could somebody explain why in the first round more people get byes than play matches?

in recent draws for the first round up to twenty people have got byes to the secound round. and yes i know to make the rounds even and so on people must get byes but even if only 2 poeple (or whatever i havnt sat down and worked it out) got byes to even it up. surely 20 getting byes cant be the minimum amount.
this way more tournaments could take place

Certainly ... it is done that way so that the numbers are quickly reduced to a power of two. This means that the subsequent rounds should be fully populated (not always the case because of double DQs) and therefore good players are less likely to get byes in the later rounds and thus have an easier ride to the final.

Hope that is all understandable, because I'm very tired at the moment lol

Edit: just remembered this came up recently ... here is the thread http://www.funkysnooker.com/viewTopic.do?topicid=5651

Dave is right. It is so the rounds can follow this order:

32
16
8
4
2

This is so it can follow a tournament ladder style layout. Hense no one will get byes in the later rounds.

Is a bye determined by rank, or does it not matter? Surely a player of higher rank should deserve a bye more than a lower ranked player...

Its purely random.

As to higher rank players deserving a bye more than a lower rank, I'm sorry but can't agree with that because it disadvantages new players who should have an equal chance. Also, tournament form and ranking is not necessarily connected as some players never play ranked games.

But if u look at the fa cup, the top teams automaticaly get a bye to the nxt round and the lower ranked teams have to scrap it out

Oh, I'm well aware of it and its the way it is done in most competitions (including snooker). I was just saying that I personally don't agree with it for FS because of the reasons I stated. As an aside, I hate getting byes because I'd prefer to be playing (even if I lose) than twiddling my thumbs in the members bar waiting for the next round.

Wish I'd never brought it up now lol, didnt realise it was such a touchy subject

this is the exact reason i created this topic as i was left waiting for two rounds for a game as i got byes through to the third round. this was a half an hour wait when 20 players got byes into the second round. granted i was the (un)lucky player to be the only one to get a bye in the second round and that would be uncommon