WEEKLY MAH-JONGG

1. First, I count how many discards there are for each best option. 2007 #1: F N G R (4 discards). 2007 #4: N W SS (4). S&P #1: F S 7D (3). Surprisingly, the Winds-Dragons hands are all farther away. I don't want to throw anything that hurts my best 3 options, but one of them has to give. If I'm feeling very lucky I have to choose whether to kill 2007 #1 (throw F) or #4 (throw S). If I want to play it safe, I'll give up on S&P (throw G or R).

2. Quints #1: 1B 00 R (4 discards). Consec. #1: 00 R (3). Consec. #6: 1B 2B (2). S&P #2: 3B 5B J 00 R (6). S&P too far. I'd throw 1B, Quints fallback.

3. 369 #1: 3D 3D 9D 3B (4 discards). 369 #5: F 3C R 9D (4). 369 #6: F 6C R 3B (4). Not having a 6D makes me dislike 369 #6. 9D is expendable for the other two hands, so out it goes.

4. Consec. #3: 1C 22C (3). S&P #3: 333C J (4). No flowers, so forget S&P. Throw 1C now, maybe 2C will be useful as joker bait later.

5. 13579 #2: F 9D 00 9B 5C (6). 13579 #5: F 9D 00 7B 9B 5C (7). 13579 #7: 555B 7B 9B 5C (6). Hand #5 is the farthest, but no analysis is needed - 5C doesn't work for any of these hands (even hand #5, which wants two same-suit pungs, not two different-suit pungs, a common trap).

6. 2007 #3: F 2B 7B N E (5). 2007 #4: 2D 2B 0 7B (4). 2007 #5: 2B 7B N E (4). S&P #7: F 2D N E (4). The 3rd 2007 hand is my least favorite, for the tile count and the number of jokers I need. So let's drop that one from consideration. The problem with #4 and S&P is that I need 2 single winds. Look at the discards trend - if everyone is throwing them, you're OK. But if someone's keeping them, you're probably out of luck. That leaves us with #5. Throw a bam. If someone throws the case 0, kong it with your joker.

7. Consec. #2: FF 8B 7D (4). Consec. #4, Lucky #3: 8B 7D 88D 9D (5). I don't have a 13, so forget that. I don't have a G pair, so forget that. I'd throw 8B or 7D, save F for joker bait when the wall gets to the halfway point.

Thanks to sharp-eyed reader Jeanette for helping with this column!

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