May 9, 2004

Column #161

Chinese Official Tournament Rules. Our group was in their weekly practice session for the 2005 ECMJ. Noriko saw her tiles and made a snap decision.

1. What hand would you target with this? (Answer below.)

She picked two 5Cs in a row, discarding 9C and R. Then Waiyee threw 5B.

2. Should Noriko chow the 5B?

Throwing N, Noriko's hand was now wu-tzu (without honors). Her next pick was 4D. She threw it back. Waiyee discarded 6C.

3. Should Noriko chow the 6C?

She picked, and coincidentally, the new tile was 6C.

4. What to discard now?

Then things began to get interesting. Earl discarded 4C, and Samantha took it for a 234. Noriko picked F, which was replaced by S. She threw S. Her next pick was 6D, which she didn't want. Then Waiyee threw 5D.

5. What now?

Her next four picks were all throwaways, then Noriko picked 6C.

6. What should Noriko do?

Waiyee, ever the faithful helper, discarded 3C. "Hu!"

1. A chows hand. Throw an honor. Least valuable one is W (this is E round, N is Noriko's seat wind).
2. OK, what the heck. Go for mixed triple (345s)
3. If she does, she'd have to go for mixed shifted and would have to make 567 in dots. Pass.
4. 8B or 9B. 9B is best - then the hand will be all simples.
5. Chow it! Discard 5C. Two away from mah-jongg.
6. Throw 8B. Two-way call, 3-6C.

Click the entries in the header frame, above, to read other columns.

Read about the 2002 WCMJ.

Read about the 2003 CMOC.

The next big event is the 2005 ECMJ.

© 2004 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved.