January 30, 2011 | 4:37 pm

FAMILY VISIT

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

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FAMILY VISIT

No post this week—-I have out-of-town visiting family.

Til next time…

MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU1

January 24, 2011 | 1:10 am

THE CHARLESTON—PART C

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

                              THE CHARLESTON—PART C

The Charleston is always exciting, because you never know what you’ll get. It offers the player about 21 mostly new tiles, and out them all, usually you’ll get at least one that will be of value to your hand.

But many times the Charleston offers tiles that are useful for two good options for hands and you are faced with the need to decide between them. It can be a dilemma. So here are some guidelines that can help you decide.

Usually, choose the easier hand. So

A) Choose the hand that has the greater number of tiles.

B) Choose the Exposed hand over the Concealed hand.

C) Choose the hand that has no gaps—tiles that you already have that are the start of each combination the hand requires.

And here’s the most critical criterion.  Since Pairs are the nemesis of many hands,

D) Check the card. Choose the hand that requires no Pairs over the hand that requires one or more Pairs. Or

E) Choose the hand that requires the fewest number of Pairs.

F) If your hand contains the Pair or Pairs the hand requires, stay with that hand.

Follow these suggestions and decision of which hand to choose will be easier. I guarantee it… Good Luck!

Til next time…
MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU!

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January 17, 2011 | 1:41 am

THE CHARLESTON—PART B

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

                          THE CHARLESTON –PART B

In my last post I discussed particular Charleston Dos and Don’ts that serve as defensive moves designed to keep you from providing your opponents with useful tiles. This post will discuss some suggestions about what to keep and what not to keep.

Obviously you want to keep tiles that strengthen your hand or, in many cases, provide you with decisive tiles for one hand over the other, particularly if you get a tile(s) that gives you the Pair(s) your hand requires.  Once you have six, seven or more tiles toward a hand, stay with that hand. Usually, don’t look for other options.

Until you have a definite hand, keep tiles that are potentially useful for alternative hands that are connected to the hand(s) you are pursuing. For example, it’s reasonable to keep even numbers for the 2468 Section or 3s, 6s, and/or 9s for the 369 Section. 

Don’t keep “maybe” tiles…a mistake many novice players make.  What are “maybe” tiles?  Tiles that you get in the Charleston that you might use for a different hand that has no connection to the tiles you already have for a hand(s).  The thinking is “Well, maybe I should keep these tiles for later if I change my mind”.  Or “Maybe I can use these –just in case”.  Keeping unrelated tiles that do not help your hand, leads to chaos and confusion.

This idea goes for tiles you might get in the Charleston   that gives you an extraneous Pair. As you know, Pairs are an essential part of many hands, but if the Pair you get has no relation to your hand, it is useless.  Just because it’s a Pair, if it doesn’t improve your hand, get rid of it.

Here’s a suggestion for the odd-numbered hands.  If you’ll notice, there are 4 hands that require low numbers—1s,3s,5s and 4 hands that require high numbers—5s,7s,9s. So if you are trying for a 1,3,5 hand don’t keep 7s or 9s. And visa-versa, even if the Suits are correct. It can lead to indecision about a hand to pursue.

And notice again, the odd Section has no hands that require Dragons. If you’re going for an odd hand, Dragons are useless.

Don’t keep tiles that match your Suit but not your hand. Example, if you are pursuing an odd-numbered hand, even numbers are useless, no matter what Suit they are. 2s,4s,5s, etc. are not useful for a 369 hand.

Many times the Charleston puts you on the horns of a dilemma and you have to make a critical decision to choose between two potential options.  In the next post, I’ll discuss some of the crucial criteria for choosing one hand over the other.

In the meantime, I would love to hear any tips you would like to share.  So—-

Til next time….
MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU!

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January 9, 2011 | 3:44 pm

the charleston

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

                                  THE CHARLESTON

The Charleston is an anomaly in American Mah Jongg. No other Mah Jongg has it, be it Chinese, Japanese, German, Philippine or any other that I know of.  And the name, “Charleston”, has no known origin.  It was already a part of the game when the League first formalized the rules in 1937, and even they do not know where the name, or the procedure, originated. I checked.  My guess it came from the dance craze of the era.  Or maybe it was a technique used in games in a city named Charleston.  I don’t know.

It’s always a surprise, because you never know what tiles the Charleston will bring. Sometimes it brings joy and a hand and sometimes frustration, angst and a need to make a quick decision about what to keep and what to pass.  These decisions are often critical “make or break”. 

Be that as it may, one of the functions of the Charleston is to allow the player to rid the hand of unwanted tiles. It offers new, sometimes useful and sometimes useless, tiles—21 to be exact.

In addition, the Charleston is a defensive tool, a way for you to deny opponents potentially useful tiles. So here are some basic defensive tenets of the Charleston.

Never pass a Pair of any tile!

Pairs are the nemesis of many hands and presenting an opponent with the gift of a Pair is a definite NO NO! And your Pair may complete a combination your opponent needs.

Don’t pass Flowers!—-unless you can’t steal or have no other option.

The 2010 card has 27 hands that require either a Pair or a Kong of Flowers.  If you pass them you may be helping your opponents.

Pass disparate tiles!

Don’t pass all the same Suit, all even or odd numbers, all Winds/Dragons.  Mix them up as much as you can.

The decision of what to keep and what not to keep depends on your specific choices, but even so, there are some general principles we’ll discuss in the next posting.  Stay tuned!

Til the next time……
MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU!

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