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Clipped Pool
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Used to reduce number of games and rounds needed to place a group/pool of 4 teams in order before proceeding into the next stage of a competition.
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A clipped pool requires a total of 4 games (2 games/team) over 2 rounds, rather than 6 games (3 games/team) over 3 rounds required in a typical group/pool of 4 where every team plays every other team.
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Clipped Pools are used primarily when 2nd and 3rd place determine seeding in the next round. Clipped Pools should not be used when the 3rd place finisher is eliminated from earning a bid to the next round.
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Schedule
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Round 1: The highest seed plays the lowest seed and the two middle seeds play each other.
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Round 2: The winners play each other and the losers play each other.
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Round 3: Clipped: The remaining games of the pool are canceled.
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Results
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1st - Team that is 2-0
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2nd/3rd - Two teams will be 1-1.
Determining who finishes second and third is simple if they played each other in the first round; the winner of that game is 2nd and the loser 3rd.
If they didn’t play in the first round, reference the “Tie breakers for round robins” in the Formats Manual.
-First use point differential against their common opponents (the two teams both lost to the clipped pool winner and both beat the clipped pool loser). Whichever team had the better point differential in these games finishes 2nd in the clipped pool.
-If the differential is the same, but the scores of the two games were different, the team that scored more total points in that game finishes 2nd in the clipped pool.
-If the scores were identical, a disc is flipped to determine placement.
-Note that the tie breaker between the 2nd and 3rd teams will not be used to eliminate teams, only to seed them going into elimination play.
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4th - Team that is 0-2
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Pools of Three
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Previously Pools of three were discouraged. With Clipped Pools, Pools of Three allow formats to have fewer games before elimination rounds begin.
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As with Clipped Pools, Pools of Three are used primarily when 2nd and 3rd place determine seeding in the next round. With the exception of a 3-Team tournamnet, Pools of Three should not be used when the 3rd place finisher is eliminated from earning a bid to the next round.
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Used when total team numbers allow to reduce the number of pool games needed before proceeding into brackets for elimination.
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Except for 3-team formats (follow Formats Manual), the schedule for a 3-team pool in other formats should be 1v3, 1v2, 2v3.
(Note this is different than the schedule in the formats manual because these 2v3 games are often followed by crossovers for both of those teams.)
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There is potential for the teams to all go 1-1, with the same exact scores between games. See explanation below for how to recognize and mitigate against having this unbreakable tie.
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