About ACO Majors

ACO Majors are usually 2-Day events and are the main points-earning tournaments each Season to qualify for the World Championships on the last weekend in July.

Other points-earning tournaments throughout the Season include ACO Regionals and ACO Conference Championships. See all ACO Events here.

Divisions at each Major:
Singles (points-earning)
Doubles (points-earning)
Seniors (points-earning)
Womens (points-earning)
Juniors (points-earning)
Coed Doubles (points-earning)
BYOP Quads
Big Blind Draw

Getting World Ranked

A player’s (or team’s) three best finishes in any ACO Major of the current Season will count toward their World Ranking Points total. Once a player competes in their 4th Major, their lowest score will be dropped from the list, and so on.

All Divisions at each Major are points-earning except these walk-up Divisions: BYOP (Bring Your Own Player) Quads and Blind Draw Division.

Players/teams may participate in as many Majors as they like during the Season.

Event Schedule & Start Times

The Schedule is always subject to change. Start times of events may be delayed if prior tournaments run longer than scheduled. All times listed are local time.

Entry Fees

Singles
Early Registration Online: $40
Late Registration Online: $60
Walk Up $80

Doubles
Early Registration Online: $80 (per team)
Late Registration Online: $120 (per team)
Walk Up $160** (per team)

Womens
Early Registration Online: $30
Late Registration Online: $45
Walk Up $60**

Seniors
Early Registration Online: $30
Late Registration Online: $45
Walk Up $60

Juniors
FREE Registration Online: $0

Coed Doubles
Early Registration Online: $30
Late Registration Online: $45
Walk Up $60

BYOP Quads
Walk Up ONLY: $20 ($40 per team)

Big Blind Draw
Walk Up ONLY: $20

Registration

Early Registration Online ends at 11:59pm EST, two Sundays prior to the event.

Walk-Up registrations are available if space allows.
• Friday Walk-Up registration ends ½ hour prior to the start of the tournament.
• Saturday Walk-Up registration ends Friday (the night before) at 8:00pm.

NO REFUNDS on tickets after Early Registration Deadline which will be two Sundays prior to the event.

ACO Membership is required for participation in any Division.
• ACO Social Membership (FREE) is allowed, but you will not be eligible to earn points or purses unless you obtain a paid ACO Membership prior to the start of the tournament.

Payouts & Prizes

To see Payouts and Prizes for each Major, visit the Major web page, the Registration page, or the Facebook page for each specific Major.

Tournament Format

Tournaments are pool play with the top finishers from each pool advancing to the Championship bracket and/or Tiers. Games are Double Elimination.

Tournament Talk

Lots of tournament types are played at ACO Majors. Here’s how they work.

Double Elimination: The loser of a match gets another chance to win by moving into the Loser’s Bracket. Most matches at Worlds are Double Elimination.

Best of 2 of 3: Players play 3 matches, and whoever wins two of the games is the winner.

Pool Play Bracket: A tournament format that breaks up competitors into smaller round robin brackets. The top finishers of each bracket advance to a Final to determine final standings. This is ideal when there are many players in a tournament.

Mini Pool Play Brackets: Small pool play brackets that are used to advance top finishers to the Champion Bracket, or advance next finishers to the Tier Pool Play Brackets. An example of this is the RPI (Ranked Players Invitational).

Tier Pool Play Brackets: These brackets are used to find the final two players who will advance to the Tier Championship.

RPI (Ranked Players Invitational): A mini pool play bracket type to advance Singles players to either the Singles Championship Bracket, or the Singles Tier 2 – Tier 4 Championship Brackets.