A pro’s awareness

Starting in August ReachMahjong.com will host a new series of Professional Blogs. These will be translated blog entries from the top pro players in Japan. This column will continue biweekly, being published on Fridays. Thanks to xKime who is translating these entries. If you’d like to see a certain pro’s thoughts don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll do our best to get you one of their blogs. This first entry is from Takeo Kojima, Mr. Mahjong himself as he wrote last year on the Mahjong Fight Blog.
Source: http://mp.i-revo.jp/user.php/kojima-pro/entry/141.html


I don’t play just to win without thinking about anything, and I don’t want to play like that. Why? That’s because I’m a professional player. If you’re an amateur player, then it doesn’t matter how you play. I think it’s okay if you play just to win, or even if you play only to complete hands.

For example, octave waits (moro hikkake) like discarding and winning on , or discarding and winning on or . Pair waits (tanki), gutshot waits (kanchan) or simple winning hands without any other HP (yaku). As a professional player, I feel like this kind of win is a little embarrassing. Even though there are professional players who say “There’s nothing wrong with that kind of win,” I doubt their sense of play. As a professional player, I think I should have at the very least some sense of beauty.

So, does that mean professional players don’t win on edge waits (penchan), gutshot waits or with octave waits? That’s not so. Sometimes we wait with those ready (tenpai) hands. There are many cases where we wait on a pair of dora (lucky dragons/tiles), or other HP like Three Colored Runs (San Shoku) or Full Straight (Ittsuu). We usually don’t just make a Reach (riichi) hand with nothing else.

When everything goes according to plan and your opponent discards your winning tile, if they think or even say “that’s a good wait,” they do not say it but they’re probably thinking “I’m beaten…”. Winning like that is professional.

I say it a lot, but if everyone (non-pro players) thought or said “What’s so special? You play just like we do,” that would be embarrassing.

This is the difference between Mahjong and go or shougi (Japanese chess).  In go and shougi you can see everything, so there is no point in making strange moves.

However, in mahjong you’re fighting with draws that aren’t visible, so there are many strategies a player can make.

Therefore, a professional player must put on a professional fight. There is no other option.

I let a chance for good results slip away at the 16th Special Tournament “Regain Cup” (第 16回 特別大会 Regain杯) (on Mahjong Fight Club). I participated in the Mahjong Triathlon mode and got a high score by the time I finished the Half Games (tonpuusen) and Full Games (hanchan) sessions, and next in my specialty: 3 Player Mahjong (sanma) I could have assured a good result if I scored high in the last game, but it ended with me and the dealer (oya) both going for a hand in bamboos (souzu) and I ended up giving him a dealer baiman (24000 points).

Nevertheless, in this mahjong triathlon the mode of play changes every game, so you never get tired and it’s very fun. There are chances for all users and I felt like there was a good sense of competition.

For anyone that I didn’t get to play with this time around, be sure to play again next time. -Takeo Kojima (2010-09-06)



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Comments from Jenn:

I am a player that was born and bred on Kojima-sensei’s way of playing. His were the first books I read and his style is what I studied as I grew as a player. The idea is definitely more about shape and HP and less about speed. As a result I have a special place in my game for 3 Colored Runs (sanshoku) and Full Straights (Ittsu).

As far as waits go, we often preach good waits on ReachMahjong.com. However, there are many times when a side wait (penchan) and gut shots (kanchan) are good waits. The idea that an octave-riichi wait (moro hikkake), as sensei explained above, is an older way of thinking and the new generation, even of respected professionals, is moving away from that way of thinking. The game is getting more and more competitive and the truth is that to succeed in this industry most players just can’t afford to play such a readable game. If an opponent knows that you will never discard a to wait on an , the chance of them beating you becomes to great.

Watch Kojima-sensei’s game. He plays a beautiful form of mahjong that you won’t get the chance to see from the new breed of pro’s. And, he still wins.

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