BATTLE with the PROS
Pro-Am Tournament Details

1. Summary

   1. Every court has 3 amateur players who battle it out in round-robin doubles games.  The fourth player for each game will be a different pro.  With each game, a different pro will rotate into that 4th slot (except when an amateur has bought a pro via "Buy A Pro")

   2. Next, the amateur players move up/down courts based on performance, for another round of games. Players accumulate points during the 6 games that they play in the two rounds.

   3. Top-2 players with the most points go to a best-of-3 championship round – with pros as their doubles partners – for 1st place ($1,500) and 2nd place ($700). Excluding the top-2 players, the player with the most points gets 3rd place ($300).

   4. Buying a Pro:

      1. Buy a pro to play GETS YOU a special round-robin with that pro, competing against other amateurs and their pros that they have bought – minimum of 3 games. This is a separate event from the cash tournament.  The winning team of this event will receive $300, along with bragging rights and some other bonuses.

      2. During the main cash tournament, you the Amateur Buyer of a Pro has the option of pinning your "bought" pro to your court; but note that with this option, you will only be playing with your bought pro once per round – and competing potentially against your pro twice per round.  Basically, you the Buyer has control over that 4th slot per Compasss Round.
         
         So this option may be strategic if you think that you could do well when playing with your pro, and that you could do even better when playing against your pro (rather than the Bought Pro coaching you on the sidelines when you are playing with another pro, or when the pro isn't occupied playing a game).  Or, you like the consistency of having your pro always being a partner or opponent who knows your game now (with the drawback that you would not get to experience partnering with, or playing against, the other pros).

      3. Your bought pro will also provide side-line COACHING to you during the tournament, when your pro isn't occupied playing a game.  Your bought pro will follow you from compass round to compass round, coaching you and/or playing as your doubles partner when that 4th slot/Pro Slot is on your side of the court in one of the 3 games.

      4. If you make it to the championship match for the cash tournament, then buying a pro gives you one last advantage – you have first-dibs on partnering with your bought pro during the match. Otherwise, the amount of money you spent on your bought pro will increase your chances of choosing a different pro that you want as a partner for the match. Also, you have a higher chance of being able to choose to sub in either Ben Johns or Collin Johns for one game in place of your pro partner, based upon your buying power when entering the championship (see below for the formula based on your points scored during the pool play + original Buy a Pro spend). Ben and Collin will only play one game in the match, so if you wanted to guarantee that you will play with one of them, and your amateur opponent will play with the other, then you will want to have a higher buying power than your opponent.

   5. Please refer to the additional details on the cash tournament and buying a pro, as outlined in the guidelines.

2. Ladder Tournament Guidelines
   
   

   1. Courts and Games:  Players will be categorized onto courts based on their skill levels. However, being on the top court doesn't guarantee winning the ladder. Each court will host 3 doubles games; players switch partners for every game. These games will be played to 15 points, rally scoring, with a win by a margin of 1, within a maximum timeframe of 15 minutes per game. Players switch sides when the first team gets to 8 points. Maximum total play time will be roughly  2 hours. 

   2. Dynamic Doubles:  Three amateur players are assigned to a court and will remain on the same court during the 3 games. The 4th player for every game will be a pro. However, each game on the same court will have a different pro playing in the game – unless one of the three amateurs bought a pro, in which case that pro MAY play in all of the games for that court, if the amateur buyer so desires. See the "BUY A PRO Guidelines" for more details on bought pros and their effects on the tournament.

   3. Court Shuffle:  After the three games on each court, points for each player will be tallied. The player with the most points will move up a court, while the player with the least will move down, and the player in the middle will stay on the court — a single round completed. We'll repeat this process for two rounds in total, within each pool.

   4. 90-Point Pool Play:  Ultimately, after two rounds, the total points accumulated by each player will determine the winner of the pool. The maximum possible points a player can achieve in the pool will be capped at 90 (15 points x 3 games x 2 rounds). This structure aims to offer a fair and competitive environment while rewarding consistent performance across all rounds.

   5. Beyond the Pools:  There will be either one or two pools, as described above. If there is only one pool, then the top-2 winners of that pool will enter the championship match that will determine the 1st and 2nd place winners of the entire tournament. But if there are two pools, then the winners of each pool will enter the championship match. For winners who have bought a pro (as described in "BUY A PRO Guidelines"), they will have the option to play the championship match with their pro; otherwise, they would release their pro and go through the same process of choosing a pro that the winner who hadn't bought a pro would be going through. 

Each pool winner will be given fake dollars that equal to 10 times the amount of points they accumulated during pool play, plus any amount that the winner might have paid if the winner bought a pro. With these fake dollars, the winners will bid for which pro will be their partner. For example, if winner "A" accumulated 81 points, then winner "A" would be given 810 fake dollars to bid; and if winner "B" accumulated 75 points, but also bought a pro at $450, then winner "B" would be given 1,200 fake dollars (750 + 450). 

2. 6. Championship Match:  The championship match for determining the 1st and 2nd place winners of the tournament will be best-of-three doubles games. These games will be played to 15 points, rally scoring, with a win by a margin of 2, with no maximum timeframe. For any match-point situation, the scoring changes to side-out scoring for the remainder of the game, where both teams will only get a point for a rally if they served. For example, if team "A" lost the first game to team "B", and in the second game, team "B" is ahead at game-point with 14-5, then the scoring switches to side-out scoring for the rest of the second game.  Then, if team "A" happens to win the second game, the third game starts out again with rally scoring, until game-point, when side-out scoring takes effect.

   7. Third-Place Winner:  Without considering the points for the pool winners who entered the championship match, the player who got the most points during any of the pool plays will be the 3rd-place winner of the tournament.

   8. Tiebreaker Dink-off:  If there is a tie when determining the winner of a pool or the 3rd-place winner for all of the pools, then any two tying-players will play a single dink-off to determine the winner. The dink-off consists of a single rally, where both players are at the kitchen line, will use only one side of the court, and the ball may only land in the kitchen. Players who have bought pros will get side-line coaching from their pros.

   9. Cash Prizes for Amateurs:  1st place - $1,500;  2nd place - $700;  3rd place - $300
      
      

3. BUY A PRO Guidelines
   
   

   1. Buying a Pro:  If you'd like to secure your favorite pro to play in your round the whole time during the Pro-Am Ladder (a 2-hour event), you can submit a blind bid to buy them outright with your $350 Pro-Am ticket during check out (or if already registered for this Pro-Am event, you may text your bid to Monica at 415.990.1606).

   2. Minimum Bids:  You must submit a minimum reserve price or higher, per the Pro-Am Ladder minimum bids below.  Bids must be submitted by 6:30 pm PST on January 5, 2024 (Tuesday) and is valid upon confirmation receipt. 

      2. • $5,000 | Ben Johns

         • $2,500 | Collin Johns

         • $250 | Erik Pailet, Jack Munro, Preston Bies, and Roscoe Bellamy

         • $450 | Etta Wright, Irina Tereschenko, and Lacy Schneeman

         • $250 | Bryanna Ojeda, Jordi Vigna (unavailable), and Rianna Valdes

3. 3. Pool Play with Pro:  During pool play, the bought pro can be assigned to the same courts that the amateur who bought the pro (the "buyer") will be playing on, assuming that the buyer chooses this option.  With this option, the following will apply:

      1. If the buyer moves from one court to another, after the first round, then the bought pro will also move to the same court.

      2. During a round of 3 games on a court, the buyer and the pro will only play one of the 3 games together.  So for 2 out of 3 games, the buyer and pro will potentially be competing against each other (along with the other two amateurs assigned to the court), if the buyer choose to insert his bought pro into the 4th slot when that slot is on the opposing court.

   4. Championship Match with Pro:  If a buyer wins the pool and moves on to the championship match, then the buyer can choose to play the match with the buyer's pro, if so desired. Otherwise, the buyer would bid with fake dollars on which pro to play with -- where the amount of real dollars the buyer paid for the buyer's pro will be included in the fake dollars.  (See the "Beyond the Pools" item in "General Guidelines" for more details.) Also, the buyer with the most fake dollars will get first choice in either choosing to sub in Ben Johns or Collin Johns for one game in place of your pro partner. Ben and Collin will only play one game in the match, so if you wanted to guarantee that you will play with one of them, and your amateur opponent will play with the other, then you will want to have more fake dollars than your opponent.

   5. Side-line Coaching by Pro:  Pro will provide side-line coaching for the buyer during tiebreakers.  And for the pool play, if the pro isn't occupied playing a game, then the pro will also provide side-line coaching to the buyer.

   6. Special Fun BUY A PRO Round-Robin:  A special fun round-robin will happen for all buyers and their pros, where this round will be separate from the Pro-Am Ladder tournament.

      1. The buyer and pro will make up a dedicated team for the round.

      2. Games will be played to 15 points, rally scoring, with a win by a margin of 1. Players switch sides when the first team gets to 8 points.

      3. If there are 5 teams, then each team will be playing 4 games, with 1 bye. If there are 4 teams, then each team will be playing 3 games.

      4. The points accumulated by a buyer during the a buyer's games will determine the total number of points for the buyer. And then the buyer with the most number of points will be the winner of the round.

      5. If there is a tie when determining the winner of the round, then the tying players will play a skinny-singles game to 7 points, rally scoring, with a win by a margin of 1, within a maximum timeframe of 10 minutes per game.

      6. The winning buyer will receive $300, along with bragging rights and some other bonuses for winning the round robin.