Intermediate · 2 practice decisions

Choose a target and keep useful backups

A backup earns its space when it shares your core and offers a different route to completion.

Practise this

Compare the remaining work

Start with legal candidates on your card. Count missing tiles, then separate mandatory naturals from gaps that can accept jokers. Two hands that are four tiles away can have very different obstacles. Check the visible supply and any exposure commitments before comparing their potential.

Ask what would make you switch

Several suit or number variations of one line can be useful, but they may all depend on the same missing pair. Another candidate that uses much of your core and avoids that pair gives you a different way forward. The printed section is not what makes it different; the requirements are.

Give each tile a job

Keep a tile because it supports a plausible plan, not simply because it forms a pair or a run. A distant alternative that needs four otherwise useless tiles can cost too much space. Prefer a small number of backups whose shared tiles and switching conditions you can explain.

Recheck after meaningful information

A draw, a Charleston receipt, or an exposure can change the balance. Compare the hands using your current tiles. Small differences in Hand Potential need not justify abandoning a good plan. The number is a comparison of prospects, not a measured chance of winning.

Try a decision

Your leading hand still needs a natural pair of 3 Craks; you hold none. Two backups use the same number of rack tiles and have comparable remaining work. Backup A also needs that pair. Backup B uses your 3 Dots and 7 Dots and avoids it. No 3 Craks are visible yet.

Which backup better protects against a shortage of 3 Craks?

• Backup A: the same missing pair
• Backup B: a different natural requirement