Turning Lemons into Lemonade

Greetings and salutations from your academic Bubbe, who is thrilled to see that her undergraduate education has not completely gone to waste!

I want to share an interesting tale from the table. This past Sunday, my friend Melanie, the person who originally got me to take mah jongg lessons back in 2003, invited me over to teach a bunch of newbies the fundamentals of mah jongg. It's not something you can pick up in a couple of hours, but I gave it a try. I created a card with some very basic hands, mostly pungs/kongs or a pair of Flowers with three kongs. Every section but Singles and Pairs was represented--it's hard enough that they can't use jokers in a pair of Flowers, I wasn't going to make them try an entire concealed hand! 

Some players adapted quickly to what we were doing, some of them are going to need a more extensive introduction. At one point, Mel had me sit down to play with her and two other players, one of whom had had similar exposure last year but hadn't had a refresher since. The other was brand new to the game. They both caught on quite well.

 

After the Charleston, I had

 

38 4556778 9 N JJ

 

which was a very promising start for my mock card’s Consecutive Run hand:

 

111 2222 333 4444

 

running from 4 to 7 crak. Obviously it is similar, but not identical, to the current CR 4.1. I figured I could use the jokers to complete any two melds, and ideally I would pick up the remaining “missing” tiles both through exchanging for jokers and picking additional useful tiles.

 

I quickly called for a 7 crak to complete that higher kong, and a 4 crak to complete the lower pung. Mel and I explained to the other players that they should figure out which hand I was going for so that they could play defense. I later picked a 7 crak that I redeemed my own joker, and was able to call for a thrown 5 crak to complete the second kong. We went over the hand again to make it clear that the only thing I was waiting for was a 6 crak. I was trying to gather some combination of the remaining 6 craks and Jokers.

 

Meanwhile the player to my left had exposed a kong of 2 bams, including two jokers, and it sure would have been nice to pick a 2 bam to redeem one of those jokers! Unfortunately, it never became available...or at least, I never picked it.

 

We ended up with a Wall game and I was very proud of my tablemates for bringing it to a “tie”. I had three exposures and they knew not to throw me what I needed. Of course, it was possible I could have picked up, or exchanged for, a joker but I never did.

 

Mel revealed what she was playing. Her goal was

 

FF 2222 8888 DDDD

 

The actual tiles on her rack were

FF 22 66 8888 D N J

 

She actually had both 6 craks and refused to throw them, which I fully understand. She was playing defensively. She also had the two 2 bams that she didn't redeem for the Jokers, as well as that kong of 8 dots that she was nurturing but never got to use.

 

I have nothing against Wall games. Especially in tournaments, they still have value to players; a non-win is better than a complete loss.

 

However....this situation might have gone a different way. While I applauded her for playing defensively, I explained that she could have changed up her hand in a way that might have even won, depending on timing. Had she exchanged the 2 bams for the two jokers, and done so early enough in the game, she could have made something of the 6 craks and the 8 dots. My mock card also included what I call the CR junk hand (this year’s CR 7.3):

 

FF 1111 2222 3333

 

She could have built on the 6 craks and 8 dots with a kong of 7 bams in the middle. It was possible to both play defensively AND work toward a winning hand.

 

Some of you have seen my lectures on the “Psychological Benefits of Mah Jongg”. I have a Master’s in Psych, so it’s nice to use my education toward my vocation. My undergraduate degree is in Political Science, and I never thought I would use THAT in mah jongg—but I realized I was suggesting she use the principle of “coopting”:

 

“the act of taking over, assimilating, or winning over an outside person, idea, or group into an established structure, often to neutralize opposition or use their strength for one’s own purpose.”

 

In other words, you can control a difficult situation by turning a tile from an adversarial status (problematic discard) to part of your team (hand). You can do more than simply neutralize opposition, you might even win.

 

Mel was looking at some 6 craks that she knew I needed. She knew she had to hold onto them to prevent my winning. Rather than say, “I won’t give them up but I’ll do myself in by breaking up my original hand,” she could have said, “Let me incorporate them in my hand!”

 

Just something new to think about, if you find yourself in that situation. You don’t always have the opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade (or dangerous tiles into a winning combination), but if it’s early enough in the game….perhaps you do!

 

I’m always happy to hear from you—drop me a line at Bubbefischer@gmail.com

 

Talk to you soon!

 

Bubbe