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The 2026 annual Open Swiss Doubles tournament took place on Sunday 22nd March at Maidstone Park on a most beautiful autumn day. 22 teams were entered from around the Wellington region, although one team was unable to make it so a Bye was used in each round. 5 rounds of Swiss at 60m with no extra end were played over 12 pistes, 3 before lunch and 2 after. Swiss format is a great way to rank players or teams within just a few games, as winners are automatiocally paired against winners, while non-winners are paired against non-winners after each round.

The ranking used after each round of games was based on number of games won first, then by Buchholz 1, then by Buchholz 2 (also known as fine Buchholz), and finally by differential. Most players are familiar with games won and differential, but tournaments such as Swiss are deemed ‘fairer’ using Buchholz because it takes into account the strengths (based on results at the time) of the opposing teams, scaled by the number of games played, thereby more accurately determining the true ranking. The final ranking results attached show that using traditional ranking by only games won and differential, would have had a very different result for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. At the end of the 5 games, the unluckiest team was John, Kathy and Jan (Bean Bags) from Upper Hutt, with 1 win, who took away a couple of goody bags kindly donated by Summeset. Third place was Colin and Bob, (The Young Ones) from Upper Hutt, with 4 wins. Second place was Paul and Murray (Old Duffers) also from Upper Hutt and with 4 wins. In first place was Theresa and Seymour Harawira (Untouchables) with 5 wins, from Silverstream. The top 3 teams all took away generous cash prizes paid from club funds.

Thanks to all the helpers and food donors on the day, as well as all the players; many of whom travelled some distance despite the price of fuel at the moment, and helped make a great day of play.

Source: Upper Hutt Petanque Club

23/03/26