Lespar wrote:First. That background is awesome, how'd you get it?
When I became a paying member, first thing I did was download the windows client and just do a google search for tenhou backgrounds and voice files. There aren't many good ones out there, but I like that one the best. The default green is not that bad either. You can also make your own.
Lespar wrote:And I see your point. Saki-giri seems to be a large argument against the akagi "safe" area system. Would it still be possible to use the "safe" area system against newer players (since i play with fairly new friends and in the lower areas of tenhou).
Not just karagiri or ryanmen kotei alone, if your hand is in great shape, ditching a 7 from shapes like 457 isn't that strange either. "Safe area" is more of a matter of combining tsumogiri/tedashi information. Still, hand reading has its limits, and to choose slightly 'safe"er"' tiles to build your hand on when you may have other better prospects isn't all that good; if the difference is marginal, go for a good hand shape. Rather than that, it's possible you want to aim to wait on tiles the dealer isn't going to use, as he is less likely to fold. If you have to choose between a 57m and a 57s and the dealer seems to play the "I won't discard any manzu" game, I'd just ditch it and expect improvement in the souzu area.
In Janryuumon, most people play with the tiles in their hand automatically organized, and you can actually see how tiles come in and out of the places they are actually occupying in the player's hand. That's why when I see a tile comes out for a riichi, and the newly drawn tile is placed right next to where the riichi tile came out from, I consider that to be a "complete" area (patterns where you had 677 and you draw a 5 or 8 are the most seen), and if I'm not going to fold, then I lean a little bit more towards discarding that area.
Against beginners just play EV-wise, and don't rely on suji too much, unless you have a mangan or higher. Don't try to read, don't try to set traps, don't go too deeply. It can and will backfire.
Also, from what I've read, tile efficiency theory is pretty basic (something that could be achieved perfectly by a computer program). So if the game of even the best players revolves around a "play aggresively until it looks like you should fold" strategy, wouldn't the maximum skill of players be pretty low?
Tile efficiency isn't that basic, and the situation around you can't be achieved to perfection by a computer yet. Things like "if you have 35 and you draw a 6, discard the 3" are even intuitive, but within your tile efficiency you have moments where -you- must assess the situation and take a path. "Discard that 89 penchan in favor of that other lone 3? Or discard the lone 3 and keep the penchan? Wait, how many 7s do I think there are even left in the wall? If it backfires, how big of a backfire will it be?" or whether to push on with a 1 shanten from mentanpin dora, or just call for speed and end up with tan yao dora. Every instance in which you make a choice is a way to measure your strength. Within that very same tile efficiency. Also, knowing how to fold; how and when not to get your tiles called; how to make a come-back; whether to riichi or not riichi. If you just cut 1s and 9s and honors every round and you expect to riichi and win every time then your stats won't be impressive.
It's not "play aggressively until it looks like you should fold." It's more like, if your hand is in no shape to fight, don't push it too hard, and if your hand is in great shape to fight, do not restrain it. Doing either one of those things in an extremely half-assed way will only be a hindrance. Folding poorly, or attacking weakly, both will just drag you down. "Shoubu nara shoubu, ori nara ori."
Which brings me to the question, what type of factor does luck have at those levels? Will the best player in the world beat the 100th best player a good percentage of the time? (although i don't know how anyone's supposed to know the answer to that question).
Luck is always the same of a factor. It's more like, it really depends on the state of the players at that time, and how many mistakes they make. My game is definitely not the same on my first game as it is on my tenth or so. In rooms like, Houou Tonpuusen, letting your winning hand slide is something huge that will cost you the whole game. In lower levels, it may be forgiven, you may find some magic sand and mount a comeback while everyone was struggling to decide what direction to go. Houou allows for less mistakes than lower level rooms do. I imagine that the best player would make less mistakes than the 100th best player in a prolonged amount of matches.
I've been studying mahjong pretty heavily over the last few weeks and i'm intrigued by it. However it seems as if the amount of theory behind it is rather shallow (unlike poker which has billions of pages of information on the internet). How much is that due to the language barrier (how much theory is there in japanese?)?
How heavily? What material have you been reading?
It is rather scarce. That's why I actually got myself to do something and translate some basic theory from some pages. But there is a lot of material for more advanced players that I'd like to translate one day too. But as things stand right now, there not being enough basic theory and all, I decided to start there. Also, it makes the translating job easier.
The gap is huge if you consider the hundreds of thousands of mahjong theory in Japanese and Chinese in the net and otherwise. Blogs, magazines, books, broadcasts, explained matches with commentary, maybe even some manga and anime may have some merit, and even websites devoted to the topic. RM -is- a Japanese game, and as so, speaking the language gives you a good edge. I've been joining niconico live broadcasts recently; some may be a little bit like study sessions. And of course, it's impossible to understand the explanation without understanding Japanese.
However, it is possible to become a decent player even without such resources. Just play -consciously- as much as you can. I played 1000 matches for a whole year without reading a single page on theory before starting to read about mahjong, and I'd say it helped a lot. As a form of study, I would then comment on the match and upload it to my blog. Now my blog is mainly a screenshot gallery, but I used to do such things. The important thing is playing consciously, and set goals for yourself. I had a friend I didn't want to lose to, and to surpass him was good enough of a motivation to keep charging on.
We can play anytime you want, and then comment on the game afterwards. Whenever you have a few hours or so, I could set up a friendly match on Janryuumon, and call a few people in. It's much faster to arrange impromptu than tenhou. Just tell me, handlename is きめっち
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