| By Tom Sloper
August 21, 2022 Column #772 |
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| By Tom Sloper
August 21, 2022 Column #772 |
American Mah Jongg (2022 NMJL card). What would you pass in the Charleston?
1. No pairs. Check highs vs. lows (7 vs. 7) and odds vs. evens (8 vs. 4; odds win). I'd pass evens (and E) in the first right.
2. There's one pair of ones, and it has friends: other ones, low numbers, odds, and dragons. Too many friends. I don't like anything but the ones and dragons. So as to spread out the numbers, I'd pass a four, the five, and the nine.
3. The pairs of ones and twos, together with the 4C and 5C, fairly scream Consec #5, the most powerful hand on the card. Other hands in Consec make for reasonable alternative options; I'd pass high numbers and E.
4. Pairs of fours, sevens, and eights. There's no hand that uses all three pairs. The fours are the odd men out, since the sevens and eights have so many friends. I'd pass 4B W G. I dislike passing dragons, but it's worse to pass a pair.
5. Two pairs: fours and fives. Of course they're Consec friends. There are obvious non-friends: 8D 9D N can go, and you don't have to think beyond that until you see what comes in from your left.
6. Pairs of threes, sixes, and sevens. The three pairs can't all be used in one hand, so it's either 369 with the threes and sixes, or Consec with the sixes and sevens. Pass 4D S W to retain both options and see what comes in next.
7. Pairs of twos and eights, and they have even friends. Clearly shoot for 2468, and get rid of anything that's not even.
8. Pung of fives and pair of nines, with odd friends and high friends. Consec being the most powerful family on the card, I'd prefer Consec over 13579. Along with 2B and S, you can pass either 3B, 8D, or a dragon.
COMMENTS Email Column
772
. Hit me with your best shot!
On Wednesday, August 24, 2022 at 09:54:06 AM EDT, lindaz wrote:
column 772
Hi Tom,
On #8, column 772--Can you please explain your decision to try for CR instead of Odds? This early in the game I would keep as many options open as possible. (I agree with passing 2B, S, 8D). I just don't understand why you have determined your goals this soon--before the first pass. I must be missing something (I would try for odds with CR as second choice) and I am hoping you can clarify your thinking.
Thanks!
Linda
Hi, Linda!
I see the pung of fives as more significant a beginning than the pair of nines, so my thinking centers on the fives over the nines. As I wrote in the column, there are "odd friends and high friends" for the pung and the pair. The reason I prefer Consec over Odds is that the Consec family is the most powerful family on the card, generally speaking. But looking back over the column, I don't see that I actively chose one over the other, since passing 2B and S have no impact on either option, and since I chickened out on the third passer - leaving it up to the reader to choose 3B (which favors Consec) or 8D (which favors Odds), or a dragon (which could go either way). So although I said I prefer Consec over Odds, I didn't "act" on that preference in regards to this combination of tiles. Although I generally dislike passing dragons, that may be more a quirk than a high-strategy preference. I'm sometimes too distracted by dragons, and it's probably best to ditch a dragon as the third passer, so as to preserve both Odds and Consec (without choosing a specific hand in either family).
Always good to hear from you, Linda.
Play safe out there. And
may the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
Author of the
Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and
the Mah-Jongg FAQs
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