Paul Epstein is organizing a Division 1 Draft Roto for the National Scrabble Championship, assisted by Dallas Johnson. This roto differs from the free-pick rotos in that it is one in which any one player can only belong to one owner, in the classic roto style. Therefore, there will be a draft meeting at 8:15/8:30-ish in the after hours game room.
Entry Fee: $50 per owner. Limit of one team per owner.
Prizes:
1st Place - 50% of all funds taken in
2nd Place - 30% of all funds taken in
3rd Place - 20% of all funds taken in
All money matters shall be handled at the site, including disbursements of prizes following the prize ceremony. There can be no more than twenty teams. If there are not a minimum of twelve teams, the draft roto will be canceled. The stakes are higher and teams are far, far fewer than in other rotos, hence the higher price for entry.
Team Makeup: Each owner gets him/herself as an automatic pick in a five-player team. The draft meeting decides the other four team members, according to quintiles. A spreadsheet with all five quintiles within Division One can be downloaded at right, and will also be available at the site. At the meeting you will be picking players from the four quintiles other than the one you are in. The lowest-rated owner picks first, second-lowest second, and on till the top, when it reverses, and heads downward. It does this two times, for a total of four rounds. I have decided to retain this by-ratings snake method because selection strategy ahead of time is possible this way. Therefore, I will *constantly* keep all owners posted on who has joined up as the days wear on. (However, bear in mind some join in at the site the last minute, but you do get a rough idea anyway). I have had requests, however few, to abolish the self-pick rule, which dates back to the very first rotos before I ran them. But, for reasons I will not beat up on, I have decided not to drop it. I like it for several reasons.
Rating List: The July rating list was used to determine quintile division and will be used to establish picking order. As always, the latest issued ratings list is binding. Events rated subsequent to that list will not count in changing any ratings for the purpose of this roto.
Dropout Players: If a member of a team drops out of play, the highest-rated nonpick in that quintile shall be designated to replace the dropout player on that team.
Team Reservation and Questions: For requests for teams, as well as any other questions, feel free to message me privately at paulep@provide.net, and/or my partner in roto, Dallas Johnson, at dallasjohnson@sbcglobal.net. We will put you on the list and will update the list most days, as the requests come in. If you want to participate, let us know ASAP, for you never know how fast slots will fill up, if indeed they do.
