Q: How do the ratings work?

The basic idea is that the better place you get, the better it will be for your rating.  And it's also important how you and the other players are rated before the game starts.  You will earn more for besting a High rated player and conversely lose more to a lower rated player if you finish below them.

  If all players are of equal rating you will more or less go up in rating if you are in 1st or 2nd and  your rating will go down if you are in 3rd or 4th. The points you receive in the game are not used in calculating your rating just what place you earned in the game. (1st, 2nd. etc.)

Since most everyone players team (partner) games you are rated as a team loss or win.  If you are on the losing team you will be compared to the members of the other team as losing  to each the reverse is true if your team wins.  In that case you would be rated as if you won against the individuals of the other team.
 

Q: What are the requirements to play a rated game? Why don't I get a rating!?

You 1st need to be in a rated room.  Next, you have to have at least 3 human players from the start of the game.

Also, you have to play a game that's not using the shortest setting. For example you can play a 25 point standard game nor a 100 point spot heart game.  They are just too short to show how good of a player you are and almost entirely luck.

If you aren't there from the very beginning of the game you won't be rated. 
 

Q: Why did I just go down in rating? It looks like I should of went up!

If you have a higher rating than another player you are  expected to win against that lower rated player.  This may cause you to either not go up in rating or possibly down in rating.

So as a general rule, you better get 1st place or on the winning team if you have a really high ranking when playing a game against very low ranked players.

Q: Why did I just lose 150 points on my rating!

When you start out as a new player, you are in a provisional state.  This is a very unstable time, it will fluctuate a lot until you get out of provisional status.  It's just a placement phase, a way to quickly place you belong in the rating system, so don't worry if you drop 115 points, you might go up 150 next game.

Q: What happens when someone quits or disappears in a rated game?

I1. To be considered a missing player the player has to have been the original player in that seat and made at least one move, cut deck, bid, or played a card.
2. Other players will always be rated against a missing player.
3. A Quitting player will always be rated if their seat lost.
4. A missing player in a winning seat (1st or 2nd in a 4 player individual game, 1st in 3 way) will be rated IF they played more then 3/4this of the game (based on number of hands dealt), and they were disconnected or kicked. A player that chooses to QUIT the game will NEVER receive a win, only a loss.

The rest of the players will play the replacement player and will receive credit as if you we're still playing.

Don't quit a game, it's really upsetting to the remaining players.

Q: How does the rating get calculated?

Okay, I see you like the icky math stuff so here's a link to it...  How the rating calculations work click here