Major League Table Tennis moves to Houston this weekend for Week 4 of its fourth season, with the host Texas Smash joined by Carolina Gold Rush, Chicago Wind and Atlanta Blazers at the ULH Event Center from 30 October to 1 November.

The US franchise league plays in weekend blocks around the country, with four teams at each venue. Close matches can come down to the Golden Game, a final game played to 21 points. The season has already visited Duluth, Willowbrook and Westchester.

Carolina finally start

Carolina Gold Rush are the only team in Houston who have not yet played this season, a quirk of the schedule rather than a choice, so they open their season later than the rest of the league. They reached the MLTT Cup final last season, losing 21-18 to Portland, and Butterfly's preview describes their expectations for the year as "maxed out". Portland, the defending champions, are not in Houston this weekend.

Texas at home

Texas arrive with momentum and home support. The Smash went 2-1 in Westchester in Week 3, beating New York and producing the comeback of the season against Atlanta, scoring the last five points of the Golden Game to win it 21-20. Hiromitsu Kasahara, Nandan Naresh and David McBeath all won singles matches that weekend.

Chicago and Atlanta

Chicago are 3-3 after splitting their first two weekends. Robert Gardos, Mo Zhang, Emmanuel Lebesson and Sean Zhang give the Wind one of the deepest line-ups in the league, and they recovered from a Friday defeat in Willowbrook to win their last two matches there. Mo Zhang arrives straight from Lima, where she reached the Americas Championships singles final and won the mixed doubles.

Atlanta are 2-4. Quadri Aruna, Woojin Kim and Kayama Yu have carried the Blazers in singles, but they have lost three Golden Games, two of them after taking a lead into the decider.

Both squads show how the league has recruited experienced internationals. Lebesson was European champion in 2016, and Aruna, from Nigeria, became the first African player to reach an Olympic singles quarter-final at Rio the same year.

Matches to watch

Two rematches stand out. Atlanta beat Chicago in the season opener in Duluth, and the teams meet again on Saturday afternoon. Texas and Chicago, both in the West Division, open the evening session on Friday.

How to follow

Tickets are on sale through the league's website, mltt.com.