Assess my speed please

D

degenrat

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I truly don't know how to rate a player outside of the APA ranking system. I am curious where i fall in the spectrum.

I will try and be as honest as possible atbout my game and let you pro's tell me.

I have been playing for about 4-5 years. I started in APA 8 ball. I fluctuated between a 5-6 for 3 sessions and then moved. 2 sessions ago i picked up 9 ball. I crushed the first session with only one loss and was ranked a 5 the whole session. Session 2 comes around i outrun a few big players and i am now a 6.

Playing speed:

I play as much as possible on 9 footers, and had a ton of time on tight pocket Brunswicks for a couple of years.

9 ball: The game is new to me, i started and always liked 8 better. As i have become more confident in my shooting abilities and shot making i am liking 9 ball more. I have VERY limited knowledge about safeties and imo play a little too offensive minded. I usually run a rack or 2 per match in APA. I run less racks on the 9 footers, but i still run the occasional rack, and can get out fairly consistently from the 4 or 5.

8 ball: I break and run racks fairly consistently when i am shooting well. I have off days but my on days are good. I am working on understanding the game a bit more. I have in the past beemn run ot hte 8 then get hidden 5 innings in a ro guy. Nowadays that doesn't happen as much because i plan more and hide mid run to leave my outs.

Straight Pool: best run is 38 balls on a tight pocket Brunswick 9 footer.


Please help me assess my speed. d player? c?
 
Pretty hard ...

degenrat said:
I truly don't know how to rate a player outside of the APA ranking system. I am curious where i fall in the spectrum.

I will try and be as honest as possible atbout my game and let you pro's tell me.

I have been playing for about 4-5 years. I started in APA 8 ball. I fluctuated between a 5-6 for 3 sessions and then moved. 2 sessions ago i picked up 9 ball. I crushed the first session with only one loss and was ranked a 5 the whole session. Session 2 comes around i outrun a few big players and i am now a 6.

Playing speed:

I play as much as possible on 9 footers, and had a ton of time on tight pocket Brunswicks for a couple of years.

9 ball: The game is new to me, i started and always liked 8 better. As i have become more confident in my shooting abilities and shot making i am liking 9 ball more. I have VERY limited knowledge about safeties and imo play a little too offensive minded. I usually run a rack or 2 per match in APA. I run less racks on the 9 footers, but i still run the occasional rack, and can get out fairly consistently from the 4 or 5.

8 ball: I break and run racks fairly consistently when i am shooting well. I have off days but my on days are good. I am working on understanding the game a bit more. I have in the past beemn run ot hte 8 then get hidden 5 innings in a ro guy. Nowadays that doesn't happen as much because i plan more and hide mid run to leave my outs.

Straight Pool: best run is 38 balls on a tight pocket Brunswick 9 footer.


Please help me assess my speed. d player? c?
Click to expand...


to do over the internet, but I would say a 6.3 to 6.7 range, or a mid B, by your standards. (we use 2-12 9 ball skill levels around here).
 
can you elaborate on Mark speed?

An pertinent info missing that woiudl help accurately rate me?
 
Here is one...

D = APA 2/3 can make a couple balls if the shot is easy, but has no idea where the CB will end up.

C = APA 4 Has some CB control and given a easy table could run out.

B = APA 5/6/7 Can run a rack when the table is open, has decent CB control, can break out clusters most of the time, and plays decent safes.

A = APA 8/9 Runs racks fairly often or plays good safes, has excellent CB control, and good all around skills in breaking clusters, banks and kicking.

AA = Semi-pro & Same as the A player but better, and generally can put together 2-4 racks at a time, and when at the table is in control of the game unless he misses a shot.

Open = PRO Players
 
Another...

OPEN-Players
-Average 8+ balls.
-String racks together more than once in a match.
-Is a threat to run out from every ball, from every position, every inning.
-Typical inning will end in excellent safety or win.

A-Player
-Will string 2 to 3 racks.
-Average ball run, 7-9.
-With ball in hand, will be out from the 3 ball, 2 out of 3 times.
-Typical inning will end with a well executed safety or a win.

B-Player
-Able to run 1 to 3 racks.
-Average run is 5-7 balls.
-With ball in hand will get out form the 5, 2 out of 3 times.
-Most of the time a "B" player will play a "safety" which maybe hit easily 2 out of 3 times.
-A typical inning will end with a missed shot, a fair safety, or a won game.

C-Player
-Will probably run one rack, but usually not more than one.
-Average run is 3 to 5 balls.
-With ball in hand, will get out from the 7, two out of 3 times.
-Mixed results when playing safe.
-Inning ends due to botched position, missed shot or attempting a safe.

D- Player
-Will not run a rack.
-Average run is about 3 balls.
-With ball in hand, will get out from the 7, one out of 3 times.
-Rarely plays a successful safe.
 
Billy, the first one seems way off to me.

B speed: An apa 5 and an apa 7 in both 8 and 9 ball are galaxies apart imo. and a player who can't run 3 balls on purpose shouldn't even have a rating outsoide of "banger" or something.

Not trying to be nasty, it just seem to be way off from what i would think regarding speed classifications.


The second one makes much more sense
 
degenrat said:
Billy, the first one seems way off to me.

B speed: An apa 5 and an apa 7 in both 8 and 9 ball are galaxies apart imo. and a player who can't run 3 balls on purpose shouldn't even have a rating outsoide of "banger" or something...
Click to expand...

I agree. This is a good place to fix it and get it right!

Suggested changes/updates anyone?
 
Also if any experts out there want to make modifications to the above, I think with APA, there is APA 9-ball and then APA 8-ball ratings? So might want to say which the above ratings are for.

And I was told the second rating system was for 9-ball on a 9 ft. table. So I don't know how that would translate to playing 8-ball on a bar table?

It would be nice to have some sort of rating chart which stated the game played and table size.
 
degenrat said:
I truly don't know how to rate a player outside of the APA ranking system. I am curious where i fall in the spectrum.

I will try and be as honest as possible atbout my game and let you pro's tell me.

I have been playing for about 4-5 years. I started in APA 8 ball. I fluctuated between a 5-6 for 3 sessions and then moved. 2 sessions ago i picked up 9 ball. I crushed the first session with only one loss and was ranked a 5 the whole session. Session 2 comes around i outrun a few big players and i am now a 6.

Playing speed:

I play as much as possible on 9 footers, and had a ton of time on tight pocket Brunswicks for a couple of years.

9 ball: The game is new to me, i started and always liked 8 better. As i have become more confident in my shooting abilities and shot making i am liking 9 ball more. I have VERY limited knowledge about safeties and imo play a little too offensive minded. I usually run a rack or 2 per match in APA. I run less racks on the 9 footers, but i still run the occasional rack, and can get out fairly consistently from the 4 or 5.

8 ball: I break and run racks fairly consistently when i am shooting well. I have off days but my on days are good. I am working on understanding the game a bit more. I have in the past beemn run ot hte 8 then get hidden 5 innings in a ro guy. Nowadays that doesn't happen as much because i plan more and hide mid run to leave my outs.

Straight Pool: best run is 38 balls on a tight pocket Brunswick 9 footer.


Please help me assess my speed. d player? c?
Click to expand...

I would put you as a B player. I was unsure up until the the Straight Pool run. C players don't run 38 balls.

Spend as much time as you can on the 9 footers. And if you want to be the best you can be, get out of the league once you are the best player in the league. Then find the A, AA, AAA players to test yourself against.
 
Cameron...He said that 38 was his HIGH run, not average run. That is probably a much lower number. However, if he is running more than one 14.1 rack consistently, he is likely a good B player. Getting through break shots, and into successive racks is the key to running balls in straight pool. There is a lot of difference in "rating systems", depending on who's doing the 'rating'. It's pretty arbitrary for most people, even better players. The Q-skill test is probably one of the better means of identifying actual "speed", because of the multitude of racks played, and the multiple times to attempt the skill test (10 racks each attempt; 10 attempts to rate skill). jmo

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Billy_Bob said:
B = APA 5/6/7 Can run a rack when the table is open, has decent CB control, can break out clusters most of the time, and plays decent safes.
Click to expand...

I can't agree with this one. If this is APA 9-ball, then an APA 5 is right in the middle of the 1-9 scale. That's a C player. And that seems to hold true across the country.

An APA 7 in 9-ball is a B player in my neck of the woods. If the player was better than a B, he'd be better than a 7.

Fred
 
degenrat said:
I have been playing for about 4-5 years. I started in APA 8 ball. I fluctuated between a 5-6 for 3 sessions and then moved. 2 sessions ago i picked up 9 ball. I crushed the first session with only one loss and was ranked a 5 the whole session. Session 2 comes around i outrun a few big players and i am now a 6.

8 ball: I break and run racks fairly consistently when i am shooting well.?
Click to expand...

Given the two above, what does "when I am shooting well" mean and how often does that happen? You've given a timeframe of two APA sessions. How often have you shot well enough in APA to "break and run fairly consistently"?

The APA without sandbagging should be a good indicator. If you're not sandbagging, which I assume you are not given your line of questioning, than an SL-6 sounds like where you're at right now. From what I've seen from California to New York is that the average SL-6 non-sandbagger is a C+ to B- player.

Fred
 
Scott, you are correct i don't run 38 daily in SP :) But i also don't get to play much competative SP either.

Thanks a ton, guys, for your help. I figure C+ to B- is fairly accurat right?
 
if u make a average of 100pts in equal offence, what rating does this give?

all these ratings are a brain breaker for european players... we simply dont have any rating exept Pro / amateur. or A - B.
 
Cornerman, i do not sandbag at all ever. My rank is legit. I believe i dropped back to a five in 8ball 1.5 years ago, then moved and quit the league.

As for 9 ball i have been a 6 therough 8+ weeks so far and am able to hold my own against the big shooters in the league.

As for how often i play well, i am more streaky than some but overall i play fairly consistent.

Using APA rankings as a guideline, when i play poorly i would say i shoot sl-4.5 speed. When i shoot well i run racks and rarely miss. The consensus among the league seems to be that i am slightly underranked and could shoot as a 7. This might be wishful thinking on the part of some. BUt i have shot vs a few 7s and am very competitive(3-0 as a 5 or 6 vs a 7 with no spot needed)

My last league match was a sl-6 vs sl-6 and i missed 2 shots that match. (safe's aside)I have shot that well or better 3 out of 9 weeks this session.

Hope this helps, i am trying ot be as honest as possible abou my skill.
 
degenrat said:
Scott, you are correct i don't run 38 daily in SP :) But i also don't get to play much competative SP either.

Thanks a ton, guys, for your help. I figure C+ to B- is fairly accurat right?
Click to expand...

degenrat...A 6 in APA 9-ball is almost equal to a 5 in APA 8-ball...which means you play both games reasonably well. As far as 14.1, my suggestion would be to start a practice regimen, that includes 2-3 serious attempts to connect racks in 14.1 (along with whatever else you practice). You'll see your average go up considerably, before too long. The cool thing about 14.1, is that you can also practice safeties against yourself...although in the practice sessions I am talking about above, it would be offensive only, in order to practice high runs. When you miss, start again, with b-i-h on another break shot.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
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Based on the info you have given I would say that you fall into the c player range.
You probably play a true 5 level in the APA but are rated a 6 due to your admission of being a little too offensive.

IMO your statements about usually running a rack or two as an APA 6 in 9ball just can not be true. This would place you higher than a 6.

If I was guessing I would say that you run alot more balls playing 8 ball giving easier layouts to your opponnet. This creates less innings which is what the APA system is looking at. In your 9ball matches you probably make alot of balls but dont get good enough shape to keep it going and
dont play enough safes to lock down anyone. APA 9ball is based on balls per innning average. You might not run a bunch every innning but you probably have good spurts when the balls are sitting well due to your offensive ability.

IMO most nine ball APA 8s and 9s are B players. With there being no ceiling then there will be 9s who are A players but not too many.
In 8 ball there are plenty APA 7s that are not A players.
I base the "A" and "B" on the following

AAA--- Elite within the Pro ranks
AA-- Pro Level player ......top regional guys
A- better than all below them but cant quite get there against the best.
Can break and run fairly regular with some extended runs of 2 and 3 racks occassionaly. Plays good safes. Controls the tables with enough break and runs and safes.
B- Better than most bar or pool room players ... can put runs together
fairly regular but not that often and 2s and 3s are a rear feat. Recognizes the need for safes but usually does not play good enough safes against
better oponnets. Ends runs with missed balls too often. Lacks table control.
C- average player in all bars and rooms ... runs a whole rack every now and then but most often does not. Safety play is usually weak or non existent.
D- bangers, beginners, players that play every blue moon

The above would be based on 9ball. In 8 ball the players would have more run outs from the break.
IMO most people over estimate the number of break and runs or "run outs".

I would say that you are a good C player. If you are in the APA just dont get caught up in the SLs. Worry more about winning and learning to win against the better players. Average Innings can be misleading and thats what the SL numbers are based on.

I am an APA 7/9. I dont consider myself to be an A player. I would need to practice and play more to gain the consistency needed to beat better players more often and get to the A level. I dont break and run or keep control over the table enough to be considered an A player IMO.
 
degenrat said:
Using APA rankings as a guideline, when i play poorly i would say i shoot sl-4.5 speed. When i shoot well i run racks and rarely miss.

My last league match was a sl-6 vs sl-6 and i missed 2 shots that match. (safe's aside)I have shot that well or better 3 out of 9 weeks this session.
Click to expand...


Running racks and rarely missing is what Pros do not APA 6s.

If your average match in APA consists of only 2-3 misses then you are in
a seriously messed up APA division. You should be a 9 in nineball.

An easy way is to gauge is to track how many innings you are averaging but subtracting safes. If your match had 20 innings but both players shot
4 safties then you would have 12 innnings.

APA 6s in 9ball miss and miss often. They rarely break and run a rack and
surely dont do it every match.
 
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