{% extends "base.html" %} {% block title %}About - Pickleball ELO Tracker{% endblock %} {% block content %}
The ELO rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players. It was invented for chess but works great for any competitive sport.
In pickleball, your ELO rating represents your skill level. Everyone starts at 1500. When you play a match, your rating goes up or down based on:
In version 3, we switched from separate singles/doubles ratings to a unified rating. Both singles and doubles matches contribute to the same ELO rating, because:
In doubles matches, we calculate your "effective opponent" to make scoring fair:
Effective Opponent = Opp1 + Opp2 - Teammate
This means:
This approach is fair, symmetric, and makes strategic sense.
Rating Change = K ร (Actual Performance โ Expected Performance)
Where:
The expected performance formula: E = 1 / (1 + 10^((Opp_Rating - Your_Rating) / 400))