
The winner of each night receives five league points and £10,000 for winning three matches on the night, i.e. quarter-final, semi-final and final. The runner-up receives 3 league points for winning two matches leading to the final. Those who win their quarter-final will earn two league points.
The first seven nights pitted each contestant against every other contestant once at the quarter-final stage. Night 8 then used the results of the first seven nights to seed the contest on that night. The seeding is one favoured by many tournament organisers. It can be summarised as 1v8; 4v5; 2v7; 3v6 (or 18452736). There was only one upset in the seven matches with the 6th seed beating the 3rd seed. The semi-finals were 1v4 and 2v6. The final was 1v2. The top seed (1) emerged as the winner in Night 8.
Night 11 is one of the second set of 7 nights where each contestant will play every other contestant once. Night 16 will repeat Night 8. After that the top 4 will proceed to the knockout semi-final stage. The ultimate winner will pocket £250,000 from the overall £1,000,000 prize fund.
It would be a mistake to think that things always work out as neatly as Night 8 in 2023. While we only have one other year of this format, there are more upsets 2022. If this format is maintained for a few more years then it might yield some interesting insights.