League Handicapping, What would Be Fair To All ?

[vmax4steve]

What handicap system does your league use ? Is it fair to you ? Is it fair to everyone ? Does it favour a certain type of player ? Does it guarantee a certain type of snooker ? Does it hold back development of young players ? Does it take the enjoyment out of competing ? How would you make it better ?

[warren132]

So many questions...

[magicman]

I've played in a few leagues with handicapping and they were the worst leagues as far as standard was concerned. Now maybe I'm mixing up cause and correlation but for me h/cap leagues allow poorer players to remain poor as they win when they shouldn't. Kick it in the head before you start.

[1lawyer]

I've played in a few leagues with handicapping and they were the worst leagues as far as standard was concerned. Now maybe I'm mixing up cause and correlation but for me h/cap leagues allow poorer players to remain poor as they win when they shouldn't. Kick it in the head before you start.

i agree.

They should all play off scratch and pair the best player in each team off against each other. Handicap systems cause arguments anyway.:snooker:

[Burwat Champ]

Handicaps can be a good idea in the interest of making the game competitive if done properly.

I play in 2 leagues one has individual handicaps which doesnt work because the starts per frame are stupid the range is from -40 to +40.

The other has a team handicap but they work it out wrong, they work out an individual handicap for the 6 best players signed on to the team add those together and and the total figure is the teams handicap, the problem with this is you get teams who lets say have 10 players signed on, 6 of them are really good players but the other four are lads from the club who dont really play but they sign on in case the team is short one week due to holidays illness etc...
now if one of your main 6 is away the player who comes in is not an equal replacement so your at a disadvantage straight away.

The only fair way I think it can be done is if the comitte gives everybody who is signed onto your team a realistic individual handicap between scratch and 30 then on the night you decide who your 6 are add up the individual handicaps together and thats the team handicap for the night.

[faman300lb]

I play for my local club on a Monday night in the North Humberside Snooker League, handicaps for this league are usually changed every 7 weeks, the highest point you start is +42 best i have seen in my leage is bout -21, handicaps are calculated over 7 games and detemrnin on haw well you have played wins/losses, when the handicaps change they change by 7 you rather go down 7 or +7, i knw that on the wednesday nyt league if u win a game u go down -1 if u loose a game u go up +1 say u start of 40 and play 10 games win 7 and lose 3 u will play off 36

[vmax4steve]

So many questions...

Ask them, let's try and get some answers. This is a contentious issue throughout the country, so many leagues with so many different handicap systems, maybe we can come up with something better or fairer.
Myself, I would like to see all individual players in a league have an individual handicap based on wins and losses, with a ceiling in place for + players and unlimited for - players. Those players then to be put into categories ie A, B, C etc. Players will then only play those who are in the same category, or closest, off scratch. For this to work, teams will have to be limited to having so many players of one particular category in the team, ie only three A players allowed per team, only three B players etc.
This would mean teams changing personel as their players get better or worse, but if you're serious about league snooker then this shouldn't matter. If you want to go out with your mates for a game you can do so on another night, league snooker should be about competition and wanting to test yourself against others and the game itself when faced with someone equal to or better than yourself.
I am sick to the back teeth of giving 40+ start every week to some cushion crawler who has no intention of getting better at the game. If these people were made to play each other, they might, and I stress the word MIGHT, be adventureous enough to actually try to score some points instead of just defending a start.