Why you should choose to receive if you win the toss before a match.

I've seen on a couple of different cases now and pointed out by announcers how players will deliberately choose to receive should they win the toss at the start of a game.

But why?

Long story short, it makes it to where the most crucial points in a very tight match are played with you having the serve. That's the short answer.

Here's the long answer explaining how this works.

First lets get this out of the way. This has no bearing on any match where one wins by a considerable margin. Either in game count or individual game score. If someone wins 3-0, then this doesn't matter. If someone wins 3-2 and that final score of the game was 11-5, it doesn't matter.

So where does it matter?

It matters in the tightest, closest of matches. Those 2-2 game counts and heading down the stretch looking dead even.

Here's specifically how it works and where it comes into play.

Game 1 - Opponent starts serve
Game 2 - You start serve
Game 3 - Opponent starts serve
Game 4 - You start serve
Game 5 - Opponent starts serve (the final game in a best 3 out of 5)
Game 6 - You start serve
Game 7 - Opponent starts serve (the final game in a best 4 out of 7)

Whether you play best 3 out of 5 or 4 out of 7, it doesn't matter. In either case, in the final deciding game, your opponent starts serve and that's what you want. 

Why is it important that my opponent start the game serving on the final game? Well if that's the case, in all crucial points where the score is close at the end, you're either serving to save yourself from elimination or serving to win the match. It's not a huge advantage but an important one.

8-10 | If you are behind, you are serving to save off elimination. If you are winning, you are serving twice for the match.

9-9 | Here with the next two most important points in the match you are serving them both.

Ad-In | You are serving to win the match

Ad-Out | You are serving to save off elimination.

As mentioned before. This only applies on the final game in the closest of matches. If the opponent wins that final game 11-7, who cares. They beat you soundly in that game.

However, if there's any advantage to be had in a coin toss, this is one of them. Make as well take every bit you can get.

Still not convinced? Well if you don't take my word for it, then take Ma Long's word for it as he won the coin toss in his match vs Fan Zhendong in the WTTC final this year and elected to receive. And what happened? Ma long had the serve at Ad-In 11-10 in the final game and got what he wanted. Serve & 3rd ball attack for the Championship.

Getting More Power Out of Your Traditional Penhold Backhand

The other day I was watching a recent match of left handed Jpener Cazuo Matsumoto and I noticed he was attacking short serves with a Traditional Penhold Backhand (TPB) with a lot of power.

So I searched out how this is done and how he does it. Thankfully, Cazuo has a youtube channel detailing this specific shot. Furthermore, if you put closed captions on and in the settings put transcribe to English, you can roughly make out what he's saying.

To summarize to you what he said, some time back Cazuo got the inspiration to be able to add more power to the backhand. If you watch any video or demonstration on the TPB, you will see players practicing their TPB moving like a piston.

While fundamentally sound, NO POWER.

Cazuo explains in the video that he tried to emulate what shakehanders do with their backhand. I can also attest to when I have tried RPB, my power comes form the wrist and forehand together. With the motion Ryu is demonstrating above, there is no wrist movement and no flick or snap from the forearm. it's simply a piston punching motion.

In the video Cazuo describes doing the same motion but adding some forearm & wrist snap to it. He said your arm should be relaxed to get that snap. You also obviously want to take the ball at it's highest point to give yourself the most room for error. 

But that's it. Take your TPB as you know it and try to incorporate a little more forearm & wrist snap to it. Watch the video to see how Cazuo does it. You will see in his backs-wing he's bending the wrist back slightly to snap forward. Much like a normal backhand. Do not keep the same locked wrist movement through out. See if you can get in the habit of hitting more and not passively TPB blocking as much.

People to reference if playing a penhold long pip twiddle game

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of playing a Long Pip twiddle game is finding players to reference. With this unique, tricky style, having players to reference for tips & tricks pays off more than ever.

Don't get me wrong. You can learn a lot from watching Ma Long also if you're a duel inverted player but my take away from watching them points to more on their ability to loop and hit hard almost any ball from countless hours of training more than I pick up anything strategic.

That being said, I've done most of the hard work for you. You can see my Twiddling Long Pips Penholders playlist here. I add to it as I find players with interesting styles & game.

You can also be on the lookout yourself for these players and look them up should you be able to find any information they provide or matches recorded.

#1:
Name: Jian Jiang Huang or Wang Jian Jiang or 黄建疆 I've seen it translated as both.
Short Pips/Long Pips
Notes:
The grandmaster of this style in my book. If you speak Mandarin you're in luck. He has several videos explaining his techniques. If not, well you're like me and will just have to settle for watching. He was the one I learned most from that good Long Pip play isn't all about just sticking your paddle out there and passively blocking. Watch Jian against almost any backspin ball and he uses that as a long pip attacking opportunity. Attacking backspin with Long Pips I would say is about as easy as attacking topspin with inverted. It should come that natural to you.

#2:
Name: Kento Nomura
Inverted/Long Pips
Notes:
Kento is a good player I like to watch. He's really creative and if there's a possible combination with this style, he's probably tried it. RPB with the inverted when you have the Long Pips on the FH? Yep. RPB Long Pip chop like a modern defender? Seen that several times. Shoot I've even seen him attack a serve with an over the table backhand flip with the Long Pips which seems crazy to me and I don't recommend it but nonetheless, this style is about placement and keeping your opponent guessing. Check out his youtube channel here.

#3:
Name: Wang Qiu Yi Wang or 王秋伊
Inverted/Long Pips
Notes:
The best, hands down, forehand attacking Long Pip player in the world. I've never seen anything like that. Watch her matches (good luck finding one with good video quality) and you will swear she's hitting short pips on that forehand. But she's not. It's long pips. Palio ck531a in fact. My favorite, do everything well LP.

Other honorable mentions. The list can get pretty lengthy and there are more I have but use this to get started. Just look for them on youtube or youku.

• ZHOU XINTONG
• 組彭茂林 (not really a twiddler but you've never seen a RPF with inverted like this before)
• Shang Yuan Yuan
• 楊士賢
• Lay Jian fang

Penhold RPB Chiquita Flip Made Easy

I recently had a breakthrough with my training partner that has thus far helped my game tremendously.

For years now we've known about how the over the table loop or flip has revolutionized table tennis. This is the modern way to play table tennis. Yet I've always found executing this shot, particularly vs heavy backspin, difficult to not put into the net.

If you're anything like me, you like to watch the best & emulate what they do. Makes sense right? Well who better to emulate this shot than Fan Zendong?

Fan Zhendong executing his BH flip vs short service.

Here is the obvious and simple truth. I, nor virtually anybody else in the world, can emulate his talent and skill level he has built up over the years. I've seen enough of Fan to know this is his position during his BH flip on pretty much any short serve.

When facing dead balls, topspin, sidepsin, this is an easy shot to execute. But for me when facing backspin, no matter how hard I tried, I could never consistently get this ball over the net.

So I took a page for my training partner, who has a knack for being able to BH flip a high percentage of short serves. To me his way seems to simplify the BH flip and I'm a big believer that if you can make something seem easy, then you're on the right track.

What would you say to someone who is constantly putting a ball in the net? Open the face of your paddle more right? RIGHT. That was my problem. I was always going into my shot in the pose you see FZD doing above with that very closed blade angle and would often never open up enough vs backspin.

So how is it done? 

Quite simply, go into your ready position with the face of your BH completely perpendicular to the table. It's all about your starting point. From there your swing will vary accordingly. Vs Topspin or sidespin, you might come over the ball a pinch more. But vs backspin? Your blade swings almost purely up.

Here is a video a found that best emulates what i'm talking about. Now this isn't my video and I'm not suggesting this person is the gold standard for how to perform the BH flip. I would suggest they get that elbow up and use it in their shot. But that's besides the point. What I'm suggesting is look at the starting position of his BH. I think this video does a good job in showing what I'm talking about and what has come easy to me. Perhaps it could for you as well. From that I have found you can execute the flip vs a high number of serves. I would almost go as far as to say what spin the person puts on their serve doesn't matter.

My training partner is a shakehander so this technique applies the same whether you play penhold or shakehand. It's the same concept.

This has made the short serve to the middle of the table or to BH very easy now. It gives you more options. No longer do you have to always push that backspin ball for fear you can't attack it in. Remember the new plastic ball doesn't quite spin like the old celluloid ball use to. Don't be afraid to try this shot. Much like FZD, still get that elbow up, and in conjunction (it's not a wrist only shot) with your wrist use those two parts to swing up on backspin with that flat blade face, I promise you you will find how easy it is to execute that shot vs backspin now.

Good luck.

Penhold Twiddling Tutorial

A Plea to Single Winged Penholders

My first penhold blade was a Nittaku Japanese penhold. The comfort, feel and power of that blade was truely unmatched. I loved it. I also choose that blade because it what was what my brother played with. But as time passes, the game evolves and we evolve as we age.

This is my plea to all single sided penholders. Both J-peners and single sided C-peners alike... Learn the RPB. If you currently are a singled winged penholder, I'm convinced there is no other improvment you could make to your game than to transition from that traditional penhold backhand (TPB) to a reverse penhold backhand (RPB). The traditional penhold backhand always has and always will be a weakness in the game.

If you don't take my word for it, then perhaps short pip legend He Zhi Wen can convince you?

Be sure to watch from 1:41 - 2:08 in the video and have your closed captions turned on.

There are varying levels of which you can use the RPB. Perhaps it comes completely natural to you. Then you can play more like Wang Hao, who used it with every backhand. Or perhaps you grew up using the TPB and you simply like blocking with it? That's completely fine also. Penhold great Ma Lin used the TPB 80% of the time in his matches in blocking & counter hitting. However when there was a high ball to attack or loop, he used the RPB. Don't let players think all they have to do is keep hitting to your backhand over & over with no real repercussion. You have options.

What if I love the feel & style of Jpen?
That's completely understandable. I prefer the cork grip myself also. I would then encourage you to consider some type of hybrid Jpen that allows you to hit with the backside RPB.

Take a look at the Nittaku SOU for example? It's a two-sided Jpen that even allows one to twiddle. There is a version more rectangular like a Jpen or more round like a Cpen

Jpen:
http://www.tabletennis11.com/other_eng/nittaku-sou-mf-p-pen

Cpen:
http://www.tabletennis11.com/other_eng/nittaku-sou-mf-r-pen

Here's some video of it from one of my favorite youtube channels TacShow.

Short Pips. Then and Now

You want to refine your technique and/or learn from the best when it comes to short pip penhold play. There’s a problem though. When you search “Short Pips Penhold” on youtube, you are getting videos from the 90s or earlier.

You might not be aware of this but table tennis has changed a lot since that time. It’s almost a completely different sport. The ball has changed and that drastically alters how short pips are played and their usefulness.

In the 90s and before, they use to play with a 38mm celluloid ball. This ball was small, spiny and unbelievably fast. Speed killed. Just watch any Liu Guoliang, arguably the greatest penholder ever, and you will see what I mean as he stands up on the table and smashes opponents into submission.

Then after the 2000 Olympics the ball changed from 38mm to 40mm. The speed was less and spin became a premium. Short pip play started to die off. Fast forward to July of 2014 and the ITTF changed the ball again. This time from 40mm (technically 39. Something mm) to 40+ (so just over 40mm) plastic or poly balls. Not celluloid. Again this new ball is even slower and less spiny.

Short pips thrives on the speed play. When that is taken away, spin then becomes a premium and thus you have the style of play we have today.

Question: 

What’s the point of this history lesson?

Answer: 

Find relevant players from the 40+ Plastic ball era to emulate. You will not be able to do what they did back in the 80s.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy technique videos such as this from 2-time world champion Jiang Jialiang. His technique is sound and will always be a good reference point.

However, if you would like to see what type of approach you’d have to take into today’s game, check out this youtube playlist I created called “Short Pip Penholders. (40+ plastic ball era)”. I add to it all the time and these players should be a good frame of reference for you.

Watch the Playlist on Youtube

Why Penhold Pips and What's It About?

Welcome to my blog Penhold Pips. The title of the blog is self explanatory. This blog will feature & specialize in everything regarding table tennis penhold play featuring some combination of Pips-out play.

Why Penhold? And Why Pip Play?

If you've payed attention to the recent trend among pros on the ITTF tour, then you'll know with rule changes and style of play that shakehand duel inverted players dominate the top rankings. If you are an aspiring future professional? I would recommend you follow that style of which there are countless resources available to you online.

However, if you love penhold. If you're a tactician. If you get as much of a thrill in out-smarting and/or tricking your opponent as much as you do in blowing a powerful shot past them, then this blog  and play-style might be for you. If want to learn more about this style and how to play it you've come to the right place.

Will penhold duel inverted (ie - inverted on both sides) be featured here?

Most likely not. While I have experience in this area and most likely is the most viable way to play penhold in today's era, it simply doesn't interest me. In my opinion the style is too similar as duel inverted shakehand while not being quite as optimal. That being said, if you are looking for technique and are an inverted player, there still will be things here for you as many of the players this blog features will be playing inverted either on their forehand or backhand (RPB) side.

So you've said what this blog is not. What is it?

This blog is for those who want to learn the style of penhold pips play. That includes several possible combinations and play styles. Some are quite mainstream while others are more rare.

Such examples would be...

Short Pips / Inverted

Inverted / Long Pips

Short Pips / Long Pips

Furthermore, this blog will focus heavily on twiddling and the mind games and tactics that opens up.

Occasionally I will post my play and journey towards improvement as well as points I've discovered along the way. Additionally, I will post videos featuring some of my favorite twiddling penhold pip players as means of inspiration and coaching techniques.

Lets keep this great, interesting style alive and get an advantage while we're at it. You can bet almost assuredly your opponents will have to deal with a style they're not prepared for.