Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Column #66
American (2003 NMJL card). Esther's deal was excellent, if you like kvetching. If you want to win a mah-jongg hand, though, well. Then it was something else altogether. Esther likes kvetching as much as the next lady, but she likes winning even more. So she wasn't exactly a happy camper. Every silver lining, it seems, comes with a cloud.
Not a single pair. She counted to find a family.
She decided evens were her best bet. (1) She passed 15B 9D to the right. From the left, she got E R 5C. (2) She passed 57C N across. In exchange, she got 3C 6B F. (3) She passed 3C E E left. "First left." From the right, she got 5C 5B 2D.
(4) She passed 5C 5B R left, putting a hat on it. "Second." From the right, she got 1B 9D F. (5) She passed 1B 9D 6C across. In exchange, she got 4C 5C 4D. (6) She passed 2B 45C to the right. From the left, she got 5B 57C.
She offered 5B 57C across. In exchange, she got F 1B 9D. "Same stuff going around."
She had a couple of possibilities with this...
With a few fallbacks:
For starters, she threw 9D. By the time Wesley picked his own winning tile, she'd been narrowing in on 2468 #6 but still had quite a way to go.
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Copyright 2003 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.