Dear Pingpongers,

 

Top scorers this week (in terms of rating increase) were:

Anil Duphelia  +154

Mike Labins +88

Steve Utstein +70

Terence Sun +62

Anthony Szumilo +58

Natnael Dessie +58

Avi King +56

 

Having reported this week's results, I'd like use the opportunity to remind you of some of our practices and policies in the Berkeley TTC:

 

• Rating calculation: The basic rating formula calculates the rating outcome of each individual match and awards 16 points to a 3-0 winner over an equally rated opponent. If the players in a match do not have equal rating (the usual case), these 16 points are modified, up or down, with 4% of the rating difference between the involved players. This means, for example, that a player rated 400 points or more above his opponent gains 0 point for a 3-0 victory (4% of 400 is 16). In addition, individual games won by the loser in a match count for 2 points each, i.e. if the same player as in the example above beats his/her opponent (rated 400 points or more below) with 3-2, he/she will in fact lose 4 points. These individual rating outcomes for each match are shown on the result sheet in the "Rating change vs." section. (Note that all rating changes for players rated 2000 or above are cut in half, in order to make it more difficult for the highest rated players to earn bonus points)
• Bonus points: Players who during one Friday night gain more than 24 rating points are awarded with bonus points according to the simple principle that all gained points above 24 count twice. If the sum of someone's rating changes from all his/her individual matches, for example, is 30 he will in fact receive 36 points. These bonus points are awarded as a measure to counter the built-in deflation (due to the fact that players improve over time) in the system. The implication of this bonus system is that it is a good idea, if you want to improve your rating fast, not only to beat better rated players, but also to try to win as many matches as possible in one evening.
• Table winner promotion: The Round Robin groups are each Friday created strictly according to the current ratings, except for the principle of table winner promotion. This principle means that the player who won his/her respective table (marked by red color on the result sheet) is guaranteed the right to play on the next higher table the directly following week, unless he/she is rated more than 200 points below the person who would be downgraded (moved down one table) because of this promotion.
• Default for leaving early (Old policy) : A player who leaves early (which is determined as before 9:35) loose/default his remaining matches (0-3), given that the opponents are still there and want to play, whatever the reason for leaving early. The rating was has been counted as usual also for such matches.
• Default for leaving early (Suggested new policy, which will probably be implemented soon) : In principle the same as above but the rating change for such defaulted matches will always be 10 points. This change is meant to reduce the impact of legitimate reasons to leave early, such as injuries and broken paddles, on the rating, but still deter people from leaving early for "illegitimate" reasons (tired, in a bad mood, wish not to play a specific player etc.).
• Rating adjustments: Manual, subjective rating adjustments are often conducted for new players (approx. the 1-3 first times they play at our club) in order to reduce the impact on our collective rating caused by the subjectively assigned and often misleading initial ratings. If you are a new player, or for some other reason, feel that your rating is very misleading, feel free to notify me (directly on a Friday night or by personal email) and I will consider an adjustment. I won't, however, adjust anyone's rating without a good reason.

You should feel free to offer your views on these and other policies in our club. A recommended forum for such a discussion is the guestbook on our website.

 

Best,

Mattias