A new TD Corner with a fun prize fund distribution problem! Check it out at: uschess.org/tds/TDCornerOct2006.pdf
Tim
Here are my answers:
For those players who were underpaid, pay them the additional amount to get to their correct prize.
For those players who were overpaid, oh well the organizer eats the excess.
Grant,
Would you have made the same prize distribution?
Tim
I answered it as if I were the TD calculating the corrected prize fund payout from the start. E-mail is on its way.
I don’t know how I’d handle it if I had to fix it after the original fubar snafu. I probably would have cashed my TD Fee check first (while there’s still money there) and then started calculating what everyone else gets. (=
- Enrique
I don’t know if I am clear on your question, but yes more than the $7,000 guarantee should be paid out as a result of the error.
I do know of one organizer/TD who made a similar mistake many years ago. His resolution was to put stop payments on the checks that were written at the site. At a minimum definetly bad PR.
No one should be short changed as a result of the error. So the minimum payment for each prize winner should be based on the 7/11ths of each prize. If a player was paid an additional amount then that amount should be figured as a cost in addition to the $7,000.
Ah yes, under normal prize fund distribution rules that would be true; however, in this case two of the prizes are guaranteed (100% for those prizes)! So, do you still want to use 7/11 as your multiplier for the other prizes?
Tim
I guess I should have read the question a second time or at a minimum not done it on the fly as I did. The issue seems to deal with what prizes to pay after the first place in the Open and Reserve sections are calculated. I would first deduct the 100% guaranteed prizes from the $7,000 total. Then compare this number to the b/180 ratio. Since the $5,200 ($7,000-1800) is less than the b/180 ratio, then the b/180 ratio of 58% should be used for the remainder of the prize winners.
Am I closer?
Grant,
Bingo! That is exactly what the TD did.
Tim
But was the TD RIGHT to do that?
I took his answer to imply that since the TD was wrong, I was wrong.
I believe Grant and the TD were right to use the 58% multiplier after paying out the 100% guaranteed 1st Open and 1st Reserve. When the 58% payout is added to the two guaranteed prizes the $7000 minimum payout is also met.
Tim
If you pay out 7/11 ($7000 divided by $11000) of each prize, you are paying out more than $7000 since two of the prizes are guaranteed.
To find the correct ratio, you’d have to subtract the guaranteed $1800 from BOTH the $11000 and the $7000, and compare. This comes out to $5200 divided by $9200, or 56.5%.
But this is smaller than the 58% based-on ratio, so the latter must be used instead.
The morals:
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Keep it simple. In this case confusion was generated by the combination of (a) guaranteed top money and (b) a guaranteed minimum total dollar amount. Better would have been to replace (b) with a guaranteed minimum percentage (in this case 56.5%).
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Have your TLA read by someone wonkishly and agonizingly bent on attending to every detail. EACH of the organizers should scrutinize the TLA carefully. Manually add up all the individual prizes in the FINAL version of the TLA and see if it comes out right.
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Have ALL the organizers and TDs participate actively in the prize distribution process during and after the last round, and agree on all your methods before writing the first check.
Bill Smythe