As the Beta League passed the midway point with Round 3, Lucas LaPointe continued to extend his lead, scoring another positive round overall - though not as much as his first two rounds. Though, facing two heavyweights in Tian Yunchen and Aldwin Gordula would do that to you, even if you’re running well. And as most don’t really start noticing a no-hitter in baseball until the middle to late innings, one couldn’t help but notice now that there was still a “0” next to his 4th place finishes… Back to Aldwin, he maintained his relative position by treading water, rough as it was with two top and b ..read more

By the end of Round 3, Pool C really appeared to stratify itself compared to the other pools. On one end, there was a clear group at the top, with 5 people over the century mark overall, compared to 2 pools which has no one over that mark. While he suffered a huge 4th to end his 3rd round Max Suddendorf still put together a positive session and led the Pool. Oliver and I continued to give chase, this despite being paired together. Oliver gained a modest 34 points to hold onto 2nd position, while I managed to have a big session gaining 67.4 points almost doubling my score and putting me in 3rd ..read more

This pool really had a mix of experience levels - from people like Bichen Wang who is the current head of the Pacific Mahjong League to others like Aliena Mjolnir who were playing in a competitive format for the very first time and trying to find their sea-legs. And of course, there are people in the middle with some tournament experience, including yours truly. It was exciting to see if players with lots of experience would indeed rank highly, as this had been an issue in Pool D with so many strong players constantly playing against one another that they seemed to cancel each other out. Rou ..read more

Throughout most of the Beta League season of the ARML, Pool A was characterized by a very tight spread of scores that gave many players the opportunity to quickly change their placement and aim for placement in the top leagues. Round 3 was especially tumultuous for everyone in the pool, as it saw a complete reordering of the top 9 positions of the pool - other than Ryan Jacobs, who maintained third somehow throughout the whole ordeal. The most notable movements in the top 9 positions of the pool were Hoang Long. and Ming-Ko Cho. Ming-Ko capitalized on a run of 4 consecutive mangans (the final ..read more

As we near the halfway point of the Beta League, players continue to try and jockey for a more favorable position going into the homestretch. First, it should be noted that one person throughout all pools has managed to finish 1st or 2nd in all 8 games so far. Max Suddendorf (perhaps known as LightPinkYoshi to some), has achieved this feat and by doing so leads Pool C, though by not as much as you might think as Oliver Nguyen is right on his heels with just one 3rd place to his name. Strangely though, there was little movement by most of the players in the pool. The biggest jump was by Bret L ..read more

The first round of the inaugural season of the American Riichi Mahjong League has been completed! Hopefully things go even more smoothly in future rounds as it did this round as the majority of the games were completed in the first week of the two weeks allotted for everyone! Anyways, here’s where we stand! There’s an early traffic jam at the top of Pool A as the top 5 are separated by just under 15 points. No one was able to win more than 2 of their games, and of course it’s early, but there is certainly more leeway to catch up if you’re behind. Current leader Hoang Long, while carrying th ..read more

As those in the east coast are turning the calendar from 2021 to 2022, the American Riichi Mahjong League has actually had its inaugural games earlier today to accommodate the players’ schedules! In Pool B, Table 3 they had their first 2 of 4 games earlier this afternoon. Pacific Mahjong League head Bichen Wang had 5 mangan or better hands and racked up back to back 60,000+ point performances to give him an early +93.8 point head start! Inaugural Game of the American Riichi Mahjong League! Bichen continues his rampage in Game 2! But to recap, the American Riichi Mahjong League closed registr ..read more

Over this past weekend we hit 32 people registered for the inaugural season of the American Riichi Mahjong League. That is important because it triggers a Beta League where everyone will compete for a spot in the 16-person A1 League, while everyone else will start in the A2 League (or lower, depending on final turnout). For instance, if registration ended today at 33 people, everyone would be randomly split into 2 pools (one 16 players, one 17 players). In this case, there would be a 5 round round-robin season. After the 5 rounds, players would be assigned as follows: 1st-6th place - A1 Le ..read more

Now that our website is live, so is registration for our inaugural league starting right at the turn of the calendar in 2022. You can follow the link on our homepage to the registration form. From there you will receive a confirmation of your registration via e-mail and after that, just get yourself ready to hit the ground running! If you still need more information, our About section has a more detailed summary as well as the full regulations for the league (understand that we may need to adjust it as situations arise). As a reminder though, either we will start as just the A1 league (if th ..read more