In Garthe’s League
Well, it was another long night of happiness on Saturday leading straight into league play on Sunday.
I played tight and smart to win the first game and decided to switch it up at the beginning of the second game. My first hand, dealer, I won with this hand:
Draw:
Except I didn’t win. It was still only the 5th draw and this hand could be such a monster. Dropping 33 means any Character or letter tiles make me tenpai (ready) again. Gees, even 9 Gates was a remote possibility. 1000 points each for that hand just seemed wrong.
Why I like to break things that are working for me I will never know. So I stopped with the tightness, went for the Full Flush, and of course drew nothing but the other suits and the one letter tile of which there were already 3 on the table. By the time I got back to Ready, Kitano had caught up and I threw to her Simples, Peace, 2 Dora for a -7700 start to the game. Not quite the 3000 plus I could have had.
Failing another 3 consecutive big hands I was in quite a funk when I opened my hand to find this in the last of the east round:
Once again, fantastic possibilities, but I just couldn’t pull any triggers, didn’t pon when I had the chance and eventually drew 2 for 800/1600. Phhfthtt!!!
Next hand, I’m dealer again and find myself with this on the 8th or so draw.
I reasoned I’d gone for the monsters enough already. The middle tiles obviously being wanted by the other players, I took the first 7 that came out, and the next tile I drew was the 七.
Take that suckers!!! Not the super monster, but 6000 from each player would just have to do.
Next hand, 5 draws in, I got to ready with this:
Dora was so it was a monster if I got the , a bit disappointing with 
. If I drew the monster after reaching it’d be another 6000 from each player. But again felt weak, waited quietly, and Koshino eventually threw me the for 12,000 points.
So I won that game running away with it when I tightened back up my play again. What do you think my strategy was for the 3rd and 4th games? That’s right! LOSE!
Nothing big until the 1st South round hand, I got to tenpai (ready) with 7 Pairs and Dora but I was waiting for the Dora. I reached, tightening everyone else up. Oh except for Kitano who was dealer, ponned East, and won off me with a half flush for 5800. She followed that with a 5th draw reach for which I ran out of safe tiles after a few draws and again threw to her Simples, Peace, Dora Dora, Reach. Ouch.
Who knows if I would have won the hand waiting quietly. But it definitely shifts the focus from the dealer to me when I reach. Without the reach, Koshino might not have given Kitano her East, and the hand might have ended very differently.
My gigantic 2nd game win now erased I finished with a mighty plus 2 for the season, leaving me in 36th out of 43 in D1. I’m reminded of Charlie Brown, just wait til next year!
Now, let’s get lucky!!
