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Greetings and salutations from Bubbe--who, even when she isn't WRITING about mah jongg, is THINKING about it!
I received a question from my new email pal, Carol, asking about hand selection. She wanted to know if there was a specific number of tiles that I used as a guideline at the end of the Charleston in order to choose a concealed / SP hand.
I explained that this is a situational question, and that I'm a mercurial player. I go on instinct rather than strictly relying on numbers. The funny thing is, I happened to play online this morning, and a hand came up that provided a really good teachable moment. Pull up a chair.
The Real Mah Jongg gods dealt me three Jokers--which was pretty sweet--plus one 2 bam and two 8 bams. I had a 4 and a 6 in dots and a 4 crak, plus some assorted other things, but I decided that I'd see where the Charleston took me in terms of going for the fourth 2468 hand:
FF 2222 44 66 8888
As I said to Carol, I wasn't that worried about not having any Flowers yet since there are eight of them. I assumed I could pick some up along the way, and those jokers would go a long way toward getting me both of the kongs in bams.
As the Charleston progressed, I picked up a 6 crak, so I still wasn't sure what my alternate suit was going to be. After the second left, I found myself with pairs of 4 craks and 4 dots, but I was at a passing dilemma. Although I had my pairs of 4s in either suit, I only had a single 6 in each suit, and wasn't ready to commit to either suit. I had
JJJ 2 88 44 6 44 6 X X
with X being only two expendable tiles. I decided it would be easiest to pass away one of the 8 bams and hope it came back to me in the passing, or at worst call it for exposure if/when it was discarded.
Oddly, the bot across from me passed me a different 8 bam so I continued to have a pair of 8 bams, and I knew there was a third one floating around that would be easy to call for exposure. Unfortunately, the across pass with that 8 bam didn't have Flowers or the 6 of either suit that I was waiting for, so I only had two tiles to pass for final right.
I ended up in the same position as the Charleston ended: undecided on my complementary suit but knowing that when that 8 bam was thrown I'd be able to call it for an exposure. I was hopeful that as the game progressed, I would pick either a 6 dot or 6 crak to point me in the right direction (or perhaps someone would expose three of them, making it clear that I was never going to complete that pair). I knew I wasn't ready to commit and therefore didn't have a lot of flexibility on discards. In fact when I threw out my 14th tile, I really only had one definite discard that I would use if and when the 8 bam was thrown.
Sure enough, it was thrown quickly, I called for it and exposed my other two 8 bams and a joker and made my easy discard. When a 2 bam was thrown, I didn't leap on it. I wasn't ready to commit to either the craks or the dots as my complementary suit, and I knew I was going to need to use two jokers anyway to complete the kong, so I decided to hold back and wait for another 2 bam to come out.
**Remember, during all of this I was well aware that this wasn't a guaranteed hand, that I should not expect to win. I was missing a key piece: an entire pair of Flowers, as well as the second 6 (suit to be determined).**
Patience is a virtue. I'm very fortunate that before I picked up a Flower, I picked up a 6 crak. My two complementary pairs, 4 crak and 6 crak, were complete and I could feel comfortable discarding the 4 dots and the 6 dot. I threw out one of the 4 dots, and continued playing.
Someone was able to exchange for the joker from the 8 bam Kong. I picked up one Flower, discarding the 6 dot. I now hoped to complete my 2 bam kong so that I could call for a Flower, completing the pair for mah jongg.
Sure enough, someone threw a 2 bam, and I called for it, exposing the kong with two jokers (one of which could not be exchanged). I discarded my other 4 dot and was "on call," waiting for the final Flower.
This was actually the moment where it's an advantage to play with bots. I'm not sure, if I was playing with friends, that they would have been so cavalier, but a few moments later, a bot threw a Flower, and sure enough, I was able to call it for mah jongg.
That's what I mean by being a mercurial player. I was willing to take the chance of completing the pairs in the complementary suit as well as the pair of Flowers. Maybe it's because I was playing against bots and figured, what did I have to lose? Maybe it was because I figured the jokers gave me some flexibility, even if those 6s never showed up. Maybe it was because I know I'm not always going to win, so I take chances and play challenging hands.
I don't want to dictate how YOU should play, I'm just
explaining how I played it. I was lucky that that 6 crak showed up
when it did, so I wasn't forced to make the decision of which suit to pursue.
The reality is, we can never control what tiles we pick up, or when in the
game they appear. The only thing we CAN control is how prepared we are, and
whether we think things through in advance. By trusting that the 8
bam could be called for with two jokers, I was able to keep the passing going
without breaking up my hand in a destructive way. By knowing that I could wait for
another 2 bam, I didn't force the "suit" decision too soon.
I like presenting these scenarios for you so you can
hopefully learn and improve your own game. None of us is going to win every hand,
but it helps to think things out and perhaps learn from our losses. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to bubbefischer@gmail.com , I love hearing from you!
Wishing you all a wonderful, HEALTHY Thanksgiving with your families, and if you are Jewish, a Hanukkah full of light and love.
Bubbe Fischer |
