Playing the "Chinese Grandpa" style as a 25-year-old

[greenbeanmachine]

There's this old guy at my club who plays 1-sided penhold with pips, and it really amazes me how he is able to give me very difficult balls with very little effort. Eventually I decided I will try this configuration and see what I can do with it.

I got a sheet of Friendship RITC 802-40 pips for $8 and put it on my Ma Lin Extra Offensive blade. After playing for two sessions I am now addicted and can't stop. My level has probably decreased by 300 points but it's so damn fun to give people weird chop blocks and punch the ball to difficult corners of the table.

Initially my plan was to have pips on one side and inverted rubber on the other side -- in order to be able to twiddle -- but I am finding that confusing to deal with. It's hard to immediately switch between pips and inverted, since they are so different. Players who play with pips, did it take you a while to get used to the idea of having two very different rubbers on your blade? How did you manage to get over it?

Are there any penholders playing the "Chinese Grandpa" game who have advice for me?

 

[lodro]

Players who play with pips, did it take you a while to get used to the idea of having two very different rubbers on your blade? How did you manage to get over it?

I never did get over it 😁 I bought several short pips rubbers, with .8mm sponge to 2.2mm sponge. I learned to twiddle like Falck, and i learned to push and smack like Mima Ito (of course not as good) but in the end I came to the conclusion: Why bother 🤣

 

[Lazer]

Don't give the table away, stay close and block.
When You move back he is gonna eat You alive....

Cheers
L-zr

 

[HankSquib]

I prefer the short pips forehand and inverted backhand penhold without twiddling like Wang Zengyi.
I think trying to move the inverted to forehand means your backhand gets weaker since short pips on forehand means both your tpb smash is more consistent than pips rpb and you can work more on rolling the pips with placement. RPB inherently means you reintroduce a crossover point into your positioning, so I think it should be basically 75% TPB and 25% RPB with RPB used for dead balls, finishing points, and lobbing.

Twiddling is like being a switch fighter with many weapons, but on the inside(close range) their southpaw stance lacks a right hook, and on the outside(far from table), their orthodox stance lacks a left counter. It's too dangerous to maintain these distances without tactics so instead of considering the entire twiddling idea as simply having either pip or inverted side. Is there any reason for your short pips to be on the backhand unless you want a very flat backhand punch instead of a very forward one? It really comes down into having a playbook and really repping it until it looks good. Twiddling feels like twice the effort for half the result in terms of technical prowess, but it can really bring out a lot out of tactics.

 

[Caravenav]

Players who play with pips, did it take you a while to get used to the idea of having two very different rubbers on your blade? How did you manage to get over it?

I play with shortpips in FH and MXP in BH, but is not easy twiddle the racket and the only guy that I saw do that efficiently is Liu Guoliang, may be there are many not famous player that can do it, but in professional level LGL is the only one (he does it only with the right hand, doesn't need the left to do it and he does it in the middle of the point, before to receive, smashing). I think that you should consider some "tactical" points to avoid the twiddle: you should be close to the table, if is possible 100% of the time. You should improve you footwork because you should pivot several balls that come to your BH. I think that the only moment when you really need to turn the blade to attack with rubber is when you are far away of the table because the short pips are weak in that moment and you won't have enough spin to complicate your adversary. If you really want to learn it, I would suggest to check LGL videos in youtube, but he twiddle the blade mainly to receive the service.