how is a house man work in a RR tournament? The game result for the player that was to get the bye who now plays the house player if he beats the house player would get a full point for the tournament? I would assume yes.
Assumptions: it’s an odd-man RR, we know nothing about the rating composition of the RR or the house player, and assume the house player is unavailable to join the entire RR.
That’s an extra rated game with no impact on the RR scoring or scheduled bye.
I’m confused. Why do you have a “house man” in a round robin tournament?
Barring a withdrawal, unlike a Swiss, you have exactly the same number of players every round. If you have an odd number of players, then wouldn’t a “house man” just be another player in the round robin?
Keep in mind that full point byes for unpaired players is a rule for Swisses. It does not apply to a round robin. If you must have an odd number of players in a round robin, then every player will have one unplayed round. There is absolutely no reason to compensate the player with no opponent by giving a free point.
If you do have a withdrawal, how you handle it depends on whether the withdrawn player has played at least half the opponents. If the withdrawn player has not played at least half the opponents, you drop that player from the round robin, and you report the results of the played games in a separate “side games” section. Then, you are left with an odd number of players for the round robin, and every player has an unplayed round. (You do not keep the results of the games the withdrawn player actually played in the round robin crosstable.)
If the withdrawn player has completed at least half the games, then you do keep the withdrawn player in the round robin crosstable. For the unplayed games, the withdrawn player’s result (using tournament rating report-speak) is either “U” or “F” (unplayed game, zero points - I prefer “F”), while the opponent’s result is either “B” or “X” (unplayed game, one point - I prefer “X”). And, in this case, the unplayed games do count for the opponent’s final score in the crosstable.
Perhaps you meant that you might have different “house players” rather than one individual? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a side games section and letting the player who is sitting the round out play a rated side game. But that game’s result does not affect the round robin crosstable.
Remember, by its very definition, a round robin tournament means “all play all.” If you start swapping players in and out, you may very well have a long tournament, but you do not have a round robin.
I thought it would keep the player from taking a bye in R1. I didn’t realize the house man games are not part of the tournament.
Full point byes and attempts to avoid byes are part of Swisses, not round robins. If you’re stuck with an odd number of players in a round robin, then everyone will sit out one round. So, everyone is treated equally, no one is disadvantaged by not having a game in a particular round, and there are no “byes” in a round robin. It’s just an unplayed round for one player each round. (It’s understandable that, for less experienced directors who may not have directed a round robin, that’s a strange feeling. A TD has it so ingrained in him from pairing Swisses that “byes should be avoided” that it is easy to try to carry that over to a round robin. Of course, best would be to have an even number of players, but if you can’t come up with an even number of players who can and will commit to playing every round and not withdrawing, then you accept the odd number.)
In a Swiss, of course, the house player’s games would be part of the section, provided the house player is eligible for that section.
By the way, another easy mistake to make in a round robin with an odd number of players is to understate the number of rounds. For instance, if there are seven players in a round robin, most people when asked “how many rounds in this tournament” would mistakenly answer six, as each player must face six opponents. However, each player must also have one round with no opponent, so the correct answer is “seven.” (The TD would use the 7 or 8 player round robin table, and whoever would meet player 8 in a round sits that round out.) Rule 30G (Quads) mentions this.
I could see having a “house man” in something like a state’s Barber RR qualifier when a last-minute issue kept one player away. The extra player may not be eligible to play in the qualifier but would be available to avoid having a RR player simply sit for a round. Those games still wouldn’t be part of the round robin (they’d be in an extra games section) so there wouldn’t technically be a house man, but it would be close enough for practical purposes to make using the term “house man” understandable.