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One Pocket Handicaps
© 2004-2006 Steve Booth
The following chart shows
standard One Pocket handicaps listed in order of degree
of adjustment, starting from ‘even’ and going to the
extreme. They are broken down into three columns based on how the
count works:
- Natural Handicaps – These scores
all add up to ‘16’, so that without any ball-spotting
adjustments, every game naturally offers the possibility of coming
down to the ultimate end game of a duel over the last ball on
the table for the game.
- Long Count Handicaps – These
scores all add up to more than ‘16’, thus requiring
the player that goes to the long count to spot the first ball
or balls they score to bring their required count back down to
a natural count. Otherwise all the balls could be down without
either player having scored enough balls to win! The disadvantage
of long count handicaps is that they will take longer to play,
of course. As a reminder in keeping score, a coin can be placed
on the rail top for each extra ball to be spotted. In the event that the player going to the long count runs all the balls off the table before all of their extra handicap balls have been spotted, all of the remaining handicap balls are to be spotted all at once, and they continue their inning.
- Short Count Handicaps – These
scores add up to less than ‘16’, which means that
in the end game, if both players need only one ball, there will
actually be more than one ball left on the table. These short
count handicaps do help to speed up game times, however.
The
Break
The
break can also figure into handicapping, either by giving one player
all of the breaks instead of alternating the break, or by just giving
one player the first break in a race when subsequent breaks are
still alternated. The break appears to be worth approximately 1-1/2
balls for professional players on tournament equipment, for roughly
a 60-40 advantage - a big handicap, especially if the balls are
breaking well!
Alternating Handicaps
on Alternate Breaks
In
cases where only a very slight handicap adjustment is desired, this
can be done by adjusting the handicap slightly depending on which
player is breaking, i.e.; playing even on the weaker player's break,
but giving up a one ball handicap on the stronger player's break.
This has the effect of cutting the adjustment increment in half,
which allows for very tuning indeed.
One Pocket Handicap Chart
© 2006 Steve Booth OnePocket.org
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Natural ‘16’Handicaps
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Long Count Handicaps ( >16 total scores)
|
Short Count Handicaps
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8-8 |
. |
. |
. |
9-8 (player going to 9 spots their first ball, then plays
8-8) |
. |
. |
. |
8-7 |
. |
10-8 (player going to 10 spots their first two balls, then
plays 8-8) |
. |
The break is traditionally worth about 1-1/2 to 2 balls
|
9-7 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
8-6 |
. |
11-8 (player going to 11 spots their first three balls, then
plays 8-8) |
. |
. |
10-7 (player going to 10 spots their first ball, then plays
9-7) |
. |
. |
12-8 (player going to 12 spots their first four balls, then
plays 8-8) |
. |
. |
. |
9-6 |
. |
11-7 (player going to 11 spots their first two balls, then
plays 9-7) |
. |
. |
. |
8-5 |
10-6 |
. |
. |
. |
12-7 (player going to 12 spots their first 3 balls, then plays
9-7) |
. |
. |
. |
9-5 |
. |
11-6 (player going to 11 spots their first ball, then plays
10-6) |
. |
. |
12-6 (player going to 10 spots their first two balls, then
plays 10-6) |
. |
. |
. |
10-5, 8-4 |
11-5 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
9-4 |
. |
12-5 (player going to 12 spots their first ball, then plays
11-5) |
. |
. |
. |
10-4 |
. |
13-5 (player going to 13 spots their first two balls, then
plays 11-5) |
. |
. |
. |
8-3 |
. |
. |
11-4 |
12-4 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
9-3 |
. |
13-4 (player going to 13 spots their first ball, then plays
12-4) |
. |
. |
. |
10-3 |
. |
14-4 (player going to 14 spots their first two balls, then
plays 12-4)
|
. |
. |
. |
11-3 |
. |
. |
12-3, 8-2 |
13-3 |
. |
. |
. |
. |
9-2 |
. |
. |
10-2 |
. |
. |
11-2 |
. |
. |
12-2 |
. |
. |
13-2 |
14-2 |
. |
. |
. |
15-2 (player going to 15 spots their first ball, then plays
14-2) |
. |
. |
16-2 (player going to 16 spots their first two balls, then
plays 14-2) |
. |
. |
. |
8-1 |
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