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WEEKLY MAHJONG

By Tom Sloper (トム•スローパー)
2009年 9月 26日
Column #425

Japanese Modern (riichi/dora). Too many times, even when one plays the hand well, someone else wins. But let's analyze some wins. From a game I played on Ron2, last Aug. 2:

Obviously a good deal; high probability of winning. I was 西. The game was 東-round-only. On my first pick, I got 5P, discarded 9M. Next pick: 8P, discarded 2S. 北 discarded 南. I wanted to advance the hand. I figured I would make the 東 pung eventually (I took that risk). I punged 南 and threw 9S. Picked and threw 4S (coulda kept 2S if I'd known). Two players in a row threw 中 so when I picked 4M, I threw my 中. 南 threw 東, I punged it, threw 西. When I picked a second 4M, I threw 2P.

I could have thrown 5P instead (that's how I'd play it if I had a do-over). I picked a second 8P and threw the 5P now. My target now was Toi-Toi (All Pungs). I picked 南 and konged it, got 6M, threw it back. Kan dora indicator showed 6S. Next pick: 7S (dora). I threw it. Now we were nearing the end of the second row of discards. I needed to pung 4M, 1P, or 8P. 東 obliged me by throwing 1P. Punging that, I threw 7P and now had a 2-way wait: 4M and 8P. I picked and threw 4P, 2M (punged by 南 for dora X3), 2S, 6S, 5S. Then 北 discarded 8P. 50 pts., 3 fan (Toi-Toi, Fanpai), 6,400 points from N.

Here's one from last August 16.

Lucky deal. I was 南. I picked, threw 7P. Picked 6M, threw 1S. Punged 南when 東 threw it, discarded 白. Picked 6S, threw 3S. Picked 2M. Throwing 5M, I was waiting for 3M. Picked 南, konged it.

Got 9S, threw it back. Next pick: 2S, threw it back. Picked and threw 2M, staying the course. Picked, threw 3P, 5P, 6M. Finally picked 3M at the end of the 2nd row of discards. 5 fan: fanpai, dora X4. Mangan. 8,000 points.

In both cases, I got lucky with a good deal. In the first hand, I gambled that I'd be able to pung 東, so I jumped on 南. I kept chow options open until I saw my way clear to Toi-Toi. Could have gone for Chanta, but greed can lead to a downfall. In the second hand I konged the 南 when I smelled victory and wanted another pick. The one-way wait was a risk I was willing to take, and it worked.

* Dora indicator shown, not dora tile.

麻雀

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