Reading rankings / FRAME ARCHIVE
Where ranking money comes from—and why winning can mean falling
A fictional ledger explains counting prize money, actual income, deductions and the difference between ranking lists.
General professional world-ranking concepts. All amounts are teaching examples. Season-specific exceptions, removal dates and qualification rules require the relevant official documents.
Check the unit before reading the number
Professional world rankings use counting prize money over a rolling two-year basis. When this site's ranking value is labelled GBP or £, it represents a ranking total, not points scored by potting balls.
It is not total personal income either. Non-counting prizes and other income can sit outside it. Some exclusions on the WPBSA FAQ are explicitly season-specific; check the relevant season before applying them to another year.
Read additions and deductions together
This fictional update illustrates the arithmetic. Use the official removal schedule for real records, rather than mechanically subtracting 730 days from every event date.
| Entry | Amount (GBP) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Opening ranking total | 300,000 | Starting position |
| Expiring results | −80,000 | Old money removed |
| New counting result | +35,000 | New money added |
| Closing total | 255,000 | Net decrease of 45,000 |
Keep the lists separate
The two-year world list, the one-season list and a provisional list for a qualification cutoff answer different questions. Read the list name and publication date before comparing screenshots.
Player A can be higher in the world list while player B is higher for the season. The longer window and the current season measure different periods. For event qualification, check which list and cutoff that event actually uses.
Audit one source at a time
Keep the event, season, final round, counting amount, addition date, removal date and official source together. Sum records at a shared cutoff only after checking those fields. Unknown values should remain unknown, not become zeros that make an incomplete ledger look complete.
Do not add every round's cumulative prize band to an event's final counting amount. If qualifying and main-draw payments are listed separately, read the allocation rules before deciding whether they are additive.
Read this site's coverage honestly
Our ranking display is an observation of an official list when collected. A collection timestamp does not establish every historical ranking. Match coverage and ranking-money coverage can also differ: a recorded match is not automatically a complete accounting record.
Choose one player and one published list for an audit. If your total differs, check missing events, duplicates, units and removal dates. Never invent an unsourced adjustment simply to make the numbers agree.