Greetings and salutations from Bubbe, who had an epiphany the other day--I'm not joking!
Those of you who have followed my columns for a while know that I like to keep statistics when I play in tournaments, because I'm playing a great number of games over a short period of time. I write down quick notes about each hand: how many Flowers and jokers did I start with, what did I think I was playing at the end of the Charleston, what did I end up playing, who won, how many jokers were in the winning hand?
The overall trend has been pretty clear--the winning hand has almost always had jokers. Obviously this would not be true with the Singles and Pairs hands, but with "regular" hands involving pungs, kongs, and quints, jokers played a role a large percentage of the time.
It makes sense: jokers allow you flexibility; you are able to call for more tiles, to complete "melds" more easily; they bring you closer to winning.
Knowing that jokers are so valuable, I always get very happy when I am dealt one or more jokers.
All that being said--last week, I had some really frustrating hands. The first game we played, I was dealt two jokers. I thought, "This is going to be great!"--and proceeded to lose to someone who just had better tiles than mine. The second game, I was dealt three jokers--again, lost to someone because I wasn't able to make much of the tiles that came to me during the Charleston.
I finally kicked it into gear and started winning--yes, I won 3 hands out of 13, a little more than 23% of the games--but it wasn't because I was dealt more jokers. Sometimes I picked a joker; other times, I was able to exchange a tile for a joker. The jokers showed up at opportune moments so that I was able to call for certain discards, but I would not have been able to count on them at the beginning of the game. I just played and hoped, and when lucky tiles came I knew what to do with them.
That's Bubbe's wisdom in a nutshell: "Luck favors the prepared mind." You need to have some good ideas about what your tiles can do, and be ready when tiles come in.
For instance, there was a hand where I was dealt some pretty mediocre tiles: some Winds, a Red dragon, one joker, one Flower, plus various numbers in all three suits. Nothing looked that promising, but people passed me some interesting things and I "saw" that the Winds hand: FFFF NNNN RR SSSS might fit as an option. I ended the Charleston with the pair of Red's, one Flower, two Norths, and two Souths, plus that joker. I knew I could call for one of the Winds, but then I'd be stuck when the other was thrown...
As we played, I picked up a third North. This made it easier for me: if someone threw the last North, I could call for the kong; if they threw a South I could use the joker to call for that kong. At least I knew I wouldn't be hung up and miss my chance to call for those exposures.
Sometimes the Flowers keep coming at you--especially when you don't need them. Other times, you can't get a Flower to save your life. Lucky for me, I picked a second Flower, and then later exchanged for a third joker. My hand was now FFJ NNN RR SSJJ 2
Someone threw the fourth North. I called for the exposure, and my hand was set. I knew I might never see another South, after that, but then I picked up a third Flower to complete the hand. I had ended up winning using three jokers, even though I only started with one (and only one Flower, too!). It taught me to manage my expectations about jokers. You could be dealt quite a few, but not get any other useful tiles; then again, you might cobble together a win despite a mediocre deal. In the example above, it was an inauspicious start, but the jokers and Flowers did come.
How about you? Are you a joker magnet? Do they come when you need them, or only when you've decided to play a Singles and Pairs hand? Drop me a line at bubbefischer@gmail.com and let me know what you're up to.
Talk to you soon--
Bubbe Fischer
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Friday, May 4, 2018
Take time to Smell Spring Flowers
Greetings and salutations from your Bubbe, happy that--at long last--Spring seems to have come to New Jersey.
The snow is finally gone. No more grey landscape: there are buds on the magnolia and cherry blossom trees. Daffodils and forsythia are in bloom. Suddenly there is color in the landscape, and our seasonal allergies kick into high gear.
The other mark of Spring is the return of the Snowbirds.
On Wednesday, I received a quick Facebook message from Helene, a relative rookie at the game: "Ok, pick and throw or throw and pick?"
I knew immediately what was up. Some of my friends will say, "I've got a quick mahj question," or "Can I ask you something about playing?" Others will say, "Bubbe, I need you to settle a dispute."
It was possible that some of the ladies in Helene's group were rusty on the rules, or perhaps they just forgot the order of how things happened, e.g.,"Do I push out the walls clockwise or counterclockwise?" "Do I pass the Charleston Left, right, or across?" "Do I pick first or throw first?"
On the other hand, it could be that most essential question, about the style of play.
I answered: "Pick and throw. Takes longer but makes better hands."
She immediately replied. "Thanks that’s the way we were playing but there’s a movement underfoot to make things go faster."
As I suspected, it was a style question, and I knew where it came from.
"Who went to Florida?" I asked. "Tell her those aren't League rules."
Helene's reply: "Lolololol! How did you know?"
I know because I have been to the Ground Zero of 14-tile mahj. I stood in the lobby of the Mandel JCC in Palm Beach Gardens watching the best of the best. They got through each game in five minutes, tops, with payoffs that were double, if not five times, the value on the card.
Frankly, it was like a fevered addiction. No one was talking, no one was laughing. Throw and pick, and lord help you if you slowed down the game.
Not all of the Florida ladies play 14-tile games, and even among those who do, there are friendlier and less stressful variations. But the single explanation I hear most often about why anyone chooses the 14-tile game is "It's much faster."
It certainly is. In mah jongg you must be decisive. With the throw and pick variation, you have a few extra beats to decide your next move. You determine which tile you are going to throw, and then once you pick the next tile you are able to consider it while the three other players throw and pick. Of course, you need to pay attention to their discards--if you want them, you'll have to think and speak quickly in order to stop the next player from throwing.
Bubbe has a lot of questions. The most obvious one is: What, exactly, is the hurry? If your game takes 10 minutes instead of five, you still get in 5 or 6 per hour. Are you having any fun?
Besides that, what does this version of play mean for strategic thinking? Don't people make mistakes all the time, throwing and then forgetting to pick because someone calls for their discard? How do you plan strategically: what if you throw a tile and then pick the exact same one, e.g. you decide to go jokerless so throw your only joker, and then pick another one? How can you switch your hand--don't you have to determine what you're playing, and stick with it, much earlier in this version?
So many questions...
The rumor (validated by someone who works at the NMJL headquarters) is that questions about the 14-tile game, usually phoned in from Florida, can't be answered since they aren't part of the official rules. Like all other table rules, they must be settled among the players, not the League.
Some of you are 14-tile die-hard fans; some of you will never try it in your life; some of you can go either way, however the rest of your group decides. Among this third group, most agree that it's a faster game, but then concede that they don't win as often at it. Certainly someone who reads this article will be willing to answer any and all of the above questions, but again, the one that strikes me the most is, "What's the hurry?" If you want to try to convince me of the merits of a 14-tile game, you can reach me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon!
Bubbe Fischer
The snow is finally gone. No more grey landscape: there are buds on the magnolia and cherry blossom trees. Daffodils and forsythia are in bloom. Suddenly there is color in the landscape, and our seasonal allergies kick into high gear.
The other mark of Spring is the return of the Snowbirds.
On Wednesday, I received a quick Facebook message from Helene, a relative rookie at the game: "Ok, pick and throw or throw and pick?"
I knew immediately what was up. Some of my friends will say, "I've got a quick mahj question," or "Can I ask you something about playing?" Others will say, "Bubbe, I need you to settle a dispute."
It was possible that some of the ladies in Helene's group were rusty on the rules, or perhaps they just forgot the order of how things happened, e.g.,"Do I push out the walls clockwise or counterclockwise?" "Do I pass the Charleston Left, right, or across?" "Do I pick first or throw first?"
On the other hand, it could be that most essential question, about the style of play.
I answered: "Pick and throw. Takes longer but makes better hands."
She immediately replied. "Thanks that’s the way we were playing but there’s a movement underfoot to make things go faster."
As I suspected, it was a style question, and I knew where it came from.
"Who went to Florida?" I asked. "Tell her those aren't League rules."
Helene's reply: "Lolololol! How did you know?"
I know because I have been to the Ground Zero of 14-tile mahj. I stood in the lobby of the Mandel JCC in Palm Beach Gardens watching the best of the best. They got through each game in five minutes, tops, with payoffs that were double, if not five times, the value on the card.
Frankly, it was like a fevered addiction. No one was talking, no one was laughing. Throw and pick, and lord help you if you slowed down the game.
Not all of the Florida ladies play 14-tile games, and even among those who do, there are friendlier and less stressful variations. But the single explanation I hear most often about why anyone chooses the 14-tile game is "It's much faster."
It certainly is. In mah jongg you must be decisive. With the throw and pick variation, you have a few extra beats to decide your next move. You determine which tile you are going to throw, and then once you pick the next tile you are able to consider it while the three other players throw and pick. Of course, you need to pay attention to their discards--if you want them, you'll have to think and speak quickly in order to stop the next player from throwing.
Bubbe has a lot of questions. The most obvious one is: What, exactly, is the hurry? If your game takes 10 minutes instead of five, you still get in 5 or 6 per hour. Are you having any fun?
Besides that, what does this version of play mean for strategic thinking? Don't people make mistakes all the time, throwing and then forgetting to pick because someone calls for their discard? How do you plan strategically: what if you throw a tile and then pick the exact same one, e.g. you decide to go jokerless so throw your only joker, and then pick another one? How can you switch your hand--don't you have to determine what you're playing, and stick with it, much earlier in this version?
So many questions...
The rumor (validated by someone who works at the NMJL headquarters) is that questions about the 14-tile game, usually phoned in from Florida, can't be answered since they aren't part of the official rules. Like all other table rules, they must be settled among the players, not the League.
Some of you are 14-tile die-hard fans; some of you will never try it in your life; some of you can go either way, however the rest of your group decides. Among this third group, most agree that it's a faster game, but then concede that they don't win as often at it. Certainly someone who reads this article will be willing to answer any and all of the above questions, but again, the one that strikes me the most is, "What's the hurry?" If you want to try to convince me of the merits of a 14-tile game, you can reach me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon!
Bubbe Fischer
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Debutante
Greetings and salutations from Bubbe with a little confession--
I only just got a chance to play with the new card!!
Do as I say, not as I do, right? I never got to play up until this week, what with speaking engagements and puppy training and family obligations. But there I was, finally, with some of the ladies in my usual mahj group--nine of us, the perfect amount for rotating between tables--and boy, was I nervous. "New card? What if I can't win? How embarrassing would that be?"
Well, the first couple of hands were as hard as ever to win, since I couldn't get jokers or the right tiles. But eventually I fell into a groove and my first win was one of my old go-to hands: Quints with a number tile, a Wind, and a Dragon kong. I started with only one joker, but I had three of my number tile (4 crak), three Wests, and two Red dragons, so I was confident I would make it. Sure enough, I picked the fourth West and another joker pretty quickly. I called for a Red, and traded for a third joker. I was able to pick my own winning 4 crak tile, and got a sweet 90 cents from each of my opponents.
My second win was also on an "old" hand. The Winds were circulating so I kept them, and with the help of a few jokers ended up winning the NNNN EEEE WWWW SS hand quickly.
The strangest thing that happened to me was a hand where I was dealt four Flowers. It's actually not a great card for four Flowers--not a ton of options. I thought about trying to make the "12" hand but didn't have the right combination of tiles. I ended up calling for discarded Flowers and turned my original four into six (two pungs), and played the returning Like Numbers hand (FFF 1111 FFF 1111), for the win.
I also won on some newer hands, including the first 369 hand: FFF 33 666 99 DDDD. I confess 369 is not generally my favorite section of the card--for some reason, I don't really look for it, but I won't fight it if my tiles fall that way. I had the pairs of 3 and 9 bams, a Flower, a pair of 6 bams and the matching Green dragon, so it was the right hand to play and, with the help of another joker or two, came in very well. I will note that that single pung of Flowers is a great distraction: it threw people off!
I also tried the knit hand: 5555 777 9999 DDD. It worked out because no one was quite sure, with the 7's and Dragons, whether I was doing Consecutive Runs or 13579. Again, jokers played a key role in the win.
The new hand that kept thwarting me, all day, was the closed 2018 hand: 22 000 NEWS 111 88. If I had all four of the "NEWS," I couldn't get the second 8. If I had all the numbers and jokers, I couldn't get the Soap in time to call for the last North. It was frustrating, but I wanted to try for a tricky hand because, as I say in my book Searching for Bubbe Fischer, life is too short to play boring hands.
So that was my day. I threw a winning tile because I wasn't paying attention; I paid my share of quarters when someone else threw a winning tile. It worked out pretty well, on the whole: I went home with more than I brought, so I can't complain. Plus the snack mix was delicious!
How about you? Enjoying the new card? Your Bubbe is always happy to hear from you at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon!
Bubbe Fischer
I only just got a chance to play with the new card!!
Do as I say, not as I do, right? I never got to play up until this week, what with speaking engagements and puppy training and family obligations. But there I was, finally, with some of the ladies in my usual mahj group--nine of us, the perfect amount for rotating between tables--and boy, was I nervous. "New card? What if I can't win? How embarrassing would that be?"
Well, the first couple of hands were as hard as ever to win, since I couldn't get jokers or the right tiles. But eventually I fell into a groove and my first win was one of my old go-to hands: Quints with a number tile, a Wind, and a Dragon kong. I started with only one joker, but I had three of my number tile (4 crak), three Wests, and two Red dragons, so I was confident I would make it. Sure enough, I picked the fourth West and another joker pretty quickly. I called for a Red, and traded for a third joker. I was able to pick my own winning 4 crak tile, and got a sweet 90 cents from each of my opponents.
My second win was also on an "old" hand. The Winds were circulating so I kept them, and with the help of a few jokers ended up winning the NNNN EEEE WWWW SS hand quickly.
The strangest thing that happened to me was a hand where I was dealt four Flowers. It's actually not a great card for four Flowers--not a ton of options. I thought about trying to make the "12" hand but didn't have the right combination of tiles. I ended up calling for discarded Flowers and turned my original four into six (two pungs), and played the returning Like Numbers hand (FFF 1111 FFF 1111), for the win.
I also won on some newer hands, including the first 369 hand: FFF 33 666 99 DDDD. I confess 369 is not generally my favorite section of the card--for some reason, I don't really look for it, but I won't fight it if my tiles fall that way. I had the pairs of 3 and 9 bams, a Flower, a pair of 6 bams and the matching Green dragon, so it was the right hand to play and, with the help of another joker or two, came in very well. I will note that that single pung of Flowers is a great distraction: it threw people off!
I also tried the knit hand: 5555 777 9999 DDD. It worked out because no one was quite sure, with the 7's and Dragons, whether I was doing Consecutive Runs or 13579. Again, jokers played a key role in the win.
The new hand that kept thwarting me, all day, was the closed 2018 hand: 22 000 NEWS 111 88. If I had all four of the "NEWS," I couldn't get the second 8. If I had all the numbers and jokers, I couldn't get the Soap in time to call for the last North. It was frustrating, but I wanted to try for a tricky hand because, as I say in my book Searching for Bubbe Fischer, life is too short to play boring hands.
So that was my day. I threw a winning tile because I wasn't paying attention; I paid my share of quarters when someone else threw a winning tile. It worked out pretty well, on the whole: I went home with more than I brought, so I can't complain. Plus the snack mix was delicious!
How about you? Enjoying the new card? Your Bubbe is always happy to hear from you at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon!
Bubbe Fischer
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
A Life or Death Decision
Greetings and salutations from Bubbe, eagerly checking my "Inbox" to see what you have to say.
I love getting letters--they spark the best columns. Sometimes you ask for clarification, which means I need to define my terms, or illustrate my point, more clearly. If one of you writes to me with a question, it's probably something that dozens of you were wondering about!
Specifically, Rae asked what I meant in a recent column when I talked about "illegal" exposures. I sent her a private email:
First of all, a reminder that you cannot declare your own hand dead, even if you have no chance of winning. If you only have twelve tiles, or have fourteen, fifteen or sixteen (what the heck are you doing?), you must keep playing as if nothing's wrong. If you have no exposures, no one will know that the hand you are attempting is unattainable. The only way an opponent will know your hand is dead is if they notice that you have too many tiles or if your exposures indicate that your hand is not attainable.
The most obvious reason why your hand is unattainable would be that it is clear from your exposures that you need a specific pair, and three of the tiles are already exposed and/or out on the table (or you need a single tile and all four are out). Same idea if you need a pair of Flowers and seven are out. Also, as I've mentioned, if you make an illegal exposure (this year it's pungs of Winds or nines), then your hand is invalid so mahj itself would be unattainable.
Any single LEGAL exposure will not make it completely obvious which hand you are playing, on this year's card. (True, five Winds show which Quint hand you are working on, but no one will know which Dragon or number tile you need). Even if the tiles you wanted are no longer available, you can either switch your hand or play on, blithely pretending that there's nothing wrong. Once you make that second exposure, it still may not be clear what you are playing (see this article for some examples).
There ARE some double exposures that are more obvious and tie you down. For example, if you have 333 5555 it can only be the first Consecutive Runs hand, in craks. If there are three one-craks or two-craks on the table, you're not going to make that hand! If you are going for 66666 66666 5667, exposing the Quints in bams and craks, and someone else exposes three six-dots, you're not going to be able to make mah jongg. Don't make a fuss, don't say anything, keep playing. It's not up to you to give yourself away.
But what do you do, on defense, when you see that someone's hand is unattainable? As I mentioned above, if your friend Selena exposes a pung of Winds or nines, she's playing a concealed hand and can't win. In another scenario she might have two exposures that tie her hand down to a goal that is no longer attainable, and you recognize that fact. You could immediately call her hand dead--because it is--but there are a few strategic reasons why you might choose not to do so!
The first, which Bubbe doesn't subscribe to at all, is etiquette--you might not want to hurt Selena's feelings! This, as I say in my book, is irrelevant. Selena knows that she can't win. Hopefully she recognizes that it's nothing personal, and that she is welcome to play the next hand as soon as it starts--in three or four minutes.You're giving her a chance to grab a nice piece of pineapple or check her email, she shouldn't be so sensitive.
A better reason comes up if your own hand is far from winnable. To battle to a wall game, you might want to slow the other players down. Having four players means that each one only sees 25% of the tiles; if you call Selena's hand dead, it means the other two players are seeing more tiles and improving their chance of winning. It could be good defense to keep her in the game. If one of the other two players notices that Selena's hand is dead, they can call it--but why should you help them?
The other main reason why you might not call another player's hand dead has to do with unredeemed Jokers. There's a lot of controversy over this--I'll save it for another column.
I hope this clarified a little more about strategy. I promise we'll go back to the unredeemed Joker issue another day. For now, keep playing the new card and let me know if you have any questions: you can email me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon!
Bubbe Fischer
I love getting letters--they spark the best columns. Sometimes you ask for clarification, which means I need to define my terms, or illustrate my point, more clearly. If one of you writes to me with a question, it's probably something that dozens of you were wondering about!
Specifically, Rae asked what I meant in a recent column when I talked about "illegal" exposures. I sent her a private email:
I like to point out the exposures that are invalid/illegal/unacceptable for this year's card. If you look over the whole card, there is no EXPOSED hand that uses a pung/three Winds or three Nines. In comparison, every other single exposure (three of any other number, dragon, or flower; four of ANY tile; and even five of any number or Wind) is legal.Now we come to a new, interesting, and highly controversial point. You can (or may, if you're a real stickler for grammar) call your opponent's hand dead. But should you?
I do this to remind you to be careful not to make that mistake. I also remind you for defensive planning. As you see on the card, there are hands with three Winds or three Nines, but those are CONCEALED hands. If an opponent makes such an exposure, it is illegal and means that you can call that player's hand dead.
First of all, a reminder that you cannot declare your own hand dead, even if you have no chance of winning. If you only have twelve tiles, or have fourteen, fifteen or sixteen (what the heck are you doing?), you must keep playing as if nothing's wrong. If you have no exposures, no one will know that the hand you are attempting is unattainable. The only way an opponent will know your hand is dead is if they notice that you have too many tiles or if your exposures indicate that your hand is not attainable.
The most obvious reason why your hand is unattainable would be that it is clear from your exposures that you need a specific pair, and three of the tiles are already exposed and/or out on the table (or you need a single tile and all four are out). Same idea if you need a pair of Flowers and seven are out. Also, as I've mentioned, if you make an illegal exposure (this year it's pungs of Winds or nines), then your hand is invalid so mahj itself would be unattainable.
Any single LEGAL exposure will not make it completely obvious which hand you are playing, on this year's card. (True, five Winds show which Quint hand you are working on, but no one will know which Dragon or number tile you need). Even if the tiles you wanted are no longer available, you can either switch your hand or play on, blithely pretending that there's nothing wrong. Once you make that second exposure, it still may not be clear what you are playing (see this article for some examples).
There ARE some double exposures that are more obvious and tie you down. For example, if you have 333 5555 it can only be the first Consecutive Runs hand, in craks. If there are three one-craks or two-craks on the table, you're not going to make that hand! If you are going for 66666 66666 5667, exposing the Quints in bams and craks, and someone else exposes three six-dots, you're not going to be able to make mah jongg. Don't make a fuss, don't say anything, keep playing. It's not up to you to give yourself away.
But what do you do, on defense, when you see that someone's hand is unattainable? As I mentioned above, if your friend Selena exposes a pung of Winds or nines, she's playing a concealed hand and can't win. In another scenario she might have two exposures that tie her hand down to a goal that is no longer attainable, and you recognize that fact. You could immediately call her hand dead--because it is--but there are a few strategic reasons why you might choose not to do so!
The first, which Bubbe doesn't subscribe to at all, is etiquette--you might not want to hurt Selena's feelings! This, as I say in my book, is irrelevant. Selena knows that she can't win. Hopefully she recognizes that it's nothing personal, and that she is welcome to play the next hand as soon as it starts--in three or four minutes.You're giving her a chance to grab a nice piece of pineapple or check her email, she shouldn't be so sensitive.
A better reason comes up if your own hand is far from winnable. To battle to a wall game, you might want to slow the other players down. Having four players means that each one only sees 25% of the tiles; if you call Selena's hand dead, it means the other two players are seeing more tiles and improving their chance of winning. It could be good defense to keep her in the game. If one of the other two players notices that Selena's hand is dead, they can call it--but why should you help them?
The other main reason why you might not call another player's hand dead has to do with unredeemed Jokers. There's a lot of controversy over this--I'll save it for another column.
I hope this clarified a little more about strategy. I promise we'll go back to the unredeemed Joker issue another day. For now, keep playing the new card and let me know if you have any questions: you can email me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon!
Bubbe Fischer
Monday, April 2, 2018
Setting up your Tiles
Greetings and salutations from Bubbe in New Jersey, where the weather seems to think that it's still March...expecting six inches of snow this morning.
I got a great question from one of my readers, today, about tiles. In my last article, I had mentioned that the classic "junk hand" (consecutive kongs in different suits, or FF 1111 2222 3333) is one that isn't obvious when you first look at your tiles, especially if you set them up by suit. Apropos of that comment, she wondered if there's a specific way I set up my tiles this year, based on the new card.
There are many ways to set up one's tiles. When I teach beginners, I encourage them to begin with each suit in its own group, in numerical order. One could either put Flowers to the far left or right, and Dragons, Jokers and Winds on the opposite side.
Personal note: as I'm turning over my tiles, I make a very quick note of the Flowers, Jokers and Dragons that I see....especially Soaps. If you're new to my column and book, you may not know what a sucker I am for Soaps. In any event--as I see more Flowers and/or Jokers, I breathe a little easier, knowing that I have so many more hand options available.
Setting the tiles by suit with Dragons, Jokers and Flowers to the side is just MY preferred way to do it. You may want to keep your Dragons with their respective suit. You may want the Flowers in the middle. Who am I to say? I just think that, for me, seeing it all laid out by color, in numeric order, makes sense.
I then go about looking for pairs and/or patterns. Is one suit dominant? Do I see more even numbered tiles, regardless of suit? Are there mainly 3's, 6's and 9's? Are most of the numbers on the high end of the number line (6-9), low end (1-4), or middle (4-6)? Is there a preponderance of one specific number (e.g. 4's in all three suits)? I don't physically rearrange the tiles, I just make a mental note of them.
I recommend practicing this on your own, so that this becomes second nature to you. Your friends will not appreciate it if you hold up the Charleston for too long. I like to say that, for the beginning of the passing, anyway, I play the old Sesame Street game: "One of these things is not like the others." If I have lots of odd tiles in the 5 through 9 range, I'm probably not going to need a 4 dot, an 8 bam, and a single Wind. As passing progresses, I may have a little more trouble discerning what stays and what goes, but hopefully the real outliers are obvious to me.
Also, as your hand begins to shape up, it's very important to keep all your tiles grouped together continuously, per the great Tom Sloper,
I would say that there's no reason to begin the game with my tiles arranged any differently with this card. I will be setting up my tiles as usual, grouping by suit. Of course, I'll start looking for different things, once the tiles are in a coherent order. As ever, I will make a note of how many Flowers I have, as well as Dragons and Jokers. I'll look for pairs, wherever they may fall.
Because I've done so much practice in looking for patterns, I don't need to set my tiles up in any special new way with this card. I will, however, be more mindful of the new patterns to look for. If I have a Soap, I'll see if I have 1's, 2's and 8's in any suit(s) to see if they match the card. I'll keep an eye out for the "12" combinations--do I have a 1 and 2 in the same suit, and possible kongs that complement each other for a 12 combination, e.g. 5's and 7's in the same suit as the 12, or 4's and 8's in the other two suits. I'll look at the odds; the evens; the 369's. I will try to find ways to incorporate Dragons of opposite suits, for the knit hands. I will look closely at where tiles fall on the number line, for various Consecutive Run combinations. If nothing else looks promising, do I have enough Winds (2 or more) that I should choose to keep them, and collect more, through the passing?
Will I alter the "beginning" setup scheme as I become more familiar with the card? I don't think it's necessary. Even as each game progresses and I hone in on a specific hand, I will keep all my tiles together, per Tom Sloper's comment. I will switch things up within the block of 13, just to keep my sanity...put my definite discards to one side, or keep the tiles on my rack together in a way that best resembles my goal hand. I'll note that I've never been one to set certain tiles perpendicular--that kind of move seems like a reaction to a discard, and could be a "tell" to opponents that I am interested in a specific tile.
One quick, funny aside: at one of my appearances, I was required to play with a woman (let's call her Vera) who was drunk and, frankly, the rudest player I have ever met. Vera had been mocking Shelly, one of the other players at the table, saying that she always knew what Shelly was playing because she always set up her tiles the same way. Just to be contrary, I decided to set my tiles up in a really strange way--Winds interspersed with other tiles, numbers out of order, suits mixed together--I even kept pairs separated. When Vera was bettor, she walked around the table and looked at my rack. "Are you dyslexic?" she sneered, as if that was something shameful. P.S. Because she couldn't decipher my tiles, she didn't bet on me--and I won! Yes, Bubbe is not above a little petty revenge, now and then.
Anyway--long response summed up--no need to set up your tiles any differently with a new card. It's all about knowing what to look for, which goes back to the point of learning the card and thinking creatively about your tiles. I know that with some focused study, anyone can improve their game!
Love your questions, happy to answer more. Just send them to me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon--this blogging seems to be a daily occurrence, now!
Bubbe Fischer
I got a great question from one of my readers, today, about tiles. In my last article, I had mentioned that the classic "junk hand" (consecutive kongs in different suits, or FF 1111 2222 3333) is one that isn't obvious when you first look at your tiles, especially if you set them up by suit. Apropos of that comment, she wondered if there's a specific way I set up my tiles this year, based on the new card.
There are many ways to set up one's tiles. When I teach beginners, I encourage them to begin with each suit in its own group, in numerical order. One could either put Flowers to the far left or right, and Dragons, Jokers and Winds on the opposite side.
Personal note: as I'm turning over my tiles, I make a very quick note of the Flowers, Jokers and Dragons that I see....especially Soaps. If you're new to my column and book, you may not know what a sucker I am for Soaps. In any event--as I see more Flowers and/or Jokers, I breathe a little easier, knowing that I have so many more hand options available.
Setting the tiles by suit with Dragons, Jokers and Flowers to the side is just MY preferred way to do it. You may want to keep your Dragons with their respective suit. You may want the Flowers in the middle. Who am I to say? I just think that, for me, seeing it all laid out by color, in numeric order, makes sense.
I then go about looking for pairs and/or patterns. Is one suit dominant? Do I see more even numbered tiles, regardless of suit? Are there mainly 3's, 6's and 9's? Are most of the numbers on the high end of the number line (6-9), low end (1-4), or middle (4-6)? Is there a preponderance of one specific number (e.g. 4's in all three suits)? I don't physically rearrange the tiles, I just make a mental note of them.
I recommend practicing this on your own, so that this becomes second nature to you. Your friends will not appreciate it if you hold up the Charleston for too long. I like to say that, for the beginning of the passing, anyway, I play the old Sesame Street game: "One of these things is not like the others." If I have lots of odd tiles in the 5 through 9 range, I'm probably not going to need a 4 dot, an 8 bam, and a single Wind. As passing progresses, I may have a little more trouble discerning what stays and what goes, but hopefully the real outliers are obvious to me.
Also, as your hand begins to shape up, it's very important to keep all your tiles grouped together continuously, per the great Tom Sloper,
ANYWAY: back to the original question. Ellen wanted to know:
"Lots of players like to put gaps in their tiles, grouping their completed concealed pungs and kongs separate from one another. Why it's a bad habit -- It gives the other players clues about how much progress you are making. You are only hurting yourself."
"How would you set up your tiles based on your observations of this new card? And do you alter the set up as you’re more familiar with a card?"
I would say that there's no reason to begin the game with my tiles arranged any differently with this card. I will be setting up my tiles as usual, grouping by suit. Of course, I'll start looking for different things, once the tiles are in a coherent order. As ever, I will make a note of how many Flowers I have, as well as Dragons and Jokers. I'll look for pairs, wherever they may fall.
Because I've done so much practice in looking for patterns, I don't need to set my tiles up in any special new way with this card. I will, however, be more mindful of the new patterns to look for. If I have a Soap, I'll see if I have 1's, 2's and 8's in any suit(s) to see if they match the card. I'll keep an eye out for the "12" combinations--do I have a 1 and 2 in the same suit, and possible kongs that complement each other for a 12 combination, e.g. 5's and 7's in the same suit as the 12, or 4's and 8's in the other two suits. I'll look at the odds; the evens; the 369's. I will try to find ways to incorporate Dragons of opposite suits, for the knit hands. I will look closely at where tiles fall on the number line, for various Consecutive Run combinations. If nothing else looks promising, do I have enough Winds (2 or more) that I should choose to keep them, and collect more, through the passing?
Will I alter the "beginning" setup scheme as I become more familiar with the card? I don't think it's necessary. Even as each game progresses and I hone in on a specific hand, I will keep all my tiles together, per Tom Sloper's comment. I will switch things up within the block of 13, just to keep my sanity...put my definite discards to one side, or keep the tiles on my rack together in a way that best resembles my goal hand. I'll note that I've never been one to set certain tiles perpendicular--that kind of move seems like a reaction to a discard, and could be a "tell" to opponents that I am interested in a specific tile.
One quick, funny aside: at one of my appearances, I was required to play with a woman (let's call her Vera) who was drunk and, frankly, the rudest player I have ever met. Vera had been mocking Shelly, one of the other players at the table, saying that she always knew what Shelly was playing because she always set up her tiles the same way. Just to be contrary, I decided to set my tiles up in a really strange way--Winds interspersed with other tiles, numbers out of order, suits mixed together--I even kept pairs separated. When Vera was bettor, she walked around the table and looked at my rack. "Are you dyslexic?" she sneered, as if that was something shameful. P.S. Because she couldn't decipher my tiles, she didn't bet on me--and I won! Yes, Bubbe is not above a little petty revenge, now and then.
Anyway--long response summed up--no need to set up your tiles any differently with a new card. It's all about knowing what to look for, which goes back to the point of learning the card and thinking creatively about your tiles. I know that with some focused study, anyone can improve their game!
Love your questions, happy to answer more. Just send them to me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Talk to you soon--this blogging seems to be a daily occurrence, now!
Bubbe Fischer
Sunday, April 1, 2018
What's a Knit Hand?
Greetings, salutations and the happiest of holidays to all
of Bubbe’s friends! It’s Passover, Easter, the debut of the New Card, April Fool’s
Day…busy day all around.
My two recent columns about the newest card created a little
buzz, especially about a term that I used to describe some of the hands on the
card. I’m going to explain it more clearly, and also define a few other terms
that I use when talking about mah jongg hands. I want us all to be on the same
page!
First of all, knit
hand:
Believe it or not, Bubbe actually doesn’t know a thing about
knitting. My cousin tried to teach me, one weekend—I was going to teach her
mahj, in exchange—but I was hopeless at it. There were needles and knots and
loops and all sorts of complications.
In mah jongg, I use the term to describe a hand involving two
different suits, intertwined. The examples in this year’s card include:
1111 222 3333 DDD
1111 333 5555 DDD
5555 777 9999 DDD
3333 666 9999 DDD
Think of it as a braiding, or weaving, between two suits. It’s not a single-suited
hand; it’s not a three-suited hand. The key factor in making this a knit hand
is that it alternates, very cleanly and efficiently, between the two suits: in
this case, kong in suit A, pung in suit B, kong in suit A, pung in suit B. I
want you to envision it that way, in order to better remember it. The suit in
the “middle” pung must match the suit of the dragon pung; the suit of the kongs
on either side of the pung must match. This year, it’s 4-3-4-3;
some years it’s 3-4-3-4; some years it doesn’t appear at all.
Ascending staircase:
Another pattern that shoes up prominently on this year’s card.
In the first Consecutive Runs hand, it’s
11 22 333 444 5555
55 66 777 888
9999
Again, think of it visually: you begin by taking low steps
(two apiece), then larger steps (three apiece) until you are at the highest
point, a four-of-a-kind. This pattern of ascending staircase appears again on the card:
11 33 555 777 9999
22 44 666 888 DDDD
I always look to the first Consecutive Runs hand first, when
I get a new card. It’s generally either an ascending staircase or a “bell curve” pattern, where the pairs are
on either end and the high point is in the middle, as in
11 222 3333 444 55
Junk hand:
I generally define the quintessential junk hand as
FF 1111 2222 3333
involving kongs of each of the three suits, in consecutive
order. It obviously isn’t truly junk--it’s a legitimate hand on this card--but
upon first glance you might not notice it among your tiles, especially if you
are setting your tiles up by suit. Because it’s tri-suited, you really have to
use a little imagination to put it together. It doesn’t jump out at you
immediately. The other hand on this year's that meets this description is
FF 3333 6666 9999
There are some tri-suit hands that are trickier, relying on pairs, not
just kongs, so I don’t really consider them junk, e.g.:
11 22 33 4444 5555
11 33 55 7777 9999
33 66 99 3333 3333
(kongs of 3, 6 or 9)
I’ll try harder to define my terms in future columns. In
general, if you want to know more about the way I analyze the card and think of
the various hands, you might want to check out my book, Searching for Bubbe Fischer. The best way to improve your play is to know the card, and
I want to show you ways to learn each new card quickly. My rationale is, the better you know the card, the
more easily you can focus on the tiles that come your way and make good
decisions!!
If you have any questions, you can contact me at bubbefischer@gmail.com
Happy holidays and talk to you soon!
Bubbe Fischer
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
King and Queen Kong: Ambiguous Double Exposures
Greetings and salutations from your Bubbe, who’s been
looking over the new card whenever I’m not chopping celery or polishing the
silver…
If you read my previous article, you’d see my immediate
enthusiasm for a few features of this year’s card. I like that the three
Flowers aren’t a giveaway as to what hand you’re playing. I like that “knitted”
hands are in three different places. I like that NEWS is back.
Another thing I love is the ambiguity. In my book,
Searching for Bubbe Fischer, I encourage players to look at the card and
critically assess which exposures won’t force them into a corner. It’s so
important to have a backup plan, especially once they’ve made one (or more)
exposures.
Today I’m going to talk about double kong exposures. There
are plenty of hands where you can make two kongs exposures and your opponents
will STILL not be sure what you are playing. They will have a hard time deciding
how to defend against two, three, or MORE hands….and best of all, even if your original target
becomes unavailable (e.g. you don’t have a pair of Flowers), there’s generally an
option that could be made with extra jokers.
Example:
You put out kongs of two consecutive numbers in the same
suit, e.g. three- and four-craks. You could be playing
111 222 3333 4444 or 111 222 3333 4444*
Or
FF 3333 4444 DDDD
Or
FF 2222 3333 4444 or FF 3333 4444 5555
*Note: if you use ones and twos, or twos and threes, you
will not be able to do this particular hand—otherwise, for any other exposure
of two consecutive kongs in same suit, your hand could not be declared dead
because you could be going for the top combination.
If you put out kongs of the same number in two suits, for instance
2222
and 2222, you could be playing
FF 2018 2222 2222
Or
FF 2222 DDDD 2222
Or
FFF 2222 FFF 2222
You could claim that you were going to use Jokers to acquire
enough Flowers, even if all the Flowers go out. It’s hard (but not impossible) for
your hand to go dead.
Note that the above scenario also true of kongs of one’s and
eight’s. If you put out kongs of threes, sixes, or nines, you could be playing a variation of
FF 33 66 99 3333
3333
or either of the official Like Numbers hands, above. Two different kongs of fours, fives, or sevens
can only be one of those two Like Numbers hands.
Other fun ambiguous Double Kong exposures are with two kongs
of the same suit, two numbers apart, e.g. one and three dot.
These could be part of:
FF 1111 2222 3333
Or
1111 222
3333 DDD
Or
FF 1111 3333 5555**
**Note that every kong combination: 1 and 3, 3 and 5, 5 and
7, or 7 and 9 will be a variation on that 13579 hand, and there is an additional option for the 3 and 5 or 7 and 9; 2 and 4 or 4 and 6 will
be part of the 2222 4444 6666 88
hand, and kongs of 6 and 8 will be part of 222 444 6666 8888.
In this situation, even if ALL Flowers are discarded or
used, you can still not be declared dead because of the “knit” hand scenario.
There are many other two-kong exposures that are ambiguous--look at the card and you'll find them in almost every section except Quints and Singles and Pairs!
I hope this little lesson will help you to think
critically about backup plans and how the various hands can be switched, even
after you’ve made one (or more) exposure(s)!
Back to the kitchen I go! Talk to you soon.
Bubbe Fischer
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