player ratings

 Dr. Dave's answers to frequently-asked questions (FAQs),
mostly from the BD CCB and AZB discussion forums

maintained for the book: The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards
and the monthly Billiards Digest "Illustrated Principles" instructional articles

9-ball rating drill

Is there a drill that can be used to measure my level of play?

I have a 9-ball rating drill that can be used to rate a player and track improvement over time. The purpose of this drill is to evaluate your offensive skills (shot making, position play, handling of clusters and problem balls, and breaking) and assign a 1-10 (or A-D) rating to those skills. Note - safety play, a very important part of the game, is not addressed in this drill.

More rating drills can be found under drills here.

from Eric.:
Joe Tucker has a thing he uses that proves to be pretty accurate. It goes like this:

Rack up some 10 ball. Break from anywhere. After the break, take ball in hand and run out, in rotation (1, 2, 3, etc...) All balls made on the break count. Any balls made on a scratch are spotted. Once you miss, the rack is over. You should shoot 10 racks and count the total balls made for each rack. After 10 racks, take your total and compare it to this chart:

30-35 D+
36-40 C
41-45 C+
46-50 B
51-55 B+
56-60 A
61-65 A+
66-70 A++
71-up Pro

I'm not sure if it matters what size table. I like this rating system because it takes a lot into account as far as player ability i.e. shotmaking, position play, cluster breaking, break skill. It makes no difference if you play 10 ball or not, the results are very close to reality.

Accu-Stats TPA

How does Accu-Stats' player rating system work?

The Tournament Performance Average (TPA) can be used to measure a player's performance in a match or tournament. It is a single number (like a batting average) based on the following formula:

TPA = (# of Balls Made) / (# of Balls Made + # of Errors)

Errors are any of the following:

For example, if you make 100 balls in a match and commit 25 errors, your TPA would be 0.8 or 80% (100/125). A perfect score, with no errors, would be 1.0 or 100%.

Pool Quotient (PQ) progressive-drill ability test

Is there a set of drills I can use to get a good measure of my overall ability?

The Pool Quotient (PQ) ability test, based on progressive practice drills is a good tool to measure ability and track improvement over time. Here it is: PQ Ability Test.