Just curious how many Penholders are on TTD?

[genrel001]

Oh before I forget. One thing I liked was say you get that short serve, you're doing your best FZD imitation and getting in the BH flip position but determine the serve is actually too low to realistically pick up. You need to push. I found RPB pushing in that situation easier than to flip over my paddle and do the traditional way of pushing. I feel by the time i do all that, I'm too late to the ball and there's an error. So in those instances, the RPB push worked.

I find it hard to execute RPB pushes it just feels awkward. On my part when flipping the ball and I find it too low to flip, what i do is open my bat angle the flick it on the side. It will produce awkward side spin if your opponent is unaware. But if they are aware of it, prepare for a counter loop.

 

[suds79]

I find it hard to execute RPB pushes it just feels awkward. On my part when flipping the ball and I find it too low to flip, what i do is open my bat angle the flick it on the side. It will produce awkward side spin if your opponent is unaware. But if they are aware of it, prepare for a counter loop.

+1 100% know what you're talking about. I'll definitely try that. It's worth a shot.

You're talking about an open faced RPB sideways kinda flip that gives them some sort of weird side to it and you're right. They can't push that ball. But they can attack it. I'll try to mix that in more for the occasional changeup.

Sounds like you & I have similar stories. I started out playing shakehand at 18 through the age of.. IDK 30? with a 7 year break between there before going to penhold. Always had a nasty shakehand BH but I felt weak FH. Then tried penhold one day and boom instant FH. But followed in the footsteps of my brother who played jpen and just used TPB not knowing any better. Fast forward 8 years later and I now see that I was playing a dated style and needed to learn the RPB. Thankfully I don't find it much different when attacking from my shakehand days but yeah man... I got use to TPB and that's a hard one to shake.

I've been trying to tell myself it's okay to play somewhat more like Ma Lin's style (who would use the TPB 80% of the time) vs Wang Hao. My TPB block is better than my RPB and I like the no cross over but I often fall into traps in realizing I'm hardly using the RPB at all. I just need to keep trusting that I can use the shot effectively.

BTW I tried going back to shakehand once and it was same ole story. Nice backhand, awkward FH and overall missed penhold. So that was a short lived month or so.

 

[genrel001]

You're talking about an open faced RPB sideways kinda flip that gives them some sort of weird side to it and you're right. They can't push that ball. But they can attack it. I'll try to mix that in more for the occasional changeup.

Yup. But those are only effective every time against beginners. When faced with a high level player you can maybe fool them once but after that they'll figure it out immediately. I agree that it has to be mixed up with other strokes to confuse the opponent somehow. On my case, my go-to-receive is still the basic FH short push which most of the time opens me up for a 4th ball attack. I only use RPB flicks say 1x to 2x per game, and once in a while I also immediately attack the ball from the serve (like Ryu Seun Min loop for long balls and slap flick for short ones that are a little high over the net), though there are times that it falls to the net but it also caught my opponent off guard or shocked which may bother his mind when doing his next serve. So chances are my opponent will commit an error during the serve or play a safe serve which will be also safe for me to set my play. On the RPB flick receive the hard part is that chances are, when my opponent successful return the ball, it will land on my BH side which supposedly prepare me for an RPB attack but what usually happen is "INSTINCT!" TPB block on the BH side which causes the ball to pop then makes me prone to attack.

I also told convinced myself about that Ma Lin style. Lol. But still I can't find the rhythm on when to use my RPB. I always ending up blocking with TPB then stepping side-ways to attack with my FH, but I could've save some energy and effort if I could just attack it constantly with RPB. As of the moment my RPB is just for reaching wide BH balls or smashing high BH balls, also some flicking.

I think I tried going back to SH 2x already but still keeps on going back to PH. The FH feel in PH is just so addictive, especially when smashing the ball.

 

[Christian Adrian Aniceta]

Hello..
can I ask the difference for hurricane hao ii and hurricane hao 656?
I recently ordered hurricane hao hao ii with fh: nittaku fastarc g-1 and rpb: victas stiff...

I also ask to lacquer/seal the blade..
can I ask those who have experience with the said blade and rubbers?
thanks

 

[SFF_lib]

Hello..
can I ask the difference for hurricane hao ii and hurricane hao 656?
I recently ordered hurricane hao hao ii with fh: nittaku fastarc g-1 and rpb: victas stiff...

I also ask to lacquer/seal the blade..
can I ask those who have experience with the said blade and rubbers?
thanks

They are almost identical. The true Hurricane 656 is more expensive as it was the old production. The newer Hao 2 is said to be slightly thinner than 656, therefore slightly less powerful.

I own a HH2. Wonderful wooden feel. Very good flex = powerful spinny loop. However, with poly ball it requires more body work to produce deadly shot.


Passionate about TT

 

[SFF_lib]

Xue Fei seems have grown in strength and consistency. Although lost to Timo a few weeks ago but he was leading 3-1. Now with his first single title I definitely see some hope in penhold in this 18yo.


Passionate about TT

 

[Christian Adrian Aniceta]

They are almost identical. The true Hurricane 656 is more expensive as it was the old production. The newer Hao 2 is said to be slightly thinner than 656, therefore slightly less powerful.

I own a HH2. Wonderful wooden feel. Very good flex = powerful spinny loop. However, with poly ball it requires more body work to produce deadly shot.


Passionate about TT

What rubbers do you put in hurricane hao 2?
I put fastarc g-1 for fh and victas stiff for rpb.. I want to loop and block and rely with rpb more

 

[PingPanda]

Hey guys, I was wondering, for people who have played both shakehands and penhold with RPB, is the crossover area worse for RPB? I'm not sure if I'm just not used to having a cross-over area (played for years with TPB) or if RPB naturally has a bigger area.

 

[suds79]

Hey guys, I was wondering, for people who have played both shakehands and penhold with RPB, is the crossover area worse for RPB? I'm not sure if I'm just not used to having a cross-over area (played for years with TPB) or if RPB naturally has a bigger area.

I am more comfortable with TPB block but use the RPB when i need a power shot. I use both.

If you're in that crossover point and you cannot step around? Use TPB. Do not use the RPB. The nice thing about the TPB is you can cheat that really far over on your FH side if in a jam.

But as it nears the center of your body, yeah probably better to use RPB if you can.

So IMO the penholder's crossover point issue is better than shakehand as there's virtually none with the TPB

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

hi guys, just to let you know all that I have moved from India to Jinan, Shandong, China.

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

WOW! Good luck Sir!

Zhù nǐ hǎo yùn!!

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

A small side question: what is in your opinion the percentage of penholders compared to all TT players in western countries and what is the percentage of penholders in Asia? Maybe there are some statistics?

i don't have stats, but it seems PH are a dying breed

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

But dang it I cannot change the face that TPB blocking, directional blocking, no crossover point. No awkward hand angle just feels more natural to me.

Suds,

I feel you, I truly do! Playing RPB i have that indecision freeze, playing SH to help me learn RPB, i have that indecision moment (plus balls hitting my index finger LOL) ... frustrating at times. But need to keep working at it. One day it will click, i truly believe it. Look at Wang Hao. But yeah, lots of ups and downs along the way. I keep chanting to myself 'fake it until you make it.' and 'progress not perfection.' Keep at it.

Oh before I forget. One thing I liked was say you get that short serve, you're doing your best FZD imitation and getting in the BH flip position but determine the serve is actually too low to realistically pick up. You need to push. I found RPB pushing in that situation easier than to flip over my paddle and do the traditional way of pushing. I feel by the time i do all that, I'm too late to the ball and there's an error. So in those instances, the RPB push worked.

I used to do this with wood, or something similar just no real spin - at times some weird LP type movement on the wood return. With the inverted on the back, yeah, i get some sidespin into righty opponent's FH, which I may or may not return, but key in my mind is that at least I returned the ball on with the RPB sidespin push instead of losing the point right then and there. Only helps to up my skill in looking to return what is usally a killer FH from opponent LOL

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Xue Fei seems have grown in strength and consistency. Although lost to Timo a few weeks ago but he was leading 3-1. Now with his first single title I definitely see some hope in penhold in this 18yo.


Passionate about TT

Xie xie SFF_lib!

~3:15-3:21 - WOW! what a RPB block!

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

Hey guys, I was wondering, for people who have played both shakehands and penhold with RPB, is the crossover area worse for RPB? I'm not sure if I'm just not used to having a cross-over area (played for years with TPB) or if RPB naturally has a bigger area.

Welcome to the thread as well as the forum PingPanda!

THe crossover is worst for me for both RPB and SH as I have quite a few years of TPB hardwired into my brain and muscle memory and I am not proficient enough for either style yet. No difference in indecisiveness for crossover for either RPB or SH for me.

 

[Flatstyk]

i don't have stats, but it seems PH are a dying breed

As long as we are doing it, it is not dead!

 

[OldschoolPenholder]

as long as we are doing it, it is not dead!

yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PingPanda]

Welcome to the thread as well as the forum PingPanda!

THe crossover is worst for me for both RPB and SH as I have quite a few years of TPB hardwired into my brain and muscle memory and I am not proficient enough for either style yet. No difference in indecisiveness for crossover for either RPB or SH for me.

Thanks! Nice to have a whole group of penholders to bounce ideas off of!

 

[PierreAd]

Hey guys, I was wondering, for people who have played both shakehands and penhold with RPB, is the crossover area worse for RPB? I'm not sure if I'm just not used to having a cross-over area (played for years with TPB) or if RPB naturally has a bigger area.

Hey PingPanda! Been there, done that.

At the beginning of my penhold journey, I was using mainly TPB with short pips, but I've quickly switched back to dual inverted and RPB topspin, which is by far my best attack shot. So not much TPB now. TPB has this advantage of almost no crossover area, but with RPB, indeed, the cross-over area seems quite large to me. I tend to play the RPB topspin more on the side of my hip than in shakehand, where I played the ball in front of me most of the time, so my cross-over area was narrower in shakehand. But again, I only have 1.5 year of experience in PH, when I've played about 15 years shakehand, so I believe I'll improve this with time as well.

Those days, I feel like this cross-over area can be one of my main weak points. I believe one needs to be able to play passive RPB more in front of the body, or learn to react accordingly and play those balls with the FH.

 

[suds79]

Do you have more than one kind of push?

Recently I've ran into certain opponents who are content to largely push all day long. While I feel comfortable opening up FH off the table vs backspin, obviously I like easier balls to open up on vs harder ones.

I've spent some time focusing on my flip but really for intermediate TT play, I need to refine my short game. If being honest, I think I have basically two types of pushes. My normal one (same speed, spin, etc) and a nice little dribbler just over the net by barely touching the under side of the ball on serve serves or pushes. It takes a lot of touch but boy is that shot satisfying as I've only discovered it in say the last 6 months. Very effective vs slower players playing off the table.

Anyways, in medium length push to push rallies, I want to better develop what I'm calling a float push. That's a pushing like motion but actually you more or less deaden the ball. The goal is that if the opponent isn't quick in recognizing this and they push that dead ball you get a pop up and point over.

(funny side note. In my short pips days, if you push back & forth with an inverted player, by the time you've touched the ball 2-3 times the spin has greatly worn off by then. Then you're free to open up on a pretty easy ball. With inverted however now, while my attacking abilities have dramatically shot up, boy does the spin on pushes retain so much longer now.)

A more experienced/skilled player at our club showed me how he does this with a somewhat swiping motion. I tried it a few times and popped it up way too high in my attempts. Takes practice. I basically envision it as fishing but done over the table... and still trying to keep it relatively low.

Worked on it with the robot last night with some success but it's a work in progress. I was starting to find success on the robot by getting my open faced paddle well under that backspin ball but instead of jabbing forward, I'm kinda going backwards (if that makes sense) and flattening out the face of my blade as I kind lift it. Maybe it's a poor man's flip but basically i'm trying to be able to alter the type of spin from pure heavy backspin to something different for variation.

I'd like to learn different types of pushes if such a thing exists. Thinking, backspin light, backspin heavy, maybe side/back, dead? IDK.

What about you guys? Any of you use this as a common tactic or have this shot in your bag?

 

[ttmonster]

I used to use it way back when , you reminded me to start using it again ... the idea is to do a push - push and then throw in a floater so that the ball pops up on the return from the opponent and you go in for the kill .... for the float push , the people who I have seen do it effectively have largely a small motion on the push , that helps in hiding the float .. so the idea is to basically change the motion at the very end very slightly like a quick lift instead of going through the ball .... but still have the overall motion going through the ball ... the other idea is to use the last bit of the rubber ... as in when you are pushing with forehand use the rubber towards the end of the blade , that reduces the spin ... also you can throw in a sidespin push .. again helps if you have a slower / dead er tenergy or if you use the upper part of the rubber ... I would say just experiment with a little bit and you can figure out yourself .. its not too difficult a skill to master , its just with the importance placed on looping we tend to neglect these skills ...