Moneyball: What Is It and How Does It Work?

By Kevin Gress

There’s an exciting way to compete in pickleball tournaments that can also be quite lucrative. Moneyball is simply a competition in which one plays a multitude of games and can win money along with medals or trophies. I have been playing different combinations of moneyball tournaments over the last two years as they have become popular in Florida. Depending on the entry fee, usually $20 to $50 a person, the top 1, 2, or 3 people or teams could take home a nice cash prize. Compare this to a standard tournament (PPA or APP) where the usual entry fee is over $100 a person and double elimination, you can see why I have chosen to participate in many more moneyball events. 

These moneyball tournaments not only are cheaper to enter and allow you to have a chance to win cash, but also usually provide a higher level of skill along with continuous gameplay. In a typical competition, you can play seven or more games and that usually takes place over three to four hours. In standard tournaments, you might only play two matches in a double-elimination format, or if you keep on winning you could be there for eight or more hours. In addition, moneyball can be set up by anyone at your local courts. It’s easy to run and a lot of fun.   

There are three separate money ball formats I have played and with the huge growth of the sport I expect more to follow. These events can be played with 8 or 16 people or as a 4-person team event consisting of 2 men and 2 women or any combination of men and women. Tournaments can be set up as 1 pool of 8 or 2 pools of 8 if playing with 16. They can also be played individually in which one would play with a different partner every round or keep the same partner for every round.

In 8-person money ball, one would play a total of 7 rounds. Each round would either be played with a different partner or could stay with the same partner the entire time. You may choose to play each game to 11 or 15, but only one game is played with each partner per round. This format is set up to have the first team to reach 11 or 15 be the winner.  There will be no winning by 2 points so the most points any person or team can get in a game is 11 or 15. This is important for tie-breakers to determine the overall winner. Usually tie-breakers start with overall wins, then total points scored, head-to-head matchups, and finally point differential.   

In most money balls I participate in, several people finish with the same record which allows the next tie breaker of total points scored to come into play.  This is important because you want to score as many points as possible in each round. For instance, it is more beneficial to lose 11-10 or 11-9 as opposed to 11-3 or 11-2 as you will gain more points. If you find yourself down in a particular game don’t give up and fight for every point you can squeeze out.  One point could be the difference in winning the overall tournament or even taking second or third and coming away with money. Most times in 8-person money ball the top finisher takes home all the cash but you could award money to the top 3 if you so choose. 

The next type of moneyball tournament would be a 16-person set up consisting of 2 pools of 8 people. In this scenario, each pool of 8 would play 7 rounds in their given pool with a different partner or the same partner as I discussed earlier. The top 4 finishers in each pool would then play one another in a semi-final, followed by a final to declare a winner. For instance, the top 2 finishers in pool 1 would play the 3 and 4 finishers in pool 2 in one semi-final, while the top 2 finishers in pool 2 would play the 3 and 4 finishers in pool 1 in the other semi-final. The winners of the semi-final then face off in a final with the winning team splitting the cash and taking home all the money.   

The third money ball format involves a team event. A team is made up of 4 people, either 4 men, 4 women, or any combination of the two. The team event I played had 6 total teams with each team playing the other in 5 rounds of play. In each round you would face a different team and play 4 individual matches to 11 or 15 with a possible 5th game tie breaker. This set up involves matching your number 1 and 2 players against the other teams’ number 1 and 2 players in 1 game to 11 or 15. At the same time you would also match your number 3 and 4 players against the other teams number 3 and 4 players in 1 game to 11 or 15. After the completion of those 2 games you would match your number 1 and 3 and 2 and 4 players against the other teams 1 and 3 and 2 and 4 players in the same 1 game set up. After the completion of the 4 games between the two teams, if it is tied 2 wins to 2 wins then a 5th game singles tiebreaker would take place with the winning team declared the overall match winner. This event will take possibly 6 hours and is a more advanced setup, but extremely fun to play pitting teams against one another. 

Moneyball competitions can be organized by anyone as they are simple to set up and play.  They can be played at your local courts allowing people to have fun trying to win money and bragging rights amongst their friends. If you Google “8-person pickleball round robin” it will bring up premade sheets you can print off and use to organize the money ball. Simply add in the 8 player names and follow the round set up at the bottom of the paper. It directly shows who will play who each round and just keep track of winners and points scored. Add a small traveling trophy for the winner and the competition really takes off. Within my playing group we have such a trophy for moneyball tournaments. It really becomes more important who holds the trophy versus who takes home the cash.

Kevin Gress is a Senior Contributing Writer to Pickle Madness. Kevin lives Ponte Vedra, Florida, where he has been playing pickleball for three years. He started playing for exercise and to have fun with friends, but over the past 18 months has been concentrating on raising his level of play and entering tournaments. He has played many APP and PPA events all over Florida along with the US Open in Naples. He also started testing his skills in moneyball events, where you can win money along with medals or trophies.  He’s on a roll, having won the last five moneyball competitions he’s entered. His current Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating is 4.86. Kevin turns 50 next year and has a goal of playing senior pro events.