Greetings and
salutations from Bubbe, talking about specific backup hand scenarios. Warning that the daily articles will be slowing
down, soon—gotta get back in the kitchen to get ready for Passover!
Yesterday, I wrote
about how important it is to have a backup for the hand that you're playing.
Today, we're going to talk about specific hands that are easy to switch
between. In that previous post, I said you should have a backup hand in
mind and not be afraid to make your first exposure so that you don't miss out
on a good tile. By having that backup hand, you can switch if it turns out
either that the original plan is nonviable or you suddenly get tiles
that work better for the second hand.
If you're going for a
concealed hand, including Singles and
Paris, you're not going to be calling anything for exposures, but it's still
good to know your various options. Specifically, if you start picking up jokers,
you may change your mind and decide it's time to take a different route. [We'll
talk about that in my "supersize" article.]
So let's look at a
few backup examples, how hands turn from one to another:
Y1 to W2: for
all you dragon lovers out there. You put out that first kong of Reds or Greens,
and suddenly you’re faced with a situation of non-viability. Specifically, you
realize that the two 2 bams you collected for 2022 are going to have to stop
right there, as somebody has just put out a pung of 2 bams including a joker.
This is the time to exchange for that joker, and use it to call for a
pung of soaps (your soap+joker+discarded soap), plus get ready to turn that pair
of Flowers into a pung (your pair+discarded Flower). Turn lemons into lemonade
and a Y1 into a W2.
Frankly, it's a
little harder to work the other way around, from W2 to Y1, as there's less
flexibility/Joker usage, but if you find yourself with all those dragons and
some natural twos, it's worth taking a second look at Y1. I just know that the “Year”
hand is clearly more challenging than the other.
Y5 to Y2 or
Y3: another situation where it's easier to switch to the ones that use
more jokers. Especially since Y5 is a
concealed hand, no one needs to know that, for instance, you're having trouble
getting the pair of Flowers. In that case you switch to Y2 and turn two
of the sets of your three natural 2’s into kongs, and use your soaps for the
pung.
Or perhaps you have
one "intact" natural meld of 2022 but realize there's no way
that you're going to complete the other two (for example, a second natural 2 in
a suit is thrown—no way you can get it without calling for it). You can try for
Y3: nail down those pongs of 2 in the other two suits through
jokers or exposures, and again, with a lucky pick of a Flower or a joker,
you'll be able to call for that kong of Flowers.
Either of the
situations is much more attainable than Y5,
of course, which is why that hand is worth 85 cents. It's really good to know
about the backups so that you're not just twiddling your thumbs every time you
consider going for the big hand.
Of course, some
people are very determined. Yes, Esther Summer, I'm talking about you. If she's very close to a Singles and Pairs hand, she is not going to give up her quest, regardless of how
many jokers she picks up. I have no doubt that Esther's going to get that big
hand more often than just about anybody out there.
E1 or E5 with Q2
as the lucky backup! If you've got the bones, specifically the pair
of 2s, and you suddenly find yourself with a whole lot of jokers,
this is a no-brainer, especially if you haven't yet completed the pair of 4s
for E1 or the pair of 6s in E5. Why beat your brains in
waiting for a natural pair when you've got enough jokers to cover yourself? You
might even take that leap and go ahead and call for the pung of 4s, and
hope that either more jokers, 6s, and 8s keep coming to you or you pick up some
dragons in the same suit, for E5. It's one exposure, who's going to know
which one you chose to play? Personally, I'm rooting for the quints to come in!
CR3.1 to CR5.1, CR1a
to CR5.1 All of these one-suit consecutive number hands are easy to
switch between, as long as you don't make too many exposures.
In the first
scenario, especially if you haven't made too many exposures but you're having
trouble getting Flowers, you might be able to salvage your hand by manipulating
the tiles from three to four consecutive numbers. The beauty of CR5
is there are no pairs.
In the case of CR1a
to CR5.1, a pung of 3s, 4s, and a kong of 5s could be either hand.
Either you need the 6s or you need pairs of 1s and 2s. Nobody knows but you,
and the beauty is, nobody can call your hand dead!
I've already talked
about how the wedding hands are virtually identical except for that second
kong. They each involve one kong number exposure with two pungs of Flowers.
Depending on that first number, you could have as many as eight different
options--at worst, you have four!
Like numbers in general are all
over the card. Do not stress if you put out a kong of any one number. Even if
you put out a second kong of that number, there's plenty of wiggle room. At
worst you can use L1 as your backup if anyone challenges you and says
your hand is dead. At best, you're able to get all the winds you need (W4)
or the skinnylicious third-suited even numbers (E2) or the
third-suited dragons (L3)…. or you realize, belatedly, that you screwed
up and you meant to do Q4 (In which case, of course you switch to L1)...
Whatever the scenario, there's another way to go and you don't have to feel
that you've "blown it".
Think of it this way: when we were younger, we were consoled in dating by the fact that
partners are like buses. "If you miss one,
there's another coming along in a few minutes." Same with mah jongg
games: don't dwell on a loss...throw in the tiles and start again!!
I would really love
to hear some of your war stories vis-a-vis back up hands. If anybody wants to
tell me about a situation where they had to change things on the fly, going
from hand A to hand B, and somehow pulled out a victory, I'd love to hear it. I
even love to hear about fighting back to a wall game from something that you thought
was a sure loss. You can email me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon!
Bubbe
