Better Late than Never

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