World Top 200 Players by Fargo Rating (April2026)
- Thread starter spartan
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Just that an 800 barely gets you top 70 these days...
#73 wandered into our little pool room last night. I "let" him beat me up in 9 ball...
#73 wandered into our little pool room last night. I "let" him beat me up in 9 ball...
I had the exact same reaction. Fargo 800 isn't what it used to be and calling anyone below 800 elite is probably inappropriate. A Fargo of 790 puts you as World #112. The globalization of pool over the past decade has greatly changed the playing field and amazing players are popping up in every corner of the world.
No doubt, young players in the 775 to 799 range must be viewed as having great possibilities, but to be fair, all players below Fargo 800 tend to be longshots, not contenders, at the majors.
This era of pool is mind-blowing in that the best players shoot so darn straight that the continuing toughening of playing conditions isn't slowing them down much.
It's two things. One is that there really are more and more elite players. The other is that more data is being recorded and fed into the system - the "pro" (in terms of level of play) game is being recorded way more than it used to be.
Even good old Wikipedia doesn't have records of group stage matches from World Championships that happened really not that long ago. Pool is still fairly young as a professional sport in the all round sense of the word professional.
Even good old Wikipedia doesn't have records of group stage matches from World Championships that happened really not that long ago. Pool is still fairly young as a professional sport in the all round sense of the word professional.
45 countries surprised me. that's a lot.
they have a very active league, so i guess it makes sense, but i too expected poland to have more then germany. could be an issue of fargo coverage also. russians are perhaps less covered, travel less since 2022 etc. i've seen some of the gorst generation play in heyball events.
they have a very active league, so i guess it makes sense, but i too expected poland to have more then germany. could be an issue of fargo coverage also. russians are perhaps less covered, travel less since 2022 etc. i've seen some of the gorst generation play in heyball events.
Nothing surprised me. There has been enough time now for the superiority of the Filipino's who don't travel much to get on the biggest lists.
The players are not any better because they are in the higher 800's now. Thats FargoRate creep. See this list from 2015 of many of the same names:
The players are not any better because they are in the higher 800's now. Thats FargoRate creep. See this list from 2015 of many of the same names:
Nothing surprised me. There has been enough time now for the superiority of the Filipino's who don't travel much to get on the biggest lists.
The players are not any better because they are in the higher 800's now. Thats FargoRate creep. See this list from 2015 of many of the same names:
that's probably true, but it's also true that some of the "same names" were less complete players in 2015, like jayson and lil ko.
This list is from the Fargo website.This list is wrong. It states right on the Fargo website that fewer than 20 people are over 800.
Yes, for the younger players for sure. The ones who were 40 then, and 50 now, and have a much higher rating now.....doesn't pass the sniff test.
SVB is 20 points higher. I think that could be legitimate improvement. I think the increased competition and motivation has improved a lot of players.
Not a chance in hell!
Yes, the more players in a rating system means the more granularity needed to differentiate the players, meaning the top end will drift upwards.Nothing surprised me. There has been enough time now for the superiority of the Filipino's who don't travel much to get on the biggest lists.
The players are not any better because they are in the higher 800's now. Thats FargoRate creep. See this list from 2015 of many of the same names:
Dead people have had their Fargo ratings move upwards.
Fargo is not comparative across time.
Do you really believe the 5th best player from about 10 years ago would only be the 70th best player today?
I'm a big believer that the level of play is higher now than ever, even 10 years ago. But even I can see there's more than just that one factor at play here.
One caveat, that older list was not the entire fargroate list (as is the new list from today). It was only the players entered in the 2015 US Open who were established.
The best Shane played was around 2007-2012. He was dominating everything and everyone! Both in tournaments and action matches. The main game was 10 ball, and he had the break down better than anyone else alive. Now the game is back to 9 ball, and his break advantage is not as large. Plus he was younger, hungrier, and probably shooting a bit straighter than now.
Thanks, I should have noticed that.
I don't think Biado is a 40-pt better player today at 40+ years old than a decade ago, nor Shane a 20-pt better player than when he took down three consecutive US Opens. The Kos, Shaw, etc, etc.
I'll definitely take 2015 Dechaine over 2026 Dechaine.
The only person who has the data to answer or at least attempt to answer how much is drift vs actual improvement also has the least willingness to be forthright.