I think one needs special trading from watching his videos to "guess / read better" his snake moves
It is NICE to handle a snake, but honestly, at our level, the snake is only a few points and big entertainment. (Which is good, because TT is supposed to be an entertainment business)
At our level, serve and serve receive become much more important to the outcome of the match and also to how the match is played. What you do not see in a vid, and MUST experience live and up front is a good player's serves.
When I could receive the serve with enough quality to NOT give away the point immediately, I won almost all those points with either my heavy spin opener (he blocked a LOT of those WAY OUT) or my Quarter Pounder shot. He wasn't gunna do much lobbing against either of those shots. Where he received my serve with enough quality to avoid my spin or pounder shot, he was able to play the point how he wanted.
That is pretty much how it goes, not really about snakes. He was able to control the match with HIS serves better than I was with mine. My receive was not good enough long enough, especially not good enough in game 5 to win. I showed my offense, point construction, shot selection, and adjustments were way higher quality than a player of my level. I am extremely happy with that as I never showed this level of performance in a toruney at this level vs one player his level, let alone vs 5 players his level.
I did not get any results vs Adam's level that tourney, but I troubled those 5 players so much, the player, the coach, and all the team mates were conducting a joint session of emergency crisis management with much concern over the outcome of the match. There is absolutely NO WAY I was doing this to players 3 levels better than me last year, zero chance.
Here are some examples:
* vs Matt Winkler - mid 2200s forever... lost game 1, went up 2-1, led 5-3 in 4th.
* vs Adam Bobrow - caught up to 2-2 with monuentum on my side - he upped serves and showed he was better and deserved the W
* vs Adam's team mate kayla mid 2100s - I went up 2-0 she had NO ANSWER, then someone told her how to serve and I lost 16-14 in 5th with several bad breaks
* vs Alan , a C-Pen single sided medium pips guy former 2200-2300... had a couple bad breaks from net each game (he got 3 nets, I hit 4 nets and out each game) and each game was to the wire he could not block my spin, EVEN WITH PIPS and dude is a high level player.
* vs George - a deacdes long higher level player rated now mid 2200s Mediup Pips FH, Grass DTechs BH - I lose game 1, adjust, win game 2, then lose duece (twice I think) had him shittin bricks I pounded his LP returns so damn hard
8 Vs Jim from same team, ANOTHER unorthodox Medium pips player formerly way higher current ~2100 level. Spun ball heavy, he blocked out a meter plus with MEDIUM PIPS. There was Chinese National EMERGENCY DECLARATION after games 1 and 2 and an arrest warrant issued against Der_Echte for murderous spin. I made mistakes in next few games and fought like crazy coming back from 2-5 at turnaround end on game five to win on my serve at 9-9 zero of the last two points went to plan just had to be real aggressive and WANT IT.
As much as I troubled the 2000s crowd, I was NOT threatening the 2100-2300 crowd last year, not a chance. This tourney, I got the above oponents into some serious concern that a fat mid 50s dude was gunna overpower them with all-out offense. As much as I could see what was going on in a match last year, no way I was reading as good as this year - I make all kinds of effective adjustments to play the points the right way to win... if only I could receive even ONE SERVE PER GAME better, then almost all these outcomes would be different.
I lost to some lower rated players on courts where light was wrong (too strong over table bounces at you and poor distributed on 2 courts) and I will have to live with it. Two matches I could not read impact, one could see ball at all. I ALMOST lost to a 1500 player who had a few 2000 level offense and could funnel me into that with 2 serves I am weak against, think Kayla gave her a $100 USD intel report. Had to pull that out at 9-9 vs HER serve. I was calm and ready to adjust and do what it took, she was reluctant to attack and that decided it. In 2 years, she will NEVER be doing that again I think.
My rating will go down for sure I believe, but that isn't that take-away. What was important is that against opponents 3+ levels better than me, I could see the game, adjust, play the right shot, make quality shots opponents do not handle, excel in mental game, and keep pressure on opponent. I never showed this to this degree against this level of opponent before and that wsa damn encouraging, even if the resultant rating will end up disappointing.
When I improve serve receive vs those two serves, I will be solid 2100 level for this state I am convinced. The rating level will reflect that when I improve serve receive.