Looking for Suggestions for Improving Table Tennis Table Top.

says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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C'mon Carl, at least SOME of what dude said would be printable...

Fire away. I have had that happen too many times to remember which time it was. :)

I should have brought you to the Beer Garden! Wall Street guys would stand talking behind me as I was hitting saying how they could take me out easy and I wouldn't stand a chance. Then they would walk up and tell me they bet me $500.00 they could beat me. I would hit with them and they would run away after they found they could not handle real topspin. :)
 
How long have you been playing at Bryant Park? I used to go by there every so often. And in 2009-2010 I went there pretty regularly. But a lot of people there know me. :)

Not long at all. I started playing they’re about a year ago when I started working nights at the hospital.


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Fire away. I have had that happen too many times to remember which time it was. :)

I should have brought you to the Beer Garden! Wall Street guys would stand talking behind me as I was hitting saying how they could take me out easy and I wouldn't stand a chance. Then they would walk up and tell me they bet me $500.00 they could beat me. I would hit with them and they would run away after they found they could not handle real topspin. :)

Oh man I’d love me a trash talker. IME Most people that do brag aren’t half as good as they claim, so I’d lure them in by saying “ok, I’ll play you on one condition: that whoever loses gets a shot at double or nothing, deal?” So I’d play with my left hand first game or just purposely lose. Then come my shot at double or nothing and I’d switch to my right hand and god help them if they lose cuz that money is MINE. ALL MINE! Muwahahahahahahha!!!!


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says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
Well-Known Member
Super Moderator
Dec 2010
16,146
17,686
54,748
Read 11 reviews
Oh man I’d love me a trash talker. IME Most people that do brag aren’t half as good as they claim, so I’d lure them in by saying “ok, I’ll play you on one condition: that whoever loses gets a shot at double or nothing, deal?” So I’d play with my left hand first game or just purposely lose. Then come my shot at double or nothing and I’d switch to my right hand and god help them if they lose cuz that money is MINE. ALL MINE! Muwahahahahahahha!!!!

Forgive me. But it seems you might misunderstand double or nothing. :) You bet $10 and lose, you are down $10. You bet $20.00 down $10.00 and if you win, you are at $0.00. If you want to end up even you win and give the guy his money back and let him just buy you a drink.

As a kid, Tahl Leibovitz had the real way of hustling. He would play a game for $1.00. He would make himself look bad and like he was winning lucky points and the other guy was better than him but just kept having bad luck. He would win at deuce. And they would do it again, and again and again, till Tahl had taken $20-$30 and the guy sort of had to figure out that Tahl couldn't be quite that lucky. :)

And back in the 1990s $30.00 for a kid was sort of a lot of money. And when you are as good as Tahl was as a kid, that was like taking candy from a baby. :)
 
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How long have you been playing at Bryant Park? I used to go by there every so often. And in 2009-2010 I went there pretty regularly. But a lot of people there know me. :)

Carl, You May know some of the people listed below that I’ve become very cool with by frequently losing to them! And also seeing them at other tables outside of Bryant park. I call them the “night crowd” because I’d go on my lunch break and they were almost always there from 9pm til closing. In no particular order:

Ali : long brown pony tail middle eastern? Decent. This dude is a chopper (right handed). And likes to end the point given the chance. Used antispin on both sides however recently changed to short pips on his fh side. One unique thing about ALi aside from being really good is that he has a speech impediment where he can’t formulate his thoughts into words as fast as a “normal speaking” person could.

Rich: caucasian guy, dirty blonde hair wears an oversized Tshirt jeans, eats cheez doodles and drinks Coca Cola between games. Here is another chopper but you can tell it’s him my his paddle: it’s literally snapped in half at the head of the blade but that doesn’t deter him from winning, I’ve seen this dude embarrass other players with their Timo Boll ALC/Tenergy both sides setups. Rich LOVES a good rally and will chop chop chop all day and night long until you mess up. Oh and he wears oversized headphones and plays air guitar when not playing TT.

Dre : young-ish tall, very humble muscularity
Guy maybe of Caribbean decent? Definitely has a Caribbean accent always wears a backwards baseball cap and a tank top or shirtless when it’s really humid out. style is offensive, likes to rally mid distance from the table with laser accuracy.

Mike: older taller Jamaican guy wears a hat with eyeglasses: I believe he is right handed shake hand with a vicious BH flick close to the table. I call him the gatekeeper, he’s always sitting at the table in the middle of both [emoji971] tables and makes sure everyone that gets to the puts Their name on the waiting list when it’s crowded and makes sure no one plays out of turn and whoever is next he will yell out there name to keep things moving.

Rose: young female red long curly hair always travels by bicycle ALLROUND shAkehand player such a bubbly attitude and always smiling really good energy that rubs off on you.

And this one Chinese guy I believe he is C-Pen right handed all out ATTACK loops and counters any chance he gets. we called him “Mr. Chen” average height maybe 5,6/ 5ft 7? Slim body type. would come on his break time (you could tell by his work I’d on his neck) just like me. and stay for about an hour everytime.

And last but not least, Jane. Tiny Chinese lady always smiling Cpen holder ALLROUND style. Laughs at every point no matter who’s point it is and always In a great mood as well.

There are so many more players I’ve met that I can’t remember right now and would need it’s own thread. So sorry if I missed you guys and gals.


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Forgive me. But it seems you might misunderstand double or nothing. :) You bet $10 and lose, you are down $10. You bet $20.00 down $10.00 and if you win, you are at $0.00. If you want to end up even you win and give the guy his money back and let him just buy you a drink.

As a kid, Tahl Leibovitz had the real way of hustling. He would play a game for $1.00. He would make himself look bad and like he was winning lucky points and the other guy was better than him but just kept having bad luck. He would win at deuce. And they would do it again, and again and again, till Tahl had taken $20-$30 and the guy sort of had to figure out that Tahl couldn't be quite that lucky. :)

And back in the 1990s $30.00 for a kid was sort of a lot of money. And when you are as good as Tahl was as a kid, that was like taking candy from a baby. :)

Oops! Yep you’re exactly right Carl. That goes to show how much of a shark I’m not! Oh man, just before the covid outbreak when spin23 was still open I saw Tahl hitting with a friend and I literally almost attacked him! Walked right up to him mid rally and said “Hey Tahl” and he looked at me like I was from another planet and was about to
punch me in my face! I quickly said “sorry to interrupt you, you don’t know me, but I just want to shake your hand and tell you that im a huge fan. I’ve read your book, and you’re life story is so touching man, thank you!” With that he smiled and said “aww thanks man! Where you from? Where do live? I told him I live in JC and only come when I’m working during my lunch break, and he asked where I worked I told him “Beth Israel” downtown and said “you May know a co-worker of mine Marco Makkar (this is the same guy I mentioned earlier with whom I practice with) to which he replied “you work with Marco?!” With a huge look of astonishment on his face I said “yeah we practice sometimes at work we have a table in the gym” he then replied “hahaha that’s awesome ! We were at Pan-Am together Tell him I said hi”. At that point I didn’t want to keep pestering him so I thanked him again and said “see you around” such a humble guy and wasn’t snobby or a jerk at all despite how I approached him. So I was playing the table next to him and he was complimenting some of my shots “nice backhand” “that’s good point” etc. Things a coach might say during training and I thanked him for every comment. Long story short, I tell Marco “bro I met Tahl Leibovitz at Spin last night!” To which he replied “ oh yeah he was my coach at Pan-Am games and texts me a pic of Tahl in the coaches seat during a match that Marco was playing. What a small world we live in. Especially the table tennis community.


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I know Rich, Dre and Mike.

Ask Rich about when I used to drag him to SPiN. Back then there was only 23rd Street.

What about Shirtless Tony? Plays penhold. How about Keita (Mandingo). :) Chris? Manu?

I know Shirtless Tony, Chinese dude with long hair? Muscular? Mandingo is the Tall younger African dude always well-dressed? Chris, is he the white guy kinda chubby lightly bearded always rocking a baseball cap, easy to talk to, always with a duffle bag and scoping out all the females that pass by? Manu? Not sure i know him. Remember I usually go after 9pm so some of those guys i dont know usually are there before then. It's been awhile because I started going to SPIN when it would rain and it's a 6min citibike ride from my job. I'm itching to go back to bryant park though. I love that atmosphere. Oh i forgot to mention this chinese dude i think Alex is his name? Pen holder, 5'9 ish glasses, Wicked backhand he was always my doubles partner when it would be crowded. I gave him one of my spare setups cuz his blade was so beatup it was almost unplayable and he was super thankful. I really need to go back there I miss that crowd. KK i'll ask rich next time i see him. LOL yeah SPIN doesn't seem like his cup of tea haha. Come league night though on monday (SPIN23) you'll see Dre, Michael, Rose, and some other bryant park heads come out to represent. I love watching them beat the yupsters that come in there thinking they're hot shit. lololololol.
 
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I know Rich, Dre and Mike.

Ask Rich about when I used to drag him to SPiN. Back then there was only 23rd Street.

What about Shirtless Tony? Plays penhold. How about Keita (Mandingo). :) Chris? Manu?

Yeah the ONLY SPIN i go to is the 23rd street one. I've been to SPIN54 but they only have like 2 tables and its more 'Loungy" and seems more focused on serving people food and drinks and less about Table tennis, but that's ok.
 
says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
Well-Known Member
Super Moderator
Dec 2010
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Read 11 reviews
Yeah. Shirtless Tony - I think he is Korean but that is him. hahahahaha.

Chris is a guy who is some version of Asian with long hair, thin, not very tall, like 5'6" but really good....Good loop, good serves, several years ago, when they had those Wednesday tournaments he won so many times in a row, he refused to play in them any more till enough other people had won.

Manu was an Indian guy who was close to as good as Chris. There was another guy who hung out with those two who had Anti on one side and SP on the other who was a BIG African guy and, right now I can't remember his name.

Keita (Mandingo) is a guy with long long dreads who makes everyone laugh. He is darn good but he likes to lose to people who are not as good as him. He plays penhold too. And he spends a lot of time playing Petanque as well. He says stuff like "Don't use your hand" or "He's my brother from another mother," and laughs and gets people to laugh when he is playing. But he usually doesn't play seriously so a lot of people don't realize he can actually play.

Does Seiko still go? He is an African guy who sometimes will speak French and who likes to lob. He is also pretty decent. He likes to mess around and keep games close with people.

How about Pirate Jack? hahahaha.
 
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OK so we agree on shirtless tony. Chris I know of because he went a handful of times when I was there at night, but no longer than 20 min. He was probably passing through or whatever the reason but he knew everyone there and seemed more interested in how they were doing in life rather than TT, and I've seen him mess around once for a few min. he'd borrowed a paddle and was hitting with Dre and within seconds I could tell this guy was really good. EVentually I came to find out that he is one of the reigning champions of wednesday night league. They still do WED league btw. PRE-COVID of course. Mandingo is a different guy that I'm thinking of unless i've mistaken him for someone else, Seiko i've never met. Manu, never met. Pirate Jack? mmmmm. not sure. But there was this one night i played some pot bellied romanian? player I think his name was Jack, looked like he was in his 50's he was a chopper and could not shut up the whole match, LOL. He'd say stuff in an eastern european accent like "so! you think you'll win? huh? you think you can beat me? huh?" but in a funny kind of way as if we were friends. I managed to take one game (to 21) off him, Rich was standing on the side the whole time being his ball boy and was in awe watching the guy play me. I guess he was gone for awhile and came back, but rich was idolizing him saying "this guy taught me everything I know about ping pong!" which is rare because I never see rich talk to anyone other than "who's next!" LOL. I really need to go back there. As soon as they re-open i'm gonna swing through.
 
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As promised here is the “updated” table I was complaining about in my first post:
All I did was simply unscrewed the metal square frame from underneath both halves of the table, but decided to leave the “locking clamps” at the middle of the table for a more stable/and level playing surface. I originally was going to leave metal frame on, but could not get it completely flush and aligned while stacking it on top of the playing table it kept slipping off one side, but once that frame was
removed it was almost perfect. I “say almost” because technically it’s a tad higher over all. But for our use it is fine and waaaaay better than what we were using. Thanks all for your suggestions and input. Here is a clip of the table setup with my DOUBLE Fish Screw clamp net kit.
 
Gunna disappoint you again...

I say it is a huge improvement for $25 each and no change in the storage complexity.

You’re right Der_Echte. If anything, the storage complexity gets worse! Presuming you mean putting the table away. Only because the halves of that are on top are pretty heavy. So when storing away for later use we probably take a minute or two longer removing them first then leaning them against the wall and then putting the complete table halves in front. Again, all well worth the effort. For now, I’m doing the best I can making the most of my resources. At least until my clubs open back up. Mind you I still play outdoors [emoji23]


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Do you use a box of training balls to play? It looks like it would be a real royal PITA to get a ball each time it goes by.

Lol nope! It IS a ROYAL PITA to get the ball each time but to be honest it’s not much different from getting a ball at my local club. Thanks again. [emoji1431][emoji23][emoji1419]


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