2025 AUSTRALIAN MASTERS

Twenty of the top players will play the Australian Masters as a round robin in Melbourne. At the same time, teams of three players from each of seven states or territories play the State Team Challenge as head-to-head matches.

Rule variation

Masters section has 5 point penalty for each word challenged but correct.

The contenders

The table below shows the teams according to qualification criteria set by the Council of the Australian Scrabble Players Association.

IMPORTANT: Selection processes will now give priority to Australian players who have told CASPA that they will attend or might attend. Send an email to nro@scrabble.org.au with the subject line including AMSC25, and an indication of YES, NO or MAYBE. Any Australian ASPA member may ask to be considered, not just the ones listed as contenders.

Australian Masters

The selection comprises the best twenty active players (those players who have played at least one game during the qualification period) ranked by Q statistic.

State Team Challenge

Each state team will comprise three eligible players who have not already been selected for the Masters event and are the next best three from their state, ranked by Q statistic.

If insufficient eligible players are available …

If insufficient eligible players are available, the state will not be permitted to participate in the State Team Challenge for that year unless a maximum of one stand-in can be fielded before the tournament from any state (generally, but not necessarily, that state in which the tournament takes place). That stand-in must also meet the above criteria.
An eligible stand-in may also be fielded in the event of illness or other unforeseen circumstance during the tournament.

Selection by ratings

The primary criterion for ranking candidates is the Q statistic

Details

Subperiods are Jun to Sep 2024, Oct to Jan and Feb to May 2025.
The Qstat: The qualifying statistic is Q = (P1 + P2 + 2 x P3)/4 , which is a weighted average of peak ratings in the three subperiods.
Third peak: You cannot earn the peak in the third subperiod until you have played 40 games rated by ASPA in the qualification period.
Penalty: If you do not earn a peak in a subperiod , your peak in that subperiod is equal to the last rating minus 200. This may be applied more than once.
Incomplete tournament: If you miss a game for any reason other than an assigned bye, you cannot count a peak attained in that tournament for any qualification purposes. Games played will count towards games quotas. Ratings will be calculated as usual, with byes and forfeits not rated.
Games: You must have played at least 40 games in the qualifying period.
Tie breaker: If two players have the same Q statistic, the one with the greater number of games in the qualification period is ranked higher.

Players may appeal to CASPA for a special dispensation in exceptional circumstances. In the event of any unforeseen issue the decision of CASPA is final.

The Qstat is Q = (P1 + P2 + 2 x P3)/4 where P1, P2, P3 are peaks from Jun to Sep, Oct to Jan and Feb to May. Extrapolated Qstat is shown, together with the peak(games) in each period. 40 games required.

Australian Masters

Contender	Q Stat 09.07.2024	Games need 40	Peak (games) Jun to Sep	Peak (games) Oct to Jan	Peak (games) Feb to May
David Eldar (VIC)	2113.00	15	2113(15)
Edward Okulicz (VIC)	1944.00	15	1944(15)
Naween Fernando (VIC)	1924.00	0
Peter Kougi (VIC)	1913.00	0
Cameron Farlow (QLD)	1903.00	0
Russell Honeybun (WA)	1848.00	18	1848(18)
Trevor Halsall (VIC)	1845.00	21	1845(21)
Andrew Fisher (VIC)	1830.00	0
Esther Perrins (NSW)	1826.00	0
Daniel Piechnick (SA)	1788.00	10	1788(10)
Rod Talbot (NSW)	1763.00	30	1763(30)
Victor Tung (NSW)	1759.00	7	1759(7)
Ryan Sutton (NSW)	1750.00	7	1750(7)
Mythili Rudra (VIC)	1711.00	0
Stephen Mooney Purse(TAS)	1704.00	0
Jimmy Scarff (VIC)	1691.00	0
Adam Kretschmer (SA) MAYBE	1685.00	0
Joanne Craig (NSW)	1682.00	7	1682(7)
Max Mason (WA)	1680.00	24	1680(24)
Bob Jackman (NSW)	1672.00	7	1672(7)

State Challenge

Contender	Q Stat 09.07.2024	Games need 40	Peak (games) Jun to Sep	Peak (games) Oct to Jan	Peak (games) Feb to May
Wayne Jones (NSW1)	1660.00	0
Trevor Tao (SA1)	1659.00	0
John Holgate (NSW2)	1658.00	23	1658(23)
Karen Richards (QLD1)	1656.00	28	1656(28)
Tony Hunt (NSW3)	1656.00	25	1656(25)
John Hamilton (ACT1)	1650.00	16	1650(16)
David Vanzyl (WA1)	1643.00	18	1643(18)
Nick Ivanovski (VIC1)	1631.00	0
Sally Martin (WA2)	1625.00	0
John Spaan (ACT2)	1624.00	8	1624(8)
Geoff Wright (VIC2)	1623.00	22	1623(22)
Ian Ting (WA3)	1619.00	24	1619(24)
Oscar Ivanovski (VIC3)	1612.00	25	1612(25)
Rael Hayman (NSW4)	1609.00	6	1609(6)
Alistair Kane (VIC4)	1607.00	0
Carmel Dodd (SA2)	1605.00	20	1605(20)
Dianne Brumby (TAS1)	1597.00	7	1597(7)
Ronnie Bennett (ACT3)	1589.00	0
Jane Taylor (SA3)	1583.00	22	1583(22)
Chris Hall (WA4)	1574.00	0
Garth van Vliet (NSW5)	1550.00	7	1550(7)
Rocky Sharma (NSW6)	1550.00	0
Josh Watt (NSW7)	1548.00	20	1548(20)
Noel Barrett (ACT4)	1542.00	16	1542(16)
Antony Kimber (SA4)	1542.00	10	1542(10)
Malcolm McAnulty (SA5)	1539.00	0
Jane Brown (QLD2)	1532.00	8	1532(8)
Nat Podesser (VIC5)	1519.00	5	1519(5)
Howard Rayner (WA5)	1518.00	0
Antonios Syrigos (SA6)	1507.00	0
Dianne Davis (VIC6)	1505.00	21	1505(21)
Helen Hynes (QLD3)	1504.00	0
Paul Richards (QLD4)	1495.00	30	1495(30)
Julie Brice (QLD5)	1495.00	0
Carol Johnsen (VIC7)	1494.00	5	1494(5)
Anne Zion (WA6)	1491.00	6	1491(6)
Tony Miller (SA7)	1483.00	6	1483(6)
Tony Williams (ACT5)	1465.00	0
Liz Blanch (QLD6)	1462.00	8	1462(8)
Jon Ford-King (TAS2)	1460.00	7	1460(7)
Geoff Shepheard (WA7)	1455.00	18	1455(18)
Martin Rose (TAS3)	1455.00	7	1455(7)
Sheryl Davidson (QLD7)	1424.00	22	1424(22)
Margaret Webb (TAS4)	1406.00	8	1406(8)
Tim Reddan (ACT6)	1392.00	8	1392(8)
Khen Meerding (TAS5)	1380.00	13	1380(13)
Caroline Scowcroft (ACT7)	1353.00	23	1353(23)
Ros Wilkinson (TAS6)	1306.00	0
Jan Hill (TAS7)	1250.00	0

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