Round 1
For the vast majority of tournaments, the first round will be a random draw. After Round 1, you will have your next opponent(/s) drawn based on your performance in Round 1. The two fixture systems are as follows:
"Swiss" system
The "Swiss" system involves grouping players according to who they are next to in the standings after the previous round, thereby allowing for more well-matched and potentially closer games.
"Birmingham" system
An alternative system, introduced in 2025, is the "Birmingham" system. This strategy aims to match every player on the same number of wins randomly as opposed to with the two adjoining players in the standings. For example, if seeds 1–6 are all on 2 wins after the opening round, seed 1 could be matched with seeds 3 and 5 thereafter. Under the classic "Swiss" style, however, seed 1 would automatically be matched with seeds 2 and 3. There are two scenarios in which this is discounted: [a.] if two players have been matched in a preceding round, since rematches are avoided at events; and [b.] if the number of players with the same win count is unequal to a multiple of three (since there are always three players to a table), in which case the highest-ranked player(s) on the lower number of wins is "upfloated".
Additional points of note
- During a one day tournament, you will never play the same person or a "Prune" more than once. If a tournament weekend stretches over two or three days, these are considered individual tournaments, so you may be drawn against a player you faced on a previous day.
- The fixture generation system will endeavour to make sure all players get as even a spread of being Player 1 or Player 2 in their games as possible. In a Lincoln style event, an even split is guaranteed. Occasionally in a Bristol style event, you may have more games as P1 or P2 than the other, either due to an odd number of games, or due to you and your opponent having the same number of P1/P2 draws before the final round of fixtures.