Questions About Situational Play

[GGnores]

Hey guys! I've been playing quite a bit more and have gotten to starting dan with a rating of ~1800 in Tenhou.

I was wondering about two troublesome scenarios to deal with in Tenhou.

First question:
What do you do when you start with 1 dealer wind tile / a dragon tile that is the dora?
Do you deal it from the start and pray that someone doesn't pon for an instant mangan (which sometimes does backfire...)? Or do you keep it in your hand and never deal it until somebody deals it first?
This is especially troublesome when you are not going for honitsu/chinitsu/chi tois/etc. I understand that you sometimes draw another one and it becomes a pair that can get you a free mangan, but it's still more likely that somebody else will be waiting for it. I am usually unable to progress my hand into tenpai with these tiles...

Second question:
How aggressive do you play as the dealer when everybody has roughly the same points / when you are in 4th place?
The dealer always pays out 50% of the tsumo payment and it becomes really devastating to eat a 6 han tsumo that drives you 3000 points down from the other two players that have been hit by it.
I also understand that the dealer should be more aggressive for the most part because of this excess payment, but am having problems differentiating between whether I should fold as the dealer or continue my 1 shan ten hand as dealer when somebody has declared a riichi.
I understand that this question is extremely vague, but are there any general guidelines that I should follow when I am dealer?

Thanks!

[xKime]

Hey guys! I've been playing quite a bit more and have gotten to starting dan with a rating of ~1800 in Tenhou.
I was wondering about two troublesome scenarios to deal with in Tenhou.

Situational play, eh. Your questions are too vague to be situational; they are hypothetical at most. You do not consider many other important factors. But even so, let's try to reply in most detail as possible.

First question:
What do you do when you start with 1 dealer wind tile / a dragon tile that is the dora?
Do you deal it from the start and pray that someone doesn't pon for an instant mangan (which sometimes does backfire...)? Or do you keep it in your hand and never deal it until somebody deals it first?

I assume that "1 dealer wind tile" means Double East. As of recent mahjong theory, you should discard starting with the tile you do not wish to get pon'd. An efficient discard order for yakuhai should start with Double East.

As for yakuhai dora, the basic procedures are three:

1. At the first discard.
2. When someone else discards it.
3. Not discarding it.

Whichever three of the roads you will take depends vastly on what your strategy for this hand is. If you have a workable hand (shape+value), yakuhai dora will just lock you in, disabling your hand in most cases, and you should therefor terminate it promptly.

If you are in a situation where your hand is bad, or you need to use it yourself, it is a good option to keep it, expecting to pile it up. In many cases, your hand will progress, someone else will discard it and give you the option to discard it in the same turn or not. In other cases, your hand won't progress at all, in which case you should be glad you kept it. The problem is, situations where your hand progresses and you have to discard it to take tenpai or a wide ii shan ten (and this also applies to when you suddenly draw this dora). You will have to evaluate, regarding the turn number (and of course, the calls and discards of the other players) whether you are likely to deal in with it, whether you have a backup plan in case it gets pon'd, or whether your hand is big enough with enough good shape and you need the points badly enough that you don't even mind about what happens when you discard it. Of course, if you have a solid lead, you should never aim to get a trillion points by discarding tiles like these and concentrating only in your own hand selfishly.

Second question:
How aggressive do you play as the dealer when everybody has roughly the same points

It also depends on what your current placement is, but basically, in the first half of the game, aggressively (this doesn't mean "recklessly", but it is a god time to go and chase points). In the last part of the game, usually more defensively as South 4 approaches, especially if you are currently in a rentai position. Not overtly defensively, sure, but with enough care as to not to fall into last place at this stage.

As for being dealer, you should have been taking the initiative as much as possible when you are dealer. Someone outdoing you in speed is already sad enough, but discarding into a riichi with no consideration isn't positive either.

/ when you are in 4th place?

I also understand that the dealer should be more aggressive for the most part because of this excess payment, but am having problems differentiating between whether I should fold as the dealer or continue my 1 shan ten hand as dealer when somebody has declared a riichi.

I understand that this question is extremely vague, but are there any general guidelines that I should follow when I am dealer?

Don't misunderstand what "aggressive" means. The dealer should, basically, aim for renchan to continue being dealer, yes. But there is a difference between taking the initiative/sente (declaring preemptive riichis, getting ballsy and calling tiles, etc) and just plainly ignoring everyone else and discarding no-suji middle tiles once and again to every riichi (dirty zentsu).

When you are dealer and someone else gets tenpai before you do, your situation is bad indeed and in many cases you will lose your dealer turn and, in quite a few of those occasions, you will get tsumo'd. Several of them will be mangan class or higher. Sure, some tiles are "safer" than others, some riichi look more expensive than others, and there are some easier to ignore. But if the situation is already bad on itself, in many cases you should try not to make it worse by discarding into it yourself. This is very situational and impossible to answer in general terms, as you will usually encounter situations to push. Some of them may be:

1. Most situations with no risk of last place (except, of course, those you risk falling out of first place in).
2. In most cases, 2900 or more ryanmen tenpai is a very light shape that makes most tiles easy to push with.
3. Kanzen ii shan ten for 3900 or more is definitely okay in most cases.
4. One or none safe tiles. Push until you either build your hand or get two or three safe tiles.
5. Most situations where you are in last place and especially if your hand is workable.

That should work as for general guidelines. But, as it should be in the case of tenhou, most pull-push decisions are tightly linked to handshape (uke-ire+value+final wait), placement and score difference. As expected, it is impossible to simply learn or teach this, because if you could ever acquire a perfect sense for when (and how!) to pull and when to push every hand, you'd be within the top tenhou players, as this is one of the most important judgments of the game.