More effective loop - vb.net

Question

I'm making a player-match-up program in Visual Basic. The program is supposed to pick random registered players and and pair them. I'm currently working on the odd-number-of-players-part.
The solution I have is working but is perhaps not that effective. Is there a better way for me to write this code?
The code is supposed to pick the random players and make sure they are not picked again. As you see, for the code to work i must make it loop thousands of times. If I don't some of the players won't show up in the listbox. Is there a better solution???
In case it's confusing "spiller" is norwegian for "player"
For i As Integer = 0 To 100000
Dim spiller1 As Integer
Dim spiller2 As Integer
Do
spiller1 = CInt(Math.Floor(Rnd() * spillerListe.Count))
spiller2 = CInt(Math.Floor(Rnd() * spillerListe.Count))
Loop Until CBool(spiller1 <> spiller2)
If brukteSpillere(spiller1) = False And brukteSpillere(spiller2) = False Then
brukteSpillere(spiller1) = True
brukteSpillere(spiller2) = True
lstSpillere.Items.Add(spillerListe(spiller1).ToString + " VS. " + spillerListe(spiller2).ToString())
End If
Next i

Answer 1

This is a mess... Have a List(Of Integer) with all the available index.
Loop while availableIndex.Count > 1
Pick a random index from availableIndex and remove it from that list
Pick a random index from availableIndex and remove it from that list
Add these two index to the list of pairs
End Loop
that way you don't need to check if the random values are the same or if they were already picked.
Now, if you don't want to create a list. Then threat the random number not as an index, but as the number of items to check.
Delta = RandomNumber
x = 0
For i As Integer = 0 To itemList.Count-1
If Not itemList(i).IsChoosen Then
x += 1
If x = Delta Then
' i is now your item to pick
itemList(i).IsChoosen = True
Exit For
End If
End If
Next

Answer 2

There are two efficient ways in approaching this problem:
Sort your player list by random number, then match up 1 with 2, 3 with 4 and so on.
Dim r As New Random
Dim randomListe = spillerListe.OrderBy(Function() r.Next).ToList
Generate two random numbers from your range, match up those players into a separate List, remove players from the original list. General two more random numbers from a smaller range (original minus 2), match up, etc.
EDIT: Having looked at MSDN, List has O(n) performance for RemoveAt, so it's not quite efficient, better be using a dictionary, which is O(1) at removing items, so instead of spillerListe have some spillerDicte, where you would add entries in a form (key = index, value = item).

Answer 3

Instead of working with integers, what if you keep your players name in a list and, after picking a player you remove it from the list. Probably this will not be the best performant solution, but it is clear what are you trying to do
Dim lstSpillere = new List(Of String)() ' Just for the example below
Dim spillerListe = new List(Of String)() from {"Marc", "John", "Steve", "George", "David", "Jeremy", "Andrew" }
Dim rnd = new Random()
While spillerListe.Count > 1
Dim firstPlayer = spillerListe(rnd.Next(0, spillerListe.Count))
spillerListe.Remove(firstPlayer)
Dim secondPlayer = spillerListe(rnd.Next(0, spillerListe.Count))
spillerListe.Remove(secondPlayer)
lstSpillere.Add(firstPlayer + " VS. " + secondPlayer)
' for debug purpose....
Console.WriteLine(firstPlayer & " VS. " & secondPlayer)
End While
if spillerListe.Count > 0 Then
Console.WriteLine("Excluded from play list is:" & spillerListe(0))
End if
The important key here is the generation of Random instance that should be outside the loop to avoid to generate the same number in the short time period required by the loop to execute.

Answer 4

Try this:
Module Module1
Dim rnd As New Random
Sub Main()
Dim RegisteredPlayers As New List(Of Player)
' Fill List (example 100 players)
For index As Integer = 1 To 100
RegisteredPlayers.Add(New Player(String.Format("Player{0}", index)))
Next
'Sort Players using a random number
Dim SortedPlayersArray = RandomSortItems(RegisteredPlayers.ToArray())
'Pair players by selecting 2 consequative ones from randomly sorted array
Dim Matches As New List(Of Match)
For index As Integer = 1 To SortedPlayersArray.Length Step 2
Dim m As Match = New Match(SortedPlayersArray(index - 1), SortedPlayersArray(index))
Matches.Add(m)
Debug.WriteLine(m.ToString())
Next
' Match Player48 vs. Player79
' Match Player3 vs. Player53
' Match Player18 vs. Player43
' Match Player85 vs. Player1
' Match Player47 vs. Player56
' Match Player23 vs. Player66
' etc..
End Sub
Public Function RandomSortItems(Of T)(ByVal items As T()) As T()
Dim sorted As T() = New T(items.Length-1) {}
Array.Copy(items, sorted, sorted.Length)
Dim keys As Double() = New Double(items.Length-1) {}
For i As Integer = 1 To items.Length
keys(i - 1) = rnd.NextDouble()
Next
Array.Sort(keys, sorted)
Return sorted
End Function
End Module1
Public Class Player
Dim m_name As String
Public Sub New(ByVal player_name As String)
m_name = player_name
End Sub
Public ReadOnly Property Name() As String
Get
Return m_name
End Get
End Property
Public Overrides Function ToString() As String
Return m_name
End Function
End Class
Public Class Match
Dim m_player_1 As Player, m_player_2 As Player
Public Sub New(ByVal player_1 As Player, ByVal player_2 As Player)
m_player_1 = player_1
m_player_2 = player_2
End Sub
Public ReadOnly Property Player1() As Player
Get
Return m_player_1
End Get
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property Player2() As Player
Get
Return m_player_2
End Get
End Property
Public Overrides Function ToString() As String
Return String.Format("Match {0} vs. {1}", Player1, Player2)
End Function
End Class
Edit 1:
An alternate random sorter (which should be faster) is
Public Function RandomSortItems(Of T)(ByVal items As T()) As T()
Dim slist As New SortedList(Of Double, T)
For i As Integer = 1 to items.Length
slist.Add(rnd.NextDouble(), items(i-1) )
Next i
return slist.Values.ToArray()
End Function