Fargo and Handicaps
- Thread starter thenaturalpoolplayer
- Start date
Handicaps don't really bother me, it's when I play a 3-4 and they run tables or make remarkably difficult shots that give them position to get out on me. And only on me, I have the marvelous ability to imbue low level players with skills they NEVER show in other games or with people of they're own level
Im freaking magic
Im freaking magic
tomatoshooter
Well-known member
Not true. I am way better at racking after those open tournaments.
Kidding of course. You may learn some things watching a very skilled player up close but if you are a weak player, he may not be under enough pressure to bring his best game, either. You definitely need a challenge but it has to be achievable.
Well most people with
’s already know how to rack. Me personally never saw point being in competition I had Zero Chance of finish in 
.So IMHO you have equal opportunity learning from spectators chair, or U-Tube as paying an entry in to enhance pot for better players.
ARIZONA RATING OR HANDICAPPING SYSTEM work well.
Pool rooms, and Pool Bar attracted the recreational player. Who spending offset the venues add money.
Friend had bar in Proria, AZ. He had five pool tables. Team of A players approached him for Team Sponsorship.
He listen to their list of wants, comps, freebees, etc. Then asked what does the Team Guarantee me as bar owner. The answer was zero, they could guarantee nothing, but want world.
Dave continued business plan with recreation player being his target market. They paid bills, and demanded little.
In action matches. Playing just good enough to win is part of the game-sometimes. Don’t matter if it’s 9B 1P.
Why play 100% if you don’t need to?
In tourneys or league then it’s different and you should play your best. Or if you’re losing and you are in very tough action-then you need to give it 100%, give yourself a shot to win.
But if you’re in action and have the best of it. You can sheer a sheep more times than you can skin it. That’s part of pool.
if ya know what I mean…..some here do
It’s all circumstantial. Playing your absolute best isn’t always the goal. For some players. I don’t judge.
Fatboy<——-never tip your hole cards
it’s business
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Coos Cues
Coos Cues
Fargo only cares who wins the game not who looked good doing it. There are grinders that have skills to win that leave you as an observer wondering how that could have possibly happened. The other guy seemingly did everything better yet............
I'll play some open tournaments, I'll play handicapped ones. What I notice is the handicapped ones get more players most of the time, other than the once a year open tournaments that are well established. Like the bar table classic.
Open tournaments, at least here, are often lucky to get 15-20 players outside of very short race bar tournaments. Lot of people just don't like being dead money in a tournament that will cost them 100+ with no chance to win.
Comes to gambling, which I do a bit of, I play even, I play with spots, and I play where I'm giving spots. But no one is using fargo for that around here.
Open tournaments, at least here, are often lucky to get 15-20 players outside of very short race bar tournaments. Lot of people just don't like being dead money in a tournament that will cost them 100+ with no chance to win.
Comes to gambling, which I do a bit of, I play even, I play with spots, and I play where I'm giving spots. But no one is using fargo for that around here.
stewie
Active member
I do understand why there are handicap systems, but I don't like the lack of open competition below Open/Pro level. As much as Fargo would be nice to track skill progress, if all you play in is handicapped, it's like driving with handbrakes on. And, yes, one could say: push more to still drive faster. I just wish to turn the handbrake off.
Zerksies
Well-known member
I think Fargo is close to what a Pool Handicapping system should be. Right now it leaves room for expansion/ improving players. The top pros are near the 850 range, they can go higher towards the 900+, just like chess which is around 2800+ and still getting higher.
APA tops out at 7/9, this is just a bullshit system. No way I'm playing SVB or Gorst even. I see it as good for lower players, but when you reach the top their is no room for growth, Maybe add 8/10 etc. is the simplest solution.
A,B,C system is just way too loose for me, no real clear definitions. I would say we have players that are A++ and are above the pack and probably should be A+++
APA tops out at 7/9, this is just a bullshit system. No way I'm playing SVB or Gorst even. I see it as good for lower players, but when you reach the top their is no room for growth, Maybe add 8/10 etc. is the simplest solution.
A,B,C system is just way too loose for me, no real clear definitions. I would say we have players that are A++ and are above the pack and probably should be A+++
WobblyStroke
Well-known member
Ye APA max outs make it hard to know who's who. You can figure a 6/8 pretty well, but once you are dealing with a 7/9 are you dealing with a guy that was a 6 last month? Dr. Dave? SVB? 7s/9s can be worlds apart from one another albeit in ways lower ranked players can't really tell anyway.
RE: Hustling: that's the world I came up in and I can't unsee angle shooting. Now every time I'm gifted a bonehead sellout I wonder if this straight shooting 5 is really just trying to reel me in while lying about rating. I'm with FatBoy on this one tho, not everyone plays their best all the time, esp when they don't need to. This is def a part of the game that isn't going away. Just don't go 'hustling yourself' as someone above put it by picking out a mark based on how he's playing against 3s or with friends when drinking. Couple weeks ago, I had a guy jumping out of his skin to play me based on what he saw when I was playing with my novice sister one night (as far from a serious game as it gets). I came back the next week and we were going to play 20/rack to start. He'd been playing so gave me a few min to warmup. I proceeded to make every ball for like 5min and he 'had to leave' before we could start lol. 20years ago, he'd be down at least a thousand before he even thought to stop spotting me. Different times.
It's not an unrealistic perspective if you're selective about which rooms you walk into.
Traveling the two lane highways and byways of the US you always made the assumption you were the best in the place and you were just looking for sheep to shear. Small towns and in some of the lesser places you were generally right. You still ran into a buzz saw once in awhile though and this assumption didn't apply to big name places anway. Most road players carried notes on local players. These notes included where they were to be found, what they looked like, how much they would bet, and their speed. Sometimes the notes told you to stay away from certain people in certain places. Road players swapped notes when they met each other, adding notes and information from each other. I was just starting to be pretty well known in the underground when I quit playing for a couple decades.
Talking about stalling, another reason to stall just playing good enough to win was to not lead a parade leaving a pool room. First couple years I wasn't the smoothest in the world and when I was getting ready to go I would make sure I had a twenty dollar bill in my shirt pocket. Traveling alone and pissing off pretty much every player in the place I would snap a house cue if someone or a group came at me angry.
Those old cues made a pretty loud noise when they broke, sometimes sounded almost like a small pistol! I didn't plan to use it but a long sharp point and the butt usually missing a bumper were pretty persuasive arguments to steer clear when I headed for the door. In crowded places people might not even know what happened. Quality house cues cost twelve bucks new so tossing the counterperson a twenty on the way out usually made me welcome again in a few weeks or few months. After a few years I smoothed out my act and usually left with people fine with me coming back. Never to the level of Scotty Townsend though. He was like a rock star in little backroad places where he was known. RIP Scotty. He was one of the last road agents.
Hu
Playing just good enough to win & not fall out of stoke is a skill in and of itself. Took me a long time to be able to be on the lemon and then come with it-when I needed it, with out showing it(if the fish was smart enough to notice).
For a while, maybe a year or 2 when I was coming up, if I got on the stall. I’d get stuck on the stall. Perma-lemon and that can get expensive if it happened at the wrong time.
Eventually I got good enough where I could turn & off my game with little or no harm to my game. But for me that didn’t come natural it took a long time to develope that skill set.
Which is part of the art of the hustle.
Hustling is misunderstood by most people. Hu you were there, I was there-we get it. Younger or newer people to pool imo just don’t fully understand it like we do.
Kindest regards
Dave Johnson <———Fatboy under cover name
thenaturalpoolplayer
Active member
How do you not play your best game? I just blow through racks on autopilot and don't even think about what I'm doing. All you guys who think you can hustle are basically sub par players who like to think they are part of some "cool club" hustler culture.In action matches. Playing just good enough to win is part of the game-sometimes. Don’t matter if it’s 9B 1P.
Why play 100% if you don’t need to?
In tourneys or league then it’s different and you should play your best. Or if you’re losing and you are in very tough action-then you need to give it 100%, give yourself a shot to win.
But if you’re in action and have the best of it. You can sheer a sheep more times than you can skin it. That’s part of pool.
It’s all circumstantial. Playing your absolute best isn’t always the goal. For some players. I don’t judge.
Fatboy<——-never tip your hole cards
With a 1200 Fargo I guess it doesn’t matter who you play!
I just checked mapquest. I am 1400 miles from Fargo ND. Does that mean I have a 1400 Fargo or a negative 1400 Fargo? These things are confusing for us old geezers!
Hu
Coos Cues
Coos Cues
Ok what is your real name then? Enough of the anonymous bravado already. If you can play it's well know so who are you?
If I had to guess it would be that you probably suck at pool.
Enough already let's have it or stop the nonsense.
whatever. complete bs imo. you never know walking in if you're the best player.
It's not an either-or choice, but I'm betting the latter. I'll give up odds. Contact me privately.
