Deconvoluting the dilemma of tile discard during riichi Which tile should you discard? A simple guide to reduce your anxiety about choosing the right one In some situations, there could be multiple possibilities of discards before calling riichi. At this point, there will be several factors to consider before deciding on the best tile to discard: Which tile discard will net you the best value? As calling riichi is a risky, you want to make sure that you can get as many Hans as possible. What is the probability of winning? Sometimes, while the value of your hand is lower, the po ..read more

Featuring a collection of scenarios that can make one lose a game In the quest to sharpen my skills for riichi mahjong, I have committed a lot of mistakes, some of which resulted in game loss especially in higher level games. I have hence decided to document some of these mistakes, in hopes of reducing such mistakes in the future, and also help others reduce the risk of committing such mistakes. Let’s analyse this situation: I faced this board which allowed me to call riichi at turn 6. It is at South 4 so my mission was to try to leverage on my dealer position so that I can chalk up suff ..read more

Mastering some of these skills could improve your chances of reaching tenpai faster than others Jumping sequences, are they useful? Recognising the useful mahjong tile sequences to look out for is fundamental to get you into tenpai quickly. This is particularly important for Japanese mahjong because you may want to reach tenpai with a concealed hand so that you can call riichi and earn more points. Previously, I have highlighted the top 3 tile sequences that are excellent in getting you to tenpai. Often, these ryanmen sequences are perfect for melding into a set of 3 because of ..read more

Mastering the technique will help greatly especially in games where players’ competencies are similar. To win quickly or form big value hands? Read on to find out Thus far, I have elaborated on strategies related to tile efficiency so that we can reaching tenpai in the shortest possible time. While mastering tile efficiency and defence can easily bring you to the Expert level in Mahjong Soul, this may be inadequate for Master level and beyond. To do well with in professional games and tournaments, you will also need to understand how to maximise the value of your hand, sometimes even ..read more

A lot of discipline is required for defense. Do you have what it takes? Balancing defense and offense can be challenging. Which is more important? Read on to find out! Should I aim for high value hands to secure a first place in Japanese mahjong? When do I play attack? When do I defend? These questions are often asked but with no straightforward answers. Here, we will address an important mindset in Japanese mahjong that can help in making these decisions better. Before diving into the topic, let’s understand the winning conditions in Japanese mahjong. In Mahjong Soul, all players st ..read more

An advanced Japanese Mahjong strategy guide that analyses the situations which you should consider calling kan When should you call kan? When playing riichi mahjong online, there will be a natural tendency to press “kan” when you have 4 copies of the same tile. However, is this the correct move? Let’s analyse deeper to find out! Key events after calling a kan First, let’s evaluate what happens when you call a kan. There are two kinds of kan, one is an open kan, and the other is a closed kan. In either case, you will have to reveal your identity of the kan, so other players ..read more

An advanced strategy guide that address a common dilemma faced by most players in Japanese mahjong Calling riichi. When is it worth? To riichi or not to riichi? This is the most common dilemma that most players will face when playing Japanese mahjong. On one hand, winning with a riichi hand gives you at least one extra Han. However, this action increases the risk of dealing a winning hand to another player. In this blog entry, we will rationally analyse the situations that would be most suitable to call riichi. Having a good grasp of these concepts will improve your fundamental gamep ..read more

How to play dora tiles to your advantage A strategy article exploring how to exploit dora tiles to increase the value of your hand. How to recognise dora tiles. Source from: https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Mahjong Dora tiles (see diagram above) are a unique feature in Japanese Mahjong, and most people have a love-hate relationship with them. Every dora tile contributes to 1 Han, which in many cases, increases the value of winning points by double for each Han in your hand. For instance, a riichi win that is worth one Han (1,000 points) will be worth 2,000 points if you have a dora tile. If ..read more

An analysis of the best timing to find the mahjong pair As you may already know, a winning game in mahjong requires the formation of 4 sets of 3 and a pair (with the exception of 7 pairs and 13 orphans). The question that many often ask, when do I start looking for the pair? If you have some knowledge, this may help you in your decision making. Should you end up with waiting for the pair? If you are waiting on a lone pair, then no. The reason is because the chances of waiting for the lone pair is only 3 possibilities, which is much less compared to a 2-sided wait with 8 possibi ..read more

A useful defensive strategy to employ to minimise your chances of dealing a winning tile Where is the wall in Japanese Mahjong? Can you recognise them? As described previously, suji-pai can be a great way to defend against players who called riichi. Another way to spot for safe tiles to discard is kabe. In Japanese, kabe means wall, or more specifically, a wall that is formed because all 4 pieces of the same tiles are visible on the board. Due to the presence of walls or blocks, this results in the formation of surrounding safe tiles, which is what is termed as kabe suji. How to spot ..read more