Advanced · 2 practice decisions

Know when to defend

As your own route becomes less realistic, preserving a hand can be less valuable than avoiding a dangerous discard.

Practise this

Read the position before your rack

Check the wall, your missing tiles, and what opponents have exposed. Match exposures against legal card candidates. Several exposures can narrow an opponent’s possible hands, but they do not reveal the concealed tiles or prove that the player is one away.

Compare real discard choices

A recent discard from a player can be evidence of lower interest, but that player can change direction or later need the tile. A tile that appears unnecessary to one opponent may be useful to another. Consider all three players and describe risk comparatively rather than calling a tile guaranteed safe.

Be willing to weaken your hand

With a short wall, several difficult gaps, and a threatening exposure, holding a dangerous tile can be worth breaking your own target. The goal is to reduce the chance of providing the winning tile. A wall game can be a sensible result. There is no universal wall count at which everyone must defend.

Reassess when your prospects improve

One tile away with several live opportunities is a different decision from four tiles away. You may reasonably accept more risk, depending on the opponent and the stakes. Choose the risk deliberately. Judge the decision using the information available then, not whether the next draw happened to reward it.

Try a decision

Twelve tiles remain in the wall and you need four tiles. Your card check shows that East’s exposures fit a candidate needing red dragons. The 6 Dot appears less useful to East’s compatible candidates, and both other players recently discarded it. A red dragon is spare; your 6 Dot belongs to a required pair.

Which choice puts defense first?

• Discard the 6 Dot, accepting damage to your hand
• Discard the red dragon solely because it is spare