it is "that is the way we always have done it."
Friday, April 12, 2019
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Well that worked Well!
Shady is an amazing fella.You plant an idea, a plan or a design with him and off he runs. I wrote a post about shooting with three lanes at a jackpot shoot and before the next day I get this:
I was going to try out Arizona bye with three lanes at the next Loess Hills Jackpot shoot but since the lanes are up and we always get a good crowd on Wednesday we decided to give it a whirl. We had 19 shooters and we shot 6 rounds of Arizona Five on three lanes, all three shooters at a time unless there were only two shooters. It took about 3 hours and the scoring and CFDA program worked well. When you set the match up you put in that you have 3 lanes and the program divides the shooters into sets of three. Lane assignments needed to be adjusted a bit but that was easy to do.
We shot Arizona Five so it is possible to get 1 W and 2 Xs, or 3 Xs, or 2 W and 1 X. Had it been three winning shots all rounds would have resulted in 1W and 2Xs. The scoring was easy and I think everyone understood the scoring. Just remember you score each shooter against each of the other shooters and a loss to either is a loss in the match.
We were testing the scoring, CFDA program, and whether there were any unforeseen problems. Ordinarily you would only use Arizona bye when there was a odd number of shooters, but as used today it allowed us to use three lanes to their full capacity.
Be careful of conclusions: Shady had the lanes set up yesterday and I came over to practice. Old West stopped by and so we shot 6 rounds of three winning shots Arizona bye. In 6 rounds I never won shot let alone a match. In the first 2 rounds today I could not find the target, so I went 8 rounds and won just one shot. It would be easy to conclude that the format is not my cup of tea and to say I hate it, but in reality it was just poor shooting or luck of the draw (yesterday). The ship, or more accurately the system, righted itself and I finished the event third out of nineteen.
Loess Hills Jackpot Shoot: I am planning a Loess Hills Jackpot Shoot for May 19 and what we really need to do is test the Arizona bye in a bracket environment where it is designed to shine. Not only will it save rounds but it will sort better than the CFDA bye. What I need is 18 shooters with $10 apiece to do a little two bracket shoot. So as not to be accused of doing a classification shoot, we will divide the 18 into two brackets using their last fastest time as shown on the last fastest time report that they have shot, nine in each bracket. We then shoot a 3x three winning shots last man standing bracket shoot using two lanes with the three lanes being only used for the odd shooter set. For time considerations shooting 18 shooters on two lanes will be comparable to shooting 54 shooters on a 6 lane range.
Pot, Pot, whose got the Pot: In these small jackpots normally the division is $50, $30, and $20 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Since we are trying out new things what we will do is we will have a 1x Magnificent 6 shoot off of the top three shooters in each bracket. The seeding will be Master Gunfighter 1, Gunfighter 1, Master Gunfighter 2, Gunfighter 2, Master Gunfighter 3, Gunfighter 3. One-third of the field will be in the shoot-off.
Gunfighter Rating: I will do gunfighter ratings on all of the shooters since this helps evaluate how the format is sorting. It is interesting to see how just in the two shoots so far, some gunslingers have made impressive improvement in their gunfighter rating.
Proud PaPa: My youngest was a division 1 athlete but motherhood and life had somewhat weighted her down. She has now taken up roller derby and the fire is back. You will never know how good you can be if you don't try. As I texted her, be quick, slow is not in our genes. I am looking for 18 gunslingers to venture into new places and it will only cost you $10 and a morning of your time. Try the Arizona bye, you may like it. Never ever slow down!
I was going to try out Arizona bye with three lanes at the next Loess Hills Jackpot shoot but since the lanes are up and we always get a good crowd on Wednesday we decided to give it a whirl. We had 19 shooters and we shot 6 rounds of Arizona Five on three lanes, all three shooters at a time unless there were only two shooters. It took about 3 hours and the scoring and CFDA program worked well. When you set the match up you put in that you have 3 lanes and the program divides the shooters into sets of three. Lane assignments needed to be adjusted a bit but that was easy to do.
We shot Arizona Five so it is possible to get 1 W and 2 Xs, or 3 Xs, or 2 W and 1 X. Had it been three winning shots all rounds would have resulted in 1W and 2Xs. The scoring was easy and I think everyone understood the scoring. Just remember you score each shooter against each of the other shooters and a loss to either is a loss in the match.
We were testing the scoring, CFDA program, and whether there were any unforeseen problems. Ordinarily you would only use Arizona bye when there was a odd number of shooters, but as used today it allowed us to use three lanes to their full capacity.
Be careful of conclusions: Shady had the lanes set up yesterday and I came over to practice. Old West stopped by and so we shot 6 rounds of three winning shots Arizona bye. In 6 rounds I never won shot let alone a match. In the first 2 rounds today I could not find the target, so I went 8 rounds and won just one shot. It would be easy to conclude that the format is not my cup of tea and to say I hate it, but in reality it was just poor shooting or luck of the draw (yesterday). The ship, or more accurately the system, righted itself and I finished the event third out of nineteen.
Loess Hills Jackpot Shoot: I am planning a Loess Hills Jackpot Shoot for May 19 and what we really need to do is test the Arizona bye in a bracket environment where it is designed to shine. Not only will it save rounds but it will sort better than the CFDA bye. What I need is 18 shooters with $10 apiece to do a little two bracket shoot. So as not to be accused of doing a classification shoot, we will divide the 18 into two brackets using their last fastest time as shown on the last fastest time report that they have shot, nine in each bracket. We then shoot a 3x three winning shots last man standing bracket shoot using two lanes with the three lanes being only used for the odd shooter set. For time considerations shooting 18 shooters on two lanes will be comparable to shooting 54 shooters on a 6 lane range.
Pot, Pot, whose got the Pot: In these small jackpots normally the division is $50, $30, and $20 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Since we are trying out new things what we will do is we will have a 1x Magnificent 6 shoot off of the top three shooters in each bracket. The seeding will be Master Gunfighter 1, Gunfighter 1, Master Gunfighter 2, Gunfighter 2, Master Gunfighter 3, Gunfighter 3. One-third of the field will be in the shoot-off.
Gunfighter Rating: I will do gunfighter ratings on all of the shooters since this helps evaluate how the format is sorting. It is interesting to see how just in the two shoots so far, some gunslingers have made impressive improvement in their gunfighter rating.
Proud PaPa: My youngest was a division 1 athlete but motherhood and life had somewhat weighted her down. She has now taken up roller derby and the fire is back. You will never know how good you can be if you don't try. As I texted her, be quick, slow is not in our genes. I am looking for 18 gunslingers to venture into new places and it will only cost you $10 and a morning of your time. Try the Arizona bye, you may like it. Never ever slow down!
Monday, April 8, 2019
Innovation and Charity
We did not have enough shooters to hold a Jackpot shoot yesterday at the Loess Hills Shoot but we shot any way. The shoot is held as a fund raiser for the charity and to test out new ideas. The pot is $100 so we need a minimum of 10 ten dollar entry fees to hold a jackpot shoot. We had only seven preregister yesterday. A donation of $10 is not too much to ask to support a traveling range but what do I know, maybe it is.
Innovation: Yesterday we tested out shooting Arizona Five two rounds at a time. We drew the first round and then had the program draw the first round a second time. By putting two rounds on each sheet we had in effect drawn the first 4 rounds. Each two shooters shot the first round of Arizona Five then traded lanes and shot the second round. (We have been shooting this for years on Shady mountain and I think that is why Shady Mtn shooters do so well in in competition) The score sheet will accommodate the first and second rounds since there are 14 blocks on the sheet. The first five blocks are for the times, 6th block is for W/X, 7th block is for fastest time in round one, 8th block is not used, just blackened out, that leaves 6 more blocks for round two, with the W/X block and fastest time for round 2 preprinted already. I knew the preprinted score sheet would work well, what I needed to test was the score entry feature of the CFDA program.
Testing the CFDA program I found that you could enter the scores in the normal fashion but when you attempted to enter round two scores the program would tell you could not do that until you drew round two. You could, of course, draw what the computer thought was round two and you would have round 5 and 6 drawn. However, the program will let you enter round two using the edit shooter score button. This is a much easier way to do it when shooting double Arizona Five. For example, Shady Mike was the first shooter on page 1, you just bring him up and enter both round one and round two scores. There is no delay to enter scores since round three and four already have been drawn and are being shot while you enter these scores.
We had three new shooters to train so after the first four rounds we took a break to train the new shooters. While doing that we entered rounds 3 and 4 using the edit feature. We then told the computer to draw round 2, which was used for rounds 5 and 6. The CFDA program really worked well for this type of shoot.
The only real negative to doing double Arizona Five this way is that you are shooting the same opponent in rounds one and two. Last year I tested rotating by moving each shooter one lane to the left, while this work well for the shooters, I concluded it was not worth the effort to use special paper and train scorekeepers.
Format Matters: Again yesterday the hit ratio and gunfighter ratings of the shooters were poor. Only Shady Mike managed a respectable rating of 1.21 and his hit ratio was below what we normally see for him. I think this is just a reflection of the fact that Arizona Five is a tougher format than 3 winning shots, BUT it prepares you for the stress of competition.
The sort was adequate. QC Carver won the event because when it came to the shoot off he had the best gunfighter rating in the shoot offs, although he was third overall in gunfighter rating.
Next up: I would like to do the next Loess Hills Jackpot on May 19. I set it for Sunday so that it does not conflict with the Camp shoot on May 18. I talked to Rodeo and I am impressed with his speed index concept. I highly recommend giving it a try but I have some trepidation about shooting blockers. They don't seem to help CFDA shooters, but the speed index seems to have merit.
On May19th I am looking for 18 shooters to test out the Arizona bye. Cal does not believe me but the Arizona bye would sort better and save about 50% on the number of rounds needed in last man standing after you get down to 7 shooters. Last man standing events seem to drag on and on because one shooter is not competing in each round and the aberration of the event winner not competing in 4 of the last 5 rounds did happen in a title event. Any way I need to twist Shady's arm to get three targets set up then we will shoot 6 sets of three shooters each to test the Arizona bye.
"Thresholds are frightening places: We stand between what we know and what we don't know. Thresholds offer an invitation to leave the familiar behind and step into the new, the unexpected."
Author unknown.
The manna has ceased, now will the milk and honey sustain us? Alleluia Ruah
Innovation: Yesterday we tested out shooting Arizona Five two rounds at a time. We drew the first round and then had the program draw the first round a second time. By putting two rounds on each sheet we had in effect drawn the first 4 rounds. Each two shooters shot the first round of Arizona Five then traded lanes and shot the second round. (We have been shooting this for years on Shady mountain and I think that is why Shady Mtn shooters do so well in in competition) The score sheet will accommodate the first and second rounds since there are 14 blocks on the sheet. The first five blocks are for the times, 6th block is for W/X, 7th block is for fastest time in round one, 8th block is not used, just blackened out, that leaves 6 more blocks for round two, with the W/X block and fastest time for round 2 preprinted already. I knew the preprinted score sheet would work well, what I needed to test was the score entry feature of the CFDA program.
Testing the CFDA program I found that you could enter the scores in the normal fashion but when you attempted to enter round two scores the program would tell you could not do that until you drew round two. You could, of course, draw what the computer thought was round two and you would have round 5 and 6 drawn. However, the program will let you enter round two using the edit shooter score button. This is a much easier way to do it when shooting double Arizona Five. For example, Shady Mike was the first shooter on page 1, you just bring him up and enter both round one and round two scores. There is no delay to enter scores since round three and four already have been drawn and are being shot while you enter these scores.
We had three new shooters to train so after the first four rounds we took a break to train the new shooters. While doing that we entered rounds 3 and 4 using the edit feature. We then told the computer to draw round 2, which was used for rounds 5 and 6. The CFDA program really worked well for this type of shoot.
The only real negative to doing double Arizona Five this way is that you are shooting the same opponent in rounds one and two. Last year I tested rotating by moving each shooter one lane to the left, while this work well for the shooters, I concluded it was not worth the effort to use special paper and train scorekeepers.
Format Matters: Again yesterday the hit ratio and gunfighter ratings of the shooters were poor. Only Shady Mike managed a respectable rating of 1.21 and his hit ratio was below what we normally see for him. I think this is just a reflection of the fact that Arizona Five is a tougher format than 3 winning shots, BUT it prepares you for the stress of competition.
The sort was adequate. QC Carver won the event because when it came to the shoot off he had the best gunfighter rating in the shoot offs, although he was third overall in gunfighter rating.
Next up: I would like to do the next Loess Hills Jackpot on May 19. I set it for Sunday so that it does not conflict with the Camp shoot on May 18. I talked to Rodeo and I am impressed with his speed index concept. I highly recommend giving it a try but I have some trepidation about shooting blockers. They don't seem to help CFDA shooters, but the speed index seems to have merit.
On May19th I am looking for 18 shooters to test out the Arizona bye. Cal does not believe me but the Arizona bye would sort better and save about 50% on the number of rounds needed in last man standing after you get down to 7 shooters. Last man standing events seem to drag on and on because one shooter is not competing in each round and the aberration of the event winner not competing in 4 of the last 5 rounds did happen in a title event. Any way I need to twist Shady's arm to get three targets set up then we will shoot 6 sets of three shooters each to test the Arizona bye.
"Thresholds are frightening places: We stand between what we know and what we don't know. Thresholds offer an invitation to leave the familiar behind and step into the new, the unexpected."
Author unknown.
The manna has ceased, now will the milk and honey sustain us? Alleluia Ruah
Monday, March 25, 2019
Tombstone - What If?
What if Rodeo Romeo does not draw Troublemaker in the first round? He would have been seeded # 1 and probably would have won Tombstone. What if he had shot consistently in the shoot offs, he probably would have won the event from the 8th seed. What if Pork Rind would not have drawn Rodeo, he would have been seeded 3rd and not had to face Rodeo again in the shoot offs. Lots of "What ifs." What if Alleluia shooters had not drawn other Alleluia shooters?
If you take a look at the top seven shooters, there is a common attribute among all of them. They are all consistent shooters. They do not beat themselves. If you are going to win against these shooters you have to out quick them. Among these top gunfighters generally they get sorted according to their quickness. Shoot offs are contests of speed, not lotteries.
The Arizona Bracket Shoot rewards consistency. The mentally tough gunfighters will come to the top in an Arizona Bracket shoot where they are sorted by quickness and mental toughness. The Tombstone event was well run. The only knock is that there was only one range for 80 shooters. We only got 4 seeding rounds in. Even with just four rounds, there was the opportunity to recover from a tough draw as Rodeo almost did from the 8th seed. It was his event to win, all he had to do was shoot "average."
It was not a fluke that the two top shooters were Alleluia shooters. Shady Mike used just 20 shots to win 5 matches. The second place Alleluia shooter shot just average using 26 for 6 matches. (80% is just average.) Other Alleluia shooters did not fare as well, but as one told me, "it is hard to transfer the system from the practice range to competition." It is not easy to stay focused for the entire event.
Sunday I went back to the venue to search for a lost name tag. The Old Publeo Gunfighters had the venue cleaned up better than it ever had looked in the past. They did a great job running this event. It is a great venue. I had the opportunity to again measure the venue. The Loess Hills Paladins range will fit easily on the east end of the venue. It was designed to fit on the west end and still will fit there but a section of the fence would have to be moved.
Well it is back to the drawing board for me. I got a can of marbles to get. I never forget a lose. Back to the bucket.
If you take a look at the top seven shooters, there is a common attribute among all of them. They are all consistent shooters. They do not beat themselves. If you are going to win against these shooters you have to out quick them. Among these top gunfighters generally they get sorted according to their quickness. Shoot offs are contests of speed, not lotteries.
The Arizona Bracket Shoot rewards consistency. The mentally tough gunfighters will come to the top in an Arizona Bracket shoot where they are sorted by quickness and mental toughness. The Tombstone event was well run. The only knock is that there was only one range for 80 shooters. We only got 4 seeding rounds in. Even with just four rounds, there was the opportunity to recover from a tough draw as Rodeo almost did from the 8th seed. It was his event to win, all he had to do was shoot "average."
It was not a fluke that the two top shooters were Alleluia shooters. Shady Mike used just 20 shots to win 5 matches. The second place Alleluia shooter shot just average using 26 for 6 matches. (80% is just average.) Other Alleluia shooters did not fare as well, but as one told me, "it is hard to transfer the system from the practice range to competition." It is not easy to stay focused for the entire event.
Sunday I went back to the venue to search for a lost name tag. The Old Publeo Gunfighters had the venue cleaned up better than it ever had looked in the past. They did a great job running this event. It is a great venue. I had the opportunity to again measure the venue. The Loess Hills Paladins range will fit easily on the east end of the venue. It was designed to fit on the west end and still will fit there but a section of the fence would have to be moved.
Well it is back to the drawing board for me. I got a can of marbles to get. I never forget a lose. Back to the bucket.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
A Better Bye.
I write this post for the powers that be, match directors, Marshals, club officers and the CFDA. This is something that you should think about and maybe experiment a bit with.
We love the CFDA bye even though it is inherently unfair. We love it because it is unfair. We all look forward to being that lucky shooter that advances without competing. It is not going away because we love it so much, but maybe there is room for improvement in some events.
For illustration, I am going to talk about the Old Timers Category at the Texas State Championship. There were 7 shooters and it was a 3x last man standing event which took 10 rounds to resolve. It took 10 rounds because the event winner lost his first match and therefore 19 loses were required. Because of CFDA byes one shooter did not compete in each of the first 8 rounds. The first 3 rounds (7 shooters) produced 9 loses. The next 3 rounds (5 shooters) produced 6 loses. The next 2 rounds (3 shooters) produced 2 loses. The last 2 rounds (2 shooters) produced 2 loses, for a total of 19 loses resolving the issue. Ten rounds were required because in the first 8 rounds one shooter did not compete in the match format. In additions to the 10 match format rounds, 8 shoot offs were required to allocate the bye. That is a total of 18 rounds.
Now what happens if every shooter is required to compete in every round. In the first 3 rounds (7 shooters), there would be 12 loses. In the next 2 rounds (5 shooters) there would be 6 loses. Then in the final round (2 shooters) there would be 1 lose for a total of 19 loses. The matter would have been resolved in 6 rounds with no shoot off rounds. So you go from requiring 18 rounds to 6 rounds.
It shortens up the match to such an extent that in the same amount of range time you could have shot a 4 x. Four x would have required 25 loses. Probably 4 rounds at 7 shooters for 16 loses, 2 rounds at 5 shooters for 6 loses, 1 round at 3 shooters for 2 loses and 1 round at 2 shooters for 1 lose for a total of 25 loses. The matter would have been resolved in 8 rounds using 4 x if you eliminate the noncompeting CFDA bye procedure.
So the questions for the shooters is which would you prefer? A 3 x with CFDA bye or a 4 x event without the CFDA bye. A side benefit is that you will get a better sort because the inherent unfairness of the CDFA bye is eliminated.
How do you do it without the bye. It is really pretty simply. The Rule would be:
"All shooters must compete using the match format in every round except when a Rule IV.6 forfeitures occur. If there is an odd number of shooters in a round, the last three shooters will compete together using the match format to its conclusion. Each shooter will be scored individually against each of the other shooters of the trio, a loss to either results in an x for the shooter. (This always results in one win and two loses, except in Arizona Five match format.)"
To give it a name I am going to call it the Arizona Bye. I think it will work well and could be use to great advantage in some of our side matches.
We are seeing more and more bracket matches on the championship day. I think this is good but one of the adverse side effects is the additional wear and tear on the shooters remaining in the main match. In 2016 Powder Keg won the Master Gunfighter bracket at Texas and I won the Gunfighter bracket. We both had the same comment, "Boy, that was a lot of work and shooting to do before the main match resumed!" Powder Keg went on to win the State Championship and I was eliminated in the first round after the bracket shoot. Some shooters forego the bracket shoot to rest for the main match. We might think about the Arizona Bye for these bracket matches. It probably would shorten the rounds necessary by 50% and the sort would be better.
You never know how something is going to work until you actually do it. We are going to test out the Arizona Bye at some Loess Hills Jackpot shoots to see how well it works. In fact whether I shoot or not at the next Loess Hills Jackpot shoot will depend on whether we have an odd number of shooters. If I need to sit out to make the number odd I will.
I always do Gunfighter Ratings on all of the shooters at Loess Hills Jackpot shoots. I don't need this to rate the shooters, I know who is who, but it is a good tool to evaluate how well the format is working. If a top shooter places much lower than you would expect you can look at the gunfighter rating to tell if he or she was just having a bad day or whether there is some other aberration involved in the format. Most of the time it is the unfairness of the luck of the draw.
I suggest clubs give the Arizona Bye a try. At the club level is the place to try these innovations out. Give it a try. I heard some other clubs are now trying Arizona Five. Try it you will like it. Try the Arizona Bracket shoot. I am tuning up today for that Arizona Bracket Shoot at Tombstone. Booked a room Saturday night so I can stay for the promenade on Allen Street. Hope I am celebrating and not drowning my sorrows.
We love the CFDA bye even though it is inherently unfair. We love it because it is unfair. We all look forward to being that lucky shooter that advances without competing. It is not going away because we love it so much, but maybe there is room for improvement in some events.
For illustration, I am going to talk about the Old Timers Category at the Texas State Championship. There were 7 shooters and it was a 3x last man standing event which took 10 rounds to resolve. It took 10 rounds because the event winner lost his first match and therefore 19 loses were required. Because of CFDA byes one shooter did not compete in each of the first 8 rounds. The first 3 rounds (7 shooters) produced 9 loses. The next 3 rounds (5 shooters) produced 6 loses. The next 2 rounds (3 shooters) produced 2 loses. The last 2 rounds (2 shooters) produced 2 loses, for a total of 19 loses resolving the issue. Ten rounds were required because in the first 8 rounds one shooter did not compete in the match format. In additions to the 10 match format rounds, 8 shoot offs were required to allocate the bye. That is a total of 18 rounds.
Now what happens if every shooter is required to compete in every round. In the first 3 rounds (7 shooters), there would be 12 loses. In the next 2 rounds (5 shooters) there would be 6 loses. Then in the final round (2 shooters) there would be 1 lose for a total of 19 loses. The matter would have been resolved in 6 rounds with no shoot off rounds. So you go from requiring 18 rounds to 6 rounds.
It shortens up the match to such an extent that in the same amount of range time you could have shot a 4 x. Four x would have required 25 loses. Probably 4 rounds at 7 shooters for 16 loses, 2 rounds at 5 shooters for 6 loses, 1 round at 3 shooters for 2 loses and 1 round at 2 shooters for 1 lose for a total of 25 loses. The matter would have been resolved in 8 rounds using 4 x if you eliminate the noncompeting CFDA bye procedure.
So the questions for the shooters is which would you prefer? A 3 x with CFDA bye or a 4 x event without the CFDA bye. A side benefit is that you will get a better sort because the inherent unfairness of the CDFA bye is eliminated.
How do you do it without the bye. It is really pretty simply. The Rule would be:
"All shooters must compete using the match format in every round except when a Rule IV.6 forfeitures occur. If there is an odd number of shooters in a round, the last three shooters will compete together using the match format to its conclusion. Each shooter will be scored individually against each of the other shooters of the trio, a loss to either results in an x for the shooter. (This always results in one win and two loses, except in Arizona Five match format.)"
To give it a name I am going to call it the Arizona Bye. I think it will work well and could be use to great advantage in some of our side matches.
We are seeing more and more bracket matches on the championship day. I think this is good but one of the adverse side effects is the additional wear and tear on the shooters remaining in the main match. In 2016 Powder Keg won the Master Gunfighter bracket at Texas and I won the Gunfighter bracket. We both had the same comment, "Boy, that was a lot of work and shooting to do before the main match resumed!" Powder Keg went on to win the State Championship and I was eliminated in the first round after the bracket shoot. Some shooters forego the bracket shoot to rest for the main match. We might think about the Arizona Bye for these bracket matches. It probably would shorten the rounds necessary by 50% and the sort would be better.
You never know how something is going to work until you actually do it. We are going to test out the Arizona Bye at some Loess Hills Jackpot shoots to see how well it works. In fact whether I shoot or not at the next Loess Hills Jackpot shoot will depend on whether we have an odd number of shooters. If I need to sit out to make the number odd I will.
I always do Gunfighter Ratings on all of the shooters at Loess Hills Jackpot shoots. I don't need this to rate the shooters, I know who is who, but it is a good tool to evaluate how well the format is working. If a top shooter places much lower than you would expect you can look at the gunfighter rating to tell if he or she was just having a bad day or whether there is some other aberration involved in the format. Most of the time it is the unfairness of the luck of the draw.
I suggest clubs give the Arizona Bye a try. At the club level is the place to try these innovations out. Give it a try. I heard some other clubs are now trying Arizona Five. Try it you will like it. Try the Arizona Bracket shoot. I am tuning up today for that Arizona Bracket Shoot at Tombstone. Booked a room Saturday night so I can stay for the promenade on Allen Street. Hope I am celebrating and not drowning my sorrows.
Monday, March 18, 2019
Texas State Championship
2019 Texas State Championship will go down as the year of the youth. There were 6 youth shooters shooting with the men, Trigger Happy, Lonestar Leadslinger, Just-in Time, Willy Hit It, Akaraka Zach, and Marshall Dylan. These young men are all now seniors and ready to take on the challenges of the world. What has always impressed me the most about CFDA is the kids and youth shooters. You will not find a more disciplined, respectful, courteous group of young people. I believe it is, in part, because they participate in a true sport that teaches discipline, responsibility, respect and courtesy.
The men's division was dominated by the youth shooters. Quick Cal was quickly dispatched to the scorer's table by drawing three of the youth shooters. It did not matter how quick Cal was, a .375 would be matched by a .372 by Willy Hit It, or if Cal got up 2 zip as in their second meeting, Willy Hit It then put three on the plate to send him to Boot Hill. I share Cal's pain, having drawn Willy Hit It, in my first match and being set down in three.
Every good deed does not go unpunished. I had the privilege of hand judging Lonestar Leadslinger early in the event. He was a bit flustered and fell behind his opponent. I spoke some words of encouragement to him and he settled down to put three on the plate to win the match. He made the Magnificent Seven with 3 x s where I meet him on lane 3 and 4. Three shots and I sat down in seventh place.
As in all titled events, luck of the draw is so important. At the 2019 Texas State you did not want to draw any of the youth shooters, they have now combined enough accuracy with the blazing speed to be deadly. None were deadlier than Trigger Happy. Look at the x count and time out of the top seven shooters. Trigger Happy won the event and has a time out speed of .433. Seventh place time out was .427. In between are 3 three shooters and Gentlemen George plodding along at .501.
Texas also shows you what a family affair this sport is. Gentleman George (Grandpa) was the crowd favorite but Trigger Happy (Grandson) took home the buckle but not before it went two matches down to the last shot. The battle for 4th and 5th was also family tussle between father and son, if only by law, with youth, Sgt Buck, prevailing over age, the Shootist.
On a personal note, I shot up to my ability. I missed my first four shots in the category match but after that hit better than 80% ("80% is just average"). All shots were within a 40 mls range and my quickest was on the final day. I got better and better, but that is the Alleluia system.
Texas was a well run titled event. Great place to shoot. Many thanks to all who helped put this event on.
The men's division was dominated by the youth shooters. Quick Cal was quickly dispatched to the scorer's table by drawing three of the youth shooters. It did not matter how quick Cal was, a .375 would be matched by a .372 by Willy Hit It, or if Cal got up 2 zip as in their second meeting, Willy Hit It then put three on the plate to send him to Boot Hill. I share Cal's pain, having drawn Willy Hit It, in my first match and being set down in three.
Every good deed does not go unpunished. I had the privilege of hand judging Lonestar Leadslinger early in the event. He was a bit flustered and fell behind his opponent. I spoke some words of encouragement to him and he settled down to put three on the plate to win the match. He made the Magnificent Seven with 3 x s where I meet him on lane 3 and 4. Three shots and I sat down in seventh place.
As in all titled events, luck of the draw is so important. At the 2019 Texas State you did not want to draw any of the youth shooters, they have now combined enough accuracy with the blazing speed to be deadly. None were deadlier than Trigger Happy. Look at the x count and time out of the top seven shooters. Trigger Happy won the event and has a time out speed of .433. Seventh place time out was .427. In between are 3 three shooters and Gentlemen George plodding along at .501.
Texas also shows you what a family affair this sport is. Gentleman George (Grandpa) was the crowd favorite but Trigger Happy (Grandson) took home the buckle but not before it went two matches down to the last shot. The battle for 4th and 5th was also family tussle between father and son, if only by law, with youth, Sgt Buck, prevailing over age, the Shootist.
On a personal note, I shot up to my ability. I missed my first four shots in the category match but after that hit better than 80% ("80% is just average"). All shots were within a 40 mls range and my quickest was on the final day. I got better and better, but that is the Alleluia system.
Texas was a well run titled event. Great place to shoot. Many thanks to all who helped put this event on.
Monday, March 4, 2019
More than one way to skin a cat.
We shot the Loess Hills Paladin Jackpot shoot at Shady mountain yesterday on two lanes with 15 shooters. We had an odd number shooters but because we only had two lanes we could not use the CFDA bye procedure. I have written on the inherent unfairness of the CFDA bye previously, see "Muster matters, Format matters, Newbies learn!", 9/17/2018. In a comment to that post Rodeo Romeo suggested a solution of having the last three shooters to continue to shoot until there is a winner among the three then the other two shooters both get an x. This suggestion has great merit and should be considered by CFDA. It would go a long way in solving the inherent unfairness that is especially troublesome in last man standing events. However, we could not use this suggestion because we only had two lanes.
What we did was to take the loser of the last full group and have he or she shoot against the odd bye shooter. That way nobody got to advance without shooting the format of the match. (The inherent problem with the CFDA bye is that the bye winner moves forward without competing in the format of the match.) This worked well until we had two losers in the final full group (possible with Arizona Five.) In that event, we had a one shot shoot off for the opportunity to shoot against the bye shooter, winner getting that opportunity.
This bye procedure worked well. I would note that the two top seeds both saved an x with this bye solutions. Remember in CFDA scoring wins do not matter. We score by loses that is "x"s.
Other Comments:
Generally, the Arizona Five format worked well. We shot 6 rounds in 3 hours, 15 shooters on 2 lanes. The gunfighter ratings of the gunslingers were lower than what you would expect at a club event, but that is what you would expect of Arizona Five because it is a little tougher format than 3 winning shots and therefore better for a practice event. If you want to get better at titled events, shoot Arizona Five! If you are going succeed you have to hit now, within the first 5 shots, there is no 7,8,9,10, etc shots to redeem you.
The sort was good. The seeding matched the gunfighter rating of the gunslingers. Arizona Five does a better job sorting because of the increase of rounds, elimination of the one shot lottery shoot off, and the feature that both shooters can get a loss if they are shooting poorly or both can get a win if they are shooting well.
We shot 48 matches in the seeding rounds. Only 2 matches resulted in double loses or 4% of the matches. Only 6 matches resulted in double wins or 12.5% of the matches. Together that would be 16% of the matches. The fact that double wins were three times more likely is a reflection of the quality of the shooters attending. To get a double lose both shooters must be shooting really poorly. On the other hand with the quality of the shooters attending, it is much more likely to have two shooters both shooting well and in that event both might get a win. Arizona Five properly sorts when two shooters are 2-2, both hitting 80%, both having won 2 shots on speed. It also sorts properly when one of those shooters hits 100%.
I think the Loess Hills Paladins will continue with monthly Arizona Five Jackpot shoots, third Sunday of the month looks good to me. I just need to sort out locations. At a minimum, the less than 20 works well on Shady Mtn.
When it gets to be 115 in the shade this summer, a little jackpot shoot at Rented Mule might be in order. Have Range, Will Travel.
What we did was to take the loser of the last full group and have he or she shoot against the odd bye shooter. That way nobody got to advance without shooting the format of the match. (The inherent problem with the CFDA bye is that the bye winner moves forward without competing in the format of the match.) This worked well until we had two losers in the final full group (possible with Arizona Five.) In that event, we had a one shot shoot off for the opportunity to shoot against the bye shooter, winner getting that opportunity.
This bye procedure worked well. I would note that the two top seeds both saved an x with this bye solutions. Remember in CFDA scoring wins do not matter. We score by loses that is "x"s.
Other Comments:
Generally, the Arizona Five format worked well. We shot 6 rounds in 3 hours, 15 shooters on 2 lanes. The gunfighter ratings of the gunslingers were lower than what you would expect at a club event, but that is what you would expect of Arizona Five because it is a little tougher format than 3 winning shots and therefore better for a practice event. If you want to get better at titled events, shoot Arizona Five! If you are going succeed you have to hit now, within the first 5 shots, there is no 7,8,9,10, etc shots to redeem you.
The sort was good. The seeding matched the gunfighter rating of the gunslingers. Arizona Five does a better job sorting because of the increase of rounds, elimination of the one shot lottery shoot off, and the feature that both shooters can get a loss if they are shooting poorly or both can get a win if they are shooting well.
We shot 48 matches in the seeding rounds. Only 2 matches resulted in double loses or 4% of the matches. Only 6 matches resulted in double wins or 12.5% of the matches. Together that would be 16% of the matches. The fact that double wins were three times more likely is a reflection of the quality of the shooters attending. To get a double lose both shooters must be shooting really poorly. On the other hand with the quality of the shooters attending, it is much more likely to have two shooters both shooting well and in that event both might get a win. Arizona Five properly sorts when two shooters are 2-2, both hitting 80%, both having won 2 shots on speed. It also sorts properly when one of those shooters hits 100%.
I think the Loess Hills Paladins will continue with monthly Arizona Five Jackpot shoots, third Sunday of the month looks good to me. I just need to sort out locations. At a minimum, the less than 20 works well on Shady Mtn.
When it gets to be 115 in the shade this summer, a little jackpot shoot at Rented Mule might be in order. Have Range, Will Travel.
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