Gemma’s Journal #14 – All Pairs
It would be even better if I can motivate more people to spread the word as well!
So, I'm in a bit of an in-between stage of my column. My next plan for my column is that I'll follow the progress of some new students of Mahjong to see how they fair. Hopefully we'll get their comments on the game and learning, and also your comments on my teaching method. It would be even better if I can motivate more people to spread the word as well! My new group of Mahjong players are a mixed bunch with two speaking no Asian languages and one with a good grasp. It'll be interesting I think to see their different reactions and what exactly interests different backgrounds with respect to Mahjong.
However, I've had to come back to the UK briefly and my three new students are waiting for me in Taipei. Therefore I've had to come up with some 'filler' entries… Sorry!I thought that I would share with you my feelings on the All-Pairs hand. It's been really getting to me recently. I despise it. I can never pull it off, and if I lose big, I can almost guarantee it was a hand where I was trying for All-Pairs. I've summarised my All-Pairs experiences as follows:
- I get quite a few pairs at the beginning so I become excited and think; "Yay! It's half started for me. Let's try!" But yeah, so I try and try and watch all those tiles that I could have Bumped (pon/peng) to give myself an All-Sets hand go by at the beginning but I'm still feeling confident. There is always a moment when I realise that this was a disastrous decision and it all goes pete tong. (Non-Brits that's your research project for the week! "Pete Tong")
- Actually the whole thing goes pretty well until the last pair where I manage to obtain multiple "pairs" in my discard pile instead of in my hand.
- I get nothing that will remotely help me and find that I can't get out of it because of "sacred discard" (furiten) etc…
To add to it all, I don't know whether it's because I'm so stressed out by this hand now, but for some reason in the process of trying to obtain this hand I mess it up by throwing a tile someone else needs. Perhaps I'm just not concentrating…Then the few times that I do manage to pull off this hand, I'm never satisfied with the reward. Points-Stress ratio is just not good enough! For the days shaved off my life in those five minutes I need more!
Above all, is it just me or does this hand just not fit well with the other hands? I mean I like the way I can make links between hands and I rarely go all out for one particular hand and usually have ideas that I can do with it depending upon the tiles that I draw. The All-Pairs hand I just don't seem to have so many options. It just refuses to work with other hands. It sits there like a thorn in my side. It doesn't look that hard so why do I mess it up! It doesn't even fit in the normal scoring system!I hate it so much.I dislike it when other people pull it out on me. I never see it coming. I always predict something else. I make my discard. And there it is opposite the table. I've looked over past games to try and get the patterns from the discard so I can level up on this but no progress.I hate that hand so so much.
I'm sure someone must like it though! So people go ahead and tell me that I'm wrong. Someone enlighten me. Someone prove to me that the devil did not add the All-Pairs hand to torment Mahjong players! Or, perhaps you have a hand that you equally despise. Share your woes!To post comments to this column, click here.
