Seismic Changes: Switching Singles and Pairs Hands

 Greetings and salutations from Bubbe, talking about unexpected, seismic changes.

Those of you on the East Coast may have heard about the 4.8-level earthquake in New Jersey on April 5th. The epicenter was 12 miles away from my house, and some of the aftershocks were even closer!

Obviously, I wasn’t expecting it. It felt like my house was being hit by a truck; I couldn’t figure out why it was happening. Then I thought maybe an appliance had exploded—I just couldn’t understand what was going on!

Fortunately, I have a veteran tremor expert in my house. In October, 1989, I was on the phone with my husband (then fiancé), a Stanford student, when the big San Francisco/World Series earthquake hit.

“I gotta go, there’s an earthquake,” he had said, but I didn’t really believe him until I heard Al Michaels on TV, reporting.  

Friday’s event was much less severe, he told me, but he identified it right away. It was the largest that New Jersey had experienced in over a century, and we only later found out just how close by it was.

What does this have to do with mah jongg? In mahj, like life, things occur that we can’t anticipate: we think we’re going for a hand, but often circumstances arise that throw off our plans. That’s why I talk so much about changing hands.

 

I recently wrote about changing hands when negative events, like other players’ exposures and discards, make tiles unavailable to us. This can mean that your original plan is no longer viable. These kinds of situations may force us to change, but sometimes POSITIVE things happen that make us recognize other options.

The better you know the card, the more prepared you are when good things happen, too. I think we all know the feeling of picking up a joker—our hearts race a little quicker, we realize that we’re that much closer to completing our hand!

Of course, sometimes you don’t plan on using jokers—you’re going for a Singles and Pairs hand—but these are concealed hands, definitely more challenging to make. If you aren’t fully set, it may be worth reconsidering how you could switch a Singles and Pairs plan now that you have a joker (or more!).

First of all, unless you are absolutely sure that you are playing Singles and Pairs, you should not discard any jokers that you get in the deal. Jokers are worth keeping as one of your last discards, as they are “safe”—no one can else can call them. And, as we’ll see, they just might come in handy!

Let’s look at each of the Singles and Pairs hands, and how (and to what) your plan might change if you have a joker or two handy.

 

SP1 is essentially an “Evens” hand. Probably the best fit for switching would be E5. It still uses the two Flowers. Your jokers will be useful in making a kong of the 2’s and 8’s in one suit. Keep all of your 4’s and 6’s--you need to complete a pair of 4 and 6 for the middle—but you won’t know whether you are playing in one suit (E5.1) or two (E5.2), until you start collecting.

In some ways, switching to E1 variations could be simpler—they do require more jokers, or at least better luck with tiles, but they don’t depend on any pairs. You can call the third 2, and use a joker to call for the third 4. It’s more when you are trying to expand the 6’s and 8’s that you’ll need the extra jokers and/or luck.

 

SP2 is obviously an “Odd” hand. Two of the best switching options are O1.3 and O4, especially if you have jokers but don’t have any Flowers.

O1.3 (the three-suited, odd sombrero) will require assembling a kong of 5’s in a third suit, but that’s what your jokers are for! You can use the pairs of 1’s and 3’s in suit A, and the pairs of 7’s and 9’s in suit B, expanding the 1’s and 9’s to pungs by calling for discards.

O4 will use the lower, intact pairs from the SP2 hand, and either the 7’s or 9’s will be expanded into a kong. Generally making that decision will be based on which is discarded first, for you to call for exposure; another deciding factor would be which third-suit 7 or 9 you pick up.

 

SP3, the infamous “number vomit” hand, could be switched to many different hands, depending on what else you are picking up. It’s essential a “like, consecutive numbers” hybrid, and you can find many options that begin with these as a foundation.

For example, if you pick up ENOUGH jokers, you could turn it into Q3, two consecutive like numbers as a pair and then a quint, in two suits. Depending on which end of the number line you’re playing with, picking up enough 2’s or 9’s could help this work.

If you picked up two Flowers, and were only picking up more similar tiles in one suit, you could switch to CR3.1 or Q1 (that would take A LOT of jokers).

Of course, if you were willing to be patient and had enough jokers, you might be able to work out CR8!

 

SP4 is a 369 hand. There are many ways you could go with this one, with enough jokers and possibly dragons or more Flowers.

369 6 is relatively easy with the right timing and a joker or two. You would need (by jokers or Flowers) to turn your pair of Flowers into a kong; call the third 9 in suit A for a pung; and hope for a complementary suited dragon: with just one dragon and a joker, you could call a discard to complete the pung.

369 3 is also attainable if you have jokers and/or the right same-suit tiles. You already have your pairs, and just need either a third of each of the 3, 6, and 9 tiles in the suit, or a joker, to be ready to call for exposures and make those pairs into kongs!

 

SP5 is, of course, switchable to either CR1 or CR2.

For CR1, depending on your range, it will be easy to add on one or two tiles to each pair of numbers to complete your “sombrero” of pairs, pungs, and a kong. It’s easiest to begin with 1-5 (for CR1a) or 5-9 (for CR1b), but if you have been collecting consecutive numbers somewhere in the middle, e.g. 2-6 or 4-8, you simply add on the pung of 1’s or 9’s. The trickiest scenario is if you start with 3-7; you will need the end pung as well a natural pair of 2’s or 8’s, which is not a simple proposition.

CR2 is a much more flexible, and therefore easier, switch. You can be anywhere on the number line for your four straight pairs, and you’ve already been working on two different pairs of opposite dragons. You will need to call for exposures, turning the two “middle” pairs into pungs. Then, with a joker and one of the pairs of dragons, you can call for an exposure to turn the dragon pair into a kong.

 

SP6 is, of course, a Year hand, using two sets of the year. It’s also a Wind hand.

The least complicated switch—especially if you have jokers and not enough of your Winds—is Y1. You can use the 2’s in the first suit and call for a discard to make it a pung. Same with those two soaps becoming a pung. The third meld, of a kong of 2’s in suit B, will require use of one of the jokers. The trickiest part is getting the kong of 4’s in suit B, as well.

The more inclusive SP6 switches, involving the Winds as well, are unfortunately also concealed hands: Y4 or W7. For Y4, you already have collected one “year” meld and the pairs of Norths and Souths; if you amass jokers and/or an additional East or West, you can call for the final Wind to make this hand!

You might also consider using jokers to switch to W7, especially in 2’s, and/or if you’re having trouble with the soaps or the 4’s. With jokers or the right useful tiles, you can turn the pairs of 2’s into pungs, and the North/South pairs into pungs, as well. It’s all about timing; if you find yourself with the jokers early enough, it’s possible to make the new hand.

 

I’m not sure I’ve figured out anything positive from this earthquake business, but certainly I was happy to show you the positive possibilities of unexpected jokers. I hope you have a chance to use these examples!

You can always write to me at bubbefischer@gmail.com; I love hearing from you.

Talk to you soon!

 

Bubbe

Scenario Quiz--Backup Hands 2024

Greetings and salutations from Quizmaster Bubbe--who doesn't love a good challenge, now and then?

A lot of you have expressed enthusiasm about the new card. It's got some really interesting combinations, and opportunities to switch from one hand to another abound! 

Rather than spell everything out for you, I'm going to give you a few things to work out for yourself. I will be posting answers next week, but I'm going to bet you can figure them out before then!

 

Scenarios, part one: NO EXPOSURES SO FAR

A) You have the following tiles:

    F 11223345 27 E J

and you're hoping to make CR1a, a "sombrero" on the low end of the number line.

Oh, no! Someone exposes a pung of 4! What are some of your options?

B) You have the following tiles:

    FF 222 3 4444 E JJ

and you pick up another joker. What are your two options, and what will determine which you play?

C) You have the following tiles:

    FF 2 DD DDD NES JJ

and you're hoping to make W6. Oh, no! Someone exposes a kong of Wests! What should you do?

 

SCENARIOS, part two: YOU'VE BEEN EXPOSED!!

A) You started off really hot in the Charleston and were ready to make some early exposures-- now your hand looks like:

    222 000 (exposed) --    2234  1 E J still on your rack

Someone has exposed a kong of 4 craks. What will you do?

B) You're being a little more cautious this time. You began with

   1 222 33 4 45 DD JJ

and called for a third 3 dot--now you have just one meld, 333, exposed. You THOUGHT you were going for CR2, but then the other three players threw out all the 1 dots. What are some of your options?

C) You've got a pretty interesting hand, to start: 

    222 EEE W  55 77 JJ

and you feel lucky. You're going to try for Q2, and when the 2 dot is thrown you expose your Quint (discarding the West, obviously). As the game goes on, neither more 5 nor 7 craks have shown up, and you don't have the jokers to call for them anyway.... There are maybe 12 tiles left in the wall. Someone throws the East.

What do you do?

If you think you have a particularly good answer, please send it to me! I'll be publishing my own explanations next week for comparison (let's give you time to think about it)--but if you want to send me your ideas, please contact me at bubbefischer@gmail.com  

Better yet, if you have either a wonderful success story, or a tale of woe where you didn't know what to do, send it on and I'll let everyone think about it! 

See  you tomorrow!

Bubbe

Backup Hands II, 2024

Greetings and salutations from your overbooked Bubbe, who is just now getting an article together!

I spent the afternoon with my friend, Fern Bernstein, taping a podcast about the New Card. We talk about strategy and favorite hands, and of course lots of gossip about the card and new developments in the world of mah jongg. As soon as it is put online, I will send you a link! 

As promised, today I will talk more about backup hands. One thing that I love about this new card is that there are all sorts of opportunities to switch, especially if you haven't made any exposures--but even if you have, almost any hand can be "salvaged". It's virtually impossible to have your hand called dead with one exposure, as long as it's not illegal. Often, even if two melds are exposed, there may be a backup hand ripe for switching!

I'm going to talk about a few double exposures that indicate more than one option. No doubt you can come up with some of your own: 

333 5555 could be CR7.2 (two consecutive pungs in craks, the next two kongs in bams) or O2a (pungs of 1 and 3 in craks, kongs of 3 and 5 in bams). 

If you have 3333 5555 (two kongs) exposed, you might be playing CR3.3 (pair of Flowers with three consecutive kongs in different suits) or O5a, (four Flowers with kongs of 3's and 5's in different suits and product of 15 in third suit).

Two consecutive pungs in the same suit like 444 555 could be CR2, CR5, CR7.1 or 7.2 (or CR8 erroneously exposed!!--quick, switch it to CR7.1 or CR7.2, pung and kong hands).

Two of the same pung in different suits like 999 999 could be LN1, CR6, or 369 2 (or CR8 or W7 erroneously exposed--again, quick, switch to LN1, a pung and kong hand!)

Two of the same kong in different suits like 4444 4444 could be Y3, LN3, or CR4. 

Of course, usually by the time you have two exposures, it may be very late in the game to switch AND win--but hopefully your hand will not be called dead.

But what if the hands are extremely similar, like W1a and W4? They both include pungs of East and West and a kong of Souths (EEE WWW SSSS). Even with all three of those melds exposed, you could switch between the hands based on whether you have Flowers, or if you are unable to get the pair of Norths. Jokers could help you achieve the final North kong, even if there were several North tiles already on the table. It's easier to switch that way, from W4 to W1a, as the pairs are harder to obtain--BUT, if you are trying for W1a and suddenly pick up a Flower, you may consider going for W4. Keep the backup option open as long as you can, meaning save that Flower for at least a few turns. You may end up sticking with W1a, but in the meantime you might be able to exchange the Flower for a Joker!

Tomorrow I'm going to give you a quiz on possible backup hands. Keep an eye out for it!

Some of you have been eagle-eyed, catching my typos and giving me the opportunity to correct my mistakes. PLEASE don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions or see something that appears wrong or confusing: bubbefischer@gmail.com

I also got requests to subscribe to my blog. This is a VERY old platform. If anyone is tech savvy (something Bubbe most definitely is NOT), and would like to help me migrate to Substack, please let me know!!

See you tomorrow!

Bubbe

Intro to Backup Hands: 2024 edition

 

Greetings and salutations from your traditionalist, Bubbe, ready to begin her usual discussion of “Backup Hands.”

 

This article is especially important those of you who are new to mah jongg, or new to my blog, this is a very important component of strategy. I want you to learn about backup hands because I consider them an essential subject for any player who hopes to improve beyond the “beginner” level. You need to consider a backup hand because discarded tiles or an opponent’s exposure may prove that you can’t complete your original choice of hand. For any number of reasons, including that you might pick new tiles that point you in a different direction, it’s really important to be aware of the entire card and how hands interrelate.

 

I feel like I should have the following engraved on a 20-foot-high stone wall:

You need to be familiar with the entire card, so that you can consider your different options and be able to switch to a backup hand when necessary.

 

By the way, your friends and tablemates would really appreciate if you do your familiarizing and considering before you come to the table, so that you are ready to focus on the game in the moment. Prepare in advance; that’s what my articles, as well as online apps, are for. Actually, when you start winning a lot more, maybe they won’t appreciate it as much---but at least you won’t be slowing the game down!

 

 

Backup hands generally share some components/melds, or at least similar tiles. The goal is to identify at least one backup scenario before you make one, and definitely before you make TWO, exposures.

 

Let’s look at an example: on this year’s card, a natural backup for L71 would be CR3.1. Both hands require two Flowers and consecutive kongs of 6’s and 7’s in the same suit.

In our scenario, you’re playing the hand in craks. L71 requires a third kong of 1 craks; CR3.1 requires a third kong of either 5 or 8 craks.

What if one of your opponents exposes a meld of 1 craks? Perhaps they are going for like numbers, or Quints…there are all sorts of possible conflicts. If you’ve already got three (or possibly only two) of the 1 craks, you could “stay the course” and hope for a joker to complete your kong. BUT….if you don’t have at least two of the 1’s in your hand, you might exchange your 1 crak(s) for joker(s), if possible, and switch to CR3.1, collecting the 5 or 8 craks. The really savvy player might already have at least one of the 5’s or 8’s, anticipating that eventuality.

 

OR…let’s say you thought you were playing L71, but you didn’t have your pair, yet. What if Flowers became impossible to obtain; for instance, imagine someone exposed a quint of Flowers and the other players traded theirs for any available exposed jokers, and two of the other Flowers were discarded before you were ready to call to complete your pair for mah jongg?

Fortunately, even if you had exposed the kongs of 6 and 7 craks, your hand could not be called “dead”. You could attempt to switch to either CR 7.1 or CR 7.2, with two consecutive pungs of 4’s and 5’s in any suit (including craks), plus the already exposed kongs.

 

The reality is that you may not end up winning the hand, but at least you can still complete the game with a goal in mind. If you find out and switch, earlier in the game, you likely have a better chance of succeeding with the new plan because you have more opportunity to achieve the modified goal.

 

Tomorrow I will talk about specific hands that go well with one another as backups, so that you can start thinking creatively about the card.

As ever, if you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me at bubbefischer@gmail.com  I love hearing from you!

See you tomorrow!!

Bubbe

Illegal Exposures 2024

 

Greetings and salutations from your law-abiding Bubbe, here to give you information on illegal exposures on the 2024 card!

 

As you know, there are certain melds of tiles, and combinations of melds, that do not appear on each year's card. The sooner you know them, the sooner you'll be able to call out someone’s hand that exposes them. Most importantly, you'll know not to make that mistake, yourself. It’s also helpful to remember “illegal” melds because, when you're trying to remember the components of a hand, it’s great to know what can NEVER be used. 

 

FLOWERS

 

This year, you can only expect to “see” four or five flowers--a kong or a quint. Many hands use a pair of Flowers, but of course those would not be called for exposure. There are no hands on the card that use single or pung Flowers.

 

Quint Flowers can be exposed with two pungs of like numbers of 4 or higher; or with a kong of dragons, or a quint of a number.

 

Kong Flowers can be exposed with a pung of dragons, a kong of dragons, or both; or a kong or pung of any number.

 

There are no hands this year involving an exposure of Flowers with Winds. That’s not to say that a Winds hand won’t need a pair, but it will never use a kong or quint.

 

WINDS:

 

It is possible to see pungs or kongs of any Wind. There are no quints of Winds. There are hands on the 2024 card that use a pair of Norths, usually with a pair of Souths, but surprisingly there is no hand that uses a pair of Easts or Wests. There are several times that there are single East and West, and even single North and South in the case of the "NEWS" hands (W7 and LN3).

 

In general, there are always an equal number of North and South, or East and West. The only exceptions are Q2, which uses one Wind kong (your choice); and WD4, which has four Souths but only two Norths.

 

As mentioned, above, you will never see Wind and Flower exposures together. You will also never see Wind and dragon exposures together. As for specifics on each type of Wind meld, you will never “see” a combination of a Wind pung exposure with anything but other Winds, or a kong of numbers (W3). Wind kongs will only be exposed with a quint of numbers (Q2) or pungs or kongs of other Winds (W1a, W1b, W4, W5a, W5b).

 

DRAGONS:

 

Both pungs and kongs of dragons can be exposed on this year's card. There are no hands that use a quint of dragons. As for other dragon melds that appear on the card, there is only one (concealed) hand that uses any pair of dragons: SP 5. Unlike last year, there's no hand that uses the single dragon except, of course, a *single Soap* when you're making a year meld; of course, that cannot be called for exposure until the final mah jongg tile.

 

A pung of dragons can be exposed with a kong or pung of another dragon; a kong of any number; a pung of 3’s, 7’s, or 9’s; or a kong of Flowers. Only a pung of white dragons/Soaps can be exposed with a pung of 2's. There are no hands that use dragon pungs with any kind of Quints.

 

A kong of dragons can be exposed with a pung or kong of another dragon; a quint of any number; a kong of 2’s (Soaps only); a pung of any number except 1's; or a quint or kong of Flowers.

 

 

NUMBER TILES:

 

You may see a pung, Kong, or quint exposure of any number tile. The tricky part comes in when you have multiple exposures.

 You may see quints of the same number exposed in two different suits (Q3), two quints of the same suit that are separated by a number (N and N+2) (Q1), or two quints of different suits that are not the same number (Q2).

You will not see a number quint exposed with any other size of number meld except another number quint. There may be pairs, but these would not be exposed. 

You may see a quint of numbers exposed with a quint of Flowers, a kong of Winds, or a kong of dragons in a different suit only.

 

Kongs of a number may be exposed with another number pung or kong. For cross reference with other dual exposures, please review the groups above.

 

Tomorrow we're going to talk about ambiguous exposures. Those are times that, from just two exposures, you can't really guess which hand the person is playing. These are also really helpful to remember for switching hands, so I recommend that you pay close attention. There will be a quiz!!!

 

See you tomorrow!

 

Bubbe 

Taking a moment

Greetings and salutations from your contemplative Bubbe on this Easter Sunday.

I have been writing these card reviews at a breathless pace, and I think I will take a moment today to go on a different tangent. I am dedicating this column to two women who embody something very important about mah jongg.

The first is well-known in the mahj world. Her name is Fern Bernstein and she has written "Mah Jongg Mondays," a book about how mah jongg provides an opportunity to make friends and support one another through good times and bad. In the book, Fern talks about how her network of mahj friends helped her, and others, through family illness and bereavement. 

Fern has taken her love of people, and natural curiosity, to the next level. For the past several years, she has run a podcast, also called Mah Jongg Mondays, where she interviews  players and other people tangentially related to mah jongg. The topics vary widely, but her grace and enthusiasm runs through every episode. Especially during COVID, her podcast was a lifeline. She's helped people develop a connection.

The other is a woman who perhaps only a few of you know: Terry Hofflich. Terry took one of my beginner mah jongg classes, way before COVID began. She had been recently widowed and was trying to get back out in the world.

Terry was a memorable student. She was not someone who mastered the game quickly, but she was outgoing and upbeat. She relished being out and about and making new friends; she was strictly there for the social aspect of the game.

I have often invoked Terry's playing style in my lectures and writing. She was the one who preferred playing dots, only, because they were easier to keep straight. 

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that playing style. Terry's objective was to spend time with friends. Just by being at the table, she'd already won.

I found out that Terry passed away this week. I'll never forget her joie de vivre. Our perspectives on mah jongg were different, but I completely respect hers. I will never forget her.

There is an epidemic of loneliness in this country. A strong mah jongg community can be part of the cure.

We can go back to strategy again tomorrow.

Bubbe

RIGHT panel 2024

 

Greetings and salutations from your Bubbe, who knows good things come in threes. That means it's time for our third panel, the right side of the card.

 

Let's get to it.

 

Abbreviation standards:

WD is the Winds and dragons section, 369 is 369 and Singles and Pairs is SP.

 

Winds and dragons section:

 

WD1a and WD1b: same as last year. It's a pung and kong hand, no pairs. Every meld can utilize Jokers, any discard can be called for an exposure. Wests equal Easts, Norths equal Souths. You decide which are the pungs and which are the kongs, but once you expose a meld, you have to commit to that choice (unless..... we'll talk about backups and WD4 in a few days).

 

WD2: It's the year of the dragon, so let’s use all of them! This is a pung kong hand, and just as with LN1, we know that there are no pungs of Flowers this year. Therefore, there are four Flowers, leaving us with 10 tiles. That means that of the three melds of dragons, two are pungs and one is a kong. You get to decide which suit is the other kong.

 

WD3a and WD3b: another pung and kong hand. Jokers for any meld, any discarded tile can be called for exposure. This time, we have kongs of two consecutive numbers in different suits, with pungs of either the East-West or North-South combination. I have a feeling this will also be a popular hand.

 

WD4: A little different than last year's hand, although like last year’s, it defies the E=W, N=S pattern. We also need to remember 1) we only need a pair of Flowers, and 2) this is a step formation. Therefore, it's pairs of the Flowers and Norths, pungs of East and West, and a kong of South. This hand will come up again when we're talking about backup hands, especially with WD1a.

 

WD5a and WD5b: This is a two kong, three pair hand. It’s a similar sandwich hand to 369 5, kongs surrounding three pairs. I’m going to call this one the “simple sub”. The roll is the kongs of matching Winds, either North/South or East/West, and the filling is three pairs of consecutive numbers in one suit. Simple, ideal for the picky eater. Again, a good hand to keep in mind when discussing backup hands 

 

WD6: a true Wind and dragon hand. Kongs of two different dragons, a pair of Flowers, and the four singles that make NEWS. 

 

WD7: a concealed like numbers hand, similar to the one on last year's card. This time it's four pungs and two singles, with 3 Norths and Souths around a single East and West, and then like-numbered pungs in two different suits. It's something to consider as backup if you are building LN3. 

 

369 Section:

 

369 1.2 and 369 1.3: pung/kong hand. Say it with me: “Jokers can be used in any meld, and any discard can be called for an exposure.” Most important thing to remember is that the pungs are on the three and six, both in the same suit. The options for the six and nine kongs are that they can either both be in suit B, or one each in suit B and suit C.

 

369 2: we've seen this one before, a pair of Flowers and then single, pair, pung of 369 in one suit, with additional pungs of matching number (either 3, 6, or 9) in the other two suits. We’ll talk about it again when we discuss backups, especially for LN1.

 

369 3.1 and 369 3.3: the equivalent of CR 3.1 and CR3.3, a pair of Flowers and three kongs. In this case, it's kongs of 3, 6 and 9, either all in the same suit or one in each suit.

 

369 4: another pung kong hand, pungs of the same number (either 3, 6, or 9) in two different suits, with the kongs of their matching dragons. Jokers can be used in any meld, and any discard can be called for an exposure. One easy mnemonic to keep this simple hand straight: "pung" and "number" both include the letter U; "kong" and "dragon" both include the letter O. Think of it as a special like numbers hand, exclusively for 369. I have a feeling it will be very popular this year as well.

 

369 5: A little bit of nostalgia for a hand we used to see in the CR section. A variation on the pattern comes up again in WD5. It’s the “Magic Meatball sub”: a long roll of kongs of 3s and 9s in the same suit, with a colorful meatball filling--pairs of 6s using each of the three suits.

 

369 6: you can visualize it as a stair pattern, if you put the kong of Flowers at the end. Pairs of the 3s and 6s along with one pung of 9s, all in the same suit. There's a final pung of dragons in your choice of second suit, plus the four Flowers. It's another one I recommend forming with your own tiles, to get used to seeing it.

 

369 7: a concealed hand, the 369 equivalent of CR8. Both suit A and B use pungs of 3s and 6s, and the hand is completed with a pair of 9s in suit C. It seems easy enough, but that's why it's concealed!

 

 

SINGLES AND PAIRS:

 

SP1: from the Even section, it’s Skinnylicious time! Pairs of 2s and 8s with skinny fillings of single 4 and 6, in two suits. Finished off with a pair of Flowers.

 

SP2: from the Odd section, and it's about as basic as they come. It's a pair of Flowers and pairs of 135 in suit A and 579 in suit B.

 

SP3a or SP3b: from the CR section. Those of you who've read my first book may remember Sylvie, who taught me so many things. "Number vomit" was her charming nickname for this kind of hand, where you have a pair with a single in suit A; two pairs with a single in suit B, and finally three full pairs, in suit C. For this particular collection, the options are ascending consecutive numbers from 1s or descending from 9s.

 

SP4: from the 369 section. I talked about this hand in the overview. I like it because it's true to the spirit of singles and pairs. You have a pair of Flowers, and then pairs of 3, 6 and 9 in suit A and "369" single combinations in each of the other two suits.

 

SP5: from the CR section, a new twist on an old friend. We've seen two Flowers and six consecutive pairs. We've seen two Flowers and five consecutive pairs with matching dragons. We've seen seven consecutive pairs. I think this is the first time we've seen five consecutive pairs with pairs of complementary dragons.

 

SP6: the Big Hand, from the Year section. Like SP5, this is a new twist on an old friend. Obviously in years like the 2000s, 2010, 2020 and, presumably, 2030, one can't put three "year" melds in the Big Hand because there just aren't enough soaps. In those cases, two Year melds were supplemented with dragons or Winds, as well as the usual pair of Flowers.

This year they're trying something new. Even though they didn't have to, they're only including two melds of the year in different suits, and then a six-tile NEWS combination with pairs of North and Souths and single East and West.

But wait, you say, that already gets us to 14 tiles! That's right, no Flowers. 

I kind of dig this Big Hand, it frees up some more soaps, it doesn’t require all three suits, and you won’t need to hunt down the pair of Flowers. Grab your change purse: I predict that the Big Hand will be a lot easier to make, this year.

 

 

 

So that's it, those are all of the hands on the card. I think we're going to get a handle on this pretty soon.

 

As many of you already know, Bubbe’s most important lesson is that “luck favors the prepared mind.” I'm here to help you prepare. Aren't you lucky?!

 

In the next days, we're going to do more preparation, first talking about illegal exposures and then moving on to ambiguous exposures amd backup hands. Talk to you tomorrow.

 

Bubbe