Mahjong strategy notes
This is my collection of notes about overall strategy.
Strategy
Unlike poker, the psychological play is not too important, especially at beginner to intermediate levels. It doesn’t matter so much how strong your opponents think you are, because your payout is based entirely on the form of your hand. So the most important thing is to play as statistically correct as possible. Take the tiles that are likeliest to complete your hand, and drop the tiles that are least likely to help your opponents.
Defense wins championships
Since one game consists of multiple rounds, ’never losing big’ is more important than ‘winning big’. Don’t take unnecessary risks, fold early if you’re at a disadvantage, and go for the long game.
Tempo
There is a large choice between going for a slow closed hand, or an open quick hand. Open hands are restricted in the yaku that are allowed, so you’re generally sacrificing points for tempo.
- If you are dealer, you get a bonus to points and renchan if you win, so high tempo hands are generally better.
- If opponents are calling, getting stuck with a slow hand is a disadvantage so matching high tempo is generally better.
- If you have honor tiles, calling pon is generally better. You’re guaranteed a yaku, and holding a pair of honor tiles is not good for tempo so staying closed has bad synergy.
Counting blocks
You need 5 blocks to finish, so always be aware of how many blocks you already have. Your decision making will vary greatly based on whether you have 5 blocks yet or not.
If you don’t have 5 blocks yet
- Keep any 2-tile shapes that have potential to become a full block. Don’t break these up.
- Singleton tiles are evaluated based on how likely they are to grow into new blocks
- Terminal tiles are generally worse
- Tiles that occupy open space (not conflicting with existing blocks) are generally better.
- Honor tiles are generally good, because getting another will enable you to pon for a yaku.
If you already have 5 blocks
- Tiles that don’t contribute to those 5 blocks are automatically unneeded. No need to consider expandability.
Folding
If opponent riichis or has multiple open melds, and you are multiple tiles away from tenpai, it’s time to start being defensive. Strive to only drop tiles you know are safe (in opponents discards).
- Save widely safe tiles if possible. Against one opponent, drop narrowly safe genbutsu tiles first, and save safer tiles for when other players catch up.