Learning a more advanced set of strategies in Mahjong

Thanks to Wendy - yes the same Wendy as in a previous post!

A different week’s experience saw me shadowing the wonderful Wendy who is a very experienced player so I could see some different moves and interpretations of tiles in the hope of seeing things I wouldn’t have thought of doing myself. I did wonder whether my request might put people off their games but it didn’t and Wendy was great in advising me of her decisions so I could learn her strategies.

It began smoothly with a possibility of Jean’s Medley or a Traditional Mahjong hand being the obvious options and instead of choosing immediately as I would do, Wendy left it open to see which tiles came her way. Before she knew it, she had 3 pungs and a chow and a pair. She just missed one more to pung the 2 of characters she had. She just missed out on winning. So, the lesson is to keep the mind open to see what else comes my way before I make a decision as to which tile combination I’m going to play.

Second game – it was initially looking like a Big Robert to play but quickly changed to pairs or triple knitting… Pair 2CH (character), Pair 7CH, Pair 8CH, Pair 1C (circle), Pair 9C, Pair 3B (bamboo), and a 4 (I forget which suit), it was looking so good but she closely lost to a Big Robert from Pixie on the other side of the table. Pixie also plays very well. She has beaten me senseless before now but she confessed she just plays a handful of options.

Next Game - 5C, Pair 9C, 1B, Pair 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, NW (North wind) and EW (East). Strategy – get rid of C and Pick up dragons or winds. Slowly, once she had punged the EW, she discarded the 2B (I would have mistakenly kept it) and discarded her 8B – what she ended up with, after more tiles played was a traditional Mahjong. I had suddenly seen different tile strategy…learning tons – I would have played differently and been miles off with a different hand, a non-winning combo. Shadowing Wendy and not playing for a change was feeling good!

 I watched Pixie for a while who was vacillating between Pairs or Knitting... she had two half combos – she went for knitting, not something she usually plays – she got brave and today tried something she’d not done before. Well done!

– it’s good to stretch the mind.

TILE COMBOS

JEAN’S MEDLEY – four crazy chows with a red dragon and a green dragon

TRADITIONAL MAHJONG – two pungs in one suit with a chow in same suit and pung of winds (this week’s combo - there are other variations)

PAIRS – any tiles paired

BIG ROBERT -three runs of four tiles (one of each suit) and a pair of winds or dragons

KNITTING – tiles paired up with same value in a second suit

TRIPLE KNITTING – tiles in triple with same value, one from each suit

Tip of the week

Don’t pick your game too early. But then again don’t pick it too late. By the third round on the wall it seems that you should be able to make a decision. ALSO have one or two combos in mind which are similar or close.

Glossary for those who are new

Pung - three identical tiles - can be Dragons, Winds or Suits

Chow - as run of three tiles in any suit (E.g. 1C,2C,3C)

Crazy Show - a run of three tiles in all three suits (E.g. 1C,2B,3CH)

Combo - my slang for Hands - the combinations of tiles

Suit - there are three, Circle, Character and Bamboo

Value - the same number or symbol (E.g. # or Wind or Dragon)

C - circle

CH - character

B - Bamboo

NW - North Wind

EW - East Wind

That’s all peeps, be kind to yourselves and have a great week.