2022 U.S. 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.
The 2022 U.S. Open starts on August 28.

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 __ US Open Suicide Pool Pick". This is where you'll post your pick for the corresponding day. 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]

Email Your Pick of TAT is Offline: picks@talkabouttennis2.com
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 tatpicks@yahoo.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!

[dave g]

Ask Questions Here
If you have any questions about the U.S. Open Suicide Pool, post it in this thread and we'll answer it as soon as we can!

[ashkor87]

You mean the US open surely,?!

[ponchi101]

Yes, he means the US Open.
But if you STILL have questions about the Australian Open SP, sure, fire away

BTW: The US Open starts on August 29th, but topics for picks will be up sometime around August 28th.

[AcesAnnie]

ponchi101, Is this one of the games you mentioned to me in my introduction post?

[ponchi101]

ponchi101, Is this one of the games you mentioned to me in my introduction post?

Yes. This is one of the contests. Next week, we will be posting the START UP topics for the remaining three:
YCWJ: basically, you pick losers.
PeterSkan: You pick a team
Predictions: a year long contest, so you can't join now, but it is ongoing for other members.
We will be busy soon

[ptmcmahon]

You actually can join predictions now. You won't "win" anything in the year long race, but still can be fun to see how you do in a certain week. And if you do plan to do predictions for a whole year it's very good practice to see how deadlines work. It can be a little confusing at first, and often is at odd times, so if it's of interest I'd say do a few weeks for fun, and as practice.

[dave g]

You mean the US open surely,?!

I have a set of posts in storage that I copy and paste shortly before each major. I don't always find all of the different reference to the Australian Open that exist in the original post that is in storage. I got the first large post correct. If you find that I have made a similar mistake in the future, and you have the authority to edit my posts, fee free to make the corrections yourself.

[ptmcmahon]

Some of these copy and pastes are pretty funny though My favourite was the old contest instruction that trades were supposed to only be to drop people who were "seriously underperforming" on your team

[ponchi101]

Some of these copy and pastes are pretty funny though My favourite was the old contest instruction that trades were supposed to only be to drop people who were "seriously underperforming" on your team

Yes. As in: "I need 12 trades. A WEEK!"
Seriously underperforming. That will be the name of my Skan team.

[AcesAnnie]

ponchi101, Is this one of the games you mentioned to me in my introduction post?

Yes. This is one of the contests. Next week, we will be posting the START UP topics for the remaining three:
YCWJ: basically, you pick losers.
PeterSkan: You pick a team
Predictions: a year long contest, so you can't join now, but it is ongoing for other members.
We will be busy soon

This already seems busy.

I love the Slams. I am horrible at predicting , but love watching the excitement unfold.

[ashkor87]

I probably will not be playing the SP..I find it seriously interferes with my enjoyment of the tournament, I get too concerned with my picks than about what is going on in the tournament !

[ponchi101]

Do what most of us do: lose early!
I usually suffer my match, and then can keep enjoying the rest.

[ashkor87]

Do what most of us do: lose early!
I usually suffer my match, and then can keep enjoying the rest.

That is what ends up happening, anyway!