DAILY MAH-JONGG
By Tom Sloper

Saturday, May 17, 2003

Column #42

Chinese Official (CMCR). A friend of mine loves flea markets. She says that what some people think is a valuable antique is often just everyday bric-a-brac, and that what some people think is junk is good as gold. Consider Noriko's deal.

Nothing but two pairs. Junk, she thought. She figured maybe she could go for a Knitted hand, or All Types. Unsure which, she counted.

She decided to forget about Knitted. All Types was looking much better. For starters, she discarded E. Shortly, she picked 4B and White. The plan had already evolved - she was going for a Clean hand ("Half Flush") instead. She was throwing out dots and craks. Samantha threw S. "Pung." Earl threw White. "Pung."

A flurry of activity erupted after that. Samantha made a chow, Earl made a pung, Noriko made a pung, and Samantha made another chow.

Before long, Noriko picked 2B. She threw R, and was now waiting for All Pung (2B 3B). There was only one 2B on the floor (Wei-Hwa's), so it was conceivable to get one or the other of her needed tiles.
Her next pick was 5D. She had thrown one a little while before, so she didn't think too hard about throwing this one. Then Wei-Hwa threw 2B again.

What had appeared to be junk was gold.

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