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Slow play in robot tourneys half rant, half musing

#1 User is offline   1eyedjack 

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Posted 2013-September-14, 11:31

I normally manage to complete (or come very close to completing) a second robot tourney before the last player completes the previous robot tourney in which I participated.

Were it not for the the fact that BBO has no influence on the speed of human players in robot tourneys I might have been tempted to think that it was a crafty money-raising ploy by the management: I have finished a tourney, so what shall I do for the next 15 mins while I wait for the results? I know - play another tourney :rolleyes:

Risking a never ending cycle until finally I just have to stop.
Seriously, though, how do they all find so much to think about? Maybe I am not thinking enough?

My only real niggle with it is that the timing of the IMP v MP robot tourneys is such that at my rate of completion I only get to play in one format in a session. If I start on IMP, then having completed the tourney the next robot tourney is inevitably another IMP, and another IMP and so on. And vice versa if I start off on an MP train. Not that I am asking for any change there. You are not going to please everyone, and perhaps I should just be patient and wait another 5 or 10 mins or whatever if I really want to swap.

These new Instant Tournaments. Are they always MP? Certainly do not seem to get a choice.
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#2 User is offline   barmar 

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Posted 2013-September-15, 17:34

I find that when I've finished an ACBL robot tourney, the next tourney that starts is the opposite form of scoring. It takes me 25-30 minutes for 12 boards.

We reduce the tourney frequency late at night (US time), but since you're in the UK I don't think that should impact you. From 10am to midnight (US/Eastern time) we start tourneys every 6 minutes, and drop down to every 10 minutes between midnight and 10am. They alternate between MP and IMPs.

Oh, I just checked, and I see that you usually play the 8-board BBO tourneys, not ACBL tourneys. There are 16 of them every hour (no change based on the time of day), also alternating scoring.

:00 MP, :02 IMP, :06 MP, :10 IMP, :14 MP, :18 IMP, :22 MP, :26 IMP, :30 MP, :34 IMP, :38 MP, :42 IMP, :46 MP, :50 IMP, :54 MP, :58 IMP

It looks like you take about 20 minutes (pretty much the same pace as me). Unfortunately, that does tend to match the frequency of tourneys with the same form of scoring (every 22-24 minutes).

Here's an idea: take a hospitality break (i.e. get yourself a snack) at the halfway mark. Taking a couple of minutes to walk to and from the kitchen should be enough to push you to the alternate form.

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