Tiebreaker Rules for Round Robin Tournaments

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Round Robin Format

A round robin tournament consists of each team playing every other team one time. Many times in this format, two or more teams will end up with the same record. Before the tournament begins you will need to come up with a list of tiebreaking procedures.

2 Team Tie

I will start by saying, there are many different sports and games that use the round robin format, so there are no set rules for breaking ties. But, the standard procedure for a two team tie would be to use the head to head match. The team that beat the other team, should be declared the winner. If you are running a double round robin and the two teams split the series, you should use the point differential between the two matches. The team that won by the most points would be declared the winner.

3 or More Team Tie

Depending on the number of teams, you may also run into a situation way you have more than 2 teams finish with the same record. In this instance you should:

1. Check the record of each team against the other teams that have tied. If one team has a better record, they would be declared the winner. If there is still at tie, move to step 2.

2. Tally up the point differential in each match against the other tied teams. The team that has the largest point differential should be declared the winner. If there is still at tie, move to step 3.

3. Use total points scored against the other tied teams. If there is still at tie, use total points scored against all teams. If there is still a tie, move to step 4.

4. At this point, just pull out a coin and do it the old fashioned way.