Dora Experiment

[Benjamin]

Try playing with this restriction:

You can only discard dora if it makes you tenpai.

I dont think this is particularly good strategy (some people do) but trying this out definitely helped my play.

Post impressions!

[sir_seagill]

I always feel a little uneasy whenever I get a single dora in my starting hand that has nothing near it (especially if it\'s an honor tile.. with value) Do I get rid of it asap so no one can pon it? What if they already have a pair? What if I draw another one later on?

If I keep it, it tends to get nearly to the end and then I have to discard it to get into tenpai and it freaks me out cos usually it\'s a live tile...

[WorTeX]

Hmm, could try that out some time, but I always tend to have the same problem with seagill, I get dora but nothing connects to it.

As a strategy it is a bit risky, but the reward for success is really worth it.

[Arcade]

We should add the rule of \"No honor tiles on the 1st discard\" to this, Janki-style mahjong.

The drawback is that if anyone knows you\'re following the restrictions, discarding dora means the same as reach. :side:

[Archon_Wing]

I haven\'t tried it out yet, but I expect a number of negative scores. ;)

[anbujustin]

I tried this last night (holding dora and honor tiles) and it was awesome!

It might have been all luck but I was getting dragons way more often that I did before. The scary part is when you dont get them at all but I find that people will discard them so now theyre safe tiles later on too.

However it seems like I help people with ron more often than before but not to a significantly huge amount as long as I pay attention

[iandstanley]

I always feel a little uneasy whenever I get a single dora in my starting hand that has nothing near it (especially if it\'s an honor tile.. with value) Do I get rid of it asap so no one can pon it? What if they already have a pair? What if I draw another one later on?

I would tend to defer for a FEW discards as I quite often pick up something useful within 2-4 tiles from the wall.

Good advice is to learn patience with any variant of mahjong. I have been playing chinese mahjong for 28 years only recently finding the differences with Japanese Riichi. Having not played for a while I drifted back into a more aggressive discard regime and my game deteriorated.

If your end hand is clear then feel free to discard otherwise wait for a few tiles off the wall and discard only when you feel safe

A recent hand taught me some patience ... I was dealt .....

green-dra green-dra green-dra 6-bam :north :north :north

Prevailing Wind :east and Dora Indicator 5-bam

Two tiles later I was ready when the player opposite dropped 6-bam :ohmy:

A couple of draws later I drew 6-bam claimed the kong and turned over the kan-dora :west

Two turns later tsume 24,000 ... darn shame it was only against 3 computer opponents! However, the lesson learned has brought dividends on tenhou where I am starting to hold my own.