A tough matchup
3–0
behind in the head-to-head
Better Half Barbecue ahead in 100% of their meetings
Better Half Barbecue has come out ahead in 3 of their 3 shared contests.
SMOKE Fx
SMOKE Fx is a competition barbecue team with 3 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2025 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 13th of 15 at The MoCo Smoke Show (2026). They finished #342 in the 2025 Backyard Series Team of the Year standings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1469
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 3
Contests
3
in the data
First seen
Aug 22, 2025
latest Oct 16, 2026 · 1.1 years on the trail
Avg finish
top 98%
overall standings
Walk rate
67%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 160.75 · weakest Brisket (141.09)
Road miles
225
across 3 mapped stops · furthest 135 mi
Schedule strength
74%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1594)
Purse competed for
$15K
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
Master avg
608.15 / 720
2 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
316 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360), so they're kept separate — averaging them together would be misleading.
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 165.7600 | 152.5372 | 160.75 | top 74% |
| Pork Ribs | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 153.6688 | 146.8456 | 150.25 | top 103% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 160.5372 | 156.5716 | 158.55 | top 85% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 144.5028 | 137.6800 | 141.09 | top 100% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
More numbers
Busiest season
2025
2 contests
Contests a season
1.5
across 2 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
MD
1 of 3 contests · 3 states in all
Contests visited
3
a different one every time
Opponents faced
72
finished ahead 3 times, behind 83
Longest layoff
1 yrs
Oct 3, 2025 → Oct 16, 2026
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20261 milestone
- Most recent contest The MoCo Smoke Show
20255 milestones
- First tracked contest Stoney Creek BBQ Cookoff
- First call Stoney Creek BBQ Cookoff
- Career-best single call (Chicken)165.7600 Stoney Creek BBQ Cookoff
- Peak power rating (1491) Stoney Creek BBQ Cookoff
- Career-best overall score611.2460 Keystone Classic BBQ State Championship
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 16, 2026 | The MoCo Smoke Show Silver Spring, MD | 13 / 15 (605.0632) | 9 (163.9660) | 15 (146.8456) | 12 (156.5716) | 15 (137.6800) |
| Oct 3, 2025 | Keystone Classic BBQ State Championship 🏅 Harrisburg, PA | 30 / 30 (611.2460) | 30 (152.5372) | 29 (153.6688) | 27 (160.5372) | 30 (144.5028) |
| Aug 22, 2025 | Stoney Creek BBQ Cookoff 🏅 Edinburg, VA | 17 / 16 (316) | 10 (165.7600) | 18 (150.2400) | — | — |