USTSF/ITSF Player Points and Rankings

The following are the official USTSF and ITSF points and rankings.

USTSF Points:
- Tornado Table (Note: also used as the official points by the USTSA)
- Bonzini Table

The above are the "Official USTSF Player Ratings". USTSF points are the recognized national system, but due to the specialized nature of tournament structures/promotions, regional/localized ratings systems such as those used by Bonzini USA, IFP, and Xtreme Sportz remain fully authorized for use (and even recommended) by USTSF. This allows the regional/localized promoters to continue to better categorize players for their specific tournament events and promotions.

ITSF Points/Rankings

There are separate USTSF points/ranking lists for the different official ITSF tables being used for USTSF sanctioned tournaments in the USA, due to the different playing characteristics of each table (i.e., a player may not play as well on Bonzini tables and they do on Tornado tables, and vice versa), so if a single ranking system was to be used it would be inaccurate, especially with respect to players that compete on both tables rather than only on their "stronger" table. In addition, separate points and rankings are kept for singles and doubles, as well as open an womens events.

Currently, there are only 2 ITSF tables being used for sanctioned tournaments in the USA, Tornado and Bonzini. Both ratings/rankings systems use a system based on the Elo rating system (although there currently are slight differences in the Elo parameters used between the Tornado and Bonzini Elo systems). For more info on the Elo rating/ranking systems (how it works, etc.), click here: Tornado Elo info, Bonzini Elo info.

Note that rankings can be changed (based on points) as individual promoters desire for their tournaments. For instance, one promoter may say anyone with points between 1800 and 2400 is ranked a "Pro" for their tournament event, while another promoter may say anyone with points between 1500 and 2000 is ranked a "Pro" for their tournament event. Promoters are also free to give their own names for rankings (e.g., one promoter may want to call the lowest set of points "Rookie" ranking, while another may call the lowest set "Beginner" ranking).  The promoter should make clear their rankings on their tournament info (posters, announcements, etc.).

There is also the ITSF Points/Rankings, which attempts to rank all the players in the world, based on their competition in all ITSF sanctioned tournaments on all official ITSF tables. This system is not based on Elo, but rather based on chart position (i.e., how high you place in tournaments). This system is used as one of the methods to determine qualification for the annual ITSF World Championship tournament (see here), as well as to provide some sort of overall "world" ranking.