Jenn’s Corner: Out of Practice
I have to play mahjong everyday to keep my game up. When I had the parlor last year, I was playing about 8 hours of real mahjong everyday. My game was better then than it has ever been. Lately I’ve been playing real mahjong once or twice a week, I play Mahjong Fight Club between 2 and 5 times per week, and I play online on Ron2 and Mahjong Club. It feels like I never play.
Playing live mahjong and playing online is completely different for me. I think playing online is great for practicing the basics, trying out strategies and reviewing games, but for me online games are the most difficult to concentrate on. At the arcade there are loads of games surrounding the MFC machines and tons of noise. I like to wear my noise-cancelling headphones and play music or podcasts while I play… yet another distraction. At home there are pets all over the place and TV shows to watch, making it near-impossible to concentrate on online games.
When I’m at a mahjong parlor, either playing in league, playing free or playing a set, I can concentrate on the tiles. Everything disappears around me and things on the table make sense. That doesn’t mean I’m always winning, but I’m always thinking and always analyzing. That’s the key to improving your game.
The best players I know are always thinking while they play. They think about their hands, their opponents’ hands, the board and even the remaining wall, all at the same time. When we’re at study sessions, players always want to know what the other players drew to make them Ready (tempai). On the other hand there are a lot of players that think too hard about the game too.
There are lots of easy decisions in mahjong, but once you start thinking about the game, it’s easy to make every decision a hard one and over-analyze each move. Here’s a common one:
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Yeah, you can see 3-Color Runs (sanshoku) in this hand, but there are no guarantees. In most situations a 2d-4d discard is the right choice here and there isn’t really much to think about. If you pull a 3d on the next discard, you will be disappointed, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. In Japanese that’s called “Ura-me,” a backfire. In most cases you’re going to pull something that makes your hand Ready (tempai) with a good or even a great wait.
Practicing mahjong is important and for most people, playing everyday is the best recipe for success. The most important part of improving is thinking about and analyzing your games while you play and after the games, but make sure you’re thinking logically and realistically, don’t beat yourself up over correct choices that go wrong, those are the moves you need to forget. Beat yourself up when you do something silly or discard without thinking. Make sure you come practice with me on Ron2 and Mahjong Club too!
