July 25, 2011 | 12:38 am

THE PROBLEM HAND

Posted by Elaine Sandberg

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                                    THE PROBLEM HAND
In my last post, I presented a hand a student had after the first Charleston.  It posed a problem for her, and for me.

Here is the hand…..and here’s how she resolved it.

F 11 3Dot,  1 33Bam,  11 33Crak,  N E

She might have played the Like Numbers hand, using either the 1s or 3s, but she had no Dragons and she’d need 5.  There were 2 odd hands that were a reasonable fit, the last hand, but she had no 5s and the hand is Concealed, something she was reluctant to try. And the 2nd.  All those options seemed not the greatest opening hands, each utilizing just 5 tiles—-but not completely out of the question.  Singles and Pairs hands were out..

But after some searching, she found another hand that gave her a third option, the 2nd Quint hand, albeit she didn’t have Jokers—yet.

1223 22222 22222

All she needed to get was a 2—any 2 in any Suit. Since there are 12 2s in the set, the possibility of getting one was great. As the game progressed, depending on what she picked from the Wall, she could make a decision about which number to Quint—either the 1s or the 3s.

So she stopped the Charleston, gave the 2 Winds in the Courtesy and got a 2 Bam, completing the first and most crucial combination and giving her 7 tiles to start.  Her decision was made to play the Quint hand—and hope for Jokers and 3s.

In the end, she came really close…..needing a 3Dot, a 3crak or a Joker……But she had an exciting game, even tho she didn’t win,  it was great fun!

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

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