SLOPER ON MAH-JONGG

American Mah Jongg (2019 NMJL card). In these exercises, you see an opponent's exposures above, and your own hand below. What would you discard?

1. Your opponent is making 369 #3. Her hot tiles are threes and nines in bams and craks. Your 3C is hot. If you throw it, she might win on it. How long is the wall? The shorter the wall, the more dangerous the discard. But you have ten tiles and a joker towards your own hand, 2468 #2. The 1C and F are less dangerous to discard right now, but consider: That 3C has to go, else you will never win. The odds favor you if you discard early, before the tile's heat increases more and more. It's a hot potato, getting more dangerous the longer you hold on. The flower may be hot, too (for another player, not for her); again, the shorter the wall, the hotter the flower. I'd discard 3C if the wall is still pretty long.

2. She could be making 2468 #1 or Consec #5. If 2468, she needs even bams (like your 2B). If Consec, she needs G and either 7B or 9B. Your hand is good for Any Like #2, but it's uncertain which dragon to use for your matching pairs and which will work best for your matching pungs. G is hot, so you should plan to keep it. Check the discard floor. Are there any twos or fours? Those are her key tiles; the death of either narrows her options, giving you less to worry about. What about green dragons: see any on the table anywhere? Look at the length of the wall. How close are we to the end? 9B and 2B are hotter if the wall is shorter. If the wall is long, discard her hot tiles to feel her out (if she calls for exposure, you know which way she's going). If the wall is short, how short is it? You have only three discards - red, 2B, 9B - you need at least two lucky picks plus one subsequent lucky discard, meaning if the wall is shorter than 4 stacks, you have no chance to win and you should discard whatever is safe, if there are any safe tiles. Jokers are the safest discards.

3. Your opponent is making either 2019 #1 or Consec #6. Look for clues: especially eights in all suits. She needs two pairs of eights if she's making Consec #6; the eights are her key tiles because visibly dead eights narrow her options, and your worries. You do need to get rid of the 8D, since it doesn't work for your hand (Consec #2, several ways). Do it sooner rather than later. But first, redeem her flower joker (a rare opportunity among advanced players).

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Column #724

>On Saturday, November 2, 2019, 10:09:27 AM PDT, E 'two cents ¢¢' Henderson wrote:
>Column #724, example #1
>In the exposure in this exercise the opponent has three dragons, soaps and six dots. You state she is going for 3 6 9 #3.
> However, couldn't she also be going for consecutive run, fifth hand down? Which would make 5 and 7 dot with potential for being hot as well. I know it's not in my hand right now, but this would be something for future tiles that were picked.
>I know this email is late in coming, given this is a June 2019 column, but I just started working through your columns a short time ago. I didn't see any comments on it on the site regarding this, but I doubt I'm the first one seeing this.
>Of course the Assumption also might be that you're just dealing with what we have in hand at the moment and not a hypothetical 5 or 7 that would be coming down the pike.
>Thank you.
>"Curses! Tiled again!!"

囧 Sorry, two cents ¢¢, but no. She can't be making Consec #5 because Consec #5 needs number kongs, not pungs.
Thanks for writing, though! May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
November 2, 2019
Los Angeles, California, USA

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Column #724, part 2

>On Sunday, November 3, 2019, 08:01:14 AM PST, E 'two cents ¢¢' Henderson wrote:
>Re: Column #724, example #1
>Thank you. You are very nice to me, I can see the mistake I made. Yesterday I was operating on about 2 hours of sleep, but I still wanted something to occupy my mind, and have some fun. I guess as such I wasn't firing on all cylinders. At least I got to play with tiles. Thank you again

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, E two cents!
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
November 3, 2019
Los Angeles, California, USA

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Column 724

>From: "lindaz...
>Sent: Thursday, June 6, 2019 1:06 PM
>Subject: column 724
>Hi Tom,
>This was an excellent strategy column. All players face these dilemmas and you show how to think critically. Especially looking at the length of the wall. In problem #3 I would have discarded East tile. Is that wrong?
>Thanks, Linda

Hi, Linda. East is the "wrong" tile to discard only if another player wins on it, and that may not have been predictable. How long would you wait to discard 8D, while it gets progressively hotter with each passing turn?
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
D-Day plus 75
Los Angeles, California, USA

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Column #724

>From: Timothy A
>Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 6:07 AM
>Subject: Column #724
>Hi Tom, Love the #724 column! Great to get the mind working as you try to puzzle out the different hands of both players.
>With the third hand, you mention that the player ready to discard is going for (Consec #2, several ways). With the exchange of the Joker, Wouldn’t you also check out 13579 #2, the second part? Having 9 tiles for each (if I counted correctly) it seems, depending on what’s been discarded, a likely hand to try also.
>TimA

Hi, Tim!
You are right, Odds #2 is indeed a perfectly good option. I don't count jokers when I count up how many tiles I have towards one hand. So, for Consec #2, we have:
5-6-7-8: seven tiles
6-7-8-9: six tiles
Odds #2: seven tiles
I would still discard 8D first, unless the wall is very short. But then if the wall is very short, I likely won't be able to make a hand since I need to obtain 6 tiles. The wall has to be at least 12 stacks long if I still need to pick 6 tiles (unless the mah-jongg goddesses cause other players to discard tiles I want). And if the wall was too short for me to take risks, I would not discard 8D (I'd "dog" - I'd discard tiles I don't think anybody needs, and I'd discard jokers).
May the tiles be with you.
Tom Sloper
Author of the Sloper On Mah-Jongg column and the Mah-Jongg FAQs -- donations appreciated.
Author of "The Red Dragon & The West Wind," the definitive book on Mah-Jongg East & West.
June 12, 2019
Los Angeles, California, USA

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