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
No comments:
Post a Comment