Bracket tournaments?

[Phonetek]

I haven't bowled in tournaments for a couple decades. My boss called me and said there is this huge tournament starting down there when I get there and I need to be in it. It's only a $5 entry. He said I only have to beat the person I am bowling against to move on but in reality I'm bowling against a ton of other people. He said even when you lose I would get $10 payout but if I win that first bracket I get $25.

This doesn't make any sense to me. So even if I lose I double my money? Then what is the risk of losing? Can someone please break this down into simple English so I can understand? From the sounds of it I'm going to be a lot more bowling than working which is total opposite to what I'm used to. I gotta get my head out of my.... for sure so I don't go down there looking like a fool.

[bowl1820]

I haven't bowled in tournaments for a couple decades. My boss called me and said there is this huge tournament starting down there when I get there and I need to be in it. It's only a $5 entry. He said I only have to beat the person I am bowling against to move on but in reality I'm bowling against a ton of other people. He said even when you lose I would get $10 payout but if I win that first bracket I get $25.

This doesn't make any sense to me. So even if I lose I double my money? Then what is the risk of losing? Can someone please break this down into simple English so I can understand? From the sounds of it I'm going to be a lot more bowling than working which is total opposite to what I'm used to. I gotta get my head out of my.... for sure so I don't go down there looking like a fool.

If it's like brackets they have during league/tournament, there are 8 bowlers per bracket (this case $5 a piece = $40)

If lose your first game you get knocked out of the brackets, you don't get nothing.

If you win you move on to the next round (game 2), if lose your second game you get knocked out of the brackets, you don't get nothing.

If you win you move on to the last round (game 3), here there are only two bowlers left.

The winner is 1st place, the Loser is 2nd place.

Most brackets payout two places, 1st & 2nd (in these case 1st-$25 2nd-$10) ($5 for the house) = $40


So the loser (2nd place) if you gets $10

Now this can be expanded to have more people, but it's the same principle. Example: 16 bowlers would equal two brackets, you could have
a 1st & 2nd place for each bracket or the winners of each bracket can bowl against each other and have a 1st & 2nd place between them.
Brackets

https://www.printyourbrackets.com/images/bowling-tournament-brackets.jpg

Brackets are a eight-person, match play, single-game elimination mini-tournament that runs concurrently with a League or tournament play.

A bowler can enter one or more brackets, but can only enter once in each bracket.

The eight bowlers in each bracket are randomly assigned to four single game matches using games 1 thru 3.

First game scores determine the first round winners. Those four bowlers advance to round two, where the second game score determines who advances to the final round.

In the final round, third game score determines the bracket winner.


Now there is a thing called Cut-the-Field – Which is similar to brackets, but you bowl against the entire field, not just one other person.

The bottom half gets dropped after the first game and so on.


"He said I only have to beat the person I am bowling against to move"

That's the big thing in brackets, getting past that first game. If you can do that you got a chance.

I like brackets, I've won more money in them than in pots and other things. And a lot of times with really bad scores.

[Stormed1]

I remember bowling a World team Challenge event. I got in 15 brackets and won 12 with a 164. That same event Bill Spigner shot 129 in game 1 of the second set and advanced in 64 out of 100 brackets

[Phonetek]

Okay, it seems pretty simple put that way. I figure since most people in TN carry guns I better get these things straight =)

When you guys bowl in these tournaments.... do you keep an eye on what the guy in your bracket you are trying to beat is doing or do you just bowl and wait until the end to find out if you won or not? Just curious.

[J Anderson]

Okay, it seems pretty simple put that way. I figure since most people in TN carry guns I better get these things straight =)

When you guys bowl in these tournaments.... do you keep an eye on what the guy in your bracket you are trying to beat is doing or do you just bowl and wait until the end to find out if you won or not? Just curious.

I haven’t bowled in a bracket tournament myself, but worrying that some one else may be doing better than you are, especially if they are on a different pair sounds like a recipe for disaster. Just trust your game, watch what your ball does, adjust when necessary, and have fun. Sounds easy, but kind of hard to do if you hear or see that your opponent has the front five and you’ve got four ringing ten pins.

[Amyers]

Okay, it seems pretty simple put that way. I figure since most people in TN carry guns I better get these things straight =)

When you guys bowl in these tournaments.... do you keep an eye on what the guy in your bracket you are trying to beat is doing or do you just bowl and wait until the end to find out if you won or not? Just curious.

We do this a lot around here. You may track a friend who you know is in bowling on your set or maybe a lane away but mostly you are comparing scores after the game. It makes it interesting you can win after a bad game sometimes I've lost even with big games you never really know until you look.

[Phonetek]

I personally would probably peek about the 8th frame. Having the front 5 is always nice but it's not how well you start the race it's how well you finish. It's always nice to know if you have to turn on the juice. I've always been pretty decent at that. At least on league, I've always chose to be the anchor bowler. I lived for those moments when it came down to me in the 10t if we won or lost. The majority of the time I was usually able to pull it off. It was always exciting win or lose.

It was only frustrating when I lost getting the payout when I bowled a big game because of handicap. If they beat me scratch then I just graciously tip my hat. On the upside if I was beat by handicap I still got the payouts from the scratch pots. I don't recall walking away empty handed.

[Amyers]

I personally would probably peek about the 8th frame. Having the front 5 is always nice but it's not how well you start the race it's how well you finish. It's always nice to know if you have to turn on the juice. I've always been pretty decent at that. At least on league, I've always chose to be the anchor bowler. I lived for those moments when it came down to me in the 10t if we won or lost. The majority of the time I was usually able to pull it off. It was always exciting win or lose.

It was only frustrating when I lost getting the payout when I bowled a big game because of handicap. If they beat me scratch then I just graciously tip my hat. On the upside if I was beat by handicap I still got the payouts from the scratch pots. I don't recall walking away empty handed.

Often there are both scratch and handicap brackets to enter I usually do both.

[Phonetek]

I will probably do that too until I get confident enough that I don't need to. I guess it depends on what my average is down there. I don't know what average you have to get to have 0 handicap.

[Amyers]

Depends on the league basis for average. It varies quite a bit around here some are 210 some 230. It's really more luck than anything as you can draw a good game against a bad bowler or vs at any time. Msot of the guys here understand that and you have a good mix playing. I have been in a few houses where only the top guys get involved and it's not as fun. My Wednesday league has a good mix the better bowlers pay $5 per game and have scratch brackets most will get in the handicap brackets which are only $1 per game