2010 Rankings Champions:

2009 Rankings Champions:

2008 Rankings Champions:

Pedro Piedrabuena 2008 "A" Level Rankings Champion

Gary Elias 2008 "B" Level Rankings Champion

Chris O'Brien 2008 "C" Level Rankings Champion

2007 Rankings Champions:

New Ranking Systems as of 2/1/12:

Below is the current UMB (World Governing Body of Carom Billiards) Ranking System

The first column that says "1" is the number of ranking points given by the UMB to the first place finisher of the tournament. 120 points for the World Championship winner, 80 points for the winner of Confederal Championships such as the CPB Pan American Championship (PAC) and also 80 points for World Cup winners. 30 points is given for the winner of every country's Nationals.

The second column is the points given to the 2nd place finisher of those events. The 3rd column is the points given to both the 3rd and 4th place finishers of those events, etc.

The new USBA Ranking System is a "mirror-like" ranking system which is somewhat similar to the UMB system. The only difference is that there are 6 different "types' of tournaments which each have their own ranking points to be allotted. Regional Qualifiers have the same ranking points as a USBA "Sanctioned" Event.

Here are the above two pictures in PDF format if you prefer:

UMB Current Ranking System (PDF)

New USBA Ranking System (PDF)

Ranking System Rules or Changes:

1) The number of participants in each tournament does not matter. The same number of points are allotted regardless of the number of entrants. This will ensure that players will attend the events and are assured of the number of available ranking points for each event. It will also make sure that players are not punished just because the event had a bad turnout. If others don't show up, it's their loss.

2) Handicapped Tournaments do not receive ranking points.

3) The rankings will be based on each player's 5-best performances within the past 12 month period of time. So even if a player plays in 20 tournaments during the year, only the player's best-5 performances will be counted in the rankings.

4) Any player that has already qualified for the National Championship is permitted to play in another qualifier, but is not allowed to make a profit in prize money and will NOT receive additional ranking points.

5) USBA Rankings Bonus: For "Open" TOUR events, the top 6 nationally-ranked players will each receive $300 expense money when they arrive and play at the event, assuming they are eligible to participate. "B" or "C" players are also permitted to participate in this benefit if they manage to become nationally-ranked into the top six. Jim Shovak has opted himself out of this benefit. This extra bonus money is coming directly from individual sponsors. In order to qualify for the bonus, a player must reside in the United States and must not play in a foreign National Championship. The Rankings Bonus qualifications for each event will be based on the USBA Rankings that is in effect at the time that the tournament is officially announced. Those players' names will be posted in the tournament announcement and will not change regardless of any in-between rankings changes.

Previous Ranking Systems used up to and including 1/31/12:

Explanation of how the rankings are determined:

The ranking system applies to ALL USBA Tournaments with a minimum number of 5 players.

In order for a tournament to be sanctioned or endorsed, it must be approved by the USBA Secretary and placed on the USBA calendar at least 4 weeks ahead of time.

Foreign players are allowed to participate in the ranking system.

Although unlikely, it is mathematically possible for a very strong "B" player to finish at the top of the rankings, but since the player's level will also be posted, most people will understand that the player is not one of the top players, so it really doesn't matter.

At the discretion of the Tournament Director, tThe players who finish near the top will have the privilege of being seeded into tournaments. Obviously, if the event is an "Open" event, then "A" players would be seeded first and the same principle goes for "B" events.

Grand averages will be posted based on all the events that provide averages.

The current USBA Rankings include all qualified USBA tournaments that have ended within 12 months of the posting date of the Rankings. The rankings will be updated monthly.

The method used for determining final placement of all players is as follows:

1) Finalists are ranked in the order that they place in the tournament

2) If there is a Semi-Final, the Semi-Finalists who did not make the finals are then ranked based on:

a) Order of finish within their group (flight)
b) Wins and Losses
c) Total Points Scored
d) Head-to-Head (if applicable)
e) Least number of Points scored against them by their opponents (Points-Against)

The only exception to this order of placement is if the Tournament Director has chosen a different criteria, such as grand average, to be used ahead of another method.

3) All other players who have not advanced from the preliminaries are then ranked based on the same criteria used for Semi-Finalists.

4) If there are an uneven number of players in the groups and it becomes difficult to determine placement because of uneven win/loss records, then the best win percentage is ranked higher. For example, a record of 4-2 is better than a 4-3 record. And a 5-2 record is better than a 4-2 record.

Ranking Points for Auction/Lottery Winners

Any player that participates in a USBA Ranking Tournament and gains entrance into the finals/semi-finals through an auction/lottery will be assigned ranking points in the following manner:

1) The player's order of finish shall initially be determined by his/her placement in the preliminaries (preliminary placement).

2) The player's final order of finish at the conclusion of the tournament will be called his/her final placement.

3) The player shall receive ranking points for his/her preliminary placement plus one-half of the difference in ranking points between his/her preliminary placement and final placement (rounded up to the next whole number).

Example:

Assume 24 players in the preliminaries, 10 advance plus 2 players by auction/raffle for a total of 12 going into the semi-finals and finals. Also suppose that the two that advance by auction/raffle actually finished 14 and 20 in the prelims. In the semi-finals/finals those two players finish 5 (player A) and 8 (player B), respectively. So player A went from 14th to 5th place, and player B went from 20th to 8th place.

The results would be:

a) Placement will be in the order of finish. The two players that advanced by auction/raffle would place 5 and 8, and all other players would place according to how they finished in the semi-finals/finals, with the players not advancing to the semi-finals/finals placing 13 through 24.

b) Rankings will be determined in accordance with the schedule for all players, except that player A will receive ranking points for 14th place plus one-half of the difference between the ranking points for 14th place and 5th place (rounded up to the next whole number), and player B will receive ranking points for 20th place plus one half of the difference between the ranking points for 20th place and 8th place (rounded up to the next whole number). All other players who did not advance to the semi-finals/finals will receive ranking points beginning with the ranking points for 13th place and running though 24th place.