2021 Australian Open Suicide Draw Pool: How it Works

[dave g]

Suicide pools are a very simple concept that test your ability not only to pick a winner, but to project your winner through the ups and downs of a draw. You'll also have to know what players can easily win an early round match for you but can be counted on (at least by yourself) to falter as you go through the 14 days of a Slam.

For each day of play, you have to pick one - yes, just one - winner each from the men's and women's draw. That is out of all the matches played that day. But once you pick someone, you cannot choose them again for the rest of the tournament. So you really don't want to pick a top player to win in early matches (unless you know something we don't).

To survive in the suicide pool, you will have to have gone through up to 14 successive days of picking a winner. Sure it may sound easy (and probably will be) on the first few days of play - but as you get deeper into the draws, you have to start picking based on not only who you think will win, but who is likely to lose down the road. And remember, if you are still alive come semi-final time, you are not only picking who you think would win a semi, but also who would lose the final, since you could not pick the same player again.

Men's and Women's draws are played separately. So if you lose on the men's side but are still alive on the women's, you continue playing the women's draw.

Picks will begin with the release of the Order of Play for Day 1 - you will have until play begins on Day 1 to make your selections. Your selections have to be for a Day 1 match. Subsequently, you can pick your Day 2 winner as soon as the Day 2 order of play is announced, and so on.

Each day, a thread will be started that reads in the header : "Day __ AO Suicide Pool Pick". Within each new pick thread there will be a Google Form to enter your pick. Using this form is the preferred method of posting your pick. When you use the form, please copy and paste your pick's name into the form, so that all the names have the same spelling. However, if you have problems with the form, feel free to reply to initial pick post. There will be separate threads for the men's and women's game. The Day 1 thread will be posted sometime shortly after the order of play for Monday of Week 1 is released, and you will then be able to make your first pick.

NOTE: The new TAT2.0 has a feature that is you are composing a post (or a reply), if new posts are added to the topic while you are composing, YOU WILL BE INFORMED OF THOSE NEW POSTS PRIOR TO POSTING YOURS. Therefore, the SUBMIT action may require TWO clicks (original plus confirmation because new posts have been added while you composed your post). Therefore, at times of great use, as in the few hours before the SP starts, make sure that you have posted properly; do not click submit and sign-out or dash to another topic, as your post may not have been recorded. Make sure it was.

Check this board daily for any updates or rule changes that might be made due to irregularities in the tournament (such as rained out days, etc.).

[dave g]

2020 AOSP start-up thread: Email Your Pick of TAT is Offline
It's a rare occurrence, but it is a possibility that TAT may be off line for technical reasons during the AO Suicide Pool. If you're unable to log into TAT to make your Suicide Pool pick you can email your pick to picks@talkabouttennis2.com

All contest rules still apply and your pick must be made before the start of play for that day. And the email option is only available to make a one time pick - we will disqualify email picks that contain selections for more than one day of play.

Please only make your picks via email if TAT is offline.

AND MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR TAT MEMBER NAME IN YOUR EMAIL!