Snooker Handicaps - How do they work???

Fore Iron

Hi there! I'm trying top get back into snooker at the moment after many, many years away from the game. I never had a handicap before and really have no idea how your handicap relates to a particular level of play.

It seems a higher handicap means a better player since they will be giving away more points to their lower handicapped opponent. Fair enough.

But, say in golf if someone has a handicap of 10 I have a very good idea of how they will score and what standard they play to. So can anyone give me some idea of how it works in snooker? Will someone with a handicap of 20 manage to string a break of three or four balls together fairly regularly but not much better? Will someone with a handicap of 7 rarely manage to pot more than a red and a colour? WIll someone off 50 regularly have breaks of 25 or 30 or more?

Also, how do you get a handicap? Do you need to play a minimum number of matches against handicapped players? etc etc.....

You get the idea I hope! Just trying to get some idea of where I might fall into the system!

Thanks!

DJKendo

my handicap is 147..cause its my average break

Fore Iron

You do realise that there is only one person on the planet who actually finds that reply either useful or funny? And laughing at your own jokes is not a trait you'd want to develop....

DJKendo

who said i laughed at it?

Fore Iron

Fair point!

Jaysus! 100 views and nobody knows how handicaps work????

zack01

Hi
Only getting around to your post now, snooker handicaps in the past were easy, if you were a professional player you started at -14, if you were an amateur who represented his country at an international level you started at -7, all other players were scratch. Hence if you were a non player and you entered an event and drew a top pro you would get a 14 point start.
It happened me in a pro am years ago, I was an international player and made it to a quarter final of a pro am only to meet Steve Davis, I go a seven point start and was promptly beaten 4-0!!

Nowadays handicaps are slightly more fairer, for instance your local club will/should run weekly competitions or flyers which are run over one night. You will find the top players in the club who can probably make 70, 80, 90 breaks regulary will be off -50, the regular club players who can make an average 30-40 break will be off around -25 or -20. The players who are a novice at the game and would struggle to make a 10 or 20 break would find themselves off around +20 or +30 in some cases I've seen guys get 90 start.
Each week you enter the competition your handicap will be based on your previous performance, ie: a stranger walks in to the club and says he can't even hold the cue and recieves +40 start and wins the event it's safe to say he won't be off +40 the next time he enters.
Most clubs will have a league ladder/table with the current handicaps so if you even pop in just for a couple of frames and you are playing a fellow member at least the handicaps should be right.
Hope this helps and enjoy the game.

Fore Iron

That's great zack! Thanks a million! Gives me an idea of how it all works. I'm surprised it's that complicated to be honest. I would have thought a system of the better you are the more points you give away so the higher your handicap would have been a little more intuitive. So a novice is off 0 and a pro off 110 or whatever.

So as it stands, someone off 7 is better than someone off 15 but worse than someone off -5. Cool! Is there an upper or lower limit to handicaps?