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SLOPER ON MAH-JONGG

By Tom Sloper
April 21, 2013
No. #562

American Mah Jongg (2013 NMJL card). Defense by the numbers. An opponent is showing two exposures. What's your response?

1. W-D #3; N and S are hot. If it's early in the game and you pick N or S, and if your own tiles are great (and the stars are in alignment), maybe you might risk it. But if this happens later in the game, you really should consider killing your hand.

2. Call her dead. This can only be Consec. #6 or Odds #8, and both are concealed hands.

3. The only possible hand is Consec. #6. Call her dead.

4. This could be Consec. #2 or Odds #2. This is a classic conundrum that the League intentionally works into each card. The hot tiles are 2B 4D 3B 5D.

5. The only possible hand is Odds #8, a concealed hand. Call her dead.

6. W-D #4. E and W are hot.

7. Read #3 above.

8. Read #7 above.

9. She's making Consec. #2. The hot tiles are 3C 5D.

10. Consec. #1. Hot tiles are 1B 3B 5B. Look to see if her pairs are dead on the table.

11. This is Evens #4. 4D and 8C are hot.

12. She's dead (concealed hand).

13. There's no such hand. Call her dead.

14. Read #12 above.

15. Read #1 above.

16. Odds #4. Hot tiles are R 1D 1B 5D 5B. Look for clues among the exposures and discards.

A tip o' the hat to to Marsha S, Shelly M, & Barbara I!

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Need rules for American mah-jongg? Tom Sloper's book, The Red Dragon & The West Wind, is the most comprehensive book in existence about the American game. AND see FAQ 19 for fine points of the American rules (and commonly misunderstood rules). AND get the official rulebook from the NMJL (see FAQ 3). Linda Fisher's website is the only website that describes American rules: http://sites.google.com/site/mahjrules/.