Using the If function

Question

Two questions:
#1 - I have two tables: Running Total and Leader Board. I am trying to get the Leader Board to populate automatically with a name based on the Running Total. I can do a simple statement: =IF(Running Total :: B18>Running Total :: C18,"Chip","Alane") but how do I broaden the scope by including six other people?
#2 - The above question will put a name in the 1st Place slot. What do I need to do to place a name in the 2nd Place slot?
This is a family-friendly football pool that I am trying to track. It's possible that I'm in over my head trying to do this automatically. If that's the case, I will enter the names myself after each week.
Thanks.
Chip

Answer 1

" My next issue is getting the total number of points for Chip, Dale, Bugs, and Porky to show up."
I assume you mean the total for each, that it should appear beside the person's name on the leader board, and tha the tables you are using are the ones in Badunit's example.
If those assumptions fit, HLOOKUP should work fine. Add a column to the leader board table (column C) to hold the point totals, then build your formula in C2
Here's the syntax for HLOOKUP, found on p 211 of the iWork Formulas and Functions User Guide:
HLOOKUP(search-for, rows-range, return-row, close-match)
search-for is the name of the person whose score you want to retrieve. It's found in column B, on the same row as the formula, so this argument is "B"
rows-range is the group of rows that contain both the name and the total. On the main table, the names are in the header row (row 1) and the totals are in the footer row, row 9. The argument will be "Table 1::$1:$9", where Table 1 is the name of the main data table. The best way to enter this, though, is to use the mouse.
Hover the mouse over table 1 until the row and column reference tabs appear. Click on the tab for row 1 to  select that row, and drag down to row 9 to add the rest of the rows to the selection.
return-row is the number of the row of the lookup table* from which to retrieve the total. The totals are in row 9 of table 1, which in this case is also row 9 of the lookup table. The third argument is 9.
close-match determines whether HLOOKUP will look for a close match (the largest value in the list equal to or less than the search-for value) or an exact-match (a value exactly equal to the search-for value. In this case we know that the search-for value is in the list (because it originally came from the list), so it doesn't matter which way this argument is set. Leave it at the default (close-match).
Your turn. Go ahead and put it together.
*In this case the lookup table is all of Table 1, and the data to be returned is in Row 9 of Table 1. But there are cases where the lookup table is defined as only some of the rows of the table—say the names were in Row 4 of Table 1, and the totals in Row 7. The lookup table would then be rows 4 to 7 of Table 1, and the return-row, the bottom row of those 4 would be 4, the 4th row in the lookup table.
Regards,
Barry