Comments on Reach Mahjong Columns: Gemma's Journal #14

Here's a seemingly unrelated question--How often d...

2007-10-05T00:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a seemingly unrelated question--How often do you fold your hands?
To me, the most useful part of 7-pairs has to do with defense. I wind up giving up and playing defense for most of the hands I play. Because of this, 7-pairs is a very useful hand for me because I can use 1/9/honor tiles that an opponent isn't likely to win on. If I'm not sure I want to fold entirely, it's also easy

I am just a beginner, so you might want to take my...

2007-09-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

I am just a beginner, so you might want to take my advice with a grain of salt.

The "seven pairs" hand seems to be there for when your tiles don't seem to be good for anything else: that is, it exists to make otherwise bad tiles good for something.

I wouldn't try for it with fewer than 5 pairs. Exception: if I have 4 pairs and it looks rather unlikely that my tiles are good for

- "Above all, is it just me or does this hand just...

2007-09-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

- "Above all, is it just me or does this hand just not fit well with the other hands?"

With chi-based hands, your chances of success depend on your ability of multiplying waits inside your hand. Connectivity is the deciding factor.

With pon/pair-based hands, your chances of success depend on your ability to take advantage of the possibility of claiming tiles from all