August 29, 2004

Column #177

American mah-jongg (2004 NMJL card).

1.
The Charleston. The "family" should be obvious. What do you pass right?

2.
What do you pass on the first left?

3.
What do you pass left? Or do you stop the Charleston?

4.
Four turns in, somebody discards 8B. Take it?

5.
Next hand, first left. Pass three? Or blind pass? Be specific.

6.
East leads with 9B. Pung it?

7.
How about now? Four turns later, West discards 6C. Pung it?

8.
You just picked 3C. What do you discard?

9.
West discards R. Take it?

1. 1C and 1D are obvious. The third tile is R. Keep Wh and G in case you want keep 2468 #4 open also.
2. Wh and G are going nowhere. Pass those, and 5D.
3. You want to keep your options open. Stop the Charleston. Offer two (1D and R) across.
4. No. Four turns is too early. Your hand has not yet clearly shown itself. You're not a novice!
5. Pass 4D E N. The tiles clearly point to a family, if not a particular hand.
6. Of course not. It's a bad idea to commit the hand on the dealer's first discard. Only a beginner would do such a thing, unless she was holding an extremely close hand.
7. No way. The obvious hand wants a pair of sixes, not a pung. (Hint: 369 #1.)
8. If the wall is past the halfway mark, throw 9B as joker bait. Otherwise throw 9D.
9. Absolutely - kong it with the joker. Then you just need to pung F and 9C, and you win!

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© 2004 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.