September 20, 2010 | 12:51 pm

Change Your Hand—-SOME CAVEATS

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

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In my last posting I talked about common situations that necessitated changing your hand. Sometimes it can be a difficult decision. One discard can be the blow that finally upsets your well-made plan. And you need to quickly and quietly find a new one. Quickly, because holding up the play of the game is a clue that you don’t have a viable hand and quietly, because you do not want your opponents to know of your situation.

Here are some caveats.

Unseasoned players tend to lose confidence in their hands because one or two of their needed tiles are discarded, especially early in the game. Panic strikes and a frantic search for a new hand ensues—-unnecessarily. Hold on! Your hand is not dead—yet. The opportunities for you to complete your hand abound. It often happens that the player picks the missing tiles, picks Jokers, and/or exchanges Jokers from others’ (or your own) Exposures. Remember, there are four of each tile, eight Flowers and eight Jokers.  Don’t give up on your hand too soon. Be sure all your options are gone before you decide your hand needs to be changed.

Avoid excessive hand-changing.  Excessive hand-changing is when you pick a tile for one hand and change it, then pick another tile for another hand and change it, over and over. Changing the hand three or four times in a game is excessive and can lead to chaos and becomes almost impossible to make a firm decision about which hand to play.  By the time a final decision is reached, the tiles you need for the new hand have undoubtedly been discarded and it most likely there are not enough Wall tiles left for you to create a winning hand.

Keeping options open is reasonable and productive.  Having Plan B ready if Plan A fails is a good idea.  But having Plan C and Plan D and Plan E ready is not. I know it’s hard to abandon “maybe” hands. But having too many options available is counter-productive and deciding which hand has the best possibility for success can be overwhelming.

There are situations when you shouldn’t change your hand, even tho you may have acquired a few tiles for an alternative. When you already have seven, eight or nine tiles toward Mah Jongg for a hand you have chosen, stick with that hand and do not even think about the other.  You are already more than half-way toward Mah Jongg so why would you want to change? If you don’t need to change your hand, don’t. 

And a most important factor is timing.  Do you have enough picks from the Wall to create a winning hand?  If the game is about half-way over, it probably is reasonable to think about changing your hand. But once the third Wall is more than half-way gone you have maybe 7 or 8 picks left and it probably is too late. 

And check the discards.  How many of the tiles for your new hand are already discarded?

Weigh all these factors before you decide to change your hand. Do it only when you successfully can and if you must. If you can’t or shouldn’t, play defensively….

Til next time,

MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU….

September 12, 2010 | 7:09 pm

the american mah jongg blog

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

CHANGING YOUR HAND

Changing your hand is one of the most frequently occurring events of the game.  Circumstances rapidly change and you frequently don’t end up playing the hand you start out to play. Many times you pick a tile that leads to a better, and/or easier hand.

Nor is there a lot of time for you to make the decision. Saying “Wait a minute” and frantically searching the card for another hand holds up the flow of the game and reveals your dilemma to the others. Not a good idea. 

Every Mah Jongg player has been confronted with the circumstances that lead you to either decide to change or consider changing your hand.  Let’s go over some of them.

• When you can’t call for your needed tiles because your hand is Concealed, your combinations are incomplete, or you are not ready to commit to a specific hand,

• When the tiles you need for a Pair are discarded or exposed in an opponents Exposure,

• You’ve made an erroneous Exposure,

• As the game progresses, your hand is not improving.

So under these circumstances, you will need to consider an alternative. Here are some guidelines to help you in deciding to change your hand.

Timing is everything. Consider if there are enough picks left in the Wall to create a winning hand.  If the game is more than ½. over and well into the third Wall, it’s probably too late.

Check the discards to see how many tiles are out for the alternative hand you are considering. 

If your hand is Concealed, try to change to an Exposed hand.

If you’ve made an erroneous Exposure, look for another hand that uses the Exposure, most times in the same Section or many times in the Like Numbers Section.

Depending on the hand, if the tiles are discarded for the Pair you need, try switching the Suits required for the Pair and the Pung. (See the 4th hand in the 369 Section, the 2nd. hand in the 2468 Section, the 3rd. and 4th. hands in the 13579 Section and the Like Numbers Section.)

But when all else fails and you can’t successfully find a new hand, play defensively and keep your opponents from declaring Mah Jongg.  Have no regrets about breaking up your hand and discard safe tiles, including the Joker.

In the next posting, we’ll discuss some caveats about changing your hand.

Til then,

MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU!!!

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September 6, 2010 | 1:05 pm

the american mah jongg blog

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

                                      LABOR DAY HOLIDAY

I’m taking a holiday——no posting this week.  I’ll be back ......

Til then

MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU!

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August 30, 2010 | 1:19 pm

the american mah jongg blog

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

  MAH JONGG—FACT AND FICTION

Mah Jongg or Mah Jong—any way you spell it or pronounce it, with the emphasis on the Mah or the Jongg, it’s still the same exciting, challenging and fun game. Over the years of its growth and popularity in America, some of the history of Mah Jongg has been shrouded in fiction.  So let’s get the facts straight.

Fiction: Mah Jongg is an ancient Chinese game.

Fact:  Mah Jongg is a creation of the late 19th Century.

True the game originated in China, but not in the days of Confucius (even though the Mah Jongg League claims it is) It evolved gradually from card games and tile games played over much time to about the late 1800s—between the 1850s to the 1880s or 90s.  The earliest known reference in writing to Mah Jongg was about 1880s and the earliest known mahj set was documented about the same time.

Fiction:  Mah Jongg is a woman’s game.

Fact: Mah Jongg is played by women and men.

True it is played today mostly by women, but originally Mah Jongg was a man’s game. In China it was played exclusively by men—mostly by royalty and highly placed government and palatial officials. Peasant classes were forbidden to play it, not that they had the leisure to play it anyway. It was believed to be a game that required thinking and intelligence and that if the lower classes played it, they would learn how to think—a threat to their political positions. As for women, the role of women in the Chinese culture was certainly not one that would ever allow them to play the “Game of a Thousand Intelligences”, Mah Jongg, let alone any game.

But as the government democratized in 1911 with the election of Dr. Sun Yat Sen as President, the game rapidly became the province of the “people”, and the door was opened to women. Because each game is scored, the higher the point value of the hand, the more money it’s worth, the game became one of gambling for potentially hundreds of Chinese dollars. After WWI, both men and women played Mah Jongg in China, especially in the emerging middle class, which could afford the high stakes of Mah Jongg.

When it was introduced to the US by Joseph Babcock in 1920, an American who was employed by Standard Oil in China, predominately, men played it. But soon it was embraced by women. By the 1930s, every department store worth its salt had counters filled with Mah Jongg sets in every price range and of every description.  It was the first thing you saw when you walked into the store.

By 1937, with the creation of the National Mah Jongg League, the predominance of players was women.  Men had long since abandoned it, given that the discord about how to score hands had become increasingly volatile and vicious.

Today, there is an increasingly number of men in my classes and men’s Mahj groups are springing up.

Fiction: Mah Jongg is an old lady’s game.

Fact: Mah Jongg is played by women and men of all ages.

Today, Baby Boomers are flooding my classes. Young moms are taking classes with other young moms. Working Singles and couples are creating Mahj groups with their friends and are learning and playing together. Today, there is no stigma attached to the game as an ”old lady’s game”. The renaissance in Mah Jongg is effecting every strata of society and every age from teens on up. My 12 yr. old grandson fills in if we are short a player.  And more men are discovering the game to be just as challenging and interesting as when Chinese men ruled the game.

Fiction: Mah Jongg is a “Jewish” game.

Fact:  There is no such thing as “Jewish Mah Jongg”. The game is called American Mah Jongg.

There are no “Jewish rules”. I do not know where this stereotype came from, but it is just that—a stereotype.  Yes, many Jewish women play it but so do many women (and men) from every other ethnic and religious group. 

So I hope I’ve dispelled some of the mythology surrounding Mah Jongg and have added to the pleasure and fun of the game.

Til next time…

MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU!

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August 22, 2010 | 2:47 pm

the american mah jongg blog

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

EXPOSURES TELL ALL!!!
                         
Don’t Be a Tale-Teller.
                       
A vital part of defensive playing is for you to determine what hands are being played by the others from their exposures so you can determine what are “safe” tiles to discard. This is admittedly, not always easy, especially when there is only one Exposure made by another player.  There are probably lots of hands that fit the one Exposure, especially if the Exposure is for example, a Kong of Flowers. There are 11 hands that require a Kong of Flowers.

When you make two Exposures you are revealing the hand almost for sure. 2 odd numbers, even numbers, Consecutive numbers, matching Dragons, opposite Dragons, one or two Suits, these are clues that will surely tell your opponents the one or two possible hands you are playing. Once the other players figure out your hand, the chances of them discarding your Mah Jongg tile are almost zero.  And the chances of you declaring Mah Jongg, at best, are diminished.

That’s why you must be judicious about when and what you expose.  And why I strongly suggest to expose only when you must!—- when you have no other option but to call the tile you need and expose. 

Many players grab the first tile discarded that completes the Pung or Kong, especially in the early stages of the game. “What if I don’t see the tile again?” is the reason I hear for exposing early.  But the chances of your seeing it again are greater if you let the first tile go, uncalled.  Mostly, it’s assumed to be a safe tile and it will probably be discarded again by another player. And of course there’s always the option of picking the tile yourself or picking a Joker to complete your combination. In the course of playing and teaching these many years I have seen it happen over and over, saving the player from the need to expose and give away vital information.

This is particularly true if your Pung or Kong is made up using Jokers.  For example, you have a 6Crak and a Joker towards a Pung.  When the first 6Crak is discarded, WAIT until the third 6Crak is discarded.  Then call and your Joker is secure from being taken by another player. But there is a caveat here.  If you call before all the 6Craks are out, there is the possibility of you picking the last 6Crak and exchanging it for your own Joker.

If you have 3 natural tiles toward a Kong, no matter how early in the game, you must call for the fourth. And when the game is closer to the end, calling and exposing becomes more reasonable. 

Exposing is fun—but like many fun things, there’s a price you pay. And the price is that you are giving information about your hand to your opponents.  So keep track of how many of your needed tiles are out, how many are left and when you MUST—call and expose.

‘Til next time…

MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU!!

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August 15, 2010 | 2:30 pm

the american mah jongg blog

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

“TABLE”  RULES

Mostly Benign but Watch Out!

When Mah Jongg was introduced from China to the US in the ‘20s, the game was basically a simplified version of Chinese Mah Jongg. Different regions of China had different versions —Northern Chinese vs. Southern Chinese vs. Hong Kong. In the ‘20s and ‘30s Mah Jongg was a fad and like many fads, it spiraled out of control because as the game grew in popularity it also grew in the number of “experts”. There were innumerable books written (all by “expert” men,) about how to play Mah Jongg—all different, reflecting the conflicting rules of Chinese Mah Jongg. There were different scoring methods (Mah Jongg hands used to be scored, but the same hands would be worth more or less, depending on the “expert”), and arguments arose when they sat down to play about which method was acceptable. Alas, playing Mah Jongg couldn’t have been much fun and it is speculated that the lack of harmony is one of the reasons men stopped playing the game (which they did around the late ‘20s) even as the women persisted.

Enter the ladies of the National Mah Jongg League, who brought stability, simplicity and standardization to the game. The League introduced the card, the Charleston (so called to mimic the dance-craze of the era), did away with scoring and proscribed the rules of Mah Jongg. They have persisted, with a few changes, since 1937, when the National Mah Jongg League was created.  Now everyone, everywhere plays by the same rules. With no arguments.  Well, almost…

One of the areas of contention is “Table” rules.. rules made up that vary from the “official” rules of the League.

The “hot Wall” is not mentioned by the NMJL.  When you play “hot Wall”, if the discarder of the Mah Jongg tile is thrown while picking from the hot Wall, it results in a penalty to the discarder of paying the winner four times the value required.  Some play if a double is rolled on the dice, everyone pays double the amount required to the winner, but the discarder of the Mah Jongg tile pays four times the amount.

The rationale for the hot Wall or “doubles” is to make the game more exciting and challenging because the penalties for discarding the Mah Jongg tile are more severe and the players need to be more circumspect and wary of discarding a Mah Jongg tile. Even so, financial insolvency is not a usual consequence of a mistake in American Mah Jongg.

There are rules about the Wall—using the last two in each Wall as a “tail” placed in the middle of the table, placing a Joker, face up, at the end of East’s Wall. The Charleston’s “mush” allows players an additional exchange of tiles after the final Courtesy.

Most table rules are benign. But there is one that is open to some serious cheating.  Who would cheat at Mah Jongg??  Don’t be fooled—there are people who are obsessed with winning and they do cheat.

This one is easy. East does not roll the dice to break the Wall and the game starts by picking tiles from the Wall, as built. The reasoning behind this table rule is that rolling the dice, breaking the Wall, etc. is a bother. But if East is one of these obsessive players, it’s not difficult to make sure Jokers are part of the first four tiles he/she picks from the Wall.  It’s been done. While the mixing of tiles from a previous game is going on and players are chatting, the East player can easily palm a couple of Jokers and be sure to position them to his/her advantage. This is one table rule I definitely oppose and will not play in a game if the Wall isn’t broken by a roll of the dice.

There is no doubt some table rules make the game more challenging. Others don’t seem to provide any great excitement. There are many more. But for a “purist”, like me, I’ll stick to the REAL rules. 

Whichever way you play,

MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU…..

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August 8, 2010 | 11:03 am

the american mah jongg blog

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

                                            A JUDGMENT CALL

GO JOKERLESS OR NOT?

The other day I was playing in a game and after the one of the hands was over, one of the players confessed that she was faced with a dilemma. A somewhat robust discussion followed about what she should or should not have done.

Here’s the story.  We’ll call the player Madge.  Madge was “waiting” for Mahj—-she needed one tile for a Pair. Her hand had only one Joker which she used for a Pung. She had made no Exposures. The game was about 2/3 over and one of the tiles she needed for the Pair was already out and one tile toward the Pung was out.  Then another player discards the second of the tiles needed for the Pung. Technically, the Pung in Madge’s hand was complete. So the question was, Should she call for the tile to complete the Pung, make it “natural” to try for a Jokerless hand and discard the Joker?

There were those who said Yes, of course she should have called the tile. She had a good possibility of declaring a Jokerless Mahj—a consummation devoutly to be wished. If she didn’t call for the tile to make the Pung a “natural”, the possibility of her picking the tile for the Pung would be zero, because now two of the tiles were out. She couldn’t Mahj with a Jokerless hand. If she did call for the tile,  the Exposure might not “tell all” and even if it did, she still could have picked the Mah Jongg tile herself. 

That argument is a valid one. A Jokerless hand is worth double (if your group plays for money) and if she Self-Picked the Mah Jongg tile she could collect four times the amount the hand called for from everyone.  So there was the financial aspect of the game at stake, as well.

I, on the other hand said “Wait a minute. Her discarded Joker would be a big clue that she was waiting for a tile to complete a Pair.”  But since she had no other Exposures, it would be difficult to determine her hand. But not impossible. We were all experienced players knew the card thoroughly. Her Exposure would have given away a huge amount of information about what Pair she needed. It narrowed the search down and from the discards she had made during the game (a most important factor) and a quick perusal of the discards out, it would not have been too difficult to determine her Mahj tile.  But even if we could not have reached a definitive conclusion, the discards other players would now make, become very judicious. And Madge’s own discards would be more carefully scrutinized.

If Madge didn’t make the Exposure, the possibility of someone discarding her Mahj tile was much greater since there was no information about the hand she was playing. And because one of the tiles she needed for the Pair was already out, the chances of it being discarded again was also greater.

Actually, Madge did not expose and she did win—-on a discard, but not Jokerless.

‘Til next time,

MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU..

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August 1, 2010 | 7:30 pm

the american mah jongg blog

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

                                            THE JOKER PHENOMENON

“A Joker! A Joker! My Kingdom for a Joker! If I only had a Joker,”—- a plea we have all made and heard. You probably wouldn’t give your “kingdom” for a Joker, but Jokers are pretty powerful tiles to acquire and can be the critical tile you need for a win. I’ve heard it said so many times, “You must have Jokers to win”. But that really isn’t the complete story, because there are winners of Jokerless hands. True, it’s not a usual phenomenon, but I’ve made them as a player and even several of my beginning students have made them. When and if you do win with a Jokerless hand, they are doubly exciting and doubly enriching.

But just acquiring Jokers does not insure a win.  There are many times, no matter how many Jokers you have, you don’t win. It’s also that it’s not necessarily the quantity you have but how you use those you have. 

Let’s take an example of a hand that opens up with two Jokers, not an unusual situation. Many times Jokers are placed at the end of the rack with other “unwanted” tiles, as if they are an “after-thought”.  There are players (and some teachers) who never count their Jokers as part of the beginning Section or hand. I never can understand that thinking. Jokers can be any tile and as such they can “create” and strengthen a hand.

When you first look for a hand, let’s say you can only find four tiles that match a hand. Jokers can add to that anemic hand to give you five or six tiles and six out of the 14 you need for Mah Jongg is a perfectly good start to the Charleston.

One of the things I teach my students is to “spread the wealth”.  What I mean by that is when you have two or more Jokers, distribute them to the combinations that need them.  For example, you have two Jokers, two tiles towards a Kong and one tile toward a Pung. Don’t use both Jokers to complete the Kong but use one Joker to boost the Kong and one to boost the Pung. Both combinations are now set to be callable.

And what if a Joker is discarded during the game?  Again, not a usual phenomenon, but it does happen.  It’s a big clue that the player is close to Mahj—probably looking for a tile to complete a Pair.  And an alarm to be extra cautious about your discards.

Exchanging a tile for a Joker from an Exposure is often a happy experience, both for the Exchanger and in many cases, the Exposee, because the exchange you made could well give the Exposee a Jokerless hand.  You can’t see the rest of the hand so you really don’t know.

And sometimes the exchange does nothing for your own hand because you are waiting for a tile to complete a Pair and the Joker is of no value.

I think of all the tiles in the Mah Jongg set, the Joker is the most revered.  But don’t get carried away.  Jokers are “helpers”, not the end-all and be-all.

Still, having helpers is a consummation devoutly to be wished.

‘Til the next time..

MAY THE TILES (AND HELPERS) BE WITH YOU…..

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July 27, 2010 | 1:36 pm

The Exposure and The Card It’s Like Love and Marriage

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

They go together— you can’t have one without the other.  At least you can’t make an Exposure unless you know the card and you can’t know what information the Exposure reveals unless you know the card.  So it sounds like the card, or more specifically, the hands on the card,  is the key to unlock the “unknown” hand a player is pursuing. This is the information a player wants and needs to be able to play a successful game—whether the goal is to win or to keep the others from winning.

I have discovered that every card has it’s unique characteristics and if you can determine what they are, you have a heads-up to “read” the Exposures others make.  What are these characteristics?

One of the first (on the 2010 card) is there are no Pungs of Flowers.  Only Kongs can be exposed.  So discarding Flowers early in the game is a good idea to keep someone from collecting a Kong of Flowers. 

The odd Section has no hands that require Dragons.  So if someone exposes Dragons, you know for sure the hand is not odd.  Whether the Exposure is a Pung or a Kong makes a difference.  There are only four hands that call for a Pung of Dragons and four hands that call for a Kong. 

There are only two exposed hands that require a Pung of nines, the 2nd. Like Numbers hand and the 4th. odd Section hand.  The 5th Winds/Dragons hand and the last 369 hand are Concealed.

If someone exposes a Pung of East, declare that player’s hand Dead.  The last 2010 hand (and only hand) is Concealed.

You might think an Exposure of a Pung of eights would lead you to look in the 2468 Section for the hand. Wrong!  There is no hand in the even Section that requires a Pung of eights.

So finding and identifying these anomalies can help you to more quickly and accurately discover the hand an opponent is playing and more quickly and accurately lead you to make adjustments to your play.

But there are other clues you can pick up from the Exposures that help in discovering the hand being played.

When only one Exposure has been made it’s not always easy to determine the hand being pursued.  But when two Exposures are made, the player has probably given away the critical information about the hand.  At least the choice can be whittled down. 

Whether the numbers on the tiles are odd , even or odd and even puts the hand in the Section they belong to and it’s easier to find the specific hand.

Whether the Exposures are one Suit or two.

Whether the Exposure is of Flowers, Dragons and /or Winds.

Whether the Exposure is a Pung or a Kong.

The Exposures and the card “tell all” so be wise enough to listen.

AND MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU….

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July 19, 2010 | 2:20 pm

LUCK VS SKILL

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

                                                      LUCK VS SKILL

The references to Luck abound in our idiomatic language—Lucky Louie, the Luck of the Irish, Lady Luck, he/she’s got all the Luck, Lucky in Love, etc., etc., etc.

What is Luck?  Fate?  The Law of Averages? Randomness?? I don’t have an answer. In Mah Jongg, I have heard it said by countless numbers of people the game is all Luck.  As a teacher of the game and a player of the game, I beg to differ.  The game is not all Luck.

Yes, Luck, or whatever you want to call it, plays a part, especially when you first take a peek at your tiles.  You have no control over that aspect of the game.  But from there on you do have a great deal of control.  It’s your ability and skill and sometimes guile that controls the choices you make about all the other aspects of the game –from what tiles you pass in the Charleston, what tiles you keep, what hand to pursue, whether or not to change your hand and to which hand, the discards you make, the Exposures, whether you play defensively, and so on.

To prove my point that skills play a greater role than Luck in Mah Jongg, I note that there are players who generally win, fairly consistently. People refer to them—they a say   “She’s a great player”.  What makes a “great” player? It can’t be just Luck.  We’ve all experienced the fleeting nature of Luck.

It must be something else. It is. It’s the number one skill—a thorough knowledge of the hands on the card.  There are many players who can play quite successfully without referring to the card. Yes, they mostly memorize the hands.  They are able to accurately assess what information the Exposures of others reveal and modify their play accordingly. They keep a very close account of the discards, and are fully aware of the nuances of their opponents.  And they play a strong defensive game, which some players describe as “tough”.  Mah Jongg is very competitive—you do everything you can to win and everything you can to keep the others from winning.  That’s the challenge of the game and what makes it such fun to win and such dismay when you lose.  And, last, but not the least, there’s Experience, which some say is the best teacher….

Even as I believe the skills a player possesses is the most important factor in winning, there’s a little voice inside that says
MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU!

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July 12, 2010 | 11:37 pm

AMERICAN MAH JONGG BLOG Defense! Defense! Defense!

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

There’s a joke that goes a teacher asks a student to make a sentence using the words “defense” and cultivate”.  Being a novice English-speaker, the student thinks awhile and finally says, “I climbed over de fence because it got too cold to vait”

In Mah Jongg, “de fence” is critical!  While the primary goal of the game is to win, the simultaneous goal is to defend—to keep your opponents from winning. Playing defensively is not a separate strategy to adopt when you realize you can’t win. It’s an integral part of your game from the git-go. Racking your tile is a defensive move. (We discussed “racking” in an earlier blog.) Selecting one hand over the other is a defensive move. Even passing tiles in the Charleston is a defensive move…whether you are aware of it or not. Every discard you make is a defensive move.

Discards are the obvious first line of defense during the game.  What and when you discard a tile depends on the situation. Let’s examine common situations you meet in every game you play.

At the start of the game, discarding doesn’t usually present a problem. Players don’t call for Exposures early in the game, mostly because the combinations are incomplete.  But as the game progresses, Exposures are made and discarding becomes more crucial.

Here are some tips about savvy discarding.

Keep track of the discards, not only for your own hand but
because as the game progresses, you need to discern which tiles are “safe” and which tiles are “hot”.

A safe tile is one you know cannot or will not be called.  When a player has made two Exposures you should be able to home in on the one or two hands being played. For example, once you discover the hand and learn the hand requires a Pair, discard that tile as soon as possible in hopes the player isn’t ready to Mahj.

When a tile is discarded and no one calls it, discard the same tile as soon as you can.  Most of the time it is safe.

But it can be a double-edged sword.  The player may have waited for the second discard before calling to delay exposing.  This is a strategy you can use for your own hand. Don’t call for the first discarded tile you need. Wait for a second discard.

A “hot” tile is one that has not been discarded during the game and because it hasn’t, assume that someone is saving them. These circumstances can lead to a discard becoming hot.

Discard Flowers early in the game, if you’re sure you don’t need them.  But don’t discard them late in the game.  The 2010 card has over 20 hands that require either a Pair or a Kong of Flowers and a player may be waiting for one for Mah Jongg.

During the game, if a player discards a Joker it’s a sign that Mah Jongg is close.  The player probably needs a Pair, going for a Jokerless hand or playing a Singles and Pairs hand.  So be extra careful about what you discard.  Be sure you check the Exposures and the other discarded tiles before you discard.

As the game progresses, if you have a tile you’re fairly sure another player needs, eventually you will have to discard it, if you want to win.  So discard it sooner rather than later.  The sooner you discard it, the greater the chance of it not being the Mahj tile. If it is, so be it. But you had to discard it, eventually.

And as the game is ending—there are only two or three picks from the Wall and you are more than one tile away from Mah Jongg or for any reason you cannot win, protect yourself and keep your opponents from winning. Break up your hand and discard the safest tile of all, the Joker. At this point, it’s of no use to your hand and the others will also be discarding Jokers. If you are “waiting”, the possibility of someone discarding your Mah Jongg tile is practically zero. The possibility of picking the Mah Jongg tile is almost never. So, protect yourself from a loss and a penalty.  Break up your hand and discard Jokers!

The bromide that the best offense is a good defense is true, especially in Mah Jongg. Playing good defense is playing well!  So….

MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU!

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July 5, 2010 | 12:17 pm

Decisions, Decisions!  How to Find a Hand

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

This article will deal with the “trauma” of finding a hand—a distressing and frustrating part of the game for many beginning players and sometimes even for more experienced players, as well.

In front of you are thirteen assorted tiles of different numbers, Suits, sometimes Flowers, Dragons, Winds and hopefully, Jokers.  At first, it looks like a mish-mash, and honestly, sometimes it is.  Your goal here is to make order out of this “chaos”.

The big mistake many novice players make is to immediately search for a hand. Don’t! The first thing you need to find is a Section or category your tiles reveal, because it’s the Section that will lead you to a hand. There are four Sections that your tiles most often will fall into: Even, Odd, 369 and Consecutive Run.  So start with these. But remember, there are six or seven other Sections. So if one doesn’t work out, look to the others.

First put all the odd numbers together, even numbers together, 369 numbers together, consecutive numbers, etc.  Put them together by Suit and number and put the numbers in ascending order to mimic the hands on the card.

For example:
Here’s your odd numbers:
3,7,9,Bam 5 Dot, 99Crak together.

Here’s your even numbers:
22,4,6,Bam 22,4 Dot,8 Crak together.

Notice I did not put all the same numbers together—all 9s together or all the 2s or all 4s together.  I separated them by Suit and numbers that are ascending, just like hands on the card.  Now I have a better idea where to look for a hand, because usually, the Section with the most tiles is where I want to pursue my search.

Now here is the most important factor..look for the Power of your hand.  The power is any combination: Pair, Pung, Kong, etc., of any tiles, including Flowers and the most-loved tiles of all, Jokers. Jokers can be used for anything, so they can “create” a hand or strengthen it.

Often, your tiles reveal one or two Pairs, sometimes in the same Section, sometimes not.  Sometimes in the same Suit, sometimes not. But try to use as many of the Pairs as you can. These combinations are the foundation around which you should build your hand. 

Determine in what Section(s) the power tiles are used.  Even Pairs are used in the 2468 Section, but also, in the Consecutive Run Section.  Odd Pairs are, usually used in 13579 and again, in the Consecutive Run Sections. A Pair of 3s and 9s alerts you, not only to the odd Section, but also to the 369 Section. When you have odd and even numbered Pairs, look in the Consecutive Run Section.  But you need also to find other tiles that are connected to the power and reflect a hand on the card. Remember your Jokers can help!

Two Pairs of 2s may not be useful if there is no hand that uses two Pairs of 2s. Two or three Pairs do not always translate into a hand. You may have to abandon a Pair because the hand you choose can’t use it. Even if you have no Pairs, you still need to organize your tiles by Section(s)—go for one(s) with at least five or six tiles. And don’t forget to count Flowers and/or Jokers as part of the Section. 

Try this technique if you’re having a difficult time finding a hand. And remember, the Charleston is coming, so keep your mind open…..

AND MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU!

Any comments or questions?

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