Hi!
I would please like to know what the new ability figure counts and how is it measured, in order for me to use it effectively.
This number seems arbitrary and mysterious to me and makes little sense when compared to the player's other stats. For measure I looked up the worst player I've ever run across (saf5 on FTP) and he/she ranked a 60? Huh? How could that be? This player's stats are horrendous and I was expecting to see a single digit number for this value. Is there a formula that you can share with us? Thanks.
Well one thing to bear in mind is that the rating is "up to 100" and not "out of 100" and everything is relative to stake and relative to other players.
If you look at any $22 game, you will see a 60 ranking will pretty much be the worse rated player in that game.
Unfortunately we will not be making the algorithm used for the Ability rating public.
Interesting new feature. Based on the people I've looked up so far, a score cannot be under 50 - correct?
BTW I found purecash25 to have a 96 score.
Hi osiris,
I'm afraid we can't confirm how low the rating goes, its best to make the judgment yourself by looking around at other players statistics.
FYI, someone has found a 98 rated player which is "bullitpete" on the Merge network.
The rating seems completely arbitrary. I've found people who play at my stakes who have a terribly negative ROI with an ability rating bigger than mine (I have a 5% ROI).
Is the ability rating to make bad players feel better about themselves?
I don't understand you reluctance to keep the algorithm private. If it were public, it is obvious it would be heavily scrutinized and perhaps rightly so. I'm just disappointed because this is the only stat you offer that seems to be of no actual value.
Thanks, other than that your site is great.
Fishsticks77
Hi fishsticks,
any rating that combines a number of other statistics into a single number is always going to be arbitrary as clearly there is no formula that all people will agree is correct. Most of the time people will simply support the algorithm that makes them look best.
We put extensive work, in consultation with large numbers of experienced users of SharkScope, into designing a algorithm that we feel pretty accurately represents a player's ability based on their results.
At the end of the day if you find no value in the number, simply don't use it.
Can you tell us what are the mean, median, standard vari, etc...
so if the nr. is hight it is a good player ? for example... he has 82 good player.... and if he has 64 not so a good player ? am i getting this right? 
Hi Chris,
yes the higher the number the better the player is.
I think the figures would be more accurate if only the most recent 50% of played
games are counted. Many players have improved significantly and are playing at a much higher level than their ROI or ave/return numbers indicate, as these figures
are based on ALL their play. Also, a more recent ROI figure would also help, rather
than one based on the entire history of the player. IF he's played 1000 games - the
first 500 are rather meaningless. Or maybe just rate the last year.
I've been playing some $1 tournaments on FT and, when the HUD works, the ability figure is always 0 ( zero ).
Are you using a filter? The ability figure does not have a meaning if any other filter than SNG Only or Scheduled Only is used.
is there a calculated formula for the ability? if so plz post it
I agree that the ability rating should be weighted towards more recent results. I've seen guys with fish next to their names who had lost more than 18k (!) at $100 SNGs with a much higher rating than me. I'm not all that, but my total losses add up to about a 1/4 of the rake I've paid.
Find that hard to believe as an actual ranking of ability.
the only thing negative i have to say about the rating, Is that is seems to weigh more heavily on your losses than with wins. for example I went on a good heater heads up recently and moved my rating from a 64-66 ($2 player) by winning 13 in a row, I lose one game to a fish and my rating drops back down to 65 from one game and have not got my 66 back. 
Call me an optomist but I have been curious about the ability rating for myself in a good way. I really want to increase this number. I am currently rated a "69" a number that I like in more ways than one! lol
I was at 68 for the last couple of weeks and even though I have been crawling upwards on the profit scale my rating remained at 68. Last night I took 3 first place finishes out of 4 games played. Ist of 6 at $6.00, 1st 0f 90 at $2.00, 1st of 27 at $3.00 and 10th of 27 at $3.00. I checked my SS stats this morning. I am now a 69. My ROI moved from 10% to 11% and my profit moved up from around $1600.00 to $1700.00
There is no question that I am a much better player now then 2400 games ago when I started. Even though I don't know how the formula works I do like it for a quick glance of an opponents ability. I do have a tendancy to check the players average buy in also. I am aware that a player rated at 62 with an average buy in of $25.00 is likely a better player than I am with a 69 rating with an average buy in of $6.00 and I play him with respect that he has some skills. With respect "NOT FEAR"
I am motivated to increase my own ability rating but I also understand the pride that can cause us to be dissapointed when our ranking is lower than someone who appears to us to be a worse player than ourselves.
yOU HAVE EARNED ALL YOU CAN AT THAT LEVEL. sorry about caps...they are telling you to move up levels if you want to earn anymore points.
Don't know if it means much this ability figure but I'll say one thing I'm 82 on P/S and 83 on F/T so it can't be far out.
I have just 265 Sng's to my name and my average stake is 14 with a 16 to 18 ROI which has me currently at 74 ability. If I lose a couple I drop a point if I win a few more then that I seem to gain a point. I am thinking the amount of games you have played plays a big part in the drop or gain in your ability score at least as far as I can tell.
I say a player with an ability rating of 69 and he had lost over 8k in less than a thousand games. HIs buy in level was around 70 dollars per game. Why does sharkscope rate players higher just because they play higher buy ins. This guy was awful and a friend of mine has the same rating with a profit of 3k. He only plays 10 dollar or below buy ins. The ability stat is flawed big time in my opinion. My friend is way better than the guy that has lost 8k but because his buy in level is much lower they have the same ability level. I dont know who came up with this formula but it should be changes as it is completely worthless and inaccurate the way it is now.
I saw a player, not i say a player
Hi Sfaki,
The Ability rating is a rating that goes up to 100 and shows a player's ability based on an assessment of all the other statistics we have compiled for that player. It allows you to easily compare players who play significantly different stake levels and tournament types - for example a player who loses a small amount at high stakes games is likely a better player than a player that wins money at very low stakes games - and so may well have a higher Ability rating.
To our knowledge, the highest rated player currently has a rating of 96.