USPA Gold Cup semifinalists (Dutta Corp/Show+, Scone, Pilot, Park Place) are seeded in positions 3, 6, 9, and 11 of the five brackets that will comprise the U.S. Open Polo Championship. Each team will play three games at minimum, for a total of twenty-five games during the tournament.
Three teams each from Brackets I, II, and III will compete in their respective brackets. In the first round, each team in brackets I, II, and II will play two games. The first game will be played between the top two seeds; the loser of the first game will play the third team, while the winner of the first game will play the third team.
Two teams will compete in the cross-bracket in brackets IV and V. In the first round, each team in brackets IV and V will play two games. The eleventh-seeded team will play the thirteenth-seeded team, and the tenth-seeded club will play the twelth-seeded team. The victor of 10 against 12 will face the defeatist of 11 against 13. The winner of 11 against 13 will face the loser of 10 against 12.
After the first round, every team will be rated from 1 to 13. Win-loss record will be used to rank teams, followed by net goals and gross goals. The top three clubs in the standings will go directly to the quarterfinals.
In their third game, teams placed 4–13 will draw their opponent. The top five teams based on win-loss, followed by net goals and gross goals, will occupy the final five quarterfinal berths when the third game concludes.
To choose their quarterfinal opponents, teams seeded 1, 2, 3, and 4 will face teams ranked 5, 6, 7, and 8. The quarterfinal winners will draw for semifinal pairings, and the semifinal winners will move on to the U.S. Open Polo Championship final.
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