FREE CHEAT SHEET · AMERICAN MAHJONG

The 20-second rack read

One page. Sort your rack, find your pairs and their friends, and name two sections before the first pass. Read it between games, not during one.

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Try it on one rack

You're North. The deal is done: 13 tiles, no jokers. Before the Charleston, which two kinds of hand would you start toward?

Rack: two 2 Bams, one 4 Bam, two 6 Bams, one 8 Bam, one 3 Crak, one 5 Crak, one 7 Crak, one 4 Dot, one 9 Dot, one North wind, one Flower.

Your 13 tiles after the deal

Show the answer

Start toward evens in Bams, with evens in two suits as the backup.

  1. Sort: Bams 2 2 4 6 6 8. Craks 3 5 7. Dots 4 9. A North. A Flower.
  2. Pairs first: 2 Bam and 6 Bam. Both even, both Bams.
  3. Their friends: the 4 and 8 Bam. With the Flower, 7 of your 13 tiles point the same way.
  4. The backup: an evens hand in two suits keeps the Bam 2s and 6s, and the 4 Dot can start the second suit.
  5. The 3, 5 and 7 Crak are a weak start on odds. The 9 Dot and the North fit nothing, so they go first.

Name a section, not a single line. "Evens in Bams" survives a bad pass.

The book this comes from

Cover: American Mahjong: Keep, Pass or Pivot, by Cal Hartley

American Mahjong: Keep, Pass or Pivot. A workbook of 45 rack decisions for players who know the rules and want to stop guessing.

  • Each decision shows a real game moment: the rack, the exposures, the question.
  • Decide first, then turn the page for the best option, the reasons and the numbers.
  • Works with any year's card: practice patterns, never a reproduced card.

Kindle edition, $2.99.

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