OOAK Table Tennis Forum

My first post, and I'm new at this so go easy on me I know I'm doing things a bit weirdly here. I have read a lot about this stuff, but only been playing for about 6 months.

I have been experimenting with long pips for a few months now and really liking them. Currently I have FH CK531A ox and BH 388D ox on a Gambler Zebra. LP is on both sides to try get a feel for both of them - telling myself I will change the FH, but kind of liking LP on both too. Before the LPs, I had settled on a spinny SP (NP-8 ox) on both sides of a slow Toxic3 blade after trying a lot of SP/hardbat rubbers - that was the one I was able to chop with most consistently (though not nearly as well as with LP). I've never played with inverted.

I want to play a mostly defensive game - pushing/blocking and chopping. My goal is to keep the ball on the table as much as possible because that's what is most fun for me (don't care too much about winning the point even). I supposed I can't resist a smash when given the opportunity, but I have no desire to loop. I did have a decent BH drive sometimes with the SP, that has pretty much gone away with the LP.

I hit fairly frequently against a robot at home and once or twice a week at a club against a range of skills. While I am not the best judge, I don't get the impression anyone is at a super high level (there's a lot of older folks and doubles games). I am in my 40s and don't see much opportunity to get into training seriously or playing tournaments or anything like that. Ok so that's the background.

I am very happy with the 388D on BH for push/block. I have a bit of trouble chopping with it, but my backhand chop is not the best anyway so I mostly push. I find the CK531A great for FH chopping, which I am a lot better at. In fact, it's the most happy I've been with a setup so far. (Those evaluations are mostly about how well I can push/block/chop with it, rather than the ball it produces for my opponent as I don't have much of a sense of that yet.)

Now, I know approximately 0% of players use LP on FH and I realize I am probably not the lone exception who should be doing that. I'm just curious what other options I should consider - short/med pips/inverted? with or without sponge? thickness/softness of sponge?

Is the only reason to change FH rubbers to be able to attack better? Can I find something that will attack better, that will be (almost) as good for chopping? Or better to just get something for attacking that I will barely use, and learn to twiddle for the FH chop? That does seem... hard.

If I am understanding rubbers correctly, there is a progression from best for chopping and worst for attacking to worst for chopping and best for attacking, and it goes something like this:

med/high friction LP > med/high friction LP w/sponge > MP > MP w/sponge > SP > SP w/sponge > inverted with thin/soft sponge > inverted with thick/hard sponge

Of course the blade matters too, and there's probably a lot of nuance missing there, but does that generally seem right?

Does it seem like a good plan to start moving along the progression and see how far to the right I can get while still being able to FH chop with it effectively?

There is no best defensive rubber kind for every occasion. It is not practical or even possible to push/chop every ball. Chopping is the style of sucking enemy's speed and spin but if opponents do not always feed you with what you need you have to create positive ball by yourself.

Long pips are best when there is enough spin already present during rally so you may tactically want to create some spin during own service. I know a decent penhold player who plays all balls with his ox LP but he twiddles for his spiny inverted rubber for service and he is not a chopper. Legendary pro player Ni Xialian is playing this style. But she hardly can be called as chopper or defender.

I’m currently using Yinhe Mercury 2 with 1.2 sponge on the FH for attacking and chopping. If you’re keen on trying inverted this one is very cheap. $4 here.

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Good points, thanks. So certainly the inverted is going to be helpful on no spin balls and serves as you say. Any other situations come to mind?

Hi, evgueni chtchetinine (old style chopper with basically only defense from both wings, got top 70 a while ago) used short pips on FH and long pips on BH, if I recall right he used tsp triple spin chop on fh, may you can checkout him because it seems that your style is pretty close to his

Thanks. I will check him out. I have been experimenting with just that - short pips on FH with different thicknesses of sponge.

I'm pretty sure Triple Spin Chop is not short pips (would be weird for classical defender to use SP...), it's your traditional smooth defensive rubber (usually with thin sponge). Perhaps you are confusing it with 'Spinpips' TSP line...

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

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Fh -DR N Trouble Maker OX
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der Materialspezialist Tomahawk
FH: Spectol 21, 2.1mm
BH: Tibhar Grass D.TecS, ox