Sorting my data is changing my data.. HELP!

V

Vicky N

Hey out there!

First let me tell you what I'm doing. I am running a Poker tournament where we have 400+ players. We have presold tickets and I have entered all the data into a spreadsheet in Excel 2000. It looks a little something like this:

NUMBER RANDOM FIRST LAST TABLE SEAT
1 0.188690868 HUGH WILLIAMS 1 1
2 0.929280841 BEN BAGWELL 1 2
3 0.473961247 DEL PETERON 1 3
4 0.815368374 SAM CHAMBER 1 4
5 0.776510718 RICK FETHER 1 5
6 0.92670956 DAVID WEST 1 6
7 0.508697966 MARK MONCRIEF 1 7
8 0.152206582 PAUL ROPE 1 8
9 0.43782459 JACK COSTELLO 2 1
10 0.878867598 DON MEYERS 2 2
11 0.255343434 DIANNE ROBINSON 2 3
12 0.009297831 ROY MOORE 2 4
13 0.185806274 GARY PALMER 2 5
14 0.891413929 MARK ALLEN 2 6
15 0.568921943 BARRY CATHAM 2 7
16 0.593727373 RICK CLARK 2 8
17 0.206976261 JOHN ROHDE 3 1
18 0.294409245 MIKE DORE 3 2
19 0.865723756 JAMES SMITH 3 3
20 0.715638874 MIKE FINCEL 3 4
21 0.765190682 ERIK TYREE 3 5
22 0.984683043 HOPE SHACK 3 6
23 0.906596464 SHANE KELLER 3 7
24 0.633627879 ALLEN WEED 3 8

Then I high lite Ticket, Random, First, Last and sort this data by the random number(which has been special pasted so that it no longer changes whan you do anything to the sheet), making it so that the table and seat number stay the same, but the assignments to those table/seat are all different. Now it looks like this:

NUMBER RANDOM FIRST LAST TABLE SEAT
12 0.009297831 ROY MOORE 1 1
8 0.152206582 PAUL ROPE 1 2
13 0.185806274 GARY PALMER 1 3
1 0.188690868 HUGH WILLIAMS 1 4
17 0.206976261 JOHN ROHDE 1 5
11 0.255343434 DIANNE ROBINSON 1 6
18 0.294409245 MIKE DORE 1 7
9 0.43782459 JACK COSTELLO 1 8
3 0.473961247 DEL PETERON 2 1
7 0.508697966 MARK MONCRIEF 2 2
15 0.568921943 BARRY CATHAM 2 3
16 0.593727373 RICK CLARK 2 4
24 0.633627879 ALLEN WEED 2 5
20 0.715638874 MIKE FINCEL 2 6
21 0.765190682 ERIK TYREE 2 7
5 0.776510718 RICK FLETCHER 2 8
4 0.815368374 SAM CHAMBER 3 1
19 0.865723756 JAMES SMITH 3 2
10 0.878867598 DON MEYERS 3 3
14 0.891413929 MARK ALLEN 3 4
23 0.906596464 SHANE KELLER 3 5
6 0.92670956 DAVID WEST 3 6
2 0.929280841 BEN BAGWELL 3 7
22 0.984683043 HOPE SHACK 3 8

Now I want the data in the correct ticket number order so that I can mail merge into MS Word to print up cards so that when they check in at the tournament, we can hand them a pre-printed card with their assigned table and seat numbers. So I high lite all the columns and sort by ticket number which should have all the ticket number in the correct numerical order and the matching first, last, table and seat. Done on a small scale (like 24 tickets) it works just fine, but when I try to do the same thing with all 400+ ticket numbers the table numbers get all messed up and I have only tables that are 1-9 and 50-58, nothing from 10-49. Here is an example of the same first 24 above sorted with the other 400+ tickets:

NUMBER RANDOM FIRST LAST TABLE SEAT
1 0.188690868 HUGH WILLIAMS TABLE 3
2 0.929280841 BEN BAGWELL 54 3
3 0.473961247 DEL PETERON 54 4
4 0.815368374 SAM CHAMBER 55 1
5 0.776510718 RICK FLETCHER 56 1
6 0.92670956 DAVID WEST 54 2
7 0.508697966 MARK MONCRIEF 54 5
8 0.152206582 PAUL ROPE 55 1
9 0.43782459 JACK COSTELLO 55 5
10 0.878867598 DON MEYERS 51 2
11 0.255343434 DIANNE ROBINSON 51 5
12 0.009297831 ROY MOORE 1 5
13 0.185806274 GARY PALMER 1 7
14 0.891413929 MARK ALLEN 51 8
15 0.568921943 BARRY CATHAM 51 5
16 0.593727373 RICK CLARK 51 2
17 0.206976261 JOHN ROHDE 51 8
18 0.294409245 MIKE DORE 51 2
19 0.865723756 JAMES SMITH 51 4
20 0.715638874 MIKE FINCEL 51 8
21 0.765190682 ERIK TYREE 51 8
22 0.984683043 HOPE SHACK 58 4
23 0.906596464 SHANE KELLER 53 3
24 0.633627879 ALLEN WEED 53 4

Notice that I have 10 assignments to table 51, three of which are to seat 2 and the assignement for the first player is TABLE 3. It doesn't even give him a table number, just the word TABLE.

Any thoughts as to what I might be doing wrong or how to make it sort correctly and without changing my data?

Thanks in Advance!
Vicky
 
R

RWN

How are you assigning the table/seat #'s?
Looks like you have a formula that's getting screwed up in the sort(?).

--
Regards;
Rob
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vicky N said:
Hey out there!

First let me tell you what I'm doing. I am running a Poker tournament
where we have 400+ players. We have presold tickets and I have entered
all the data into a spreadsheet in Excel 2000. It looks a little
something like this:
NUMBER RANDOM FIRST LAST TABLE SEAT
1 0.188690868 HUGH WILLIAMS 1 1
2 0.929280841 BEN BAGWELL 1 2
3 0.473961247 DEL PETERON 1 3
4 0.815368374 SAM CHAMBER 1 4
5 0.776510718 RICK FETHER 1 5
6 0.92670956 DAVID WEST 1 6
7 0.508697966 MARK MONCRIEF 1 7
8 0.152206582 PAUL ROPE 1 8
9 0.43782459 JACK COSTELLO 2 1
10 0.878867598 DON MEYERS 2 2
11 0.255343434 DIANNE ROBINSON 2 3
12 0.009297831 ROY MOORE 2 4
13 0.185806274 GARY PALMER 2 5
14 0.891413929 MARK ALLEN 2 6
15 0.568921943 BARRY CATHAM 2 7
16 0.593727373 RICK CLARK 2 8
17 0.206976261 JOHN ROHDE 3 1
18 0.294409245 MIKE DORE 3 2
19 0.865723756 JAMES SMITH 3 3
20 0.715638874 MIKE FINCEL 3 4
21 0.765190682 ERIK TYREE 3 5
22 0.984683043 HOPE SHACK 3 6
23 0.906596464 SHANE KELLER 3 7
24 0.633627879 ALLEN WEED 3 8

Then I high lite Ticket, Random, First, Last and sort this data by the
random number(which has been special pasted so that it no longer changes
whan you do anything to the sheet), making it so that the table and seat
number stay the same, but the assignments to those table/seat are all
different. Now it looks like this:
NUMBER RANDOM FIRST LAST TABLE SEAT
12 0.009297831 ROY MOORE 1 1
8 0.152206582 PAUL ROPE 1 2
13 0.185806274 GARY PALMER 1 3
1 0.188690868 HUGH WILLIAMS 1 4
17 0.206976261 JOHN ROHDE 1 5
11 0.255343434 DIANNE ROBINSON 1 6
18 0.294409245 MIKE DORE 1 7
9 0.43782459 JACK COSTELLO 1 8
3 0.473961247 DEL PETERON 2 1
7 0.508697966 MARK MONCRIEF 2 2
15 0.568921943 BARRY CATHAM 2 3
16 0.593727373 RICK CLARK 2 4
24 0.633627879 ALLEN WEED 2 5
20 0.715638874 MIKE FINCEL 2 6
21 0.765190682 ERIK TYREE 2 7
5 0.776510718 RICK FLETCHER 2 8
4 0.815368374 SAM CHAMBER 3 1
19 0.865723756 JAMES SMITH 3 2
10 0.878867598 DON MEYERS 3 3
14 0.891413929 MARK ALLEN 3 4
23 0.906596464 SHANE KELLER 3 5
6 0.92670956 DAVID WEST 3 6
2 0.929280841 BEN BAGWELL 3 7
22 0.984683043 HOPE SHACK 3 8

Now I want the data in the correct ticket number order so that I can
mail merge into MS Word to print up cards so that when they check in at
the tournament, we can hand them a pre-printed card with their assigned
table and seat numbers. So I high lite all the columns and sort by
ticket number which should have all the ticket number in the correct
numerical order and the matching first, last, table and seat. Done on a
small scale (like 24 tickets) it works just fine, but when I try to do
the same thing with all 400+ ticket numbers the table numbers get all
messed up and I have only tables that are 1-9 and 50-58, nothing from
10-49. Here is an example of the same first 24 above sorted with the
other 400+ tickets:
NUMBER RANDOM FIRST LAST TABLE SEAT
1 0.188690868 HUGH WILLIAMS TABLE 3
2 0.929280841 BEN BAGWELL 54 3
3 0.473961247 DEL PETERON 54 4
4 0.815368374 SAM CHAMBER 55 1
5 0.776510718 RICK FLETCHER 56 1
6 0.92670956 DAVID WEST 54 2
7 0.508697966 MARK MONCRIEF 54 5
8 0.152206582 PAUL ROPE 55 1
9 0.43782459 JACK COSTELLO 55 5
10 0.878867598 DON MEYERS 51 2
11 0.255343434 DIANNE ROBINSON 51 5
12 0.009297831 ROY MOORE 1 5
13 0.185806274 GARY PALMER 1 7
14 0.891413929 MARK ALLEN 51 8
15 0.568921943 BARRY CATHAM 51 5
16 0.593727373 RICK CLARK 51 2
17 0.206976261 JOHN ROHDE 51 8
18 0.294409245 MIKE DORE 51 2
19 0.865723756 JAMES SMITH 51 4
20 0.715638874 MIKE FINCEL 51 8
21 0.765190682 ERIK TYREE 51 8
22 0.984683043 HOPE SHACK 58 4
23 0.906596464 SHANE KELLER 53 3
24 0.633627879 ALLEN WEED 53 4

Notice that I have 10 assignments to table 51, three of which are to
seat 2 and the assignement for the first player is TABLE 3. It doesn't
even give him a table number, just the word TABLE.
Any thoughts as to what I might be doing wrong or how to make it sort
correctly and without changing my data?
 
T

TQ

"RWN" (e-mail address removed)
How are you assigning the table/seat #'s?
Looks like you have a formula that's getting screwed up in the sort(?).

The way to find out if the formulas as causing the problem is to:

Make a copy of the original sheet.

On the copy sheet, click the extreme upper left corner of the worksheet to
'select all.'

In cell A1, right click, select Paste Special > Values

Now, do your first sort by 'random number.'
 

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