Mahjong Soul (Jantama): Points where I changed my playing style since last year and improved my performance.

Introduction

I significantly changed my playing style in Mahjong Soul starting in January 2023.
It's like he's returned to his earlier, slightly more aggressive batting style, a departure from the rather defensive (or even passive) style he had in 2022.
However, I believe that we have grown in fundamental areas compared to two years ago, which is why we are currently seeing better results than before.

I'll explain, in order, what the main changes were.

Comparison of 2022 performance and 2023 performance (up to March 10th)

First, the image below shows the results for 2022.

ざっくり言うと低和了率・低放銃率で、俗にいう地蔵になりやすいスタイルです。
(I couldn't win, I didn't pay out, and before I knew it, I was in 3rd or 4th place due to the penalty for not having a winning hand and other players drawing their own tiles.)
My playing style involved being determined not to give up once I had the lead, and sometimes even giving up on winning from the first turn if I had a bad hand.
If I'm ahead in the starting points, I'll refrain from calling a riichi and instead play defensively to minimize my losses.
Even when taking the first move, my strategy was to avoid making a bad-shaped reach and instead aim for a good-shaped reach, even if it meant taking a slightly longer route.
This fighting style is strong if you can take the lead early on and maintain it, but it's not very effective against opponents who attack aggressively.
I struggled when I was playing catch-up, and there were many times when I had to fold even when I needed to score, which was quite stressful to play.

However, I changed my batting technique a few times starting in 2023, and my performance has improved as follows:

Although it's only based on a record of about 140 games, it feels like his performance fluctuates around this range, and it doesn't seem like he's simply been on a winning streak (though it does feel like he's performed exceptionally well).

Now, let's go into detail about what specific changes were made, starting with the next section.

Changed parts

The attitude of going for the win

In 2022, the thinking was "If you don't make a payment, you won't be last," but in 2023..."Mahjong is a game where you try to win first."I changed my way of thinking to this.
If I have a pair of honor tiles at the start of the game, I'll call once and go for the win even if it's only worth 1000 points.
The idea is that scoring 1000 points is worth more than 1000 points.

Even with just 1000 points, quickly going for a win can disrupt other players' high-scoring hands.
If I hadn't won with a 1000-point hand, my opponent might have won with a higher-scoring hand (in fact, looking back at the game records, there are many instances like that).

Also, if you hesitate and another player declares a reach, you can hardly push if you are two steps away from a complete hand.
If you can't push, you have no choice but to fold, and even if you fold completely, you'll incur a penalty for not having a winning hand, resulting in a loss.
If the debt accumulates, it's a loss, and of course, if you transfer the money, it's also a loss.

Furthermore, if you have already made two or three calls, other players will become more cautious and less likely to attack directly.
普通、副露後放銃率は通常時より高くなるものですが、早い段階での副露して押していると、他家が引いてくれるのかもしれません。
守備的に打っているつもりだった2022年よりも、攻撃的に打っている今の方が放銃率が低いのは、一時的かもしれませんが皮肉な結果です。

Of course, we're not going to just push through with any cheap trick.
Even if you have melded tiles, you need to decide when to fold based on your judgment, but you don't need to be overly afraid of other players' riichi that haven't even come yet.
If you have a ready hand, there are many situations where you can push, and it's not impossible to fold if you want to.

Regarding the timing of calling tiles, if a tile is a scoring tile, you have no choice but to call it, but basicallyIt's less wasteful to start chirping only after you've got enough blocks.
If you're aiming for a Tanyao-type hand that doesn't include Pinfu, it's generally a good idea to take a Pon or Chi relatively early.
If you start calling out before you have enough blocks, you'll end up reducing the number of blocks you can accept before you can create them, which isn't efficient.

The superiority of awkward pairs versus isolated middle tiles

Obviously, if awkward pairs like penchan and kanchan remain until the end, the waiting hand becomes worse.
However, even if you keep the isolated tiles from 3 to 7, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll end up with a good hand.
Conversely, a poorly shaped pair can also change into a good one, and a pair can be formed by drawing vertically, and then another pair can be formed into a two-sided pair, thus changing further.
Most importantly, the fact that you can directly draw the awkward shapes to form a set is a huge advantage.

Since isolated tiles require at least two useful tiles to form a set, the speed of play inevitably slows down.
Certainly, if it looks like you'll end up with a cheap hand consisting only of a weak-shaped riichi, you'll need to make some adjustments, such as discarding the weak-shaped pairs and keeping isolated tiles that can accept dora or red tiles.
However, if you already have one or two dora tiles, it's often best to just go straight for the win.
Even with a weak hand worth 2600 points, you can often declare a counter-reach (from "New Scientific Mahjong").
Have the confidence that it's a worthwhile move, and the courage to go straight ahead decisively.

Increase the number of worthwhile matches.

Even when I'm winning a fair amount, I still feel scared to take a gamble with a reach that could potentially result in a loss, no matter how advantageous it seems.
However, in situations where the simulator has concluded that you should go for the win, you must be brave and take the gamble, even if it's scary.

for example,副露して役牌のみ1000点の両面テンパイは、親の立直が入っていても押していくことがほとんどの局面で正しい選択となります(From "New Scientific Approach to Mahjong").
It's certainly scary to push for a dealer's reach with a hand that's only worth 1000 points.
However, you can't always keep discarding safe tiles, and if your opponent draws a winning tile, your score will decrease.
Even if you understand it logically, it's still scary, but I think increasing the number of "good enough bets" is what will lead to long-term success.

Utilizing data from tactical books

The act of "folding" itself is not a particularly difficult technique.
In the middle of a mahjong game, most people have the skill to fold when an opponent is clearly in a ready hand.

So where does the difference lie? I think it's the speed at which you reach tenpai (ready to win) and your ability to decide when to push or fold.
Regarding the speed of reaching tenpai,Uzaku BookI think studying that way is the most effective.
I think you can comprehensively learn techniques to create the best possible shape while considering speed and point of contact.

And I've explained the concept of pushing and pulling many times before."New Scientific Approach to Mahjong"I recommend this.
This book contains the push-pull criteria that you should prioritize learning, so instead of trying to memorize everything at once, it's important to master the ones that appear most frequently.
If you memorize tile arrangements that fall somewhere between pushing and pulling, you'll be able to adjust the conditions from there and apply them to various situations.

For example, let's say there's a criterion that states, "When another player has declared riichi, on the 9th turn, whether to declare a chasing riichi with only a weak hand worth 1300 points is slightly more advantageous to play defensively."
In this case, the later the turn, the more likely you are to choose to play defensively, and if the tile you discard is a 4, 5, or 6 tile that doesn't belong in a sequence, you'll likely choose to play defensively even more.
Conversely, if it's now the fifth round and you can discard a tile that the player who has declared riichi has already discarded to chase them, you might lean towards pushing forward.
By understanding how a situation can change to create an advantage or disadvantage, you'll be able to apply this knowledge to a variety of situations.
I'm not trying to advertise the books, but every time I internalize the content of these books, I strongly feel that my abilities are improving.

New Scientific Approach to Mahjong (by Totsugeki Tohoku)

Rounds 2 through 4 of the South wind should be considered separate games.

Now, I mentioned that I changed my mindset in various ways, but from the second to the fourth round of the South game, I switched to a completely different way of thinking.
When you are in the lead, your focus should be on avoiding losing points rather than trying to score more, and you should aim to finish the round by concealing your winning hand (such as by using a concealed hand with a winning combination).

You absolutely cannot afford to end up in last place, so be careful when declaring a reach.
in particular,"If I get chased and declared a reach and then deal into the winning hand, will I get dragged into a battle for last place?",is.
If you are far ahead of the others and everyone else is clustered together, you can expect that even if you reach a winning position, the others won't attack.
Conversely, if other players are in second or third place with a point difference that doesn't put them in last place, they are likely to play aggressively.
Read the thoughts of the other players, who likely don't want to end up in last place, and decide how you should play.
In some cases, it might be a good idea to discard or insert tiles that the player to your left seems likely to want to call.

If your parents are still in the running, even if there's a risk of temporarily dropping to last place, you're more likely to take risks to improve your ranking.
Conversely, if your parents are not still involved, you should assume that your opportunities to gain points are limited and carefully consider when to push forward or back down.

If you're currently in last place, you certainly don't have time to slowly build a strong hand.
Let's do our best to aim for a reach and go all out to win, so that we can avoid the last-place condition in the final round.
A player in the lead who doesn't want to lose might become more cautious and ease up on their attacks.

In conclusion

Here's a rough summary of my approach to this year's game.
Whether this playing style is correct or not will be determined by whether I can be promoted to Soul Heaven after this.
I feel that I'm on the right track, so I'll continue playing patiently without being swayed by ups and downs.

Recently, there has been an increase in services that allow AI to analyze mahjong game records, and systems that make it easy to use have been put in place.
However, the AI doesn't explain in detail why it makes a particular decision, so the player must deduce the reasoning themselves.
I think it's important to ask people or read strategy books until you can figure out "this is probably why they made this decision."