Can't find a fargo rate on some of the more famous pool instructors

I can't speak for Tor, but I have played only in VNEA leagues and tournaments (local and national). I have never played in BCAPL leagues or CSI tournaments. I would like to have a FargoRating, and I actually tried to convince the VNEA leadership (I personally know some of the "top brass") to make arrangements to export all of their match data to the FargoRate system, but they were not very open to the idea. :frown:

Regards,
Dave

PS: If you want to judge my playing level, several videos of me playing can be found near the bottom of the page here:

Dr. Dave's pool bio

Where is the link of you playing an actual opponent under fire?

And I thought you were a college teacher, not a pool pro but the thumbnail on the last video straightened me out.:grin:
 
I suspect good coaches make more money from coaching, than they ever could by playing tournaments. I mean, there is no entry fee to pay, and if they have a steady stream of students, then it sounds like a pretty good gig. A lifetime of steady work has some benefits over 15 minutes of fame.

I love your avatar picture. Very succinct.

I still haven’t had a lesson work out, something seems to come up each time. Just life I suppose. But I’d definitely want whoever is giving lessons to be able to beat me handily. Not a requirement though. Some instructors maybe have been around pool and good players all their lives and know the game intimately but just not have the physical skill to play real well. That doesn’t mean they can’t teach someone who does have it
 
What difference does it make how they earn their living? We are all supporting ourselves doing something other than the pool pros and the pool bums. The pool bums aren't buying what these instructors are selling because they are broke. There aren't enough pros needing coaching to go around. So for the most part these instructors are teaching pool to working schlubs who can afford them and spend the vast majority of their time toiling for sustenance just like the pool teachers.

So if they have time to work on their game so should the instructors. I for one at a 600 fargo level am very hesitant to spend my money with a 550 instructor who can't even defeat me. Fix yourself first and prove it and then ask me to pay you to fix me.

This concept of course breaks down at the elite level of pro but these are not the players paying the bulk of the instructor world's bills.
That makes some sense to me. But I guess I just don’t evaluate pool knowledge the same way.

I’ve learned so much, just about everything I know about pool, from Dr. Dave’s videos and site. I can evaluate what he says by whether it’s logical, whether the geometry/math works, and whether it works for me when I try it. I never just take his advice because I think he’s smart or because of how good he might be.

In my experience, the best pool players are full of crap way too often. They either just don’t know what they’re doing or they can’t express it, I don’t know. Either way, I’m never going to take instruction that doesn’t make sense or I don’t understand just because it’s coming from a good player.

So in the end, I feel like I can evaluate the advice itself and I don’t need to evaluate the person.
 
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Where is the link of you playing an actual opponent under fire?
If this is really important to you, I will film myself playing in the next tournament I enter. And, BTW, there is pressure when I am being filmed for a video that will be posted online, as with the recent Rollie video, because I know how critical and demanding some Internet viewers can be.

There was also tremendous pressure when I was filming my video entries for the Billiard University Playing-Ability-Exam Challenge, where if I placed in the Top 3, I was saving myself significant money (up to $2500) and earning bragging rights. I think I felt more pressure doing that than I have felt in any league or tournament match. Scoring high on these Exams is not easy, and it requires lots of focus, endurance, skill, and dedicated practice. You should know. I've seen your scores and videos on the AZB BU sticky thread.

And I thought you were a college teacher
I am a university professor (until I retire in December, at which point I will start working exclusively on my pool business instead), but I am also a long-time pool instructional author and a professional instructor. For more info, see my pool bio.

not a pool pro but the thumbnail on the last video straightened me out.
I did not post that video ... Rollie Williams did. I asked him to use the title "Pro Instructor" instead, but he forgot to make the change, and there is no way to fix it now. That's why I posted the following both in the AZB thread and on Facebook:

"For the record, I am obviously not a "Pro Player" (as Rollie wrote on the title screen), but I am a "Pro Instructor."
 
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I think one distinction that needs to be made is: what is the level of the player receiving the instruction.

Virtually anyone who has been around the game can be an instructor to someone who is brand new to the game. In the same vein, a decent shortstop can probably give useful instruction to most league players and your average pool room habitué. But when you start getting to players who are competitive in an open event, that requires a superior level of expertise and instruction that is much harder to come by.

Lou Figueroa
 
Anyone in particular.? A lot of dedicated instructors don’t play tournaments anymore, and the top instructors had their prime tourney days long before Fargorate. The godfather of American pool instruction, Jerry Brieseth, is a muti-time Wisconsin State champion. Randy G still competes but doubt he concentrates on tournaments. He’s won Texas State titles in the various leagues. Bob Jewett is a former ACU-I national champion.

Freddie <~~~ zero robustness

Ha! We are going to talk about commentators next. :)
 
On the one hand, I understand thinking that if they really knew how to take a player's game up to a very high level, they'd apply it to their own game. Therefore, if they don't play at least a certain speed, their methods might not actually work as well as they claim.

Thus I can easily understand them not wanting to be rated on Fargo, as this would be a rating they don't have time to maintain at a high level and yet which could damage their credibility and livelihood simply by existing.

But, it's been almost 3 months since the last "bash instructors" thread started, so this was a tad over due. lol
 
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I think one distinction that needs to be made is: what is the level of the player receiving the instruction.

Virtually anyone who has been around the game can be an instructor to someone who is brand new to the game. In the same vein, a decent shortstop can probably give useful instruction to most league players and your average pool room habitué. But when you start getting to players who are competitive in an open event, that requires a superior level of expertise and instruction that is much harder to come by.

Lou Figueroa

I agree.

There is more to the game than "FUNdamentals".

Most instructors can teach you how to play for "FUN", but a "superior" level will give you the "MENTALS".
 
I am a university professor (until I retire in December, at which point I will start working exclusively on my pool business instead)

You had me at this statement. Worth reading this whole thread. Is this a sign of you doing your classes more frequently than once a summer?
 
I bet Johan Ruisjink has a next to nothing FargoRate - but almost everyone on this forum, or this thread would take a lesson and learn a thing or two from him.

There are many examples of great coaches that never played at a high level, and there are many examples of great players not being able to coach very well. That's because the skills to teach are not the same set of skills need to play at a high level.
 
You had me at this statement. Worth reading this whole thread. Is this a sign of you doing your classes more frequently than once a summer?
Our July 2020 BU Summer School Boot Camp courses are already full (24 students total)! So I probably will add more courses in the future. And after no longer being a "slave" to the university Fall-Spring semester schedule, I will have the freedom to offer courses at other times during the year. At a minimum, I will probably add an additional "Overview" course since it always fills up very early. Maybe I'll also add a "Beginner" course (which there seems to be a need for) to supplement our current "Overview" and "Advanced" courses. And maybe I'll eventually add an "Advanced-II" or "Master" course.

I probably won't take the courses on the road, though. There is no reason when so many people are willing to come to beautiful Colorado for a summer "pool vacation."

Regards,
Dave
 
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If this is really important to you, I will film myself playing in the next tournament I enter. I think I felt more pressure doing that than I have felt in any league or tournament match. Scoring high on these Exams is not easy, and it requires lots of focus, endurance, skill, and dedicated practice. You should know. I've seen your scores and videos on the

It's not important but it is of some interest and I bet not only to me. You have a fan base to consider :smile: To me there's no pressure greater than the pressure of elimination in a tournament. Especially if you took a day off work and traveled to do it.

You can lose money and reach in your wallet if you're still in the mood to play. But at a tournament you're the ultimate loser. Get out of here now, you are no longer needed.:(

It's a different kind of pressure than something you can grind out until you've had enough.
 
That makes some sense to me. But I guess I just don’t evaluate pool knowledge the same way.

I’ve learned so much, just about everything I know about pool, from Dr. Dave’s videos and site. I can evaluate what he says by whether it’s logical, whether the geometry/math works, and whether it works for me when I try it. I never just take his advice because I think he’s smart or because of how good he might be.

In my experience, the best pool players are full of crap way too often. They either just don’t know what they’re doing or they can’t express it, I don’t know. Either way, I’m never going to take instruction that doesn’t make sense or I don’t understand just because it’s coming from a good player.

So in the end, I feel like I can evaluate the advice itself and I don’t need to evaluate the person.

After my experience with two specific coaches, I am extremely convinced that a player ought to judge an instructor by the quality of their students. It's the only way. I had a lesson with a well known coach, who told me I should change my pure piston stroke to a pendulumn stroke. In my mid-30s... After I had been playing over 15 years. Showing a complete and utter lack of knowledge of how muscle memory works. But he did mention I was one of the VERY few players he had ever coached who knew exactly where center ball was, and could set up exactly on it.

I ended up pretty much ignoring this advice after about a month, and went back to working on my piston stroke with bottle training. That year, I went to Derby and had the opportunity to meet Little Joe Villalpando, who played in a ring game with me and some other AZers. I took him to lunch and asked his opinion of my game, and what I could do to improve. He said I was a solid player, probably the best player in that ring game, him included, and that I just needed to play more. That year, I put a 5 pack on Joey Gray In the 9 ball, and led John Morra 2-1 in the first round of the One Pocket. With that pure piston stroke.

Little Joe not only was a near champion player in his day, he had multiple team and single national level tournament wins under his belt. This other instructor had nothing to his credit. Little Joe exclusively coached the Behnke family. The other instructor had no quality players to their credit.

So, in short, it depends on what level you are at, and what one's base level of talent is. Some hack instructors are capable enough of getting people to that 500-550 Fargorate level, but maybe a player who feels they have a 700+ level potential needs to find an instructor who has a proven track record of producing at least one or two players at that level.
 
It's not important but it is of some interest and I bet not only to me. You have a fan base to consider :smile: To me there's no pressure greater than the pressure of elimination in a tournament. Especially if you took a day off work and traveled to do it.

You can lose money and reach in your wallet if you're still in the mood to play. But at a tournament you're the ultimate loser. Get out of here now, you are no longer needed.:(

It's a different kind of pressure than something you can grind out until you've had enough.

Tournament pool and gambling pool are two different things.

I always preferred gambling to tournament playing and never had any hesitation playing a "tournament only" player when it came to a gambling match, even if the guy had a backer.

I like "marathon pool" better than "short sprints".

I hate to toot my own horn, but in the vast, vast majority of gambling sessions I've played in, I've came out on "top" when it wasn't a "wham, bam" event.

ANYBODY can win in short races, especially in handicapped events.

To me, the "pressure" of tournament playing is "sitting around waiting all day" for your next match and being "idle" for so long and the "hassle" of the constant b1tching about racks or something, instead of playing pool.
 
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But he did mention I was one of the VERY few players he had ever coached who knew exactly where center ball was, and could set up exactly on it.

It was a very good post Russ, and I enjoyed reading it, but this part baffles me. What do you mean exactly? People don't know how to hit the equator of the CB? As an aside, I hear practicing with no chalk is helpful for that skill.
 
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So what do you think his handicap would be?

I've seen him play. Just because someone has knowledge doesn't mean they have good playing skills.




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I only played a few APA 8 ball sessions but I’d guess the good doctor to be a 7 where I played, possibly a 6 in a big city apa league where the action is tougher. I don’t think I’ve seen him playing 8 ball but just from the ghost sessions and seeing his stroke and all I don’t see it as possible for him to be so bad in competition that he’d be a 4.
 
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