For future viewers: Taatsu means pair of tiles that can become a run with one more tile. There are 3 types. Side wait: 23, 34, 56 etc these have two tiles that can complete a run (23 can be completed with 1 or 4). This is the strongest taatsu, try to always keep this in hand Middle wait: 13,24,57,79 etc these have one middle tile left to complete a run (13 needs 2 to complete, 57 needs 6) Edge wait: 12,89 these have one terminal tile and can be completed with one tile (3 for 12, 7 for 89) this is the weakest taatsu
Thank you so much as well! I understand that mahjong can be a bit challenging with all the specialized terminology. I'm aware of that, and I actually plan on creating videos explaining those terms.
Great video thanks. I didn't know what taatsu was and you referenced it all throughout the video. After I looked it up I was able to follow along a second watch
Thank you very much! I apologize for any inconvenience caused by not providing explanations for the terms. I will make an effort to incorporate them somehow in the upcoming video. Thank you for your feedback!
@@MahjongSamurai I've been playing Mahjong casually for a couple of years now and never heard them called taatsu either. I guess it's just a term that isn't used as often in the English speaking mahjong world. Definitely more convenient than whatever I was calling them before. Great video. I feel like I've learned some of this just by playing, so nice to see I'm on the right track.
@@LarryThreezor Thank you for your comment! While "Taatsu" is indeed an important concept, it can be challenging to find a precise English translation for it. One possible expression I came across is "protorun," but it seems to be a minority usage. If you happen to know any suitable expressions for it, I would greatly appreciate your input!
All good advice. Excellent advice. But it's complicated. Many of these choices are influenced by what is already in the pond. If you have a 4, 5, 5 of pinzu and there are three 3's and three 6's already in the pond, you might get rid of the 4 hoping for another 5, especially if that 5 transpires to be a red 5.
Thank you for the excellent point you've raised. You're right. Mahjong involves a lot of situational decision-making, and that's where its complexity, depth, and inherent fascination lie. I believe that the quickest path to mastering Mahjong is by learning how to adapt to various situations after acquiring a solid understanding of the fundamental theory.
I didn't know that some of these concepts were part of genuine Mahjong theory. Essentially, my experience with this video is that I excitedly came in to see what I could be doing to improve my plays. Then I very quickly realized that I'm already engaging in certain parts of 5 Block Theory already. To a certain degree, I've been following your discard hierarchy on a more intuitive basis--meaning that I didn't know that some of my discard schemes completely aligns with 5 Block Theory. Up until now, they've just felt like correct discards to make! Even though that's true, it's also true that there's a lot about this theory that I still have yet to fully understand. Either way, it's really nice to know that I seem to be on the right track to improving my play! I'll do my best to learn this theory, but it's still fun to make risky plays sometimes. If over half my starting hand is honors and terminals, _why not_ go for 13 Orphans? lol
It's funny, I've been playing riichi mahjong one evening a week for about six months now, and basically everything in this video is something I just kind of intuitively learned after playing a bunch of games. I wouldn't have thought to express it with "okay, I have 4/5/6 blocks..." but when I look at a hand, I can just sort of tell what needs to be prioritized. I'm assuming that's the case, anyway, because each time it was asking which tile I would discard, I was correct! The only exception, of course, is when you need to start considering risk/reward (I'm down in points and it's near the end, should I go for that dora or all triples?) or when looking at what others have discarded and figuring which to discard to maximize the success of an impending fold. Also, I have never got 13 Orphans, and only tried earnestly once, but I have heard that it's generally not worth trying until you have *at least* 10 tiles, ideally 11. I hope you get it someday!
@@ruskerdax5547 things that i really struggled with is definitely when to make a call, when i should open my hand to be exact and whether chasing for a yakuman is actually the right thing to do or just a stupid dream.
@@Arroganze for sure! I think those things all pretty much come naturally. I am always thinking about which yaku I'm going for based on what I think is most likely, influenced by what my current score is at that stage in the game. Whenever I make a call opening my hand, I either already have a yaku established or I'm banking on it as very likely and making a calculated risk. Same thing goes with yakuman, but generally it's not even worth trying unless you are already close at the opening of the round, and it's something you pretty much need to decide right away at the start. The nice thing is that when you do go for it that way, you can often learn quickly whether you have any hope, and if you don't, you're usually in a good position to play defensively.
Thank you for the great content! There's one thing I can't understand, though. I thought taatsu is penchan, kanchan and ryanmen, but in example you provided you have a 778 pin form, that you also call taatsu. There are 3 and 4-tile forms like 5678, 4556, 7778 etc. Are those taatsu too? Basically, I can't understand the concept of taatsu. Please, clarify!🥲
Thank you for your great question!👍 Yes, you are right. As you mentioned, Taatsu definition is penchan, kanchan, and ryanmen. Therefore, I should not call 778 as Taatsu. However, even in Japan, very few people use 'Taatsu' as defined in the dictionary. This is because the word 'Taatsu' in its strict definition is highly inconvenient. In mahjong, even when looking at the same configuration, the classification can vary depending on how you perceive it. For example, 778 can be seen pair plus one (77＋8) or one plus ryanmen(7+78). Therefore, the word "Taatsu" has often deviated slightly from its dictionary definition and come to refer to the concept of "a shape that is one tile away from forming a group." In this broader sense, I also used the term "Taatsu" in this context. You can see 5678 as group plus one (567+8) or ryanmen plus ryanmen (56+78) . You can perceive it in a way that is convenient for yourself like F&Q in this video. Thank you for your sharp question! 😊
Thank you for your comment! I used 13 tiles in order to explain the role of tiles. If I used 14 tiles, the hand would include two tiles to explain. I think it would be confusing.
