New System to Qualify for 2009-10 Team Playoffs

[Chris Gilpin]

I'm reposting the new points system here. This is now how poets will qualify for the playoffs in March / April to determine who will be on next year's poetry slam team. This is very different from the previous system so please review it closely. I think it will make sense very quickly once we get into the season and start posting results.

Poets will be awarded a set number of points per slam,determined by where they finished in the top 5. They will amass these points cumulatively over the course of the qualifying season.

The point system for each night will look like this.

1st place - 16 points
2nd place - 9 points
3rd place - 4 points
4th place - 1 point
5th place - 0 points

After slam 13, playoff-stage slots are determined by selecting our top 14 cumulative point-scorers up to that point.

(Our 14th slam is a Wild Card Slam, with priority of entry going to our remaining top 12 point scorers. Any spots not filled by those poets are then open.The winner and runner-up of the Wild Card Slam becomes the 15th & 16th ranked poets and go into playoffs.)

There is a cap of six slams for competing poets, ie each poet may only compete in 6 qualifying slams and no more (The only exception would be in the rare case that there isn't enough poets who still have not slammed six times on the sign-up list. Then, a poet who has already slammed six times could be part of the slam; however, that poet would not be eligible to receive points on that night.)

The cap of six slams will prevent poets from amassing too many cumulative points and then continuing to slam, scoring points they no longer need and that others do.

This does not apply to 'alt' slams, only to qualifying slams, held on the 1st, 3rd and potentially 5th Monday of every month from September 21st to March 15th.

In the points system rankings, ties are broken first according to who had the higher finish, and second by points. So, for instance, if at the end of season Poet A had one second place finish, they would have 9 points, and if Poet B had two third place finishes and a fourth place finish, they would also have 9 points. Poet A would receive the higher ranking because Poet A finished higher in a slam than Poet B ever did. But if Poet A and B both had one second place finish, and both had 9 points, and they were tied for the final and fourteenth slot to go directly to playoffs, the tie would be broken by who had the higher score on their second place finish, and the other poet would have to compete in the Wild Card Slam.

[Duncan Shields]

It'll be interesting to see what kind of data we generate after a season of this kind of point system.   I'm looking forward to going over the results.

[Shannon]

Me too!

Will anything change for how points are accumulated for the WOW finals?
In the past, each self-identified female poet competing during the regular season receives one point for competing in the slam, and additional points for each poet that they outscore that night.  Poets are therefore rewarded for the frequency in which they participate (which is great for increasing women's participation!!) and how well they do.  I love this system!

[Chris Gilpin]

As a point of trivia, by my calculations, it will take 25 points to mathematically clinch a spot in the top 14 poets.

However, I expect the cut-off point, that is the point level that will separate the 14th ranked poet from the 15th (who will have to compete in the Wild Card Slam), will be somewhere in the 10 to 13 point range. That's just a guess, based on how I think things will play out. It should not be used by any poet to determine their own personal strategy. It's just fun to analyze and make predictions.

[Shannon]

Just wondering if a poet can participate in more than 6 regular slams, but *not* continue to accumulate points. 

In other words, is it okay for someone to participate 7 times, but only the first 6 times will actually count towards their total points?

I think it would be cool if they could still participate.

Thanks

[Chris Gilpin]

No, Shannon, the poet can not choose to stop accumulating points and continue performing more than 6 times UNLESS, a big UNLESS, at a given slam, there is less than 12 people who have signed up to slam. In that situation, where there is still an unfilled spot, a poet who has slammed 6 times will be allowed to perform (although they are no longer eligible to accumulate points). The priority, however, goes to poets who have performed less than 6 times.

[Shannon]

good to know, thanks!

[Chris Gilpin]

Interestingly, I wasn't even that close to the cutoff for qualifying points needed. I guessed it would be between 10 - 13 points. But, because of the large number of poets who dropped out or didn't want to compete, the cutoff actually ended up being 5 points, the last qualifier DMP getting into semis with 6 points.