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