How to get better at Mahjong: Introduction (for beginners)

This might come as a surprise, but I like mahjong.
One of the reasons I like mahjong is that "you can definitely improve if you put in the effort."
Some of you might be thinking, "That's true of most things in the world."

Let me tell you the second reason why I like it.
The key point is that "the difference in strength may not be apparent in individual matches, but it becomes clear in the long run."
The reason I like that kind of thing is that the differences aren't clear in the short term, which suits my personality.
Unlike "perfect information games" such as shogi, chess, and go, mahjong is an "imperfect information game."
Mahjong is a game where you can still lose even if you make every perfect move.

Conversely, in mahjong, you can sometimes beat higher-ranked players even if you play casually.
That's both the charm and the difficulty of mahjong.
Skilled mahjong players don't win every game, but surprisingly, they end up with a net profit overall.

So, how can one become stronger?
The only way to overcome this is to train the aspects you can control yourself.
What your opponent discards and how they are dealt are aspects that are beyond your control through effort alone.

Next, let's look at the specific areas you can control yourself. These are the following:
① Decision to push or pull
② Ori's technology
③ Techniques for making noises
(④ Tile efficiency)
④ While tile efficiency is the easiest to study, it's something you can put off for now as long as you understand the basics.
Factors that most directly affect winning or losing are ① and ②, followed by ③.
First and foremost, it's important to train these two things: ① and ②.

It's difficult to quantify someone's mahjong skill, but there are now convenient websites that can help.
What I often use is"Tenhou"This is an online mahjong game.

This site features a unique ranking system, score tracking, and the ability to view game records.
It's a site with tons of really strong players, but I'm currently at the 7th dan rank there (as of November 2019).

To be honest, there are tons of people online who are far more skilled than me, so this rank is nothing to brag about yet.
All I want to say is that the fact that I, who initially struggled even to reach the second dan rank, was able to rise to the seventh dan rank is a result of my hard work.
I'm just an ordinary person, but I'd like to write articles little by little about how I improved my grades.

To get better at mahjong, you need to play a lot and analyze your performance.
I highly recommend registering with Tenhou and creating an environment where you can practice.
It's basically free to do, so if you're interested, give it a try.