Key Points
- Fargo Ratings rank pool players worldwide on a single scale using win/loss data against opponents of known rating.
- The scale has no fixed top or bottom. Professional players typically rate between 700 and 800. Most league players fall between 200 and 700.
- Every 100-point gap doubles the expected win ratio. A 100-point difference predicts a 1:2 game win ratio.
- A rating is considered established once a player has a robustness of 200 games.
- Ratings are recalculated globally every day at 6am GMT.
- Results from 8-ball, 9-ball, and 10-ball on 7-foot and 9-foot tables all count toward ratings.
What Is FargoRate?
FargoRate is a company that computes and maintains pocket billiard player ratings called Fargo Ratings. The system rates amateur and professional players on the same scale by connecting game win/loss data across local leagues, regional events, and international competition. A Fargo Rating of 620 represents the same skill level regardless of where the player lives or where they earned that rating.
Unlike sports with an absolute performance measure (swimmers have time, high jumpers have height), pool has no such metric. Skill at pool, like skill at chess, must be measured through relative performance: who beats whom. FargoRate builds its ratings from that foundation, computing the set of ratings that best predicts the outcome of all recorded games between all connected players.
The system currently covers over 299,000 players across 130 countries, with more than 28 million games in the dataset. New games are submitted daily and the rating calculation is rerun every day.
The Scale
The Fargo Rating scale has no fixed top or no fixed bottom. Ratings reflect relative performance, but over time they take on an absolute meaning within the player community. The following table shows the approximate skill level associated with each rating range, as described by FargoRate.
| Rating | What It Represents |
|---|---|
| 800+ | Top world-class player. Fewer than 20 players worldwide exceed 800. |
| 700 | Top regional player in the US. Approximately 300 players at this level in the United States. World-class female player. Capable of running six racks in a row when the break is working. |
| 600 | Has run three racks in a row multiple times, possibly four. High run in 14.1 of 50 to 60. Approximately 30 players at this level per million population. |
| 500 | A solid local league player. Runs out on the first visit in roughly 5% of games. Close to the median of all players in the FargoRate system. |
| 400 | Runs out on the first visit in roughly 1% of games. Once or twice per league season. |
| 300 | Common level for a league player. May have run a table once, may not have. |
| 200 | Beginner level, modestly coordinated. Has likely never run an 8-ball table. |
| 100 | Beginner level, somewhat uncoordinated. |
APA and TAP leagues assign players their own skill level ratings. If you know your roster's skill levels, LineUp Magic calculates every valid lineup combination under your cap instantly.
What Rating Differences Mean
Fargo Ratings operate on a logarithmic scale, similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes. Each gap of 100 points doubles the expected game win ratio in favor of the higher-rated player. This relationship holds at any point on the scale, not just at specific levels.
A new player can establish a preliminary rating through results against any opponent of known rating. A player who consistently wins two out of three games against a rated 350 is performing at approximately a 450, since the two win games in roughly a 2:1 ratio and a 2:1 ratio corresponds to a 100-point gap.
Handicapping with Fargo Ratings
Rating players and handicapping matches are two separate uses of the system. Ratings measure and compare player skill. Handicapping applies that information to create fair matches between players of different skill levels.
The most common handicapping method is a race to different game counts. In a "9-7" format, the higher-rated player must win 9 games before the lower-rated player wins 7 to claim the match. The table below shows how to set up a fair race when the stronger player races to 9, based on the rating difference between the two players.
| Rating difference | Weaker player races to (when stronger races to 9) |
|---|---|
| 17 | 8 |
| 36 | 7 |
| 58 | 6 |
| 85 | 5 |
| 117 | 4 |
| 158 | 3 |
| 217 | 2 |
| 317 | 1 |
Robustness: How Reliable Is a Rating?
Robustness is FargoRate's measure of how reliable a player's rating is. At the most basic level it reflects the number of games contributing to the rating, though FargoRate notes the metric may eventually incorporate factors such as the recency of those games and whether opponents had established ratings themselves.
A robustness of 200 is the minimum threshold for a rating to be considered established. Players below that threshold have a preliminary rating that may be influenced by a starter rating. APA and TAP captains who know their players' skill levels can sign up free at LineUp Magic to see every legal lineup combination before match night.
A starter rating is an optional prior estimate of a new player's skill used to generate a sensible preliminary rating before enough games have been played. It is not part of the core FargoRate calculation. The preliminary rating a player sees is a weighted blend of their performance rating (weighted by games played) and the starter rating (weighted by games remaining to 200). Once a player reaches 200 games the starter rating is dropped entirely.
How Ratings Are Calculated and Updated
FargoRate computes what are called maximum likelihood ratings: the set of ratings that most accurately predicts the outcome of all recorded games among all connected players, taken together. This global optimization links players everywhere through chains of shared opponents. A group of players in a local league becomes connected to the worldwide scale through even a single player who has competed outside the group.
This full global optimization is run every day at 6am GMT. New game results are added to the dataset continuously, and each recalculation incorporates all of them.
To account for player improvement over time, the weight of older games in the calculation diminishes as newer games are added. More recent results have greater influence on a player's current rating than results from years past. FargoRate notes that simply dropping old games entirely would not work well, because a game that seems old for one player may still be a key data point for their opponent's rating.
What Games Are Included
Fargo Ratings are calculated from results in 8-ball, 9-ball, and 10-ball played on either 7-foot or 9-foot tables.
The Rating System's Origins
Fargo Ratings are built on the same mathematical foundation as ELO ratings, a system developed by Hungarian-born American physicist Arpad Elo to rate chess players. The same basic relationship between rating differences and win probability that underpins Fargo Ratings is also used in soccer, NFL football, baseball, the game Go, and competitive video games, among others. APA and TAP captains who want to get the most out of their team's skill levels on match night can try LineUp Magic free to calculate every legal lineup combination under their cap.
Earlier ELO-type implementations for pool appeared in the 1990s: one by Ron Shepard at Argonne National Laboratory for an 8-ball league, and another by Bob Jewett for 9-ball players in the San Francisco area. The concept of a global optimization approach, computing all ratings together rather than updating them sequentially, was described by Michael Page in a 2002 Billiards Digest article. Fargo Ratings were later implemented at Fargo Billiards in Fargo, ND, and FargoRate was founded to maintain and expand the system.
Sandbagging Resistance
FargoRate describes the design principle behind its resistance to manipulation: transparency. Because every game against every opponent contributes to a player's rating, manipulating the system requires sustained, costly effort. Intentional losses in tournaments come at the cost of entry fees, and a single strong tournament performance can offset multiple deliberate sandbagging attempts. FargoRate also observes that the system's credibility among players, and the fact that most players actively want a higher rating, serves as a natural deterrent against widespread abuse.
USAPL Format Integration
The USA Pool League uses an 8-ball match format where a player earns points for each ball pocketed plus 7 points for the 8-ball, so the winner of any game always receives 14 points. FargoRate can predict the probability each player wins a game outright, but determining how many points the losing player earns requires additional data. Analysis of tens of thousands of 8-ball games shows that the average losing score is slightly above 4 points, and that a losing player tends to earn more points when losing to a weaker opponent (who is less likely to run out) than when losing to a stronger one. USAPL matchups account for this distinction when using Fargo Ratings to set fair matches. APA and TAP captains can create a free account at LineUp Magic to apply their league's skill level cap automatically to every possible lineup.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Fargo Rating?
A Fargo Rating is a numerical score measuring a pocket billiards player's skill based on wins and losses against opponents of known rating. The system connects players from local leagues, regional tournaments, and professional events worldwide onto a single scale. Ratings are maintained by FargoRate.
What does a Fargo Rating of 500 mean?
A rating of 500 represents a solid local league player who runs out on their first visit to the table in roughly 5% of games. 500 is close to the median of all players in the FargoRate system.
How many games do you need for an established Fargo Rating?
A rating is considered established once a player reaches a robustness of 200, meaning at least 200 games contributing to their rating. Players below that threshold have a preliminary rating that may be blended with a starter rating.
What games count toward a Fargo Rating?
Fargo Ratings are calculated from results in 8-ball, 9-ball, and 10-ball played on 7-foot or 9-foot tables.
How often are Fargo Ratings updated?
A full global optimization of all ratings is performed every day at 6am GMT. New results are added to the dataset continuously.
What does a 100-point Fargo Rating difference mean?
A 100-point gap predicts a 1:2 game win ratio in favor of the higher-rated player. A 200-point gap predicts 1:4, and a 300-point gap predicts 1:8. The scale is logarithmic, so each additional 100 points doubles the expected ratio.
Is the Fargo Rating system related to ELO ratings?
Yes. Fargo Ratings are based on the same mathematical principles as ELO ratings, originally developed to rate chess players. The same approach is used in many other competitive sports and games. FargoRate extends the basic ELO framework with a daily global optimization that recalculates all player ratings simultaneously using the full dataset.
If you play in an APA or TAP league, LineUp Magic calculates every legal lineup combination from your roster instantly, with the cap rules and senior player limits applied automatically.
🎱 Try LineUp Magic FreeThis page is an independent educational summary of publicly available information about how FargoRate works. LineUp Magic is not affiliated with FargoRate. All factual content is drawn from the FargoRate website at fargorate.com and is presented for reference only.