Mahjong Strategy: When to give up 4 Anko ?

This article covers turning point where it is better to give up 4 Anko, when you have 3 Anko Tenpai.

Hi all, thank you for checking this website! When I have 3 Anko Tenpai, I always find it hard to judge Riichi or wait for change to 4 Anko.

I was 3rd at East 3, but not such large behind, and had a 3 Anko Tenpai hand. Dealer Riichied.

Riichi ?

I didn’t. Because 1. this hand still have potential to be 4 Anko or 3 Anko Toitoi if I draw 7m, 1p, and 3p. 2. some one may discard 7m which dealer has discarded. In that case I can Pong it and will have Mangan (8,000 points) Tenpai with quite flexible and strong at wait because 1p and 3p seems to be safe tiles to dealer.

After that there was drastic change in Ho/river.

1p was discarded back to back, And luckily I drawed safe tile, 9p. Riichi ?

I did because possibility that this hand change to 4 Anko significantly decreased. Again luckily, I drawed 5p after that. Finally the player on my left discarded 2p, and who can blame him ?

Modern Mahjong theory tells us to Riichi immediately if you don’t have more than 5 kinds of tiles which will improve your hand. So I may have Riichi-ed at 11th turn, but temptation of Yakuman makes it difficult to judge.

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