jay helfert said:
I was just there for a week, and I just don't understand their rating system. Even when someone tried to explain it to me, it sounded like all Greek.
I mean rating players a 7, 8, 9 or 10 is one thing, but when you start talking about a 10-2 etc. I get lost. I like the old A, B, C and D player rating system. Guess I'm just a dummy.
The best handicap system I've seen to date is the USPPA which is used out West in many areas. Gene Stary initiated it many years ago and Tony Annigoni still runs the USPPA. They have a few big events each year, one at the Sands with five or ten thousand in added money.
Jay first off you are not as you said above ?dummy?. The System is confusing.
I will try and explain how the system is set up, and how I understand it is suppose to work, and what I see as the ?SYSTEMS? Faults.
The System goes from a Four (weakest player, aka lowest number) to a Ten Minus Two (very strong, very verystrong pro like players) Believe Mitch Ellerman, and Scott Frost are the only 10-2?s in AZ, but I am not 100 percent sure of that.
Think that is a total of 9 possible ratings numbers, and IMHO if the
NUMBERS went from 1 being the weakest, to 9 being pro like it would be easier to understand the numbers.
Person wanting a rating so they can play in NON OPEN Tournaments in Arizona, can go to say Metro Sport Bar, and play some 8 ball with JAZZ a Rating Committee Member. Jazz makes his judgment what your Rating is and you get a Card saying you are say a
6. Or maybe you go to some say under 8 Tournament and the TD also a Rating Committee Member says you can play as an 8, and after the tournament the TD who was watching you decides you are only a
6, and you get a card stating so.
Now you have your ticket aka Rating Card to play in all tournament open to
6 Rated Players.
In no Bar/Room/Sports Bar in the State I have been in have I personally seen a posted Rating Evaluation Sheet, so one knows what the criteria is for say being rated a 4, 5, 6, 7, etc., rated player.
Now I personally long ago was given by a AZ Rating Committee Member, who name I will not give up a 8-1/2? x 11? peace of will not say a paper that they said was the criterial for reaching a person rating a few year back.
It only defines Rating 4-10. The Header to the sheet says ?Rating Scope? as defined for a game of 9 ball on a 9 foot table.
It defines FOUR Areas, with comments about each area, where a rating is determined.
The Four Area ARE:
1. Shape/English/Speed
2. Safes
3 Kicks
4. General comments
If I has a scanner I would post this information, but I have no scanner.
Now let say that the person who just got their NEW
6 RATING CARD hid their true speed. Rating Committee Member got fool, and the person can do some cleaning up in tournaments until the next Quarterly Rating Committee Meeting, and then they get bumped up to a Seven, or Eight.
I also have never seen posted in any Bar/Room what the criteria is for the Rating Committee to moving a players rating up, and what the criterial is for changing a persons rating.
IMHO a how the rating committee works, what are the rating criteria's are, and how , and why rating are change be they up, or down should be in black and what and available for any player who ask for them.
One of the problem I see with the Rating System is their are Bar/Room Owners on the Committee who for better choice of word protect their SPENDERS by not moving the Spenders up in the Ratings, when the Spender are constantly winning Tournaments in their Rooms/Bar.
Most of the 10,000 Names in the Rating Book are 4-8 Players, and one player jokingly said it best, ?8?s are the Best of the Worst, and 9?s are the Worst of the Best?. (not my words,but made sense.) The 9?s, 10?s, 10-1?s, and 10?2?s are 15-20% of the Rated players.
I do not know if any handicapping system is perfect, but it is my guess that when the Arizona Rating System was invented long before I lived in the Valley.
Someone thought it would be a good idea, and maybe work like an apprenticeship program. Were a player started say as a 5, and worked their way up the ladder to a 9, 10, etc.
But than you have what I will call recreational players, or social players who have ZERO INTEREST in becoming a 8, 9, 10, etc. They are out for some fun, and some refer to them as ?BANGERS?!
Well with out those player in the Rooms, Bar, etc. I wonder how many of those Room/Bar would still offer pool, or have their doors open,
IMHO the recreational players, or social players spend more money on BOOZE than the 9, 10, 10-1?s, and 10-2?s, and Booze Sale is what it takes to pay the bills in many Rooms, and Bar.
