Greetings and salutations from Bubbe, who had an epiphany the other day--I'm not joking!
Those of you who have followed my columns for a while know that I like to keep statistics when I play in tournaments, because I'm playing a great number of games over a short period of time. I write down quick notes about each hand: how many Flowers and jokers did I start with, what did I think I was playing at the end of the Charleston, what did I end up playing, who won, how many jokers were in the winning hand?
The overall trend has been pretty clear--the winning hand has almost always had jokers. Obviously this would not be true with the Singles and Pairs hands, but with "regular" hands involving pungs, kongs, and quints, jokers played a role a large percentage of the time.
It makes sense: jokers allow you flexibility; you are able to call for more tiles, to complete "melds" more easily; they bring you closer to winning.
Knowing that jokers are so valuable, I always get very happy when I am dealt one or more jokers.
All that being said--last week, I had some really frustrating hands. The first game we played, I was dealt two jokers. I thought, "This is going to be great!"--and proceeded to lose to someone who just had better tiles than mine. The second game, I was dealt three jokers--again, lost to someone because I wasn't able to make much of the tiles that came to me during the Charleston.
I finally kicked it into gear and started winning--yes, I won 3 hands out of 13, a little more than 23% of the games--but it wasn't because I was dealt more jokers. Sometimes I picked a joker; other times, I was able to exchange a tile for a joker. The jokers showed up at opportune moments so that I was able to call for certain discards, but I would not have been able to count on them at the beginning of the game. I just played and hoped, and when lucky tiles came I knew what to do with them.
That's Bubbe's wisdom in a nutshell: "Luck favors the prepared mind." You need to have some good ideas about what your tiles can do, and be ready when tiles come in.
For instance, there was a hand where I was dealt some pretty mediocre tiles: some Winds, a Red dragon, one joker, one Flower, plus various numbers in all three suits. Nothing looked that promising, but people passed me some interesting things and I "saw" that the Winds hand: FFFF NNNN RR SSSS might fit as an option. I ended the Charleston with the pair of Red's, one Flower, two Norths, and two Souths, plus that joker. I knew I could call for one of the Winds, but then I'd be stuck when the other was thrown...
As we played, I picked up a third North. This made it easier for me: if someone threw the last North, I could call for the kong; if they threw a South I could use the joker to call for that kong. At least I knew I wouldn't be hung up and miss my chance to call for those exposures.
Sometimes the Flowers keep coming at you--especially when you don't need them. Other times, you can't get a Flower to save your life. Lucky for me, I picked a second Flower, and then later exchanged for a third joker. My hand was now FFJ NNN RR SSJJ 2
Someone threw the fourth North. I called for the exposure, and my hand was set. I knew I might never see another South, after that, but then I picked up a third Flower to complete the hand. I had ended up winning using three jokers, even though I only started with one (and only one Flower, too!). It taught me to manage my expectations about jokers. You could be dealt quite a few, but not get any other useful tiles; then again, you might cobble together a win despite a mediocre deal. In the example above, it was an inauspicious start, but the jokers and Flowers did come.
How about you? Are you a joker magnet? Do they come when you need them, or only when you've decided to play a Singles and Pairs hand? Drop me a line at bubbefischer@gmail.com and let me know what you're up to.
Talk to you soon--
Bubbe Fischer
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Friday, May 4, 2018
Take time to Smell Spring Flowers
Greetings and salutations from your Bubbe, happy that--at long last--Spring seems to have come to New Jersey.
The snow is finally gone. No more grey landscape: there are buds on the magnolia and cherry blossom trees. Daffodils and forsythia are in bloom. Suddenly there is color in the landscape, and our seasonal allergies kick into high gear.
The other mark of Spring is the return of the Snowbirds.
On Wednesday, I received a quick Facebook message from Helene, a relative rookie at the game: "Ok, pick and throw or throw and pick?"
I knew immediately what was up. Some of my friends will say, "I've got a quick mahj question," or "Can I ask you something about playing?" Others will say, "Bubbe, I need you to settle a dispute."
It was possible that some of the ladies in Helene's group were rusty on the rules, or perhaps they just forgot the order of how things happened, e.g.,"Do I push out the walls clockwise or counterclockwise?" "Do I pass the Charleston Left, right, or across?" "Do I pick first or throw first?"
On the other hand, it could be that most essential question, about the style of play.
I answered: "Pick and throw. Takes longer but makes better hands."
She immediately replied. "Thanks that’s the way we were playing but there’s a movement underfoot to make things go faster."
As I suspected, it was a style question, and I knew where it came from.
"Who went to Florida?" I asked. "Tell her those aren't League rules."
Helene's reply: "Lolololol! How did you know?"
I know because I have been to the Ground Zero of 14-tile mahj. I stood in the lobby of the Mandel JCC in Palm Beach Gardens watching the best of the best. They got through each game in five minutes, tops, with payoffs that were double, if not five times, the value on the card.
Frankly, it was like a fevered addiction. No one was talking, no one was laughing. Throw and pick, and lord help you if you slowed down the game.
Not all of the Florida ladies play 14-tile games, and even among those who do, there are friendlier and less stressful variations. But the single explanation I hear most often about why anyone chooses the 14-tile game is "It's much faster."
It certainly is. In mah jongg you must be decisive. With the throw and pick variation, you have a few extra beats to decide your next move. You determine which tile you are going to throw, and then once you pick the next tile you are able to consider it while the three other players throw and pick. Of course, you need to pay attention to their discards--if you want them, you'll have to think and speak quickly in order to stop the next player from throwing.
Bubbe has a lot of questions. The most obvious one is: What, exactly, is the hurry? If your game takes 10 minutes instead of five, you still get in 5 or 6 per hour. Are you having any fun?
Besides that, what does this version of play mean for strategic thinking? Don't people make mistakes all the time, throwing and then forgetting to pick because someone calls for their discard? How do you plan strategically: what if you throw a tile and then pick the exact same one, e.g. you decide to go jokerless so throw your only joker, and then pick another one? How can you switch your hand--don't you have to determine what you're playing, and stick with it, much earlier in this version?
So many questions...
The rumor (validated by someone who works at the NMJL headquarters) is that questions about the 14-tile game, usually phoned in from Florida, can't be answered since they aren't part of the official rules. Like all other table rules, they must be settled among the players, not the League.
Some of you are 14-tile die-hard fans; some of you will never try it in your life; some of you can go either way, however the rest of your group decides. Among this third group, most agree that it's a faster game, but then concede that they don't win as often at it. Certainly someone who reads this article will be willing to answer any and all of the above questions, but again, the one that strikes me the most is, "What's the hurry?" If you want to try to convince me of the merits of a 14-tile game, you can reach me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon!
Bubbe Fischer
The snow is finally gone. No more grey landscape: there are buds on the magnolia and cherry blossom trees. Daffodils and forsythia are in bloom. Suddenly there is color in the landscape, and our seasonal allergies kick into high gear.
The other mark of Spring is the return of the Snowbirds.
On Wednesday, I received a quick Facebook message from Helene, a relative rookie at the game: "Ok, pick and throw or throw and pick?"
I knew immediately what was up. Some of my friends will say, "I've got a quick mahj question," or "Can I ask you something about playing?" Others will say, "Bubbe, I need you to settle a dispute."
It was possible that some of the ladies in Helene's group were rusty on the rules, or perhaps they just forgot the order of how things happened, e.g.,"Do I push out the walls clockwise or counterclockwise?" "Do I pass the Charleston Left, right, or across?" "Do I pick first or throw first?"
On the other hand, it could be that most essential question, about the style of play.
I answered: "Pick and throw. Takes longer but makes better hands."
She immediately replied. "Thanks that’s the way we were playing but there’s a movement underfoot to make things go faster."
As I suspected, it was a style question, and I knew where it came from.
"Who went to Florida?" I asked. "Tell her those aren't League rules."
Helene's reply: "Lolololol! How did you know?"
I know because I have been to the Ground Zero of 14-tile mahj. I stood in the lobby of the Mandel JCC in Palm Beach Gardens watching the best of the best. They got through each game in five minutes, tops, with payoffs that were double, if not five times, the value on the card.
Frankly, it was like a fevered addiction. No one was talking, no one was laughing. Throw and pick, and lord help you if you slowed down the game.
Not all of the Florida ladies play 14-tile games, and even among those who do, there are friendlier and less stressful variations. But the single explanation I hear most often about why anyone chooses the 14-tile game is "It's much faster."
It certainly is. In mah jongg you must be decisive. With the throw and pick variation, you have a few extra beats to decide your next move. You determine which tile you are going to throw, and then once you pick the next tile you are able to consider it while the three other players throw and pick. Of course, you need to pay attention to their discards--if you want them, you'll have to think and speak quickly in order to stop the next player from throwing.
Bubbe has a lot of questions. The most obvious one is: What, exactly, is the hurry? If your game takes 10 minutes instead of five, you still get in 5 or 6 per hour. Are you having any fun?
Besides that, what does this version of play mean for strategic thinking? Don't people make mistakes all the time, throwing and then forgetting to pick because someone calls for their discard? How do you plan strategically: what if you throw a tile and then pick the exact same one, e.g. you decide to go jokerless so throw your only joker, and then pick another one? How can you switch your hand--don't you have to determine what you're playing, and stick with it, much earlier in this version?
So many questions...
The rumor (validated by someone who works at the NMJL headquarters) is that questions about the 14-tile game, usually phoned in from Florida, can't be answered since they aren't part of the official rules. Like all other table rules, they must be settled among the players, not the League.
Some of you are 14-tile die-hard fans; some of you will never try it in your life; some of you can go either way, however the rest of your group decides. Among this third group, most agree that it's a faster game, but then concede that they don't win as often at it. Certainly someone who reads this article will be willing to answer any and all of the above questions, but again, the one that strikes me the most is, "What's the hurry?" If you want to try to convince me of the merits of a 14-tile game, you can reach me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon!
Bubbe Fischer
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