Petanque Ratings
A paper (34 pages) describing three different rating systems that could be used in the sport of petanque. The first is a simple system based on a players ranking position (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) in tournaments that they have played. The second system is more mathematical, involving a least squares estimate of a rating derived from a set of linear equations connecting winning and losing player ratings with match score differences. The third, the Elo rating system, uses an assumed statistical model of player performance to predict the outcome of a match and then adjusts the player’s rating (winner and loser) according to the actual match results. Examples of each system are provided.
Petanque Ratings.pdf
The Swiss System; Buchholtz Number Ranking; SPORT Software
The Petanque Federation Australia (PFA) has adopted the Swiss System as the standard competition format to be used in qualifying rounds of all championship events which includes State and National Championships. Several clubs in Victoria are also using the Swiss System for their tournaments or their tournament qualifying rounds.
At the end of the Swiss System rounds in a tournament, teams may be ranked according to several criteria; two of which are the team’s Buchholtz Number (BHN) and Fine Buchholtz Number (fBHN). These numbers are a reflection of the quality of the opponents that the team has played. The Buchholtz Number is the sum of all the wins of a team’s opponents and the Fine Buchholtz Number is the sum of all the opponent’s BHN’s.
To assist in tournament management and scoring, PFA recommends the SPORT software by Ottmar Kraemer-Fuhrmann (www.sport-software.com). This software has been used in recent National and State Championships and offers many different tournament formats: Swiss System, Round-robin system, Single and Double Elimination, Poules and Mêlée. Ranking criteria, including the Buchholtz Number, are a feature of the SPORT software.
This paper will attempt to explain the Swiss System and Buchholtz Number ranking with examples from a petanque tournament scored using the SPORT software shown in the Appendix.
Swiss System Buchholtz Number Ranking.pdf
The Pleasures of Counting
Sometimes petanque players ask difficult questions of tournament organizers. Here’s an analysis of one such question arising from an Out-of-a-Hat draw: “How come I’m playing with X again when I played with them in the first two games?”
The Pleasures of Counting.pdf
More Pleasures of Counting
Suppose there is a Petanque tournament with n players that must be arranged into an even number of teams. The teams may be triples or doubles or combinations of both depending upon the tournament format. If the tournament format is triples then there should be the maximum number of triples teams. If the tournament format is doubles then there should be the maximum number of doubles teams.
Here is a simple way of determining the combinations of teams.
More Pleasures of Counting.pdf
The Probability of Finding a Carpark
Suppose a tournament with 2n teams is played at a Petanque club on two terrains containing n = x + y marked pistes. x is the number of pistes on the club’s usual terrain and y is the number of less desirable pistes on a nearby carpark. The pistes for a round of the tournament with n games are allocated by a random draw.
What is the probability of a team being allocated a carpark-piste?
The Probability of Finding a Carpark.pdf
Notes on Poules in Petanque
In tournaments where poules are part of the tournament structure, it is important to arrange the teams in poules (usually of four teams) that are consistent with the draw for a single elimination finals series. This document (8 pages) describes an arrangement of teams in poules that is a consequence of the finals series structure and three simple rules: (i) fold-pairing used in creating the finals draw and team pairs in poules, (ii) maximum benefit accorded to top-ranked teams, and (iii) no finals series games (except possibly the final) is a repeat of a poules game.
Notes on Poules in Petanque.pdf
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