Right....! Finally getting a chance to do something with this. When last we left it, Week 18 was underway, and we had new players waiting to join up. Here's the story of Week 18's results:

w_hoolahan (1) (-3)-35 beenjammin (2)
beenjammin is promoted to Level 1, w_hoolahan is relegated to Level 2

punkpoet (2) 35-31 clooneman (3)
punkpoet stays at Step 2, clooneman stays at Step 3

cymmerboy (3) N/S-BYE _merkovo_ (4)
_merkovo_ is promoted to Level 3, cymmerboy is relegated to Level 4

jose_enrique (4) 21-41 chris (5)
chris is promoted to Level 4, jose_enrique is relegated to Level 5

This would leave the provisional ladder for Week 19 looking like this:
Level 1: beenjammin
Level 2: punkpoet, w_hoolahan
Level 3: _merkovo_, clooneman
Level 4: chris, cymmerboy
Level 5: jose_enrique

Next: cymmerboy hasn't been online in three months, meaning that I might just have to remove him. Also, chris announced before the summer that he was withdrawing. This would leave Step 4 on the ladder empty, leaving jose_enrique sucked up to that level, like so:

Level 1: beenjammin
Level 2: punkpoet, w_hoolahan
Level 3: _merkovo_, clooneman
Level 4: jose_enrique


Next: Here are the new players for Week 19 (tinie (deactivated) and unstopp4bl3 (deactivated) drop off the new players list):
ritcho
mattywellie
sarny_lad
sniper (former contestant, 9ballsniper)
lethal_playa
scott7a
ripped_rank
dvz
lethal_playa
pool_wizard

Now, the problem is knowing where and how to squeeze you all into Levels 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9!!! When I had this problem at the start of this competition a year ago, I had only 5 players, so it was a case of a 2-week knockout while the rest of the ladder got played. The problem here is that if I paired you off into 5 fixtures, it would mean the difference between 2 or 3 divisions based on one game. So, here's how I propose to do it.

Week 19 will
1) last two weeks,
2) consist of regular games for those players who were here from before the summer, and
3) consist of two games for each of the new players, who will be grouped into groups of three.

Week 20: ditto. The winners of the groups will be in one group, the 2nd placed players in another, and the 3rd placed in the third.

After Week 20, we'll have an order for the 9 new players, and I'll be able to order them by their positions after Week 20.

This sounds complicated, and it kinda is. To summarise:
a) current players have 2 weeks to play 1 game, and
b) new players have 2 weeks to play 2 games.

After week 20, it goes back to normal

The next post will contain... the fixtures.

woooooo

AAARGH, there's 10 of you, not 9... Right, this needs a rethink, hang on...

New players:
ritcho
mattywellie
sarny_lad
sniper (former contestant, 9ballsniper)
lethal_playa
scott7a
ripped_rank
dvz
lethal_playa
pool_wizard

Yep

Solution: I have included lethal_playa twice. This means there's only 9 players. Plans proceed as normal

Ha

Week 19 ladder, as above

Level 1: beenjammin
Level 2: punkpoet, w_hoolahan
Level 3: _merkovo_, clooneman
Level 4: jose_enrique

Next: groups for the new players, and I've sorted them by straight pool ranking:

dvz
scott7a
mattywellie
--------
lethal_playa
sarny_lad
ritcho
--------
ripped_rank
sniper
BYE

pool_wizard has gotten himself banned, so he's out. Now, I was gonna take things like location into account, but everyone's roughly in the same timezone with one exception, so I figured I'd just do a draw to group people up. I did it at http://us5.chatzy.com/47480473716393 just so you could see how it happened, and it came out like this:

Group 1: scott7a, lethal_playa
Group 2: sarny_lad, dvz, sniper
Group 3: mattywellie, ritcho, ripped_rank


This leaves the Week 19 fixtures looking like this:

beenjammin (1) vs punkpoet (2)
Previous meetings
Week 5: punkpoet (3) (-1)-54 beenjammin (4)
Week 11: beenjammin (1) 35-23 punkpoet (2)
Week 16: beenjammin (1) 12-41 punkpoet (2)

w_hoolahan (2) vs _merkovo_ (3)
No previous meetings

clooneman (3) vs jose_enrique (4)
No previous meetings

Group 1:
scott7a vs lethal_playa

Group 2:
sarny_lad vs dvz
sarny_lad vs sniper
dvz vs sniper

Group 2:
mattywellie vs ritcho
mattywellie vs ripped_rank
ritcho vs ripped_rank

The group winners will play each other in two weeks; the group runners-up will play each other in two weeks; and the two third placed players will play each other in two weeks.

Deadline for this batch of games: Monday, October 29th. Good luck all!

Im well confused. So how many frames do i play mate?

Im not very bright

One frame of straight I should have specified that, sorry...

The way this competition has always worked is that each player each week plays one game of straight against his opponent, and that's it. Now, the players in Groups 2 and 3 have two opponents to play, so they will play one game of straight against each of them.

The idea of playing just one game per week has proved ideal, as most players are busy with clan action and other stuff, and a single first-to-35 contest is enough in my book.

So, lethal_playa, you have just one opponent, and you have till Monday week to play him. After that, you'll have two opponents, and you'll have two weeks to play them. After that, everyone will be properly positioned on the ladder, and you'll have one opponent every week.

I might change it so that each division/step/rung on the ladder contains three players instead of two; I haven't decided yet. It might become a necessary change if I find I don't have the time to update this every week.

Okay mate thats great thanks!

No problem!

Fixtures sent!!! Please note that if a fixture isn't played, someone needs to have got in contact with me about it. Otherwise, both players get relegated. I dunno what this means yet for those in the groups. Rule: http://www.funkypool.com/thread/18323/straight-pool-ladder/12#1311777

The groups will be decided based on number of wins (0, 1 or 2). If players are tied on 1 win each, it will be decided on the number of points scored in the losing game. This is because a game of straight involves being the first to 35; any score after that is a bonus. So players who have one game each will have one 35 each, and score in the defeat is where players' records will be different. If both players had the same losing score, the winner of the game between the two will decide it. Example on request.

Please visit this thread for any news etc. Please post your results here too.

beenjammin 35 - 26 punkpoet
gg ul

Nice

scott7a 36-4 lethal_playa

gg m8 vul

Thanks mate . must of scratched the cue ball 36 times lmao

Wp m8

dvz - sniper

35 - 2

ggs m8

wd vul bubs

ty bub! i couldnt pot a shot...good luck bubba

Mattywellie 45-22 Ritcho gg ul mate you played very well.