Having a Tournament This weekend, what's most fair or best?

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So our main event is a Giant Open Singles.


We will be having a round robin (groups of 3) preliminary round to decide who goes to their respective A, B & C divisions. From the A, B & C groups, those folks their own separate double elimination tournaments and we have awards for each. My question isn't about that. it's about the preliminary round & deciding who plays who.

Say I have a entry list of... (using made up names & ratings)

1 - George 2100
2 - Mike 2000
3 - Barry 1800
--------------
4 - Rick 1750
5 - Steve 1600
6 - Jim 1400
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7 - Glenn 1300
8 - Tom 1200
9 - Matt 1100

When sorting out my round robin preliminary round, I could do this as....

Group 1:
George 2100
Rick 1750
Glenn 1300
-------------
Group 2:
Mike 2000
Steve 1600
Tom 1200

etc..

You get the idea. It ideally places people into the A, B & C groups according to what we think their rating is. If ratings play out as they should, there really shouldn't be too many upsets in this format. The top A player is playing the Top B player & Top C player. The 2nd A player is playing the 2nd B player & 2nd C player. With these gaps staying consistent, am I making this unfair or too hard for anyone to move up or down? Say for example if Rick 1750 where to play Barry 1800 in the prelmins, he has a realistic shot to knock him off & get in that A group.

I don't know if that's a good thing or not.. Or if it's fair. You see I separated out the groups with the dotted lines. Should I take for example the Rick, Steve & Jim group there (the B group), shuffle those randomly? Basically after I have separated them into A, B & C groups. then shuffle each group.

In other words, George, are ideal A player, would have a even chance to play Rick, Steve or Jim in that round vs it for sure being rick... the top B player.

I would do this for all 3 groups. I hope this makes sense. I might either edit this OP or respond in comments if this isn't clear.

Or do I just keep it as it is. The top A players the top B & top C and so on.

Thanks for your input.
 
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