I recently played in a mixed tournament that was organized like this: 4.0 tournament: (skill level 2.5-4.0). This was the first tournament I've played in that was actually grouped by DUPR ratings. For context, I'm a 3.9 and my partner is a 4.1. I've played in a lot of collegiate tournaments, but rarely on my school's #1 team. Some schools are just so good that I have played against 5.7+ rated players, but mostly around the 4.5-4.8 ish level. Needless to say, I've won very few college matches.
I was worried about feeling like we were sandbagging, but there was no 4.0-4.5 tournament available. They had many diferrrent skill brackets, but it was organized the same with the max skill rating listed, and it being like 4.0 max, 3.5 max, 3.0 max etc. in the notes online it would say 2.5-3.5 and 2.5-3.0, but I don’t think there were any genuinely awful players in way over their heads. They also had a 4.5+ tournament run that day, but again, nothing in the in between for 4.0-4.5. With no real alternative for my partner, I didn't actually feel that bad. A lot of teams we played had one or both players around 4.1-4.3 was the highest rated opponent we played. And they were all really good games. I'm not going to complain about sandbagging there because again, there was no good solution for those players. We went 4-1 in pool play but barely missed the playoffs, and the one team we lost to eventually won it all.
I feel like going 4-1 with a +26 PD and missing playoffs cuz having 6 groups of 6 and only the top team making the playoffs seems pretty ridiculous to me, especially as someone who was rated on the lower end of players in my group. This post isnt to complain about sandbagging, moreso to ask a few questions and understand which brackets I should be competing in. Are most tournaments like this where you need to be perfect just to make the playoffs? And also, (assuming my partner is 3.5-3.9, would it be considered egrigious sandbagging for me to be in a 3.5 tournament? Or is that where I should be playing until I'm actually 4.0? Like if I see a "3.5 tournament" should I be expecting 3.0-3.5 level play (and I should not play) or 3.5-4.0 players there (and I should play)?
Edits: +26 PD instead of 36, saying the other groups started at 2.5 as well, but the players seemed to group themselves accurately
As I mentioned I played collegiately. I’m about to graduate and move so I’ll need to find new partners anyways. I’ll be sure to find someone not just on the other side of 4.0 so we can compete together in tournaments we belong in