I got a great question from one of my readers, today, about tiles. In my last article, I had mentioned that the classic "junk hand" (consecutive kongs in different suits, or FF 1111 2222 3333) is one that isn't obvious when you first look at your tiles, especially if you set them up by suit. Apropos of that comment, she wondered if there's a specific way I set up my tiles this year, based on the new card.
There are many ways to set up one's tiles. When I teach beginners, I encourage them to begin with each suit in its own group, in numerical order. One could either put Flowers to the far left or right, and Dragons, Jokers and Winds on the opposite side.
Personal note: as I'm turning over my tiles, I make a very quick note of the Flowers, Jokers and Dragons that I see....especially Soaps. If you're new to my column and book, you may not know what a sucker I am for Soaps. In any event--as I see more Flowers and/or Jokers, I breathe a little easier, knowing that I have so many more hand options available.
Setting the tiles by suit with Dragons, Jokers and Flowers to the side is just MY preferred way to do it. You may want to keep your Dragons with their respective suit. You may want the Flowers in the middle. Who am I to say? I just think that, for me, seeing it all laid out by color, in numeric order, makes sense.
I then go about looking for pairs and/or patterns. Is one suit dominant? Do I see more even numbered tiles, regardless of suit? Are there mainly 3's, 6's and 9's? Are most of the numbers on the high end of the number line (6-9), low end (1-4), or middle (4-6)? Is there a preponderance of one specific number (e.g. 4's in all three suits)? I don't physically rearrange the tiles, I just make a mental note of them.
I recommend practicing this on your own, so that this becomes second nature to you. Your friends will not appreciate it if you hold up the Charleston for too long. I like to say that, for the beginning of the passing, anyway, I play the old Sesame Street game: "One of these things is not like the others." If I have lots of odd tiles in the 5 through 9 range, I'm probably not going to need a 4 dot, an 8 bam, and a single Wind. As passing progresses, I may have a little more trouble discerning what stays and what goes, but hopefully the real outliers are obvious to me.
Also, as your hand begins to shape up, it's very important to keep all your tiles grouped together continuously, per the great Tom Sloper,
ANYWAY: back to the original question. Ellen wanted to know:
"Lots of players like to put gaps in their tiles, grouping their completed concealed pungs and kongs separate from one another. Why it's a bad habit -- It gives the other players clues about how much progress you are making. You are only hurting yourself."
"How would you set up your tiles based on your observations of this new card? And do you alter the set up as you’re more familiar with a card?"
I would say that there's no reason to begin the game with my tiles arranged any differently with this card. I will be setting up my tiles as usual, grouping by suit. Of course, I'll start looking for different things, once the tiles are in a coherent order. As ever, I will make a note of how many Flowers I have, as well as Dragons and Jokers. I'll look for pairs, wherever they may fall.
Because I've done so much practice in looking for patterns, I don't need to set my tiles up in any special new way with this card. I will, however, be more mindful of the new patterns to look for. If I have a Soap, I'll see if I have 1's, 2's and 8's in any suit(s) to see if they match the card. I'll keep an eye out for the "12" combinations--do I have a 1 and 2 in the same suit, and possible kongs that complement each other for a 12 combination, e.g. 5's and 7's in the same suit as the 12, or 4's and 8's in the other two suits. I'll look at the odds; the evens; the 369's. I will try to find ways to incorporate Dragons of opposite suits, for the knit hands. I will look closely at where tiles fall on the number line, for various Consecutive Run combinations. If nothing else looks promising, do I have enough Winds (2 or more) that I should choose to keep them, and collect more, through the passing?
Will I alter the "beginning" setup scheme as I become more familiar with the card? I don't think it's necessary. Even as each game progresses and I hone in on a specific hand, I will keep all my tiles together, per Tom Sloper's comment. I will switch things up within the block of 13, just to keep my sanity...put my definite discards to one side, or keep the tiles on my rack together in a way that best resembles my goal hand. I'll note that I've never been one to set certain tiles perpendicular--that kind of move seems like a reaction to a discard, and could be a "tell" to opponents that I am interested in a specific tile.
One quick, funny aside: at one of my appearances, I was required to play with a woman (let's call her Vera) who was drunk and, frankly, the rudest player I have ever met. Vera had been mocking Shelly, one of the other players at the table, saying that she always knew what Shelly was playing because she always set up her tiles the same way. Just to be contrary, I decided to set my tiles up in a really strange way--Winds interspersed with other tiles, numbers out of order, suits mixed together--I even kept pairs separated. When Vera was bettor, she walked around the table and looked at my rack. "Are you dyslexic?" she sneered, as if that was something shameful. P.S. Because she couldn't decipher my tiles, she didn't bet on me--and I won! Yes, Bubbe is not above a little petty revenge, now and then.
Anyway--long response summed up--no need to set up your tiles any differently with a new card. It's all about knowing what to look for, which goes back to the point of learning the card and thinking creatively about your tiles. I know that with some focused study, anyone can improve their game!
Love your questions, happy to answer more. Just send them to me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon--this blogging seems to be a daily occurrence, now!
Bubbe Fischer
what's a knit?
ReplyDeleteI found that it's kind of a myth that you need to keep your tiles together- with the exception of keeping a single tile separated from the group once you are set. I arrange my tiles in all kinds of patterns and no one has seemed to be able to guess what I'm playing. (At least they never say anything.) There are other "tells" however- many people have been taught to put flowers at the end and I can see when they've drawn one. I also noticed that some people, when they expose, draw tiles from the middle of their hand and leave them in the middle of the rack instead of sliding them to the end. Some players, when they are set, change the pattern of their draws-instead of racking the tile, they just turn it over and discard, or they stop complaining and get real quiet. Other players will move a tile to the end of there rack based on a discard as soon as it happens. Also, I may turn a tile sideways to remind me that this particular tile can be used in a couple of my hands and I should think twice about discarding it. I did try turning over tiles in my rack, when I was just starting to learn the game, remind myself that they've been discarded, but that proved too confusing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your review and analysis. Always good to remember when playing with a new card for the first few times.
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