Chezka Centeno

Rhea

Retired Road Player
Silver Member
16 year old, phillipine girl Chezka Centeno now has a FargoRate of 775 with a robustness of 291 racks so far and winner of the 2016 Amway Cup! She is already higher rated than any other female in the world. She is higher rated right now than Corey Duel and Sky Woodward.
 

mikepage

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So how much weight is she giving Sky and what are you backing her for?

It is actually interesting that Chezka is now the highest rated female, given that she was eliminated 1st round of the elimination stage in China.

How can this be?

She played three matches

7 - 2 win group stage
7 - 1 win group stage
8 - 9 loss elimination stage

overall record for the tournament 22 wins 12 loses.

But the devil is in the details

The 7-2 win was to basically unrated player Sollip Choi
The 7-1 win was to eventual tournament winner Han Yu
The 8-9 loss was to eventual tournament winner Han Yu as well

So in getting bumped out early, Chezka played 25 games against the woman who is now the second best female player in the world (rating 770, 40 points above Karen Corr), winning 15 and losing 10.
 

Nola

Registered
Centeno was leading Yu 4-0, then 5-1 before a series of unfortunate events and Yu's consistent, solid pool playing allowed Yu to catch up and eventually win the match.

I only glimpsed the last couple of racks but it looked like Centeno broke dry twice with open shots on the 1, enabling Yu run out on 2 of Centeno's dry breaks. Yu broke and ran and/or won on her breaks to go up 7-8. Centeno broke and ran the next rack to tie 8-8, with Yu breaking for the winning game. Yu broke, played a safety and Centeno fouled and lost 8-9.

Yu probably would not have won but for the combination of the 2 dry breaks from Centeno, and of course winning on her own breaks. After Centeno, it was pretty much smooth sailing for Yu up until the final match against Sha Sha Lui.

It was unfortunate that #2 drew #3 (under the Fargo rating) in the first round of the single elimination phase but if those two were at opposite ends of the brackets, Centeno probably would have made it to at least the semi finals if not the finals. After Centeno beat Yu 7-1 in the group stage, Yu was probably thinking ""WTF!!??" when she saw that she drew Centeno again in round 1 of the next stage, and she was probably thinking "Oh no, not again, WTF!!" when Centeno went up 4-0 and then 5-1 before things started going Yu's way.

The crazy thing is that Centeno is still young enough to compete in the Juniors 9 ball World Championship later this year, and I think she's slated to play in it. She won last year in the U/17 girl's division after she steam rolled her opponent, winning 9-3. Maybe they'll make her play right handed to give the other girls a chance...
 

BeiberLvr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It is actually interesting that Chezka is now the highest rated female, given that she was eliminated 1st round of the elimination stage in China.

How can this be?

She played three matches

7 - 2 win group stage
7 - 1 win group stage
8 - 9 loss elimination stage

overall record for the tournament 22 wins 12 loses.

But the devil is in the details

The 7-2 win was to basically unrated player Sollip Choi
The 7-1 win was to eventual tournament winner Han Yu
The 8-9 loss was to eventual tournament winner Han Yu as well

So in getting bumped out early, Chezka played 25 games against the woman who is now the second best female player in the world (rating 770, 40 points above Karen Corr), winning 15 and losing 10.

So she can give Sky Woodward weight?
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
I'm pretty sure you know that I think Chezka plays in the ballpark of the same speed as Skylar. Your question seems disingenuous to me. Did I insult you or something?

Mike, many people on here have no awareness of how good the best women players are these days. IMO there are over a dozen Chinese women plus several more Asian women (like Chezka, Gai Young, Pan) who play as good or better than Karen Corr, who just finished second at Turning Stone. It's not like the old days (even ten years back) when the men and women were a couple of speeds apart. Now, only the very best men players are one speed ahead of the best women. The second echelon men are on equal terms with the best women imo.

I would agree with you that pros like Skylar, Klatt, Dominguez, Earl etc. would have their hands full with the best women. They might win some matches and lose others. They are no lock, that's for sure. Lesser pros would be underdogs against them, names withheld by request. ;)
 
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one stroke

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Mike, many people on here have no awareness of how good the best women players are these days. IMO there are over a dozen Chinese women plus several more Asian women (like Chezka, Gai Young, Pan) who play as good or better than Karen Corr, who just finished second at Turning Stone. It's not like the old days (even ten years back) when the men and women were a couple of speeds apart. Now, only the very best men players are one speed ahead of the best women. The second echelon men are on equal terms with the best women imo.

I would agree with you that pros like Skylar, Klatt, Dominguez, Earl etc. would have their hands full with the best women. They might win some matches and lose others. They are no lock, that's for sure. Lesser pros would be underdogs against them, names withheld by request. ;)

I think on today's tables with super fast cloth and rails it's bridged the gap between the men and woman big strokes of yesteryear is no longer a big advantage straight shooting woman can compeat with top men on a regular basis

1
 

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
It's what I have been saying for years. There is no physical reason why women can't play as well as men. The only truly logical reason why they, as a group, don't is a matter of numbers. More men play and more men compete aggressively and so more men will reach the upper tiers of skill. But there is no reason why the best of the women can't be in the same league as the best of the men.

It's ZERO difference than players who come out of any other pool of players. For the example pick any city and there are likely to be just 1 or 2 truly world class players there who came up playing in that city.

As for Fargo Ratings. Ratings are not rankings. Ratings fluctuate from match to match. What ratings do is establish comparisons that are somewhat easier to understand. We have always used them to try and assign strength to players. Fargo is certainly way more objective but are 300 games enough to be the definitive final answer to where a player's skill level is at? Of course not. But it certainly establishes a credible baseline moving forward.

I happen to think that we are now in a time when it's entirely possible that the best player on earth could be a woman. Only because NOW women in some parts of the world are being treated like pool players FIRST and given all the same opportunities to learn and compete as men get. Thus whatever level they can possibly reach based on their own "grit" is not denied to them through sexism. But the CHANCE of the best player in the world being a woman is still small because the numbers of women TRYING to be the best player in the world is way smaller than the number of men who are trying.
 

rjbigfish

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Silver Member
If anyone thinks a 16 year old girl or boy for that matter can beat Sky, I am sure you could win an armored car full of cash.
 

AlienObserver

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If anyone thinks a 16 year old girl or boy for that matter can beat Sky, I am sure you could win an armored car full of cash.
O'Sullivan was 17 when he won his first tournament (beating Hendry in the final).
I would not be surprised if a 16 year old kid was playing at a world class level, beating a known pro. It does happen. There are kids with mindblowing talents (W.A. Mozart is an extreme example in another field).
 

sixpack

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I would love to see her match up with the guys. If you haven't watched her play, do it. You owe it to yourself. Seriously. Search on YouTube for the amway China tournament.

If she were to come to a tournament like the west coast swing I'd bet on her in a second. I'd back her against all but the top tier men...just to get to see it. I'd bet if she makes it here she'll have all of her side tied up though.
 

mikepage

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
wu chia-ching became a world champion when he was 16.


I just wrote a facebook blurb about him

If you like it, please share it from the FargoRate facebook page
 

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Kris_b1104

House Pro in my own home.
Silver Member
I just wrote a facebook blurb about him

If you like it, please share it from the FargoRate facebook page

Holy shit, if that's not dominance, then idk what is. Thanks for all your effort and time that goes into this.
 
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