UHRL Rating List - formula

The history of the UHRL, along with frequently asked questions, is given here.

UHRL changes to Marcus Ratings

• Players are initialized to their current UHRL ratings,
• Tournaments after 1/1/2000 are processed using the Marcus formula,
• We continue to maintain ratings using the "old" formula (in parallel), in case we decide to switch back,
• Although we won't be publishing the parallel ratings (under the "old" formula), we will be glad to answer requests for people who are curious what their rating would be under the "old" system.

The "old" UHRL formula

The "old" uhrl rating system is done in a hybrid manner utilizing both the USATT and USCF (chess) formulas. Unrated players and players with less than 10 matches utilize the USCF provisional rating formula. Established players (those with 10 or more rated matches) utilize a formula similar to the USATT method (details below). USATT adjustments (boosting players who have particularly good results) will probably need to be added in the future, but for now have been left out.

The current rating system is as follows.

• (PASS ONE) - Unrated players are given estimated ratings. Players who are known for (or demonstrate) superior play with&versus hardbat start at 100-200 points higher than their USATT rating. Players who play hardbat regularly start at 0-100 points higher than their USATT. Players who sometimes play with hardbat start at 100-200 points below their rating, and players who are clearly worse with hardbat start at 200-400 points below their rating. Exceptional cases may be estimated at more extreme values if warranted. Unrated players are estimated locally or by subjective review of match scores. *A NOTE ABOUT ESTIMATED RATINGS* -- The estimates are used only to evaluate the performances of a player's unrated opponents. The estimate is discarded when calculating a player's own rating.
• (PASS TWO) - An initial performance rating for unrated players is created. This is done by averaging the performance ratings for each match. A performance rating for a match is the opponent's rating +400 (if won) and -400 if lost. Note that if a player defeats someone rated more than 380 points lower, or loses to someone rated more than 380 points higher, then the opponent's rating is considered to be one's own rating plus or minus 380, respectively. The estimated ratings from pass one are used if the opponent is unrated.
• (PASS THREE) - The estimated ratings are replaced by the averaged performance ratings, and the process for PASS TWO is repeated for unrated players AND for players with provisional ratings. Provisionally rated players are those players who already have UHRL ratings, but who have played less than 10 rated matches. Their ratings are recalculated including both current and past matches. This is done by multiplying the current rating by the number of matches played to date, adding the new performance ratings, and dividing by the new total number of matches. Once a player completes his/her 14th match, their rating is no longer provisional, and the calculation of their rating switches from the 400-point method shown in PASS TWO above, to the USATT method shown in PASS FOUR below.
• (PASS FOUR) - The results of PASS THREE are the new UHRL ratings for the unrated and provisionally-rated players. All remaining previously-rated players (i.e., those who have played at least 10 rated matches) are then updated according to a scale similar to the the USATT 0-50 scale printed in Table Tennis Magazine. Adjustments used by USATT are not employed. The UHRL scale is slightly more aggressive than the USATT scale, since hardbat events are still less common than USATT events. The UHRL scale is as follows:

            RATING-DIFF  LOW-WINS   HIGH-WINS
               0-12        12        12
              13-37        10        14
              38-62         9        17
              63-87         8        20
              88-112        6        25
             113-137        5        31
             138-162        4        38
             163-187        3        46
             188-212        2        55
             213-237        1        65
             238 &up        0        75
  

• (NORMALIZATION) - At the suggestion of others (not myself), I added a provision for proportionally adjusting the entire list up or down to make the highest UHRL rating match the highest USATT rating. This was done for the initial rating list, and was also done at the beginning of 1999 (a full explanation of that is shown here. It may be done again in the future if the two rating lists become noticeably disparate. (it was not done at the beginning of the year 2000).

How do I submit results?

Please indicate birthdates if possible (month/year is sufficient), and gender. These are used in the top-10 lists for juniors, seniors, and women.

Classic Hard Bat Table Tennis