Long pimple destroying setup?

you goose, beating long pimples has nothing to do with a different setup!

When you go to yr club to train, pick out your pip players and practise against them. it's just a matter of adjustment, and being able to adjust strokes when you play against them. The more you play them, the better you'll adjust.

Slap a sheet of 2.2 Outlaw on the FH. You can hit thorough spin, and even create you own overwhelming spin on fast loops. Outlaw also flat hits through spin nicely when you become accustomed to it. You still need to read the spin and keep your blade angle/stroke direction in order, but Outlaw is more immune to spin than you would believe. Low throw is also a plus for the flat hit or loopkill.

Put two sheets of Peace Keeper OX on your blade. It will ignore most spin, blocks very well and will make bullets if you hit hard with it. The pips players like using your spin against you. PK will give them problems. I have a setup like that and it does work. Like you say, a tourney is not the place to learn how to play against pips.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I thought I would explain I really only need to gain about 2 points on average to be able to win most of these troublesome games, I'm not getting flogged by any stretch, but it's veeeeery hard work for me.

Edited by nicefrog - 07/10/2010 at 11:21am

Put super glue on the top of the pips on PK. It is like a mirror. It reverses Everything.

Nicefrog,

Just buy another setup like the one you are using. But on the BH slap an anti rubber.
Just the other day I watched a good pimple out player being made look like a beginner by my club mate who is using a butterfly super anti. The pimple guy lost 0-3. The tactic is that you simply put the ball back on the table using the anti until he made a mistake or you get an easy ball to put away.
Or you can blast your way against those LP players with your loop and drive, it can be done :)) you just need to pick your shots and not go all out attacking, push some heavy backspun balls to keep them moving forward and backward.

Don't change setup because you have trouble with LP... Just hit with a person with LP and get used to it

Totoro wrote: Don't change setup because you have trouble with LP... Just hit with a person with LP and get used to it

+1.  The only way to play effectively against LP is to get used to their spin (or lack off).  I still have a lot of problem playing against them, but I find that the more I play against them, the better I am against them.

As a general rule, I dislike long pip players.  It's a very large disadvantage at the professional level to use long pips, but it can be a significant advantage at the intermediate/lower level.  If I were convinced defenders could still exist at the world class level without long pips, I would be entirely in favor of banning them completely.


That said, learning to play against long pips and anti spin does out weigh changing your setup to cope with another person's equipment.  There are generally two styles I see among long pip players:  1.  the heavy chopper and 2. the push/blocker

Against a long pip chopper, it's actually not too difficult to adjust.  Other than having to watch for 'dead floaters', it's pretty much the same as playing against any other chopper.  The 'drive one-drop one' tactic is usually quite effective, especially if you're always driving and dropping to their long pips side/backhand side so as to minimize their chances for a counter-attack.

The style that seems to screw intermediate players up though is the long pips twiddling push/blockers.  These players telegraph their strokes much less than a heavy chopper and usually give much less spin on their normal side shots.  It's a difficult style to adapt to because they're really riding your spin a lot of the time and not really doing anything themselves.  The one place I've found they're always weak in though is attacking pushes.  I'm sure there are some long pip blockers than excel at this, but I've never encountered one thus far.  They all prefer that either I make the first attack or they wait for a ball which is high enough to attack anywhere.  What I find that works for me against this type of player is to keep pushing to whichever side they're playing their long pips on.  On a short push, this type of player has a great deal of trouble creating a confusing shot or reversing much spin - rather they give you back 'dead' pushes.  Once you've forced the player into making this type of push, you're in control of the game and you can place the ball anywhere on the table.  The key here is not to kill the ball, but force your opponent out of position and then drive to the other side or straight into his body.  It takes some practice, but once you've got this down, they'll absolutely dread playing you.  Just remember, don't play their game when you're playing a push/blocker - that's exactly what they want.  If you sit there and try and drive every shot, you're just shooting yourself in the foot.

A quick note about equipment:

I would never play a long pips player without a brand new ball with a very large and clear logo.  When you need to be able to read spin quickly, the last thing you want is to be sitting there wondering if you're looking at a logo standing still or a dirty ball spinning like mad.  Also, if you really don't want to adapt to the long pips style of play and want to alter your setup, try a hardbat.  Don't laugh - it's actually surprisingly effective.  Long pip players very often rely quite a bit on their opponent's spin and if you sit there and push/block their shots with a hardbat, they have a hard time winning.  If you have a long pip friend that beats you regularly, try a hardbat and don't attack, just sit there and block/chop and watch him go crazy having to do all the work himself for a change.

You are also assuming that you know how to play with hardbat.

Edited by jt99sf - 07/12/2010 at 12:49am

I find it amusing how little respect people have for long pip players here. the intricacies needed to be a good long pimple blocker and even chopper is huge - you need to be able to make a tiny adjustment for a hugely different shot. A GOOD long pip player - let me just say there is very few of us - needs to have a brilliant eye for spin and great touch, with a game that is a combination of made to distrupt your opposition as well as attack and punishing mistakes.

changing your equipment (that you are so used to) for playing against lp is the last thing you should do. and besides, any equipment you will use does not equate to a win. its the understanding, practice and tactics that wins against lp - nothing to do with your equipment. i find this 'changing equipment' very amusing. hehehe  

Edited by ryanp - 07/12/2010 at 1:18pm

bravefest wrote: jt99sf wrote: Just because you can't beat long pips players, you place the blame on equipment. You can't just give your buddy a racket with long pips and 'practice' with them to get better.   It sounds like you think pips players don't need any skill to use their pips. You are also assuming that you know how to play with hardbat. Read your first sentence again.  See the irony?

jt99sf wrote: You clearly have an answer to playing against long pips players, why do you want to ban them? Hate the game, not the playas.

I understand how long pips work and I know how to play against them, that is true.  That doesn't mean I can always hit the shot I want to and I don't lose to lp players sometimes.  It's not so much a matter of 'I can't play against them' but rather something else:

Long pips really do confuse a lot of players and that's their entire point.  When it comes to using inverted, the point is to place the ball in a spot where the opponent cannot retrieve it or to hit it too fast.  Long pips provide a third option - confuse the opponent as to the spin on the ball.  At the pro level, this really doesn't work at all; but long pips do confuse many amateurs quite effectively.  I dislike the nature of that third option as I feel it only detracts from the game as a whole.  It's similar to why I don't want serves to be hidden.


One other thing - I really dislike playing against and watching long pip push/blocking games.  zzZZZzzZZZzzZZZzzzzZZZZzzzzZZZZZzZZZzzz.  I'd rather watch two loopers or one attacker one chopper every time.


Edited by bravefest - 07/13/2010 at 5:36am