I have a bit of a hard time with the "calling" mechanic in mahjong.
In my current Tenhou (online mahjong) performance, my rate of calling tiles is around 30%, which is lower than the rate of players considered to be strong.
Therefore, I think there are actually more places where they should be singing.
I picked up this book to study those aspects.
This time, I'd like to give a brief introduction to this book, "Mahjong Winning Techniques" (first edition December 2017).
A collection of articles on improving your mahjong skills, techniques, mental game, Tenhou (online mahjong platform), etc.
About the author
The author is Akihiro Kawamura, whose highest rank on Tenhou is 9th dan (according to Wikipedia).
I myself am still struggling at the 6th dan level, so I believe there is definitely something I can learn.
As a side note, the author was born in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, in 1986.
I feel a sense of kinship with you because I'm also from Nagoya City and was born in the same year.
Who is this book for?
I think this is a tactics book for intermediate to advanced players.
The calling mechanic in Mahjong is difficult to learn, and I think it's an area where skill differences are easily apparent.
Furthermore, it is heavily influenced by the situation at the venue, and various factors must be considered.
Therefore, I think the content will be difficult to grasp unless you are at an intermediate level or higher, where you are able to make various judgments in different situations.
・About the content
For various themes, the situation and the shape of the tiles are presented first, and then the problem is raised.
The next page contains an explanation of that topic, followed by practice exercises.
It's surprising how many problems can be created using only themes related to "animal calls."
The first half of the book contains ideas and methodologies for getting off work early.
Since this is all about situations where you're in the lead after winning, I think this alone will make you stronger in the final round.
Of course, these are all things that can be applied in other situations as well.
The second half of the book also covers techniques for narrowing your focus, bluffing, and assisting, which is very helpful.
Furthermore, the author's columns and one-point techniques, scattered throughout the book, contain extremely useful information for real-life mahjong matches against other people, and are also a must-read.
·thoughts
Reading this book made me realize that I'm still thinking too systematically.
While "systematic" sounds good, in a negative sense, it means that one is only capable of rigid, inflexible thinking.
I think that in many cases, people ignore the various pieces of information and circumstances that should be included in their decision-making criteria and simply apply the same old rule to everything, saying, "In this case, it's best to cut it this way," essentially ceasing to think critically.
Reading books like these and gaining new perspectives gives me a little encouragement, making me feel like I still have room to grow.
Overall, there are many detailed techniques involved, but I feel that if you can become aware of these small details, you can gradually improve your performance.
This is another book I recommend.
This is a summary page of articles related to Mahjong.
A collection of articles on improving your mahjong skills, techniques, mental game, Tenhou (online mahjong platform), etc.
