Reading Shan-Ten in High-Level Play
Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 5:45 pm
I\'ve been noticing that dama-ten (keeping tenpai on a concealed hand without declaring reach) is a much more common strategy in high-level games.
To that end, I\'ve been wondering about reading your opponents\' shan-ten (steps away from ready) count. For each turn your opponent discards from inside his hand, he could well be reducing his shan-ten count by 1. It\'s a pretty useful countdown to keep your eye on if it looks suspicious.
What I want to know is, what is the starting shan-ten count of the average starting hand? Based on that, combined with reading discards, you can make a pretty good guess when someone has reached silent tenpai. Let\'s say the average is 4, that would mean after four suspicious hand-discards you should be worried. You can also adjust this if the early discards indicate a stronger starting hand.
So, does anyone know the true average number?
3.5 or so?
To that end, I\'ve been wondering about reading your opponents\' shan-ten (steps away from ready) count. For each turn your opponent discards from inside his hand, he could well be reducing his shan-ten count by 1. It\'s a pretty useful countdown to keep your eye on if it looks suspicious.
What I want to know is, what is the starting shan-ten count of the average starting hand? Based on that, combined with reading discards, you can make a pretty good guess when someone has reached silent tenpai. Let\'s say the average is 4, that would mean after four suspicious hand-discards you should be worried. You can also adjust this if the early discards indicate a stronger starting hand.
So, does anyone know the true average number?
3.5 or so?