Know the Rule, Follow the Rule

 At a club practice shoot this month, we failed to know the rule, follow the rule.  Most people think our monthly shoot is a practice shoot for individual shooters.  It is not, it is a practice for the club to learn how to run a CFDA shoot and to follow the rules.

A frequent failure is Rule IV.6. which says "Each contestant must have an opponent.  If the opponent does not show up, the present contestant will win by default and will not be allowed to shoot uncontested."

My observation at titled events and local shoots we will get this wrong 90% of the time, especially if there is more than one no show. The tendency is to want to redo the draw either at the table or at the scoring shack. This delays the round and may have unknown consequences.  If you simply know the rule, follow the rule, the round runs smoothly, the scoring and computer handles everything correctly.

To the chorus who say why are you bringing this up, it is just a practice shoot, my response is there are numerous good reasons to talk about it. 

First, we need to "know the rule and follow the rule."  That is why we have practice shoots.

Second, it matters.  For our club points we give out 15 awards. Last year most awards were determined by 1 point or less.  If we had followed the rule, among the four shooters affected there would have been 3 wins and 1 loss.  As the round was redid, there were 2 wins and 2 losses.  Somebody lost a win.  That win meant 4 to 12 points in the club points race depending on who lost out.  It matters.

Third, this comes up frequently at titled events.  Failure to follow the rule causes delays.  If you have 30 shooters on a range and two no shows, you will get 30 opinions as to what should happen.  If you just follow the rules, the round will be shot and over before 30 Old Timers reach a consensus on what to do.

Scoring: There is really two separate issues here, what happens at the range and what happens at the scoring shack.   I think at the table it should be a W with 22, and an X with 33.  That way the scoring shack knows who has a match DQ.  There is a difference between someone who just missed his match (33) and someone who has withdrawn.  The scoring shack and match director need to code the withdrawn, Match DQ 99 or new 86 code.

Titled  Events:  It appears that title events this year will be at or near capacity.  Range time is important.  Following IV.6. saves range time.  I recall one title event where we lost 4 hours of range time because this simple rule was not followed.  Know the rule, follow the rule.  Shoot em as they are drawn.

P.S. Thinking about getting on my soap box about fragmentation. What do you think, are you up to it

What we learned

 The practice shoots yesterday of the Association of Arizona Gunslingers was not a club shoot for individual practice, fun, or socializing.  It was  training shoot to hone our skills as a club to put on CFDA shoots. We were training scorekeepers, range officers, match directors, computer operators, announcers, and generally all those that are needed to put on a CFDA match.  We ran to completion a last man standing event and a true bracket event.  We had individuals training on all of the skills necessary.  To have a good training we needed 18 gunfighter and I thank the 20 gunslingers that came. We are limited to 20 shooters at this venue.  If anyone is interested in learning these skills let Shady or I know and we be sure to get you trained up.  If you just want to shoot, have fun or socialize come to our monthly shoot, but remember to thank those that are willing to train so that your shoots run smoothly.

What we learned:

Computers:  We ran two computers hooked to one printer so that we could train more operators.  One computer (provided by Rio Salado Vaqueros) ran the main match from registration to the final standings.  The second computer (Loess Hills Paladin's) ran the bracket match, all shooters were entered into the bracket match.  Both were pretty flawless.  We could have done this on one computer but by having two, we doubled the opportunity for training.  I am now confident that, if the need arises, there are six members who can run a match from start to finish.  Next time we do this we will reverse the operators so that all are comfortable with both types of matches.

We generally do not run divisions in Arizona, so the next time we do this we will run divisions.  The limiting factor is having enough Ladies and Youth for one division.  We need to run the main match with divisions.

Range Time:  We had 19 shooters on a two lane range.  That is the same as having 57 shooters  on one 6 lane range at Pioneer. We started at 9:30 and finished at 2:00 P.M.  So if we started at 8:30, we would finish at 1:00 P.M. which is well within our allotted time.  We shot a 2x main match and a 2x bracket match. We did however used modified score sheets which I will explain below.

Modified Scoresheets:  We ran the main match simultaneously with the bracket match.  After round 2, we ran a bracket report and entered all shooters into the bracket match.  We started the bracket match after round 3 of the main match.

Since we were only using one range, we could have run a standard bracket match.  The problem with doing that is that some shooters would get 4 rounds while others might get as many as 16 rounds.  This would not be conducive to a club practice shoot where you are trying to get most shooters an equal opportunity to shoot.  To avoid that, we modified the scoresheets by striking those shooters still in the main match.  This resulted in only two shooters getting 4 rounds and the most any other shooter got was 11 rounds.  Most shooters got between 6 and 10 rounds. (80%)  Only two got 11 and two got 4. (10%)

Chorus:  Now for the chorus of folks telling me that this in not fair to have shooters start late in the bracket.  It is eminently fair.  It is harder to progress upward in the main match than it is to progress upward in a bracket of eliminated shooters.  You have to remember that we score by losses, not wins. What matters is the number of losses a shooter gets.  Here each shooter got 4 x s, two in the main match and two in the bracket.  They all got the same number of x s.  If there is any unfairness, it is that the shooters not in the bracket match yet, have tougher opponents, which leads me to the next and unexpected factor of resurrection.

Ressurection Factor:  This was unintended and surprising.  A good illustration was Troublemaker. She drew Shady Mike and Everett Hitch in the first two rounds. She went out in round 2.  It shows how unfair and ruthless the luck of the draw can be.  But she was shooting good  and she shot her way to the top and won the gunfighter bracket, a bracket I might add that had a Overall World Champion, a Shootist World Champion and a club Top Gun in it.  Likewise, Muletrain won the Master Gunfighter bracket even though he went out in round 4 of the main match.  Only in the  Sheriff bracket did the bracket winner, Dakota Drifter, go deep in the main match.  It is a little like the resurrection feature that occurs at Rio.

We will train on.  Want to learn how to run a match, let us know.  We are always looking for workers.

Training and Testing

I write the post for the board members of The Association of Arizona Gunslingers.  Other clubs may also find it of interest.  I think that as a CFDA club we ought to, on occasion, shoot a CFDA match. To train and test for this we are going to shoot a CFDA 2x main match with a simultaneous 3x bracket match on Saturday March 6.  A match on the mtn with 18 shooters is the same as a 54 shooter match at Pioneer assuming one range. 

Training: To facilitate training we will use two computers.  We will use Shady's or Rio's computer for the main match with Shady, Southwest and Miss Kitty or others running the main match. It will be a standard 2x last man standing event from start to finish complete with final standings.  The Loess Hills computer with be used for the bracket match with Alleluia, Viper and Lazy Eye and others running the event. It also will be a last man standing bracket event 3x.  The number of brackets will be determined by number of shooters divided by 6.

I have run this several times with 52 shooters with modified scoresheets on one computer and it works great, but we can get more training with two computers and two computers will lessen the confusion factor.

Testing:  We are primarily testing range time.  18 on the mtn is equal to 54 at Pioneer.  15 on mtn is equal to 45.  We should get a feel for range time needed at Pioneer.  It will be Hateful Eight.  

Since we are just using one range there is no need to modify scoresheets, although this takes more range time than the method used with modified scoresheets.  We will shoot Round 1 and 2 of the main match then print a bracket report.  During Round 3 of main match we will register and draw the bracket match.  Then we will shoot round 1 of the bracket match, then round 4 of main match, then round 2 of bracket and so forth until both matches are complete.

We are testing range time. My guess is that with only one range we may be limited to a 2x main match and 2x bracket shoot.  We shall see. 

 

Range Testing:  My personal opinion is that on the 27th we ought to set up two ranges, however I know that the majority of the board will be opposed to two ranges because of the work involved.  In my testing with 52 shooters I used two 6 lane ranges.  To do this you must use modified scoresheets because a shooter can not be in two places at the same time.  After round 2  you run the bracket report and enter all of the shooters in the bracket match.  Then you start the bracket with shooters that have been eliminated from the main match.  Shooters that are still in the main match get a W with an 11.00 for time. Shooters without opponents just move down the scoresheet to the next available shooter or to slot 13 for a CFDA bye. It is easy to do and works well.  Scoresheets are modified before they go to the table.

In my test run, main match ran on two ranges for 3 rounds, then main match on range A to completion, and brackets on range B for three rounds.  After round 3, the brackets were shot on both range A and B because the main match was nearing completion and there were so few shooters.  It worked great on the scoring program with correct standings in all matches.

In my test runs, I also shot divisions.  We could do this also but the limiting factor is whether there are enough Ladies and youth to make another division.  I did it and it worked well. We should practice this some time.

Club Points:  Points for the main match would be as usual for the March 27 match.  If we also did a bracket match we could have points following the current rules for that event.  Assuming 48 shooters, we then would have a 48 point event and 12 point event. 

Scoring question - kind of complicated

 Preface: None of the four clubs in Arizona ever shoot a CFDA match.  That is because of the heat. If you shoot an elimination match, in 115 degree heat, the shooters leave as they are eliminated and you are left with few people to take the range down.  Therefore, all of the clubs shoot the Arizona bracket match in which all of the shooters make the shoot offs and therefore stay around to take down the range.

I would like to get our clubs to shoot a CFDA match occasionally.  I propose a last man standing main match 2x with a simultaneous 2x bracket match.  In this format, eliminated shooters are added to the bracket match as they are eliminated.  We have done this several times on the mountain and it works quite well.  There are a few problems to be resolved:

1.  It is easy to overlooked an eliminated shooter from the bracket match.  This is just human error and can be taken care of with more careful registering.  Even if someone is overlooked, they can be added at a later round.  See the next problem.

2. Some will say it is unfair to add shooters to the bracket after it has begun. This is not a valid complaint because it is easier to progress upward in the bracket of eliminated shooters than it is to progress upward in the main match of winners.  You have to remember we score by losses not by wins.  If you are shooting a 2x main match and a 2x bracket match, every one gets 4 x s. It is very fair.

HERE IS WHERE I NEED HELP:

3.  The CFDA scoring program 20.0 seems to handle this well with the exception of standings when you get down to the final rounds of the bracket matches.  If all you care about is the final bracket winners the program is adequate for that.  But if the standings below 1st are important as they might be for club points, then in some brackets the standings are not accurate.  The problem is worst in some brackets.  If, for example, all of the Sheriffs went out early in the main match, then the standings appear to be fine in that bracket.  But if, for example, half of the Master Gunfighters went long in the match main then the standings are more of a problem in that bracket.  The problem stems from adding shooter after the match has begun.

I am looking for suggestions to fix this problem. Here on some of the fixes I will try:

1.  From the bracket report after round 2 or 3, entered all shooters in their appropriate bracket. All shooters would be in the bracket draw and shooters still in the main match would get a win with no time.  Shooters who draw main match shooters could be handled in one of two ways.  One would be to give them a bye win with no time.  The other alternative would be to provide that they move down the scoring sheet until they are matched with another shooter who has drawn a main match competitor or make the bottom of the scoring sheet for a CFDA bye.

2.  Add and only draw those shooters that are available to shoot in the bracket match. This is what I have done in the past that has given rise to the standing problem.  I am wondering if when I register them into the bracket match I edit their score with a win with no time in earlier rounds that would correct the problem.  I do not know enough about the cause to know whether this would fix the problem.  I know that editing scores can in itself create standings problems.

3.  Of course we can always abandon the computer when we get down to the final rounds of the brackets and keep  track of the standings manually.

ANY SUGGESTIONS OR THOUGHTS ON FIXES WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

In the perfect club shoot for us would be to have 48 shooters with the main match being completed and two or three of the brackets being completed at the same time. The final two shooters of the main match would enter and finish their brackets (one or two) after the main match is completed.  Most of the shooters would stay around and take down ranges.  Brackets would have 12 shooters each.  Experience tells me there would be enough shooters to start brackets after round 3. With two ranges you would shoot main match on both ranges for 3 rounds, then shoot main match on one and brackets on the other.

For some related discussions see "Don't sell yourself short; don't sell 19.5 short." November 9, 2019 and "What we learned and Fragmentation." July 3, 2019.

Handicapping the Arizona Top Gun Races

 We instituted a new Top Gun point system this year to increase the number of gunslingers that would be in the running for awards at the end of the year.  It is based on the CFDA bracket system and appears to be much more performance driven than the previous system.  Twelve awards are given, top three in each of the four brackets. The final match of the year will be January 2 and will be a CFDA type bracket shoot where the shooters will have a chance to shoot against those they are directly competing against in a 3x last man standing format.

Here is a preview of the gunfights:

Master Gunfighter:  The top three with Hitch, Shady and Muletrain are pretty much set, but final standings are yet to be determined.  Eight shooters: Rodeo Romeo, QC Carver, Lone Rider, Molasses, Cort O Whiskey, Old West, High Strung, and Dry Gulcher still have a shot at third.

Gunfighter:  Half Cock Willie appears to be a lock on the number one spot but dogboy has a chance to catch him. It would take a big turnout in numbers for him to reach the top spot.  The third spot appears to be a fight between Hotflash, No Name, Sgt Major, Rustler, Lazy Eye, Troublemaker and Miss Kitty.

Sheriff: Desert Gator has just regained the lead over Viper for the top gun of Sheriff.  The fight for third appears to be between Dakota Drifter, Dirty Harry, Mean Wolverine, Coyote Kid  and Wyoming Ranger.

Deputy: This bracket has the closest race with just 2 points separating the top three shooters, Javelina Hunter, Sky Queen and Yowee.  Four shooters, Matchstick Mitch, Buckboard Jer, Butch Winslow, and Sentenza appear to be within striking distance.

Turnout Matters:  Points are determined by the number of shooters in a bracket so turnout matters. Our numbers have been down a bit because of covid and the board has decided we only need one range. If it appears we may have a more normal turnout a second range is available.  Turnout matters, even if you are not a member or not in the running, come and join the fun.  It is a chance to shoot against shooters of your speed, you can be a spoiler or a help.  In some of the races, a large turnout will open the door to the awards podium for some shooters.  For illustration, a 60 shooter turnout puts Old West within reach of 3rd place, Rodeo within reach of 2nd in Master Gunfighter.  The larger the turnout the more competitive will be the races because there will be more points in play.

Disclaimer:  I have misplaced my worksheets and am doing this from memory, so if I have left someone out, I apologize, take it out on me on the line.  Official standings to be out shortly.

Bracket Test Shoot - What we learned?

We always test and train on any format that we are going to use in a club shoot.  We are planning to use a CFDA Bracket type shoot for our final event of the year.  See the previous post. The question to be determined is whether the CFDA scoring program and system will work with the point systems we are using.  That system determines place by x count and speed and therefore there is an inherent speed bias involved.  This is the exact method used in the seeding in the Arizona Bracket Shoot.  It is not unusual for a shooter to be placed below another shooter he has beaten head to head because  of the speed bias.  

The Test: Today to test how it would work, we shot a one bracket CFDA bracket shoot placing all shooters in the Master Gunfighter bracket, 3x last man standing format.  The consensus of the four board members that were there was the CFDA system would work provided we were aware of what a "recognized place" is.  Under the CFDA rules if an elimination with more than one shooter affects a recognized place there must be a shoot off.

In the bracket shoots itself there will be no recognized places.  We are not giving any thing out for the placement in the bracket. However, the placement may affect the top three for points.

Today, the current leader of the Master Gunfighter bracket was eliminated in the 8th round with one other shooter.  He is tied for the lead of the bracket and just a few points ahead of third.  Whether he gets third place or fourth place points may make the difference between whether he finishes 1st, 2nd or 3rd in his bracket.  Therefore, under CFDA rules it is a recognized place and there should be a shoot off for place.  These shoot offs will be quite rare and probably will be shot off on lane 5 & 6 at the same time as the finals are decided.

I think the folks figuring this out will be able to make these decisions while the shoots are occurring.  The only time that I would think that it would be difficult to determine would be if someone would come to win for a long way out, say 5-10 points or more back.  Possible but not likely. 

What is likely is a tie in Master Gunfighter . If top three are tied, which is likely, if they go out early together, multiple shooter shoot-offs may be required, but that should be obvious if it happens.

The CFDA scoring will work!  To make it clearer we might just decide that for the top five places in each bracket there will be a shoot off if more than one goes out in the same round.  This does not take any more range time because lanes are available. That does not solve the problem of a competitive shooter going out early.  We will just have to be aware of that possibility.

The Association of Arizona Gunslingers Club Point System

I write this post to explain to the membership how the new club point system works and to let other clubs know of the system if they might find it beneficial.

The Problem: Under the old system only the same 2 or 3 shooters were competitive in each of the gender divisions. Year after year less than 10% of the membership had a reasonable chance of winning an award.  We had tried to solve this with most improved awards but that did not function very well.

This was the result of points being awarded by gender even though we never shoot gender divisions.  We shoot exclusively the Arizona Bracket Shoot at our club practice events wherein men, women, and youth all compete in the same event.  How well you do in the point standings many times was determined not by how well you shot but by who you drew.  Luck of the draw really played a major factor in your placings.

The old system was not as performance driven as the new system.

The Solution:  Under the new system we maintain a master spreadsheet of all shooters recording their fastest CFDA Bracket Report time for the year. We will have about 100 shooters on this list. For club points we only use club members (currently about 60) and divide the members into the four CFDA brackets, Master Gunfighter, Gunfighter, Sheriff and Deputy.  Club members are competing for awards, top three, against those other members in their bracket. The last shoot of the year, December, will be a CFDA bracket shoot so that in that event those who are competitive will have a chance to directly affect their standings.  It will be a big point event, probably a more than 20 point event.

Even though we only have four events so far this year it is apparent that over 40% of the membership will be competitive for awards and have a chance to be in the top three of their bracket come December.

The brackets are fluid, you can move up or down between the brackets based on your performance and the performance of the other shooters.

This is not a classification system.  Your bracket is determined by your performance at actual events.  

Club Points:  We recognize that the "main match" is nothing more than a seeding tournament and that points ought to be awarded based on your performance and not luck of the draw.  In the Arizona Bracket Shoot, competitors are seeded into brackets and the competition starts at that point.  Most events have three bracket but some have six such as Winter Range or other Jackpot shoots.  Points are awarded in inverse order and in the number of competitors in a bracket.  The larger the shoot the more points you can get. For illustration, January was a 20 point event, Winter Range 18 points (6 brackets), August 8 points, September 15 points.  You can probably count on having 20 point events through the end of the year.  In the State Championship, the 2nd chance shoot will count and those making the Magnificent 7 will get top bracket points plus 1 point and 1 point for each other club member they place above.

Sandbagging:    You really can not game this system.  Because your bracket is set by your fastest time for the year you can only move up to a faster bracket by your shooting, not down to a slower bracket.  The only way you  move down is if someone else moves above you and pushes you down into a slower bracket. Sandbagging will not be a problem.

Intentional sandbagging would be a Conduct Violation for "bending the rules to create an unfair advantage over fellow competitor," but we do not foresee that will be a problem with our membership, none of them will give you a millisecond.

For those that think you could do it on an event level consider this September event.  A shooter upon getting his first X mused that he should lose another to get into bracket B (he did not lose again). What that would gotten him was the opportunity to shoot against the hottest shooter at the event, the quickest shooter in the club.  You really don't know who is going be in bracket A, B, or C.  B or C might be tougher brackets.

Current Status:

The system seems to be working fairly well so far after only four events. It appears we will at least 24 to 30 shooters competing for awards come December.  The system is very performance driven.  Brackets do not appear to be that important. For illustration, the shooter with the top points in each bracket would be competitive for the top award even if they moved up to a faster bracket.  For example, top shooter in Deputy would be in third in Sheriff, top shooter in Sheriff would be 2nd if in Gunfighter. This is a result of the system being so performance driven.  You need to shoot well every event, or at least in 6 event, it being a best six event system.  

When we adopted this system we thought we would have 6 events by April. Making it a best six event system would have made the numerous snowbird members viable.

Another interesting factor is that this system gives shooters a chance to recover from tough luck of the draw or a slow start.  At the last event, the quickest shooter in the club, was able to recover from early losses to win 6 or 7 in a row to get 2nd place points. At the end of the event he was the hottest shooter there but not tough enough to get 1st place points.  The top gun Sheriff and  top gun Gunfighter both got 1st place points.  "A" bracket could only muster 2nd place points. (But on a personal note, the Master Gunfighter bracket is in a tie between the 10th and 11th quickest shooters in the club, performance counts.)