Handicapping fairly.

[j45onl]

Can anyone tell me of a formula for handicapping individual players in a 4 man team in a very amateur league of 12 teams? Currently it is down to the captain of each team and a handicappe commitee to decide which is unfair as favoritism is rife! Basically an excellent player with 100+ breaks is -42 handicappe and the worst player is +28, I am 0 or scratch please help!

[WEBSF_COACH]

In our league we decided not to handicap individual players as it so often causes problems. What we have done for the past 3 seasons is rank all league players as either 'A' or 'B', based on the previous seasons league merit table. 'A' players are those that finished in with 50% or higher wins in league matches and 'B' players less than 50% wins.

All league matches are played off level starts. However, 'B' players can earn extra bonus points for their team when they are drawn against and beat an 'A' team player. e.g 1 point for wining each frame won plus extra bonus points for each frame won. a reward for beating an 'A' team player. This way 'B' players have the extra incentive to up-their-game against 'A' players, which helps them improve. This also makes the 'A' player think more about their game adding pressure.

The team, that has for 6 year run away with the title half way through the season, is still wining the league but not until the last couple of matches. This helps keep teams interested in race for the league title.

Check out the past 3 final Seaton Snooker League tables which can be found on the www.websf.co.uk website, follow the Counties/Leagues link.

[Cossie]

In the Manchester Snooker League, which has been running 50+ years we do handicap individual players and have tried many different systems. The system we have finally adopted and used for the last few years is as follows: Each player is assessed by their captain before the season and given an individual handicap. If they win their handicap changes by -2 or +2 if they lose. For administration purposes the new handicaps change after 4 matches the maximum change being +/- 8. There is a handicap committee to ensure a new player has not been entered of a bandit handicap and we reserve the right to change it to what is seen as a true reflection.

We have found this works really well and players soon find their appropriate handicap, our range is -60 to +40, but this is the extreme in most matches the start is less than 20. Have a look at our website and you can see www.manchester-snooker-league.com

Rob Spencer
Match Secretary
Manchester Snooker League

[nrage]

In the Manchester Snooker League, which has been running 50+ years we do handicap individual players and have tried many different systems. The system we have finally adopted and used for the last few years is as follows: Each player is assessed by their captain before the season and given an individual handicap. If they win their handicap changes by -2 or +2 if they lose. For administration purposes the new handicaps change after 4 matches the maximum change being +/- 8. There is a handicap committee to ensure a new player has not been entered of a bandit handicap and we reserve the right to change it to what is seen as a true reflection.

We have found this works really well and players soon find their appropriate handicap, our range is -60 to +40, but this is the extreme in most matches the start is less than 20. Have a look at our website and you can see www.manchester-snooker-league.com

Rob Spencer
Match Secretary
Manchester Snooker League

This is very similar to the Wed night comp I used to play in/run. I think the key point is to shift players by a small amounts, often, the more often the better (as world snooker has started doing). The other key is to ensure the sum total of changes for the group is 0, as in for every X points added, you also subtract X points. If you continually add more than you take away everyones handicap will gradually climb in value. Alternately you could just shift everyone back down periodically to deal with that.

[highbreak 8]

They say the Blackpool and Fylde handicapping system is the best there is , based on a mathematical formula , by a ex team mate called Mike Hickey [ total points won by in the frame ,less the black or something] it sounds tricky it isn't.
i'm sure a player from the area will enlighten the forum .

[andy carson]

In the Manchester Snooker League, which has been running 50+ years we do handicap individual players and have tried many different systems. The system we have finally adopted and used for the last few years is as follows: Each player is assessed by their captain before the season and given an individual handicap. If they win their handicap changes by -2 or +2 if they lose. For administration purposes the new handicaps change after 4 matches the maximum change being +/- 8. There is a handicap committee to ensure a new player has not been entered of a bandit handicap and we reserve the right to change it to what is seen as a true reflection.

We have found this works really well and players soon find their appropriate handicap, our range is -60 to +40, but this is the extreme in most matches the start is less than 20. Have a look at our website and you can see www.manchester-snooker-league.com

Rob Spencer
Match Secretary
Manchester Snooker League

sounds virtually the same as in the bury league, though it goes (supposedly) up or down by 1 for every frame win, and an extra 1 down if you win by 50 or more points) and we have had a few instances of 75 starts.... (in fact i had one, had 2 visits and got beat )