Quick winning principles
- Keep 5-block shape: five groups plus one pair maximizes flexibility toward any winning hand.
- Discard safe tiles late: genbutsu (tiles you discarded) and suji (3/6/9 offsuit) against riichi.
- Count dora indicators and uradora before pushing marginal tenpai.
- Riichi when your hand is closed, tenpai, and expected han justifies the 1000-point cost.
Ideal strategy
- 1
Tile efficiency: use shanten reduction — each discard should minimize shanten while maximizing uke-ire. Prefer 3467 waits over 4578 when both reach tenpai.
- 2
Riichi timing: riichi at tenpai with 3+ han expected or when dora are visible. Damaten (hidden tenpai) when you need flexibility or fear exhaustive draw.
- 3
Defense: against riichi, fold if your expected points < 25% of opponent's expected win. Chase only with 2+ han guaranteed or mangan potential.
- 4
Yaku planning: build toward riichi + pinfu + tanyao; avoid pointless yakuless tenpai. Sanshoku and ittsu are high-value speed yaku.
- 5
Furiten awareness: never discard a tile you could win on; track all opponents' discards for furiten traps.
- 6
Endgame: at exhaustive draw, tenpai pays 3000/1000 — sometimes tanyao speed beats slow han-heavy builds.