Greetings and salutations from Bubbe, who made the odd narrative choice of beginning with the punchline. It got your attention though, didn't it? I've been wanting to give you some examples of how to switch hands and this morning I had the
perfect scenario. I was dealt a Flower and three jokers, which is a pretty sweet way to begin the Charleston. F 2 3 5 8 6 8
N E D JJJ I looked at the 2 and the 8s and I remembered that the Mother of the Bride (E6) and Bridesmaid (LN1) hands are really nice complements to one another as backups: FFF 2222 FFF 8888 FFF 2222 FFF 8888 OR FFF 8888 FFF 8888 I just needed to
see which would fall into place quickest. I also had the green dragon which could have taken me to LN3, a backup hand for LN1: FF 8888 8888 DDDD The world was my oyster at the beginning of that Charleston, because of the pretty jokers. I noticed the Winds, knowing in the back of my mind that the Q1 junk quint hand (kong of any Wind, quints of any number and any dragon) was an option...but mainly I wanted see where I could go with all of those nice kong hands. The Charleston wasn't particularly fruitful. I got another green dragon and another 8 dot, so LN3 was very much a possibility. I also kept one East on the off chance that the Quint hand made more sense. When someone threw a 2 bam, I decided it was not worth exposing two jokers over a kong that would have tied me down to E6. I chose to pursue 8s in dots and craks, and go for either LN1 (need lots more Flowers!) or LN 3 (need one more Flower plus green dragons). I held on to the East as a third
option. Unfortunately, the Flowers were not just slow in coming out, they were non-existent! It would be tough to make either of the Like-Numbered hands, especially LN3, which required that natural pair! I picked a second East and then ANOTHER joker, my fourth! F JJJJ 3 8 88 DD EE Three things immediately crossed my mind, referencing things I've said publicly before. The first was "Listen when the tiles talk to you." Giving me another joker and a Wind was a pretty firm push toward Q1! "We've all seen somebody stuck with a bunch of jokers later in the game, not knowing what to do with their hand." Q1 is a great way to use those jokers! Finally, in my last article, I had said, "sometimes
you realize you should stop beating your
brains out, worrying about trying to get your pair." Here was a chance to follow my own advice! I jolted myself back into reality and thought, “Fine, I'll switch to Q1 with the 8 dots, the greens, and the Easts--forget the Flowers!” Someone threw an 8 dot and I called for it, exposing the Quint using two jokers. I discarded the Flower, since I wasn't going to need it, but it wasn't obvious from that exposure which exact hand I was playing. Of course this was the moment when Fate decided to laugh at me. My next turn, I picked up a Flower that I no longer could use, and discarded it. Several turns later, I picked up another Flower and discarded it. When someone threw a green dragon, I called for it, exposing my other two jokers. 888JJ DDDJJ exposed (EE
3 still on rack) By now it was obvious which hand I was playing. I assumed no one was going to throw any Wind tiles. I picked up a FIFTH joker, and discarded the 3 bam. I was hoping to pick up that last East, but instead I picked up a green, exchanged it for my joker and made mahj. It was still a self-pick, so it paid double...hence the title. I told myself afterwards that I would not have gotten those later Flowers, nor that extra joker, had I not called for the 8 dot. That's true. Waiting for that Flower was frustrating and I am glad that I switched to a non-pair hand. Of course it is possible that there were other Flowers that I might have picked up, had I held silent. I'll never know, but I'm certainly pleased with how this hand turned out! I hope that was a useful illustration for you of what goes into deciding when to switch to a
backup hand and how it's done. You collect pieces of different melds that might work, and wait
for key factors such as the challenge of getting a pair, getting more jokers or additional pieces of a meld. As I said, one of the key steps was ruling out pursuing those 2 bams, since they tied me down to E6 and I only had a single Flower so far. It was the least flexible exposure, and would have locked me into a tough situation (needing to collect five more Flowers). I'll try to describe a few more cases for you. In the meantime, if YOU have played a particularly interesting hand that you want to share, I'd love to hear about it! You can email me at bubbefischer@gmail.com Take care Bubbe |