Krabman's Mahjong Corner

Sup?

Here we go with more Tenhou… only one situation today. I had more but before posting I had some eureka moments and the screenshots turned out to be useless 😀

Reading music suggestion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rst3w6W6zw

1. Tenpai anticipation

This was a crucial hand, possibly my game winner. I didn’t need 3 pairs anymore thanks to that precious Pinzu ryanmen. Which pair to cut? This is one of the situations where differences between our options may not instantly be obvious (at least to beginners…) but I think it is important to consider all of them.

Here’s my logic: Sha must stay. Our Pinzu ryanmen has the highest chances of completion and if that happens, our wind will be a great shanpon wait (one has been discarded, making it seem safer!). 8m is slightly weaker than 6m, mathematically speaking – only 1 available. How about shanpon? I think 8m may actually be better because 7m is one chance and someone might push 8m after our Riichi. 6m is a stronger lone tile than 8 because it can still get 5m for Sanshoku (possible, kinda ;p). I think it’s best to cut 6m here.

Do you think this makes sense? Or am I overcomplicating this?

This little analysis is something I came up with AFTER the game. During the game I discarded 8m… I ended up with 6m/Sha shanpon and won Ippatsu 😀

My main point is that we should reduce discarding “just because” to minimum, and eventually to ZERO. Every single discard should have some kind of logic behind it. I don’t think situations in which there’s no difference between our potential discards are frequent. Sometimes those differences are so nuanced that we may not be aware of them AT ALL until someone points them out.

I think one of the things that puts expert players above advanced players (and advanced players above intermediate ones etc.) is being more aware of all those subtleties. Reasoning I presented is their second nature and happens within seconds MAX.

Now, I’m not claiming this particular situation is a perfect representation of my point, perhaps it’s all BS but I think many beginners would just cut a random pair there which is not the way to go about it.

Amen.

May Yakuman be with you!
Krabman