Finding your Fargo/or skill level when you don't play in leagues?

J

jnwilliams

Active member
So, I usually spend around 10 hours of week on my personal table (8' professional) practicing and playing the ghost and usually play one match a week with a buddy. A couple of races to 9. what is the best way to determine my "level"? BU exams? wins / losses? Never played in a tourney or league. Just shoot and practice because I love it and find peace doing it.
 
BU exams, while not perfect, will definitely give you an idea. There are 9 now, I believe. Do as many as you can, then average your results and it should be what you are looking for.
 
You never go to a pool hall at all? If you do, you would have a "pecking order" of players, and know where you fit in depending on who you beat and who beats you. Then you can ask them their FargoRating and estimate to a high degree what yours would be. If your buddy goes regularly, he can figure out his that way, then you can figure out yours from how you do against him.

On an 8' home table, if you are roughly 50/50 over the long term with the 9 ball ghost, that would probably make you about a 620-640, imo.
 
iusedtoberich said:
You never go to a pool hall at all? If you do, you would have a "pecking order" of players, and know where you fit in depending on who you beat and who beats you. Then you can ask them their FargoRating and estimate to a high degree what yours would be. If your buddy goes regularly, he can figure out his that way, then you can figure out yours from how you do against him.

On an 8' home table, if you are roughly 50/50 over the long term with the 9 ball ghost, that would probably make you about a 620-640, imo.
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I'm more along the lines of 30/70 with the 9 ball ghost. I did whip his butt Monday in a race to 5 (5-3) :D
 
from fargorates website:

IMG_6423.jpeg
 
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qolbrand said:
from fargorates website:

View attachment 940460
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In my opinion, most current regular players under 60 years old don’t play enough or for that matter any 14.1 to be using 14.1 high runs as an estimate for someone’s Fargo rating.

Even trying to estimate someone’s Fargo rating by what percentage of the time someone can run out a 9 ball rack when playing the ghost and starting with ball-in-hand is still quite inaccurate, as there are so many variables to that - size of table, tightness of pockets, quality of their break, not to mention that it doesn’t consider someone’s overall game management and defensive skills.

On a 9’ Diamond with standard Diamond pocket specs, in the past year, in 9-ball, if you have broke and run a 2-pack at least 3 times in competition (gambling session or tournament) you are likely at least a 550 Fargo. In the past year if you have broke and run a 3-pack at least 3 times in competition, you are likely at least a 600. Accomplishing these feats in practice in my opinion doesn’t really count for much, as it is done with no real pressure on you.
 
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i dont know what that means but almost no one that isnt looked at as a top local has ever run 70 balls in straight pool.

and the only guys that will bet with me they can beat the ghost are 700 plus. and a couple of them i said okay, and they backed down.
this is in a pool room not in your basement where you also do do overs or something to that affect. and have silicone polished balls.

and i bet anyone that walks in they cant break and run out 9 balls. and after the first rack will start to give them odds.
 
maha said:
i dont know what that means but almost no one that isnt looked at as a top local has ever run 70 balls in straight pool.

and the only guys that will bet with me they can beat the ghost are 700 plus. and a couple of them i said okay, and they backed down.
this is in a pool room not in your basement where you also do do overs or something to that affect. and have silicone polished balls.

and i bet anyone that walks in they cant break and run out 9 balls. and after the first rack will start to give them odds.
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Not counting but anybody calling themselves a player should very well be running 70s regularly. I used to knock 'em around with a couple guys who had highs in the 80s and 90s. Interesting, those guys barely passed as short rack players back then.
But back to the real players, ALL the winners from the 60s through 90s had world class straight pool numbers. Maybe earlier.
 
thats how we rated a person. how many can he run. 50 and he was decent. few in the pool room ever ran 50.
 
maha said:
thats how we rated a person. how many can he run. 50 and he was decent. few in the pool room ever ran 50.
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Reminds me of the guys at the bowling alley in Gardena. They could do 50s but spent most of the time doggin' it. I learned the lot of one hole from them but not shotmaking for damn sure. :ROFLMAO:

Oh, but the point was while 14.1 isn't an indicator of overall speed, it's requisite to good pool. So I'm sticking with my 70 number and even calling it a minimum requirement.
 
straightline said:
Reminds me of the guys at the bowling alley in Gardena. They could do 50s but spent most of the time doggin' it. I learned the lot of one hole from them but not shotmaking for damn sure. :ROFLMAO:

Oh, but the point was while 14.1 isn't an indicator of overall speed, it's requisite to good pool. So I'm sticking with my 70 number and even calling it a minimum requirement.
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But a huge portion of the pool world just doesn’t play straight pool at all. Ever. Europe still does and pockets of North America.

Most of North America and most of Asia probably have large populations of 700 level Fargo players who’ve never played a 14.1 match. They might have run a 5 pack at 9b.

Now truly great players will still have the skill to run balls but they won’t know the strategy and the various break shots. I remember sitting at the 2000 US Open beside guys who knew the game scratching their heads while Efren played it all wrong and still ran many balls, but he’s Efren!
 
GideonF said:
But a huge portion of the pool world just doesn’t play straight pool at all. Ever. Europe still does and pockets of North America.

Most of North America and most of Asia probably have large populations of 700 level Fargo players who’ve never played a 14.1 match. They might have run a 5 pack at 9b.

Now truly great players will still have the skill to run balls but they won’t know the strategy and the various break shots. I remember sitting at the 2000 US Open beside guys who knew the game scratching their heads while Efren played it all wrong and still ran many balls, but he’s Efren!
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I'm talking strictly the number. Especially those listed here.
qolbrand said:
from fargorates website:

View attachment 940460
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Way remedial IMO.
 
If you have the time I would point you to the BU exams but given you're only playing 10 hours a week I'm going to point you to Bowliards. One set should take you about 30-45 minutes and will give a general idea of how you play. Don't think you'll play one set and know where you stand, play 10 sets over a 5 day period and post your results, and we'll tell you where you stand.


Chili Palmer

Thread 'Using bowlliards to track progress?'

Anyone here use bowlliards to track their progress.

Long before YouTube, long before Dr. Dave and the Billiards University, and long before a zillion "pros" started coming up with their "systems" we used a game called bowlliards to track our progress.

https://www.bowlliards.com/howtoplay.php (I have no affiliation)

For those that don't want to click through - in bowlliards you rack 10 balls (any 10 in random order) and break. All pocketed balls on the break get spotted and from there (depending on skill level) you can either leave the CB as is, put CB in kitchen, or take BIH...
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There is a website devoted to it; however, I have not used it, I have either used a piece of paper for scoring or used an online bowling calculator and screenshotted the end result.

This is the bowliards website..

The Funnest Game in Pool | Bowlliards

www.bowlliards.com www.bowlliards.com

This is the only calculator I have used online...

Bowling Score Calculator 30

A bowling score calculator to help you keep score or adjust a score in any frame. A simple but powerful tool that allows multiple games, handicap score, maximum score and much more.
www.bowlinggenius.com www.bowlinggenius.com


IMHO, the ghost is good for people who can run the table (either occasionally or consistently), if you can only run the table 1 in 10 times the ghost will always win and will teach you nothing, bowliards will give a more finite idea of where you stand.
 
You can't have a Fargo or Skill Level of any kind without playing leagues. You'd be an APA 3 or a Fargo 400/525 until established. Practice is completely different than competition as you have to deal with an opponent, defensive play, and equipment outside your control. In your case, it doesn't matter, you don't play tournaments that are capped.
 
BadBeef67 said:
You can't have a Fargo or Skill Level of any kind without playing leagues. You'd be an APA 3 or a Fargo 400/525 until established. Practice is completely different than competition as you have to deal with an opponent, defensive play, and equipment outside your control. In your case, it doesn't matter, you don't play tournaments that are capped.
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Sure you can, you can also get a Fargo rating by only shooting tournaments.
 
BadBeef67 said:
You can't have a Fargo or Skill Level of any kind without playing leagues. You'd be an APA 3 or a Fargo 400/525 until established. Practice is completely different than competition as you have to deal with an opponent, defensive play, and equipment outside your control. In your case, it doesn't matter, you don't play tournaments that are capped.
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fastone371 said:
Sure you can, you can also get a Fargo rating by only shooting tournaments.
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You can also use the Salotto app.
 
BadBeef67 said:
a Fargo 400/525 until established
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Around here, it's 500 if you're inactive. I'll probably never join one of those tournaments. 500 is way above my skill level. I played my friend's son who's 440ish. The young man waxed my ass!

****Reviewed a flyer, APA LEVEL 7 if not active for men, 5 for women.****
 
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