Playoff Seeding
The reward for hard work during the regular league season is a high seed in the playoff tournament. This will provide home court advantage against all lower ranked opponents. Playoff seeding is based on two kinds of standings; "Divisional Standings" and "League Standings".
Divisional Standings - (ranking within your own division)
Divisional standings are ranked by highest total points earned. Ties in points are won by the player with the highest rating.
League Standings - (ranking verses all players at your skill level)
The League standings are first ordered by a player's divisional ranking. Players with the same divisional ranking are then ordered by highest total points. Ties in points are won by the player with the highest rating.
Example: If there are 5 divisions at a skill level, the division winners are seeded 1 through 5. Then all the #2 divisionally ranked players are seeded 6-10. Then all the #3 divisionally ranked players are seeded 11-15 and so on.
Note: A player with a higher divisional ranking will always be seeded higher than a player with more points and a lower divisional ranking. Example: A number #1 ranked player with 75 points will be seeded higher than a number #2 ranked player from another division with 80 points.
To find out more about our seeding methodology, read Seeding Theory
Seeding the playoff draw
Playoff seeding is determined from your league standings. Prior to starting the seeding process, the following players will be removed from the draw:
- Those who failed to confirm their availability
- Those who designated themselves as unavailable
- First season players that are underrated
- Players that have not completed the minimum number of matches
Wild Cards
After the regular qualifiers have been selected, additional wild card spots may be awarded at each skill level. Players with the highest point totals after the regular qualifiers have been selected will be the most likely candidates for a wild card berth. Wild cards are awarded only when there are available spots in the draw and players with sufficient points. Historically potential wild card qualifiers have around 68+ points. But sometimes players qualify with as few as 50 points, so make sure you "confirm your playoff availability" so you are eligible for the tournament.
Wildcards are added to the playoff draw for two purposes.
- To balance the brackets of the draw and reduce the number of 1st-round byes.
- To include players with high point totals that just missed the playoff cut.
Wildcards are assigned after the playoff draws have been prepared. This means potential wild card qualifiers must wait until the draws are published to see if they have qualified for the tournament.
Draw Size
The size of each playoff draw is dependent on the number of players and divisions at each skill level. A draw can contain anywhere from 2 to 128 players. When a draw increases to a larger size it will contain numerous "byes" into the next round for the higher seeds.
Note: To maintain the 50% playoff qualifying ratio, "byes" are not free spots to be filled by interested players but rather the normal result of a draw expanding to the next larger size. Once a draw has been published, it is almost never altered as it would affect seeding positions for the entire draw. *Note - the approximate number of qualifying players can vary from 25-55% or more in certain cities based on weather, seasonal calendars and delays due to natural disasters.
Maximum Draw size
Draws will never exceed 128 players per skill level. Once these maximum draws sizes have been met no further players will qualify for the playoffs. This supersedes all Playoff Qualifications. A 128 draw requires 7 rounds to complete which is equivalent to playing an entire new season. A maximum draw size was established to limit the number of rounds and the duration of the playoffs.
Note: Players who are ranked #140 or more may still qualify for the tournament. Lower seeded players will move up in the standings due to "ineligible" and "unavailable" players being removed from the league standings.