Ozball's Oui Qualifier Experience

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Ozball
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Ozball's Oui Qualifier Experience

Post by Ozball » Sun Nov 17, 2013 2:15 pm

So I played in an Oui Qualifier today in Kobe and figured I'd try to write a bit about the results and my thoughts on it and the JPML A rules as it was the first time I have played with them. Also I'm not really sure how this will go, I don't remember much in the way of hands so we'll see.

So a bit of preface, it was held at Marchao Sannomiya which is a non-smoking no-rate parlour that's recently opened up and is where I play most of the time (when it's open which is only Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays). So I had a bit luck in the fact that the staff knew me already and I'd been able to ask some questions I had about the tournament in the past.

There were 12 entrants (including me) and the format was everyone would play 4 games and the person with the best record at the end would be the winner. JPML A rules were used, so no One Shot, Kan Dora, Hidden Dora or Red 5s. Everyone started with 30,000 points and the final placing bonuses were
1st: +15
2nd: +5
3rd: -5
4th: -15

So your final score for the game was the your difference from 30,000 then plus or minus your placing bonus.

This was also the first time I'd been in any kind of tournament, but I've been playing free in parlours for the last 2-3 months. So I went in without expecting to do very well and only really going for the experience, and I set myself a goal of just ending the day with a positive score. So lets get into it:

I arrived early as I was nearly falling back asleep at home and I was hungry so I went to a place near by that I usually eat at before playing Mahjong in general (Katsudon to help with winning! (katsu can also mean win in Japanese)). After that I still had an hour to wait till the registration period started (11:00am), so I waited around downstairs and tried to work on some of the pro-test questions I brought with me. After about 10 minutes or so the director of the parlour (that's his title on the web page at least) went past on his way in and invited me up. Yes! No more having to try and write on my knee! A few people showed up around 10:30 (they thought it started then for some reason) and by 11:30 most people had arrived. So people mostly sat around till we had the rules explanation around 11:50. I'd spent that hour mostly going through the rules again to make sure I understood them properly (Google translate on my phone is a godsend for Kanji!) and I found out that you can actually Ron with a Kokushimusou (Thirteen Orphans in English I think?) if someone declares a closed quad of your waiting tile. (Note this is different from the normal robbed Kan rule which is only for open kans I believe) We then moved on to the first round.

I don't remember all that much about the first round, it was reasonably quiet with out any huge hands. The guy sitting to my left I knew as he is one of the part timers at another Mahjong parlour I go to occasionally. He ended up winning the game reasonably comfortably, and I managed to take second thanks to a dealer double east, dora 2 mangan hand (or at least I called it mangan, I think it was actually 11600 but I think I was payed that anyways) that I got in my first stint as dealer and just held on to my points after that. I ended the game at 31400 points giving me +6.5 after the placing bonus.

Image

Not a bad start, just in the top half of the pack. (Mr. Part-Timer was in second with 24.3) So after a 5-10 minute break we moved on to the second round. This game was SO close right till nearly the end. In the South 3rd Round I think there was somewhere around 3000-4000 points separating first and last place. In this hand I was sitting west and was dealt a hand something along these lines (I don't remember the exact starting hand sorry):
:west :west red-dra red-dra red-dra 2-crak 2-crak 4-crak 7-crak 3-bam 4-bam 2-dot 8-dot

Nice start! And a few turns later I was at this:

:west :west 2-crak 2-crak 4-crak 4-crak 7-crak 7-crak 8-crak 3-bam Closed Quad: red-dra red-dra red-dra red-dra

Followed by a few short turns later:
:west :west 2-crak 2-crak 2-crak 4-crak 4-crak 7-crak 7-crak 3-bam Closed Quad: red-dra red-dra red-dra red-dra Tsumo: :west

Sweet! Tenpai! This should be Haneman at least! So I discarded the 3-bam and waited. A few turns later I drew the 7-crak and the conversation went something like this (in Japanese of course):

Me: Tsumo! *flips hand down* Umm... Red Dragon... West... Half Flu...

Player sitting to my right: Umm... that's Four Concealed Triples isn't it?

Me: ! *looks down again and face palms at my own stupidity*

:west :west :west 2-crak 2-crak 2-crak 4-crak 4-crak 7-crak 7-crak 7-crak Closed Quad: red-dra red-dra red-dra red-dra Tsumo: 7-crak

I think in my mind I'd forgotten I was still closed because of the Red Dragons on the table off to my right, so I hadn't even considered Four Concealed Triples as a possibility. So I get my first ever in person fixed hand Yakuman (as opposed to a counted one) and I didn't even notice it at first. So I cot 8000, 16000 points and took a commanding lead on the table. I think the final hand was won as a smallish tsumo, but I don't really remember. I was still in a bit of shock over the Yakuman. I ended the game with 61200 points giving me a score of +51.2 after the placing bonus:

Image

Holy crap! All of a sudden I was at the top of the table. One of the players at my table had said this just moments before I checked the score table: "Good luck to you, you really have a good chance to win." But I don't think the reality of what he said really sunk into my mind till I saw the scores from all the tables together. Ok, don't panic Matt. Just keep doing what you aimed for from the beginning, just aim to be positive in the next two games. That should at least give you a decent chance. - I told myself. But I felt that I was still pretty outclassed in terms of skill, so it was likely that with a couple games some of the other players could pull out some decent wins and still overtake me. Particularly those two on roughly 30 points. Ok time for the third round!

I sit down and we all introduce ourselves by figuring out where we all were on the score sheet. I had 2nd, 3rd and 5th place all on my table! (Note all the table seating had been decided in advanced before the tournament had started, so this was pure coincidence) Ok, just have to stay calm and still aim for positive. Again I don't remember too much about this game other than I tried to bully a bit with a reach when I was dealer and had nothing in my hand other than the reach, I think it netted me the whole 3000 no-ten bonus too. I managed to just squeeze positive with 30600 points at the end of the game. Giving me a score of +5.6. Mr. Second and Mr.Fifth had amazingly enough actually ended the game both on the same score for a tied 3rd place (or maybe 4th, I'm not sure which placing bonus they got) score of -11.8. But Mr. Third had won overall with a score of 33000 giving him a score of 18.0, putting him within 13 points of me still hanging on at the top of the table with only one more game to play!

Image

I was more nervous that when I started now that it looked like I actually had a shot at winning! I remember less of the last game than any of the others other than I played it very carefully wanting to only make sure I ended positive. In the end I came second in that game by 300 points! (34200) Giving me a final game score of +9.2. Was it enough?! My game had finished with roughly 10-15 minutes or so left on the timer, but I refused to actually look at Mr. Second Place's game as I was nervous enough already as it was. I'd achieved my personal goal of being positive in every match, so now it was just a matter of waiting. They played till just before the buzzer, so I spent all that time with my back to the table and trying not to listen to what calls were coming from there (thankfully I couldn't hear that much). The table's scores went up, and initially I wanted to wait till the third table had finished their last hand to look, but in the end I'd caught a peek and this was the result: (Photo taken after the third game's result had been added)

Image

O.O I did it... I actually managed to win! And I was the only person to have finished the day with all positives too! Mr. Second Place had actually come third in his game with a final game score of -9.3. So I'd won the day and the chance to move on to the next stage which is in Tokyo next weekend!


My thoughts on the whole thing: SO MUCH FUN! Though some might say that is partly because I won, but even during the early stages of the tournament I was still enjoying myself immensely! I strongly suggest if anyone gets the chance to to play in these kind of tournaments. The JPML A Rules aren't a huge change from normal parlour rules in practice. Yes you don't have the bonus of the Red 5s or the Hidden Dora but they're, as Jenn said about Dora in general on a recent podcast, a bonus anyway. Just build your hand normally. You still need to establish a Yaku but you don't need to Reach as much as it doesn't give as much benefit as it does in the other rules. You only get 1 Yaku out of it and it limits your ability to adapt to what other players might be doing. Actually some advice that Jenn had given in an email before the tournament I took to heart and was actually the core to a lot of my thinking today: "...don't riichi too much. The hands don't have to be big in A-rules... and (you) want to keep others from winning off of you!" If someone reached and I had no yaku yet or only one or two han worth in my hand I folded, and I tried to make the most of the times I was able to get things like Double East yakus. Also I think I dealt into other peoples have very few times during the day as a result. I can only recall 2-3 times (though I'm sure there were more), and I lost most of my points from tsumo and no-ten payments. The hands are were generally smaller, which makes being hit by that dealer mangan that much more painful! Still, a nice change from the mangan+ hands you see a lot of in parlour games.

So that was my first experience in a Mahjong tournament, and with the JPML A Rules. I'll try and write something up after next weekend if I can and if people are interested.



Oh and Garthe if you ever read this: Yes, I do people favoUrs! :lol:
Last edited by Ozball on Tue Nov 19, 2013 5:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Furiten is the most holiest!" - Garthe Nelson

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Tenhou Rating: Ozball - 1608 - 2nd dan


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MFC: オズボール - Seiryu (Blue Dragon) Master
MFC JPML Rank: 3rd kyu
Ron2 Rating: Ozball - 1335 League: Bronze

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Re: Ozball's Oui Qualifier Experience

Post by gemma » Mon Nov 18, 2013 1:16 pm

Big congratulations! This is amazing news! I'm so jealous! I'll be cheering you on for the next match!

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Re: Ozball's Oui Qualifier Experience

Post by Referee » Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:50 pm

Like for the Kaori moment: http://youtu.be/Jq9CH79x0Wc?t=38s

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Re: Ozball's Oui Qualifier Experience

Post by Ignatius » Tue Nov 19, 2013 3:07 am

Awesome. I have no words.
Life is as beautiful as you want it to be, but it´s only one. That´s why you must not get tired of it. Don´t care if you don´t say something that seems "important" because your mere existence is important for someone.

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Re: Ozball's Oui Qualifier Experience

Post by Ozball » Tue Nov 19, 2013 3:37 am

Referee wrote:Like for the Kaori moment: http://youtu.be/Jq9CH79x0Wc?t=38s
Ha! I'd completely forgotten about that scene! Was pretty much how it went for me. But I think (hope) my voice was less shaky.
"Furiten is the most holiest!" - Garthe Nelson

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Tenhou Rating: Ozball - 1608 - 2nd dan


Old Ranks
MFC: オズボール - Seiryu (Blue Dragon) Master
MFC JPML Rank: 3rd kyu
Ron2 Rating: Ozball - 1335 League: Bronze

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Re: Ozball's Oui Qualifier Experience

Post by Gnom » Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:34 am

Congrats! And thank you, it makes me want to take my chance in this kind of tournament! I'll see if there's something near my place :)

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