Just for the sake of complete information... When I was in Iraq for two years, I would get a 2 week vacation every six months, and while travelling back to the U.S., I would always have to stay a night in Kuwait for visa purposes. I had been told that there are plenty of Filipinos in Kuwait, and they play pool.
The first time I was in Kuwait, I jumped in a cab, and told the driver, "Take me someplace where the Filipinos play pool." He took me to a little mall in Saliyah where there were two tables set up in the basement, with "B" players playing on table 1, and "A" players on table 2. Not "our" definition of those two skill levels, but the "A" players were amongst the best in Kuwait, and the "B" players were a tier below them. And nobody gets on either one of these tables unless they are gambling.
I got matched up in a race to 3, Filipino Rotation, with one of the "B" players, for about $40.00. For some reason, even though we had extremely shiite tables in Iraq, and there was no one good to play, I just happened to be in dead stroke when they matched me up on the second table. The entire race to three took maybe 7-8 innings or so. I think I ran one rack straight through to 61. And when I played safe, my opponent was generally frozen to a ball with a minimum two-rail kick. All whilst people around me are explaining the rules when my opponent missed a kick, scratched, etc.
Dude did NOT look happy when he paid off, and no one else stepped up to play. Better than that? The next trip through Kuwait, I got ZERO action, from either table. Now, keep in mind, in general an American is gonna be seen as an easy mark for those Filipinos, so generally, the ongoing match would be finished, and an American would be asked if they want to gamble. That didn't happen.
Even better than THAT? ABout 5-6 years later, I am on a contract in Afghanistan, and I am talking to the Filipino bus driver on post, and tell him I play pool. He said that he did too, and he used to work in Kuwait. He then told me about a story of some chubby American pool player that came through some years back and just crushed cookies, lol. I asked for some clarification on the time frame, and I will let you guess the rest. All over a race to 3, lol...
So, not tooting my own horn, but to illustrate where one would need to be... I am, on paper, a 583 Fargorate. The last time I played a tournament or league that was legitimately Fargorated (not Derby, as they don't report the full match score..) was likely around 4 years ago, before I came to Germany. That being said, I track the players I went to BCA Nationals with (I think we came in somewhere around 25th-32nd place in the Open division, out of 465 teams..), plus players I regularly beat in Colorado and Wyoming. A lot of those players are in the 625-650 range.
Before I left Colorado, I had a short period where I worked out and lost a bunch of weight, and I went on a tear where for a few months, I placed top 4 in every large regional event I played in. It was all bar box, but I surprised a few shortstop level players in the few 9 foot events that we had, coming a LOT closer (hill-hill loss in a race to 15 against a player currently rated 693) than Fargorate predicts. I asked Mike Page about this, and I still think it might play a part in my Fargorate, but as evidenced here -
https://ctsondemand.com/PlayerSearch.aspx?s=Chewning , it seems a lackluster performance by my son in the junior event was attached to my name, somehow? Mike says it was not applied to my rating, but I am somewhere around 50 points lower than everyone else on that Open 8 ball team, and me and 1 other guys were kind of the anchors for that team, so?
So... I don't know what my "real" Fargorate is, but I expect it is somewhere slightly north of 600, so.... Especially if I were to lose weight and actually PRACTICE on the table I have at home, and the snooker table in the basement, who knows?
That being said.. I'd say I am good enough to look at someone playing legitimately, and have a good idea whether I have a chance or not. I would also say that I am good enough that if a player with a Fargorate within 50 points of me tried to "lay down", they might get surprised.
I say all this because my wife and I are planning to go to the Phillipines for the first time next year, and I've put some thought into how I would match up against the players outside of tier 1/tier 2 in the Phillipines. I liked the advice above, to keep the bet low, and one won't attract the good players.
