3 player vs 4 player

[Lespar]

I know how to play the 3 player version (as in, rules/regulation). How do I adjust my strategy?

From my understanding, 3 player requires more skill than 4 player (despite the north dora system which is silly).

[xKime]

I know how to play the 3 player version (as in, rules/regulation). How do I adjust my strategy?

From my understanding, 3 player requires more skill than 4 player (despite the north dora system which is silly).

I, and a few "high ranked" players (lol, ranked higher than me at least), agree that 3p (especially with 3 or 4 red dora) is mainly luck, and not much different from playing roulette.

Other 3p players claim that since 3p has so many dora, and you can't chii, and for a few other reasons and differences in its rules, it requires more skill than 4p.

In truth, the only skill you require for 3p, is "3p skill." Which comes from playing 3p. It's not that one is harder than the other (in fact, I'd say you require a lot more of patience in 4p, since you win a lot less, with a lot more "mundane" hands generally). Some people refer to 3p as "going for it all of the time" and claim it's ultimately about luck, while others may say "well, you need to know -how- to go for it!... and when not to." claiming that's 3p skill. (i.e., being the best 4p player won't make you the strongest 3p player, and viceversa)

I wouldn't know much. I am one of those players who consider 3p is barely mahjong, and it's just something silly and highly luck-based to do when I don't want to spend 40 minutes playing a 4-player hanchan. Still, people who are experienced in 3p in the long-run will always outwin people who are unskilled in 3p. I just happen to think "3p experience" is not something worth of it. orz

In short, if you're going to play only a handful of 3p games, it's strongly luck-based. If you will do it in the very long run, you will see skill reflected. (---wait, isn't that 4p mahjong as well? Lol.)

The difference is that 3p gets just ridiculous most of the time:

[IMG=http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/6991/endzf.th.png][/IMG]

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3803/kazoe3p.jpg

As for strategy... It's very situational and I'm not quite sure how I can help you there. What you would consider a "bad" starting hand in 4p mahjong, might become a good one in 3 draws. Especially if you drew three Norths in a row. At the very least, you should pay special attention to how you handle yakuhai, how you proceed to use them and/or discard them, and how you proceed with flushes (hon itsu/chin itsu). Also, since you can pon but not chii, shanpon taatsu tends to be stronger than ryanmen taatsu sometimes. Even a riichi nomi can become a monster drawing a few north even -after- you riichi, so it is often not a bad idea to do it. If you're playing in tenhou where tsumo payments are decreased, it's a good idea to basically aim for direct hits rather than tsumo, and since most people will just "go for it" most of the time, there's a good chance to do it. Tanki waits on live honor tiles are usually terrible, unless it's north; people are not that willing to discard live honor tiles in 3p, especially to a riichi, but they are always likely to nuki/kita (declare north as a dora) and then you get to ron them. Also, I would highly recommend you don't discard live tiles in late game, even if they are unsuspicious 3's or 7's. Final shanpon waits are very usual.

I don't usually play 3p, I suck at 3p, so don't take any of this as "the rule."