Introduction and review of the mahjong strategy book "New Scientific Mahjong" (author: Totsugeki Tohoku)

Preface

This book, "New Scientific Mahjong," is not a remake of "Scientific Mahjong," but a completely new work.
I was one of those who read and put into practice the methods described in "Scientific Mahjong" back in 2004 when it was first published.
In an era when the concept of "skill" in mahjong was vaguely discussed, "Scientific Mahjong" logically presented various theories based on statistics and other data.
Reading this book and experiencing the success of becoming much better at mahjong than my friends is, I believe, the starting point for why I've continued playing mahjong all this time.

I had absolutely no idea that this book, "New Scientific Approach to Mahjong," was released in September 2021.
YouTube videos by Genki Hirasawa that I've been watching recently"[Mahjong Books] A comprehensive review of mahjong strategy books published this year."This book was recommended in [a certain publication/website], and I became interested and bought it.

I hadn't bought a mahjong strategy book recently, so I bought this one hoping to learn something new.
I'll be writing about this book, including its introduction and my thoughts on it.

Summary and impressions of this book

This book uses simulators to explore the boundaries of judgment criteria on various topics.
Since it contains a lot of information that touches on the fundamentals of the game of mahjong, I think it would be good reading for intermediate and advanced players.
If a beginner wants to learn the basics, they should read a different tactics book.

We will explore the boundary lines where decisions diverge for frequently encountered topics, such as "Should I attack when I'm one step below a player who has declared riichi and I'm one step away from a closed hand (or one step away from a hand with open melds)?"
Because it contains data broken down into very detailed cases, it may not be suitable for people who just want to learn a general answer.
I would recommend this to anyone who wants to thoroughly examine whether their hitting technique is correct.
It's meant to be used just like a textbook.

There are a total of 22 topics explained in detail, and all of them are interesting and educational.
Topics that significantly impact your grades are marked with a ★★★ symbol.
You can learn more efficiently by reading through the topics with the most stars first.
Rather than reading it carefully from beginning to end, I think it's better to just skim through the sections that interest you.
The author writes the same thing in the preface to this book.

The decision to push or fold in mahjong changes depending on various factors.
The conclusion will vary depending on whether it's the early or late stages of the game, the potential score and waiting patterns, the risk level of the tiles being pushed, and whether you are a child or the dealer.
This book is designed to help readers easily visualize situations by providing examples of near-boundary scenarios for each theme.
By remembering the situations that mark turning points in decision-making, you'll be able to apply that knowledge in real-world situations: push when there are other factors to push, and pull when there are factors to pull.
By repeatedly practicing this technique, you can hone your mahjong skills.

Afterword

I wrote about the contents and my impressions of "New Scientific Mahjong."
Reading this book made me realize that I tend to hold back too much when I should be assertive.
It may be difficult to change my mindset immediately, but I would like to work on improving it.
I've created a table summarizing the push and pull strategies for common situations, and I plan to refer to it while fighting for a while.

The criteria I personally wanted to know most were: "When one other player has declared riichi and I am in tenpai, when is it better to chase (both when closed and when open)?", "When one other player has declared riichi and I am one step away from tenpai, what kind of hand is it worth pushing?", and "When calling will lower the score, when is it better to call?". These were extremely helpful.

I discovered that some of the things I had thought about and judged on my own up until then were correct, which boosted my confidence.
I believe that repeatedly engaging in this kind of steady trial and error is essential for improving your mahjong skills.

New Scientific Mahjong(Link to Amazon)

Postscript: After writing this article,Introduction videoI found it.
Similar points to those written in the article had already been clearly explained in a video.