Quote:
Originally Posted by Proto
Have you played mahjong yourself? There's a lot of hidden information in mahjong where things like suji and the like can only take you so far. Sure, if you fold and play defensively odds are that you won't deal into other's ppls hands but, a) odds does not mean certainity, there's a moment where you will run out of safe tiles and you just have to take a guess-shot. And b, even if you go for fast quick hands (which is what she would have to do since her lead was really narrow) it's not like it's guaranteed that you will get them. Sometimes the draws just suck and you got to deal with it.
|
Certainly I play mahjong myself, I mentioned my tenhou ID in a bit of a non-sequitur not too long ago. Dumping safe tiles is not really relevant in Shizu's specific case because the opponent who won off her was in damaten. Defending against damaten is really more about detecting when your opponents' reach tenpai and estimating the value of their hands once they have it. Then, certainly, you proceed to play safe tiles, but the nature of furiten in riichi mahjong actually means that safe tiles tend to become more available the longer you spend in betaori, and the majority of wins against opponents in betaori tends to be within the first two rounds of tenpai, against opponents who either decide to push or have no safe tiles. Unless there are multiple players pushing/attacking, it is quite extraordinarily unlucky to be hit by a player you are against in full betaori. Meanwhile, if you are under attack by multiple players and are completely out of safe tiles, that's when you make a bet on estimating your opponents' hand values (open hands are good) and try to play into a cheaper player's hand.
As far as going for quick fast hands, you are never 'forced' to do so unless you are flat out gambling (i.e. betting on luck). Only certain hand shapes are suitable for going after quick wins, if you're in a defensive position the rest of the time you should betaori. Regardless of the narrowness of your lead, if you have a poor starting hand it is pure recklessness to try to force a winning hand out of it.