Why I can't Yaku

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Fly Tail
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Why I can't Yaku

Post by Fly Tail » Wed Feb 13, 2019 1:13 pm

Hello everyone, I'm new to Riichi Mahjong, and I been trying and learning on how to play it.

The game I been practicing is Saikyo no Mahjong 3D. However I still can't get an open hand yaku.

In this picture below, I "pon" my left opponent who had riichi on that turn to meld 2,3,4 Pin. And the last title at that moment is only one Pin 1. And then, on my turn I pick up the last Pin 1 from the wall, but for whatever the reason, I did not satisfy the yaku. Why? This is not the first time where I got the last pair titles in my hand.
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Shirluban
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Re: Why I can't Yaku

Post by Shirluban » Wed Feb 13, 2019 5:05 pm

Hello and welcome.

It looks like your hand doesn't have any yaku.
A yaku is a scoring pattern required in order to win.
The allowed yaku varie slightly from rules to rules ; you can find a list of yaku commonly used here:
https://ooyamaneko.net/mahjong/bookcmp/ ... 5&chap=6.5

Here, I'm not sure which yaku you were aiming for.
- pinfu (all chi) also requires an open-ended wait and the hand to be concealed.
- tanyao (tiles #2 to 8 only) can not be made with tiles numbered 1,9, winds, or dragons (and is concealed-only in some rules).
- menzen tsumo (self-drawn concealed hand) requires the hand to be concealed.
- "three shifted chow" (123, 234, 345 in three suits) simply doesn't exists in riichi mahjong ; it's a scoring pattern from another kind of mahjong (MCR).
Cats don't do タンヤオ (tan-yao) but タニャーオ (ta-nya-o).
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Fly Tail
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Re: Why I can't Yaku

Post by Fly Tail » Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:36 pm

Shirluban wrote:Hello and welcome.

It looks like your hand doesn't have any yaku.
A yaku is a scoring pattern required in order to win.
The allowed yaku varie slightly from rules to rules ; you can find a list of yaku commonly used here:
https://ooyamaneko.net/mahjong/bookcmp/ ... 5&chap=6.5

Here, I'm not sure which yaku you were aiming for.
- pinfu (all chi) also requires an open-ended wait and the hand to be concealed.
- tanyao (tiles #2 to 8 only) can not be made with tiles numbered 1,9, winds, or dragons (and is concealed-only in some rules).
- menzen tsumo (self-drawn concealed hand) requires the hand to be concealed.
- "three shifted chow" (123, 234, 345 in three suits) simply doesn't exists in riichi mahjong ; it's a scoring pattern from another kind of mahjong (MCR).
I see. Thank for the link too Shirluban.

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Re: Why I can't Yaku

Post by Referee » Thu Feb 14, 2019 2:33 am

Shirluban gave you the reason why. Here the problem is the 1-2-3 meld, that stops the hand from being all-singles (Assuming this particular game allows open-hand all singles, which is quite common). Also the ones in your hand, but at least these could still be changed to something else, but the one on the table is impossible to fix.

A good thing to know if the list seems too daunting at first (which is quite a normal feeling) is to concentrate on some of the easiest yaku to achieve. Don't open your hand until you can guarantee a yaku.
- A triplet of any dragon, your wind (That's the red symbol in front of your name), or the round win (the symbol on that big orange sticker, which is upside down in your image).
- A hand where all tiles are number tiles ranging from 2 to 8. Be careful not to reintroduce any 1 or 9 after the hand is open.

If you can't guarantee neither of these, have your hand concealed. These allows for some other yaku
- Declaring ready hand (riichi)
- Drawing the winning tile yourself while your hand is still concealed
- No points hand (pinfu), that requires four chi and a pair that isn't a dragon, your wind, or round win, as well as winning on a double-sided wait. (4-5 is OK, winning on the 3 or the 6, but 7-9 is not double sided, and 1-2 is not double sided either, because a 0 of the suit doesn't exist).

The two I mentioned on the open hands also work concealed. Once you get into the habit of always making sure you have a yaku, you can start looking for other yaku.

For instance, with open hand possible, a hand with four triplets (pon), and also three chi 1-2-3, 4-5-6, 7-8-9 in the same suit, or the same sequence in all three suits. And closed hand only, two identical sequences (same numbers AND same suits) would be a nice second step.

Finally, don't get discouraged. This game is very nice, but sometimes the tiles seem to mock you. Happens to everyone. :)

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Re: Why I can't Yaku

Post by or2az » Sun Feb 17, 2019 7:47 pm

A little late here, but this is a sheet I give to all the ladies that I teach the game to when they actually start playing, after learning the terminology.
It helps them learn when it is valid for them to open their hand, which seems to be a problem for most beginners.
They often refer to it during the game and it seems to help.
Its not perfect so take it for what it's worth.
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