2.1.1. Advancing your hand

A hand is said to be ready (听牌) if it waits for (听) one more tile to become a complete hand.

Example:

2 Characters3 Characters4 Characters9 Characters9 Characters5 Bamboos6 Bamboos1 Circle1 Circle1 CircleEastEastEast

This hand waits for 4 Bamboos / 7 Bamboos to become complete.

A hand is said to be 1-away (一向听) if it waits for one more tile to become a ready hand.

Example:

2 Characters4 Characters4 Characters9 Characters9 Characters5 Bamboos6 Bamboos1 Circle1 Circle1 CircleEastEastEast

This hand waits for 3 Characters4 Characters9 Characters4 Bamboos7 Bamboos to become ready.

Show reasoning
  • Drawing 3 Characters completes the 2 Characters-3 Characters-4 Characters sequence; discarding the 4 Characters makes the hand ready.
  • Drawing any of 4 Characters9 Characters forms a triplet; discarding the 2 Characters makes the hand ready.
  • Drawing any of 4 Bamboos7 Bamboos forms a sequence in the Bamboo suit; discarding the 2 Characters or 4 Characters makes the hand ready.

Generally, a hand is said to be n-away if it waits for n more tiles to become ready.

To win, you must advance your hand from an n-away hand to a ready hand, to a complete hand. Take note of what tiles your hand is waiting for and discard tiles that advances your hand.

Tile acceptance is the kinds and the number of tiles that a hand waits for to progress the hand.

Example:

2 Characters4 Characters4 Characters9 Characters9 Characters5 Bamboos8 Bamboos1 Circle1 Circle1 CircleEastEastEast

This 2-away hand accepts 1 Character2 Characters3 Characters4 Characters5 Characters6 Characters9 Characters3 Bamboos4 Bamboos5 Bamboos6 Bamboos7 Bamboos8 Bamboos9 Bamboos (14 kinds, 49 tiles)

After drawing 6 Bamboos and discarding the 8 Bamboos, the hand becomes 1-away:

2 Characters4 Characters4 Characters9 Characters9 Characters5 Bamboos6 Bamboos1 Circle1 Circle1 CircleEastEastEast

This 1-away hand accepts 3 Characters4 Characters9 Characters4 Bamboos7 Bamboos (5 kinds, 16 tiles).

After drawing 3 Characters and discarding the 4 Characters, the hand becomes ready:

2 Characters3 Characters4 Characters9 Characters9 Characters5 Bamboos6 Bamboos1 Circle1 Circle1 CircleEastEastEast

This ready hand accepts 4 Bamboos7 Bamboos (2 kinds, 8 tiles).

Note that the tile acceptance becomes smaller (14 kinds → 5 kinds → 2 kinds) as your hand progresses from 2-away to 1-away to a ready hand.

Hence, when choosing a discard from a 2-away hand, choose a tile that doesn't leave the 1-away hand witha a narrow tile acceptance. Keeping tile acceptances broad maximises tile efficiency.

Quiz: Which tile should you discard?

Takeaways:

  1. To win, keep tiles that advances your hand (n-away → 1-away → ready hand).
  2. When choosing a discard from a 2-away hand, choose a tile that allows the 1-away hand to have a comfortably large tile acceptance.

References: