Handicaps let players and teams of different standards have a competitive game. Used well, they keep weaker teams interested and stop the same side winning every year. Used badly, they cause more arguments than anything else in the league. This guide covers the common types and how to set them fairly.
Does your league need a handicap?
Not every league does. Before adding one, consider:
- Divisions often do the job better. Promotion and relegation put teams with teams of a similar standard, and there's nothing to calculate or argue about.
- A single division with a wide range of standards is where handicaps help most, especially in small or rural leagues where there aren't enough teams to split.
- Individual competitions are the other common use: a handicapped singles knockout gives newer players a real chance of a cup run.
Types of handicap
Team points handicap
Each team gets a handicap rating, and the difference between two teams' ratings is added to the weaker team's score, as points before the match starts or on top of its result.
Example: Team A is rated 0 and Team B is rated 2. Team B starts the match 2 frames (or 2 points) ahead. If A wins the frames 7–5, the handicapped result is a 7–7 draw.
It's easy to understand and easy to put on a scoresheet. The drawback is that one strong player can make a team's rating wrong for everyone else in it.
Player start handicap
Each player gets a rating. In a race to a set number of frames, the weaker player starts a number of frames ahead. This suits singles knockouts, where matches are longer than one frame.
Example: in a race to 5, a player whose rating is two bands below their opponent's starts the match 2–0 up.
Ball or shot handicap
Within a single frame, the weaker player gets an advantage, such as a free shot, or being allowed to take one of their balls off the table before the break. It works for one-frame league matches, but slows the game down and needs everyone to remember the rules. Most leagues avoid it for regular league play.
Setting handicaps fairly
- Base it on results, not reputation. Use win percentages from last season, with a minimum number of frames played. For new players, use a middle rating and review it quickly.
- Use bands. Group players or teams into a small number of bands (for example 0, 1, 2 and 3) rather than fine-grained numbers. Bands are easier to apply on match night and easier to defend.
- Publish them. Everyone should be able to see every handicap, and the rule that produced it.
- Separate it from the committee. If committee members play, have the handicaps calculated by a fixed formula, or by someone who doesn't play.
Reviewing handicaps
Handicaps that never change become unfair quickly. Improving players end up with an advantage they no longer need. Common approaches:
- Once a season, at the AGM, based on the previous season's averages. This is simple, but slow to react.
- At the halfway point as well, once enough frames have been played to be meaningful.
- Automatically, moving a player up a band after winning a handicapped competition.
Whatever you choose, write it into your league rules so the review can't be seen as personal.
Using statistics to set handicaps
Good handicaps need good records: frames played and won for every player, across the whole season and ideally previous seasons too. If your results live on paper or in a spreadsheet, getting those figures together each season is a big job.
Interleague keeps player win percentages, doubles records and a combined table across every season on your league's website, updated as each result is entered. That gives the committee the figures it needs for handicaps without any extra work. See tables and stats.