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By Tom Sloper (湯姆 斯洛珀)
2月 24日, The Year Of The Snake 蛇 Column #557 |
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By Tom Sloper (湯姆 斯洛珀)
2月 24日, The Year Of The Snake 蛇 Column #557 |
What would you discard?
1. Forgive my little joke: I didn't mention which variant you're playing! (It kinda matters.) If you're playing NMJL, you should discard Soap and go for Consec. #1. If you're playing MCR or riichi/dora majan, say "hu" or "tsumo;" the hand is complete. Would have been nice to go for Reversible Tiles (just because it's cool), but this is fine as is.
2. If you're playing NMJL, think Odds, discard any even number. If you're playing Riichi/Dora, discard 1D and go for tanyao (all simples).
3. You can only be playing American, or Wright-Pat (with a jokers table rule). If you're playing Wright-Pat, meld that flower and draw a replacement tile. If you're playing NMJL, 369 looks good in dots, and 13579 looks good in high numbers, so 1B can go.
4. If you're playing Riichi/Dora, discard S or 1C and go for chii toitsu combined with All Terminals & Honors. That hand wouldn't be supported in MCR, so if you're playing MCR, get rid of the ones. If you're playing NMJL, this is a tough call; there are seven tiles to lose if you go for W-D #4, and if you go for W-D #2. But if you're playing AMJA, this is a great start for "W1NGS," so discard R.
5. If you're playing MCR or Riichi/Dora, discard 3B and you're waiting for 8B for All Green (ryuuisou). If you're playing HKOS, All Green ("Jade Dragon") might not be recognized, but this is still Clean (one suit, with honors). If you're playing British/Western, discard 8B since chows are not allowed.
6. Discard R, since in most Asian variants, honors invalidate pin woo / pinhu.
7. If you're playing NMJL, think Winds-Dragons #2 and discard any number higher than 1. If you're playing Western/British rules (or its offshoot Wright-Patterson), think Civil War (1861-1865), and discard 1D; you're waiting for 8B for mah-jongg.
8. If you're playing MCR and you happen to be North (or it's the North round), just say hu; All Types. If you're playing Riichi/Dora and you're not North, you don't have a yaku. You need a third shiro (white); discard N.
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This week's column
> From: Ray
> Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2013 11:21 PM
> Subject: Column 557
> Hi Tom,
> We've not conversed for a while, you must have been relieved that my simplistic questions on MCR dried up for a while!
> But in Column 557, hand number 1, you suggest when playing MCR to discard the 7 Bams and go for Reversible Tiles. But why not simply go Hu?
> The hand has chows of 5,6,7; 5,6,7, Pungs of 8,8,8; 9,9,9 and a pair of Whites
> So gets the following (I think)
> Pure Double Chow (1)
> Pung of Terminals of Honours (1)
> Two Concealed Pungs (2)
> Fully concealed Hand (4)
> Half Flush (6)
> So that is 14 points, well over the 8 needed!
> I haven't been playing MCR much since Christmas as my regular opponents have lost much interest; the on-line Mahjong Time game doesn't seen to attract too many MCR players either, though many players do seem to play the Honk Kong version (with no minimum points) so I have been giving that a go recently.
> Regards
> Ray H
> From: Ray
> Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 1:59 AM
> Subject: Column 557 part two
> Hi Tom,
> No emails for weeks, then two in one day!
> MCR rules on Column 557...
> For the fifth hand shown, I would discard the 3 Bams not the 8 Bams. You suggest either. The reasons being there's only one 3 Bams left, so those Mah Jong gods would need to be smiling on you to get the last of the 3 Bams to achieve the pair; throwing the 3 means the required points can be achieved with either the 8 Bams (the 8's then being the pair) or a 7 Bams in which case you'd have a chow of 6,7,8 and a pair of 6's (so not only does this mean two tile chances, there are more of these tiles remaining too).
> For the eighth hand, I'm not sure where the other two points are coming from as All Types is a 6 pointer. Don't you need to be holding the Prevalent or Seat Wind to go Hu?
> Regards
> Ray H
Right on both counts, Ray. Of course, I did that on purpose. It's changed now.
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Creator of these Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Los Angeles, California, USA
March 10, 2013
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