Barbara's adventure: NEVER GIVE UP!

 

Greetings and salutations from summertime Bubbe, who’s happy to pass the storytelling baton to another player.

Barbara Joyce responded to my request about having readers share their most interesting hands. Hers happened on a previous card, and she had actually posted the story before in a mah jongg Facebook group, but thought it was worth sharing again. I have to agree, she had quite an adventure!

Barbara writes,

“I had a fun hand that reinforced an important lesson: Never Give Up! After the Charleston, I had seven of the tiles I needed (33 6 99 DD), going for 3333 666 9999 DDD. I did not have any jokers in my hand, and never drew a joker from the wall.

“As the hand progressed, I sadly watched as the tiles I needed were discarded. The players on my right and left each had an exposed pung which included a joker. Someone threw a Red dragon, and I debated whether to even bother. The hand seemed hopeless. Yet I felt I had nothing to lose, so I called for the tile and exposed three Red dragons. 

"Next turn, I drew a tile and exchanged it for the exposed joker on my right [joker exchange #1]. Someone threw a 6 crak, and I called for it, utilizing that joker. Then the player across from me exposed a quint of Flowers, including two jokers. Next turn, I exchanged a Flower for one of those jokers [joker exchange #2]. Next turn I drew the match for my 6 crak exposure and took the joker back into my hand [joker exchange #3]. Next turn I drew a tile and exchanged for the joker on my left [joker exchange #4]. Suddenly, thanks to three jokers supplementing the pairs of 3’s and 9’s, I was only one tile away. A player threw a 3 crak and I called it for Mah Jongg!

“Several people on Facebook pointed out that my fellow players really helped me by exposing those jokers and making them available to me. And the person who threw the 3 crak should never have discarded that tile. The comment I liked best, though, was the person who pointed out that my calling for the Red dragon changed the order of tiles that would come to each player, thereby changing the trajectory of the entire hand!”

 

Barbara accurately points out that she was smart to “never give up,” but she leaves out something Bubbe wants to reinforce, as well. “Luck favors the prepared mind.” Sure, she wasn’t dealt any jokers, she didn’t pick any jokers, but she was PREPARED, paid attention to all of the exposed jokers, and was ready to make exchanges when the opportunity arose. She's absolutely right, she never drew a joker from the wall, per se, but she knew what to do with the tiles she DID draw...and it made all the difference!!

By the way, Barbara just informed me that she's only been playing since May of 2021!!

Do you have a tale from the table that you'd like to share? I love to hear them. You can contact me at bubbefischer@gmail.com

Enjoy your August, and I’ll talk to you again soon!

Bubbe

Mastering Backup Hands: How. Case Study #3: Fateful Flowers

 Greetings and salutations from your movie maven Bubbe, a big fan of the old MGM musicals.

 

One of my favorites when I was a kid was a lesser-known Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra movie called "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." There are some really fun numbers in it, and one of my favorites is a song Betty Garrett sings with Frank Sinatra. It's called "It's Fate, Baby, It's Fate."

 

That song was running through my head as I played a recent hand. I had fully intended to go for a different hand, but you can't fight fate!

 

I was dealt a variety of tiles:

 

F2337D455168N

 

It seemed to me that the 2 and 3 bams, 4 and 5 craks would make a very nice CR5.2:

 

222 333 4444 5555

 

I ended up getting a second Flower during the Charleston, and thought that perhaps if some 4 dots fell in I might be able to use junk hand CR3.3 as a backup:

 

FF 3333 4444 5555

 

As the game progressed, I picked up a joker which would definitely be needed to complete most of the melds. Nobody was throwing 2 bams or 3 bams, and I only had one joker so when a player threw the 4 crak I wasn't ready to call for a kong exposure. I just kept biding my time, thinking of my old adage, "If you can't win, don't lose." At worst, I would play strong defense and try for a wall game.

 

Meanwhile, no 4 dots were showing up, but I held on to those two Flowers because they might be useful joker bait. And then I picked up a third Flower. I started thinking, "Am I missing the boat here, should I be going for a wedding hand of some kind?"

 

I picked up a second joker. Still no 4 dots. I picked up a fourth Flower. 

FFFF 233455W JJ 

 

I decided it would be foolish for me to not take advantage of these Flowers, and that I should try to force a wedding hand. I would be able to call for a fifth and sixth Flower to complete two pungs, no problem, I wouldn't need to use either of those jokers...but what combination of wedding hand should I play?

 

I had the pair of 3 bams and the pair of 5 craks, but no other 3s or 5s in a second suit to make LN1. Really the only thing that made sense, were I to get enough jokers, would be CR2:

 

FFF 3333 FFF 4444

 

Someone threw a Flower and I called it, exposing one pung of Flowers. I drew a third joker. That actually was really handy. I would be able to use one joker with the pair of 3 bams to call for the first kong exposure, and two jokers with the 4 crak to call for the second kong exposure.

 

I picked up my sixth Flower so I didn't need to call for it, and when someone threw a 4 crak I called for it, exposing two jokers. Remember: one of those jokers was safe from exchange because someone had earlier discarded a 4 crak. 

 

Now no one knew exactly what I was going for, that's the beauty of the wedding hands. Obviously, they could figure out that I needed another pung of Flowers and a kong, but of what? My opponents didn’t know whether I was going for LN1, and if so, was I looking for 4 bams or 4 dots? Perhaps they thought I was going for CR2, which could mean I needed 3 bams, 3 dots, 5 bams or 5 dots. It's a pretty hard situation to defend.

 

I ended up pulling my own 3 bam, which completed the kong, and therefore I won 50 cents per person on a self-pick. 

 

"It's fate, baby, it's fate." Don't fight it even if it doesn't immediately make sense to you, listen to those tiles and figure out a way to use your assets. I couldn't turn my back on four Flowers. I knew there had to be a way, with all these wedding hand options, to make it work!

 

I hope this was a helpful scenario for you, showing how what wasn't even originally a backup hand suddenly became the best--and winning -- choice!

 

I love hearing game stories. If you want to share one of yours with me, contact me at bubbefischer@gmail.com 

 

Talk to you soon

 

Bubbe

Mastering Backup Hands: How. Case Study #2: An Odd Decision

 

Greetings and salutations from your sunny Bubbe, presenting an odd example of how to switch hands. 

 

I began the Charleston with a little bit of a lot of different things:

 

F2871235799DN

 

I decided to focus in on the odd dots and see whether a hand made sense by the end of the Charleston. When the passing was done, I had

 

F133567799D4E

 

Because I had a spread of the entire odd number line, I thought it made sense to go for O1.1, the first 13579 hand in one suit. The only problem was that I only had one 1 dot. I also had the Flower and a soap, so I decided to hold on to those, although in hindsight I realize that a Flower wasn’t really helpful for one-suited, odd hands. The soap, however, could be incorporated in either O5a or O5b, a pung and kong hand on either end of the number line.

 

I quickly picked up a second 5 dot and, two picks later, a joker, which were really important: every hand I was considering required a kong of 5 dots, and I was now in a position to be able to call for that exposure. It was the one clear decision before me, regardless of which hand I ended up playing.

 

This reinforces one of the most important things about a backup hand: it should have at least one exposure that corresponds to several different hands. Clearly, in this scenario, that exposure was the 5 dot kong. I did have two 3 dots, but if I was going to go for the upper end of the number line those would do me no good at all. Having only one 1 dot, I wasn't ready to commit to the lower end in O5A, nor was I ready to hone in on O1.1 because that 1 dot would come back to haunt me, being a singleton.

 

Realizing that I didn't need the Flower, I knew I could throw it, but I held on for a little bit hoping that I could exchange it for a joker. Someone exposed a kong of green dragons, and another player exposed a kong of red dragons, and I began to wonder whether any more soaps would ever surface. I did, however, pick a second joker.

 

A 5 dot finally was thrown and I called for and exposed it, and discarded my Flower. I now had

 

1 33 77 99 D J (55J5 exposed)

 

When I picked up a 1 dot on my next turn, it made the decision easy. To make O5b, the pung of 7 dots would be callable, but I would need TWO jokers in order to complete both the pung of soaps from a single and the kong of 9s from a pair. I only had one joker. To make O5a, I would be in the exact same situation: I could call for the third 3 dot easily, but would still need two jokers to complete both the pung of soaps from a single and the kong of 1s from a pair. HOWEVER, if I went with O5.1, I could easily call for either the 3 dot or the 7 dot pung and use the joker to complete the other pung. I discarded the soap.

 

Of course I would have preferred to pick my mahj tile, but when someone threw a 7 dot, I called it for mahj:

 

11 33J 55J5 777 99

 

Again this is more of a “how to decide” and “when to decide” situation. You have to be realistic about what your hand will need. For O5a OR O5b, I was still "short" a tile. I could use the joker to complete only one of those other two melds. Once I had that pair of 1 dots, O1.1 was a much easier situation, and I was officially "set".

 

I'll point out that if that 7 dot had been thrown before I picked up the 1 dot, I definitely would have called for it because it would have worked for either O5b or O1.1, but then I would have had a dilemma on my hands. In theory, the O5b should be more attainable because it doesn't need any pairs, but the other way to look at it was that I would still be two tiles away. As you see, I was on call for O1.1 once I got rid of that soap. Since there were no 1 dots on the table, it seemed likely that one could be discarded or that I might pick it.

 

It's hard to know whether to take the risk on waiting for that last component of a pair, versus going for a hand that doesn't require pairs but is further away. If there are already two on the table, it’s an even more stressful wait. I was willing to take a chance...that's why they call it gambling!

 

In any event, just as I did, always make sure when you make your first exposure that it will work for at least one other hand. Fortunately, the 5 dot kong was the key component of all three hands. All's well that ends well, even if it was only a 25 cent hand!

 

I'm always happy to hear your stories, feel free to contact me at bubbefischer@gmail.com and let me know some tough decisions you've made, and whether they worked out or not.

 

Talk to you soon

 

Bubbe

 

Mastering Backup Hands: HOW. Case study #1: Five jokers, 80 cents

 

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