Mahjong Techniques Explained #2

[@Xanxust1]

One thing I forgot to mention: If you’re in the lead with a large score gap, especially when you get closer to South 4, you should dama most hands. This is because you want to give yourself the option to bail if you draw a dangerous tile, and you want to avoid the player in 2nd place making a comeback if he gets a direct hit off you. Also correction to the final point about being behind in scores in the South round: riichi every hand EXCEPT hands where your hand value can be further improved as mentioned under the "Dama" theory. It's important to check the score distribution between you and the other players, and determine if you need to greed for that additional value to make a comeback.

[@emsharingan8639]

I keep coming back to this vid, I gotta memorize this, one of the points of the game I struggle with the most

[@chickenboy5071]

Hey I managed to hit master, thanks for the all the videos! The furiten riichi tip was especially helpful

[@KevinMcFlying]

Very helpful, thanks a lot for including personal insights as well! I hope to reach Tokujou level one day (Adept 3 currently haha, gotta dream big), and resources like this definitely help ;)

[@CeliriaRose]

A question at 1:51. In example three you mention the chance at sanshoku, does a chance count towards whether you should riichi. The point from Riichi book 1 mentioned was riichi if you have at least one han other than riichi, so is that only definite hans you know you will get if the hand wins or would prospective ones count as well even if there isn’t another han outside of riichi other than the prospective one?

[@Xanxust1]

Yes, you should still riichi because there is still the chance of you winning on your inferior out (i.e. 5m instead of the 2m in the same example).

[@KevinsTimeWasters]

For the "riichi on a good wait" part, would you consider nobetan (2 kinds-6 tiles) to be a good wait? What about entotsu (3-7) or aryanmen (2-6)? Where is the cutoff exactly?

[@Xanxust1]

In general, a good wait = at least 2 kinds of tiles and more than 4 tiles left to win on. (per Daina Chiba) So entotsu, nobetan and aryanmen are considered good waits. However it's also impt to see how many live tiles there are to win on. E.g. a nobetan of 3456p basically becomes a tanki wait (1 kind, 3 tiles) if the remaining 3ps are all discarded). This would essentially turn a "good" wait into a "bad" wait.

[@amakazegaming7661]

In general, any wait that is > 4 tiles available to draw is a good wait. And of course, the more the merrier!

[@ervincoconut]

great insights by the one and only xanxust youtube! i hope to improve my riichi gameplay after watching your videos!

[@02chilversf]

Thank you, that cleared a lot up for me.

[@M3rtyville]

Is there a way to predict or guess whenever a player is in tenpai going for dama? frequently I see players use dama baiman or higher in the gold room and it is really hard to avoid it.

[@Xanxust1]

Some signs of tenpai (not a hard and fast rule): -they discarded the Dora -they overflowed their honitsu/chinitsu suit -they have tsumogiri'd many tiles in a row -they tedashi a tile that is absolutely safe (e.g. the 4th Haku). At a certain level people will start keeping at least 1 safe tile in their hand to defend against riichi. So discarding that tile may mean his hand is in a ready state. As for whether to fold the hand or not, it depends on your hand value, score distribution and how expensive you think his hand is. This sort of thing comes with prolonged experience. You will not be able to avoid every single deal-in but you can minimise the number of times it happens.

[@tylwythteg]

Awesome tips my guy!

[@user-td8zz9rq7v]

Could you explain more details why you decide to declare richii at dora or expensive suit wait?

[@Xanxust1]

Ppl are less likely to throw your winning tile anyway, even if you dama, so riichi to make ppl fold and buy yourself a few turns to tsumo

[@user-td8zz9rq7v]

@@Xanxust1 Thanks for the answer. I have another question. If someone already calls 2 times, and we are waiting a dora. Should we declair richii or just dama?

[@Xanxust1]

@@user-td8zz9rq7v It depends. Too situational for me to give a blanket answer

[@kir2847]

3:10 Is this example wrong? Pretty sure you cannot ron 2pin because of 2/5 furiten.

[@Xanxust1]

This example is an example to show why 2p is more likely to be safe if 5p passes. (Because the shape cannot be 34p). It's still possible to ron on 2p if your opponent has shapes like 22p, 13p, etc.

[@kir2847]

Then why clearly show 34p with 2/5p wait if it has to be anything but it? And why would you change perspective to your opponent when you are explaining when to riichi from your own perspective. Not the best example. Instead of showing riichi with a suji trap, you are showing how to furiten trap yourself.

[@Xanxust1]

Will take note for future videos

[@emsharingan8639]

What about when a good riichi criterion overlaps with a dama one? Like you have 3 dora in the hand and pinfu but your wait is just the 4p or something, but all four of them are left? Also how about the situation when you have 3+ dora in the hand, and a bad wait riichi is your only yaku?

[@Xanxust1]

1st situation: Depends on score distribution, how cheap the pinzu suit is, how early it is in the game, etc. Usually riichi is correct. 2nd situation: Most of the value is already in your hand. A game has 7 dora (4 normal, 3 red) and your hand alone has lots of value compared to everyone else. Riichi to assert dominance (ofc if you are in a huge lead in South 4 there is a case for folding that hand).