OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I played in Aurora Cup two years ago - it was my last tourney before I switched to LP. I thought it was a well-organized tournament with good conditions - their trophies look awesome, by the way.

Checked top Open seeds - could've been easily Westchester Open : Kai Zhang, Jian Li, Zirui Zhao, Bochao Li, Bowen Chen... There is even a decent chance I'll have someone in my U2000 RR group that I've already played few times at Westchester (assuming seeding works the way I think it does). Small TT world...

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Sorry, haven't visited the site in a while.. Better late than never..

You can chop with just about anything except maybe something ultra-fast like MXP which I found hard to control even when playing offensive shots. It was terrible even in 1.9. Tried other clones, still like classic tenergy the most for its balance in terms of control vs spin.

If you try an 05 or a 64 on a SLOW BLADE (like VKM) they will play much slower and will be great for a modern defender (and IMHO you can chop with them too - at least I can)

Pgpg,

People think I'm nuts when i say this, but Omega IV Asia in 2.0 is super easy to chop with on the FH. For me, I feel it's the most forgiving rubber on that side, even in comparsion with "Chopping rubbers" that are thinner. I always go back to it. The reason I flirt with other rubbers is that I find the short pushing to be a bit harder because of the speed, but really I adjusted to that too. Reflectoid is really good in the short game, and that's why I've stuck with it...only in the thin sponge because the thicker sponges are just TOO slow for me.

Right now...largely because of you....I'm trying barracuda and I see why you find it more difficult to chop with...because of the throw. But I have adjusted and I'm managing to chop fine on the FH. But WOW do I like the looping! BTW, T05 and Barracuda throw-wise are identical to me. For chopping as well....

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

Had a frustrating league night yesterday (there is always one just around the corner, waiting... ) - went 2-3, but it felt worse, especially in the beginning.

Quickly lost 0:3 to B, the guy I beat last two times we played just recently - OK, loss itself was not that painful, as we are close in level, but the nature of it was - way too many errors all over the place, so it was not close. Then lost 2:3 next match to BR after being up 2:0 and then making too many mistakes, especially on BH (really need to work on my twiddling...). After this lost 1:3 to L, a guy I have not lost in a year or so, mostly mistakes on my part again, I think, but he played very well, so credit where it's due.

Finally won a close match in 5 against S, the guy I had very few problems with lately, but after that did upset C, much to my surprise. So - all over the place. Most likely lack of focus hurt - my mind was still at work, at least early on.

@notfound123 - I will have to try Tenergy at some point, just to have an opinion of what it actually feels like in general and on Defplay/VKM in particular. I do have MX-P on one of my spare blades (N-11?) - and it is FAST, but then everything probably is after defensive blade.

@Japsican - same with Omega Asia IV, especially since it seems I'm responsible for you dabbling with Baracuda. But only after I give Reflectoid another chance. Tried FLIII recently for a bit - did not feel that different in a short time I gave it on VKM. Still yet to try your Easy-P

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Aurora Cup is in the books: went 4-5 and probably will drop ~10 points (Edit: OK, it was only 4, since one of the guys got a nice adjustment), but I view it as noise more or less.

Couple of impressions:

* Well-run tournament, with events starting on time.
* Decent conditions - some sort of synthetic floor, which worked pretty well. Light could be better, but no significant glare, which is good. Joola Flash balls are fine (I like seamless).
* One thing I would change - only one player advances out of RR in all events I played (U1900, 2000, 2100). Hate that. They had plenty of time and tables, I think, to advance top 2.
* Nice size courts - I did not realize how much that matters for someone who likes to defend from a distance.
* Again went 0:3 in 5-game matches, 2 of them against folks 200+ points above me. One still hurts pretty badly - came back from being down 0:2 and was up 10:7 only to lose 10:12 in 5th... Good match though...

Edit:
* No high level choppers to watch - I think Jian Li did not show up, and I only saw a couple of other defense-minded players overall.
* Many more Seemiller-grip players compared to what I see on East Coast.
* Lost couple of important lob-smash rallies.
* Mental attitude was good - never got angry.
* Probably should've gone easier on drinks both nights before the tournament - but I was visiting good friends, so...

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Fwiw I agree. About a year ago a played for a short while with 1.7 T05 on a defence alpha. It was in no way too fast in either short game, or for offensive strokes. I could chop well with it on the fh. Other than the price, an unconditional recommendation.


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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

I disagree with this fairly intensely - T05 in any sponge thickness is incredibly reactive to spin. So while it may be "slow" in that thickness of sponge (not slow, but not lightning fast), it's still incredibly difficult to control against heavy topspin.

T64 and T80 suffer less with this predicament, other non-Tenergy rubbers even less-so. But T05 really is a monster if you're playing against good players, especially those with good serves. It's the kind of rubber where passive or nervy strokes simply don't work. If you're confident that you can play consistent, free-flowing strokes every time you play regardless of the situation, and you're comfortable reading and dealing with spin, it's a great rubber. Not a rubber I'd recommend for many players though.

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My blog: "Learning to play: as a modern defender": http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=22254
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[Other gear I've used]
Blades: Butterfly Defence 3, Butterfly Defence Pro, Butterfly Innerforce ZLC, Butterfly Innershield, DHS Power G7, Stiga Offensive Classic Carbon
SPs: Friendship 802 (1.5), TSP Spectol (1.3, 1.8, 2.1), TSP Spectol Speed (1.3), TSP Super Spinpips Chop Sponge 2 (0.5, 1.3)
LPs: Butterfly Feint Long II (1), Butterfly Feint Long III (0.5, 1.3), Tibhar Grass D.TecS (OX), TSP Curl P1-R (0.5, 1, 1.3), TSP Curl P4 (1.3)

Easy on drinks??? I never saw you drink Jay Lee's water.

Tanking up on water a few days before a tourney is always good stuff.

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

I have not tried playing after a drink or two in quite some time (at least against same level opponent). I did it a few times when I was *ahem* younger. I think small amount of booze actually helps you (may be that's why Jay does it, yes, that must be it ) - you are more relaxed, it's easier to go for spectacular or challenging shot etc.

After you had one too many, though, your reaction and hand-eye coordination begin to suffer (duh! ) - so not recommended, unless you are playing against someone similarly impaired.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Made a short stop at the club this afternoon and mostly messed around with few setups - trying to decide whether I want to try sponged LP again.

Noticed that at least two more players got themselves LP setups to experiment with. Should be good practice to play against them for pips-to-pips play and twiddling, if they stick with it.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Today finally put together setup with Easy-P in 1 mm that I got from Japsican: paired it with spare Defplay blade and old Baracuda in 2 mm. Glued it with Elmers rubber cement, and thought that it expanded the sponge - now have quite a bit of overhang on one side (putting a pre-cut rubber on is somewhat a challenge for me), which I thought was not there before. Paddle is a bit heavier compared to my current Defplay/DG OX combo - more sponge, I guess.

Played for ~3 hours in the club and in general found it very pleasant to play with. Still had plenty of disturbing balls and chopping was very consistent. Serve receive was quite comfortable too. FH felt more aggressive - my main setup has 1.8 mm Baracuda on Defplay. Will give it a couple of weeks to see how it feels.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Went 3:3 in the league tonight, about what I expected, given the opponents I faced and not a lot of experience with new LP. Lost one close game, won another one, so no big complaints.

In fact it was FH that felt different tonight - older Baracuda in 2 mm on slightly heavier paddle (2mm vs. 1.8, plus sponge on LP side) did add a bit of power on smashes and attacking shots in general.

Pushes and chops with Easy P were good, most of mistakes I made when trying to 'flip'/'loop' with it, and on serve receive.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

I have a feeling...I have a feeling this will be your new LP.

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions

We'll see - may be it will. How's your experience with P4 so far?

And a more open ended question (not specifically aimed at Japsican): how should I go about incorporating twiddling into my game? From purely mechanical perspective I think I'm almost there - serving BH definitely helped. My question is more about figuring out when to do it and how to make it subconscious - don't believe I can afford to think during the point. I suspect twiddling to inverted on BH to vary spin on receives/pushes based on what's coming my way is the first step, don't want to consider BH attack yet.

I'm pretty sure practice is the only way and eventually it becomes second nature, but - any tips and advice here?

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

I actually do have advice. Twiddling is one of the few things do well. I'm a 2200 level twiddler and a 1200 level everything else. Lol.

I would start by only learning to twiddle on one side. I would also only twiddle for one occasion.

Make it for pushing only.

The trick, and this is a big one...if you twiddle, you must twiddle back immediately after the stroke. Otherwise, you'll be caught with the pips on your forehand and your dead meat.

So, no twiddle is successful unless you twiddle back.

Once this becomes fairly automatic, you then try twiddling to block or loop on the BH. Don't even think about twiddling for FH strokes yet.

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Blog: "Holy Chtchet!" ⇝

Projects: Player Equipment Grid ⇝ Comprehensive Thin Inverted Chopping Rubbers Grid ⇝ Please send me corrections or new submissions