Tight At The Top...

The situation remains very tight indeed at the top of this year's 3-Player Mahjong table.

Two weeks ago Hide enjoyed a big win in the final game of the session, largely at Noda's expense, which was a good enough result for him to come top for the evening, overtake Noda and get into second place on the Grand Accumulated Results Table for the year.

David finished the evening "second and in the black" which secured his position at the top of the table for the time being.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Nobu tweaked the bottom record with -15, while Jaime continued to move closer to Nobu by finishing in the red again.

Results, 16th October 2009:

Hide --, -10, +122 = +112
David --, +30, +11 = +41
===
Nobu +9, --, -24 = -15
Jaime -42, -5, -- = -47
Noda +33, -15, -109 = -91

That result left the situation at the top of the table like this:

David +292
Hide +228
Noda +156

However, in last night's game, which was between David, Noda and Jaime, Noda came top in three games out of four and ended the evening on +98.

Jaime was chief sufferer in the first three games, starting off the night with a Yakitori on the table.

David held his own until the fourth game, and ended the evening as Jaime had started it with his Yakitori tile still stuck on the table.

Noda +29, +35, -5, +39 = +98
===
David +5, -8, +22, -48* = -29
Jaime -34,* -27,** -17, +9 = -69

* Yakitori
** Chombo

So now the situation at the top of the table looks like this:

David +263
Noda +254
Hide +228

Noda And David Swap At The Top

Noda finally made it to the top spot, bringing David's five-month reign to an end in a session played at Kodama on Friday 3nd October. Actually, both Noda and David advanced in the course of the game, at the expense of Jaime whose progress up the table to second place was reversed in the middle of July.

Here's the score sheet for 2nd October:

Noda -6, +9, -17, +40, +61 = +87
David +46, -44,* +38, +14, -30 = +24
===
Jaime -40, +35, -21, -54, -31 = -111

* Yakitori

When those results were plugged into the "Grand Accumulated Results Table 2009" it looked like this:

Name	Played	Chombo	Yakitori	Score
Noda	55	2	0	+211
David	64	0	4	+201
Koji	5	0	0	+143
Hide	32	0	0	+111
Kenyon	19	0	0	+105
Ray	10	0	0	+96
Neil	3	0	0	+94
Kiyo	1	0	0	-39
Jezz	6	1	0	-44
Yasu	4	1	0	-152
Jaime	61	2	1	-173
Nobu	18	3	2	-553

Play resumed at Kodama last night. This time Noda, David and Jaime were joined by Ray and Hide. David finished top at the end of the West round of the first game and sat out the second game for dinner.

Noda won the second game but crashed in the third when David returned to the table. Ray cut his early losses in half.

In the final game of the evening Hide made the early running as starting Oya with a series of fast wins, but his position eroded through the game and Noda came out strong at the end, but not quite strong enough as David managed to cling to top spot for the evening with enough points to reclaim top spot on the "Grand Accumulated Results Table 2009", something which has not been seen before as late in the year as this...

Jaime's descent continued, and produced a fine Chombo in the last game by not claiming Tsumo on the 6-Bamboo on a three-tile wait (6 & 9-Coins, 6-Bamboo).

The score sheet:

David +39, --, +47, -36 = +50
Noda -18, +51, -60, +63 = +36
Hide --, 0, 0, +5 = +5
===
Ray -21, -17, +19, -- = -19
Jaime --, -34, -6, -32* = -72

* Chombo

So the top of the table now looks like this:

Name	Played	Chombo	Yakitori	Score
David	67	0	4	+251
Noda	59	2	0	+247
Hide	35	0	0	+116
Kenyon	19	0	0	+105
Ray	13	0	0	+77

It promises to be an exciting last quarter...

Catching Up A Little...

I have a little catching up to do.

As we left things, Yasu had departed the scene on -152/1 and David had broken the year's best game record and landed in the top spot. Meanwhile, Jaime was busy maintaining a steady upward march as well.

One more game was played in May, on Friday 22nd, and it served to confirm that May was a Golden Month for the foreign party, no doubt helped by the presence of Nobu:

David +25, -11, +40, +3, -7 = +50
Jaime --, +45, -12, -15,* +3 = +21
Hide 0, --, -12, -12, +49 = +25
===
Noda -5, -3, --, --, -- = -8
Nobu -20, -31,** -16, +24, -45 = -88

* Chombo
** Yakitori

June saw the fortunes of the foreigners split apart as David went on the defensive while Jaime continued to make progress.

The first game, on Friday 5th June, was recorded on the 3PMJ Results Table and since then the score sheet has gone AWOL.

Friday 12th June saw Noda return to form after a long quiet spell. According to the crumpled score sheets, this is how the game panned out:

Noda +3, +2, +58, +28, -- = +91
Jaime -24, +44, -63, -1, +74 = +30
===
David +46, -1, +22, -95, +7 = -21
Kiyo --, --, --, --, -39 = -39
Hide -25, -45, -17, +68, -42 = -61

According to some appended notes, at some stage during the game, David got hit with Daisangen by Jaime - and it was an OBVIOUS wait as Jaime had Haku and Hatsu open, but David was dozing and threw the Chun - ah, it is all coming back to me now!

Jaime then got hit for double Ron by Noda and David.

Noda left and was replaced at the table by Hide's younger brother, Kiyo, who started his Cock's Eye 3PMJ Club year midway through on -39/1.

Moving on to Friday 19th June, we find the longest session coinciding with the longest weekend.

However, the most notable event occurred in the opening hand of the evening, which was abandoned after just a couple of discards when Noda declared he had committed a Chombo by drawing too many tiles!

As is often the case with a marathon session, despite the ups and downs, very little had changed by the end of the night and the gap between the best and worst score was a mere 16 points, with only one winner for the evening!

Jaime -3, +102, -28, -36, -20, +16, -3, -17 = +11
===
Noda -17,* +8, -13, +19, +1, --, --, -- = -2
David -8, -82,** +35, -13, -12, -12, +61, +27 = -4
Hide +28, -28, +6, +30, +31, -4, -58, -10 = -5

* Chombo
** Yakitori

There was a break of several weeks before the Cock's Eye Club reconvened again, on Friday 17th July. David was the only foreigner, but the numbers were augmented by the substantial presence of Yasu, who paid his debt to society and sat in for three games this time, considerably improving his batting average from -152/1 to -179/4.

With defensive June behind him, David made a fine start, but then gave most of it away to Noda as their fortunes reversed through the course of the evening. Noda escaped a Yakitori in the final hand of the second game, but David could not get rid of his Yakitori tessera in the final game of the evening.

The chair David occupied for the first two games also proved lucky for Yasu in the third. When he vacated it, it remained empty and the game shifted in Noda's favour, although it must be admitted his recovery began in the third.

David managed to stay in the black, but only just. It was enough to put him back over +300 on the Grand Accumulated Results Table, but Noda is now in triple figures as well...

Noda -4, -30, +13, +38, +32 = +49
David +56, +61, -35, -42, -26** = +14
===
Hide -34, +15, -15, +4, -6 = -36
Yasu -18, -46, +37, --, -- = -27

So at present, the GART09 stands as follows:

Name	Played	Chombo	Yakitori	Score
David	57	0	3	+304
Jaime	47	2	0	+127
Kenyon	14	0	0	+125
Noda	48	2	0	+119
Ray	7	0	0	+83
Hide	32	0	0	0
Kiyo	1	0	0	-39
Jezz	6	1	0	-44
Yasu	4	1	0	-179
Nobu	12	3	2	-496

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Japanese Riichi Mahjong Tournament To Be Held In Britain, 22nd August 2009.

What is believed to be the first Japanese Riichi Mahjong Tournament ever to be staged in the UK will be taking place on August 22nd, 2009, at the Guildford Golf Club in Surrey, England.

The organisers, Ian Fraser and Peter Langford participated in the European Riichi Mahjong Championship in Hanover, 2008 and promptly decided that they shouldn't keep that much fun all to themselves.

Thus was born the grandly titled UK Invitational Tournament, hopefully to be followed in 2010 by the UK Open! The field looks set for the growth of Japanese mahjong in Britain...

For most of the participants this will be their first mahjong tournament. The early indications are that there will be at least 24 players including a handful of invited participants from mainland Europe.

The field so far is composed of both some relative newcomers to the game as well as some long standing players who have had their own social game running for well nigh 30 years, since one of the group returned from having spent a couple of years living in Tokyo.

If you want to find out more about the event contact Peter Langford or Ian Fraser, or visit www.mahjongnews.com for a quick rundown.

Was It The Carp That Caused The Crash?

Jaime and Nobu came over to David's place for a quiet afternoon's mj last Tuesday, right in the middle of the Golden Week holidays.

The first game was a relatively quiet affair. Nobu went out on "Ron" on a 3-Coin, 6-Coin wait not noticing (a) that he was waiting for the 3-Coins and (b) that that tile was sitting in his discard row.

David finished the only winner of that game, on a modest +17.

The second game proved disastrous for Nobu though, perhaps because just before Mrs H took Miss H to the park, DH asked her to switch channel from the cartoon network that had absorbed Miss H for much of the afternoon, to the baseball, more particularly the game between the Hiroshima Carp and... and... well I forgot who it was. Nobu had been checking the progress of the game on his mobile phone from time to time, but I guess having the game live on t.v. must have distracted him from the mahjong game as he gave away 82,000 points to Jaime.

David also conceded a bit of ground, even more modest than the ground he gained in the first game, so the recent good form of the foreign Old Guard continues (for the time being)...

Jaime -5, +93 = +88
David +17, -11 = +6
===
Nobu -12,* -82 = -94

* Chombo

May Day Riot

Bazzer was in toon...

A few weeks ago, when Bazzer was in toon, we happened to stumble upon Yasu in Mac bar; Yasu of whom neither hide nor hair has been seen for a couple of years or so, which is saying something I can tell you. I don't think the inscrutable presence at the end of the bar would have acknowledged us had not Jaime pointed out to me who it was, and I not gone over and slapped him about a bit until he promised to come back and play mahjong at Kodama...

Yasu made good on that promise on May Day evening and was sat taking his ease over a beer with Noda at the table in the far corner of the parlour when I arrived.

Noda had been drinking after his missus returned home too late for their date. I mean, Noda had been drinking more than usual and seemed to be having difficulty getting a grip.
Jaime was starting Oya in the first game, and by the time he had finished he was on a comfortable +53, with nobody else going anywhere, and Yasu and Noda had committed a Chombo apiece.

Then David went all over the meadow a-gathering with gusto while both Yasu and Noda went nuts giving up many a blossoming bough so that he could bring home the May.

The Four-of-Coins was a particularly ripe morsel that Yasu gave up twice in a row to David's one-tile waits. Noda got clobbered on David's Ryanshi Double-Riichi on the West tile when Noda threw the Hatsu which David needed to complete Chitoi...

Yasu began to get restless, and the inscrutable facade began to slip. Checking his watch (for the game did extend over the two hour mark as David racked up 13 tenbou as Oya...), Yasu seemed shocked to find that it was already past ten o'clock, appeared anxious to be elsewhere and was heard from time to time to express the opinion that mahjong was "taigi", as it can indeed seem to be at times...

By the end of the first game the situation stood thus:


David +217
Jaime +53
===
Noda -118
Yasu -152

Yasu bailed out, leaving only a few coins on the table... and David fondly supposing that he had popped out to fetch some cash.

So the Old Guard settled in for the rest of the evening, with the foreign parties quite expecting Noda to enjoy a mid-evening shochu-revival. Noda, however, had pushed the boat out a bit too far and the best he could manage was second-and-in-the-black in the third game, which Jaime won.

The games either side of that, however, went to David and by the end of the night the scores were:

David +217, +36, -22, +54 = +285
Jaime +53, +1, +20, -26 = +48
===
Yasu -152,* --, --, -- = -152
Noda -118,* -37, +2, -28 = -181

* = Chombo

The result saw David catapult up to the top of the table, breaking this year's best score and top score records. Jaime also continues to head upwards, with Japanese players sinking...

Eliot On Lilacs And The Burial Of The Dead & Nobu's Game Of Mahjong.

It was old T. S. Eliot who opined that April was the cruellest month. Something to do with innocent lilacs and the burial of the dead...

... which reminds me, last Friday Nobu-san appeared on the scene, lilac like, like a harbinger of spring and joined Noda and I for his first game of mahjong of this still rather chilly year.

April is indeed the cruellest month. Here we are nearly at Golden Week in Japan and tonight it was brass monkey weather, cold enough to blast a few innocent lilacs in the flower, I shouldn't wonder.

Anyway, here is the way the game went. It was a game of extremes. David won the first game in triple figures, with Nobu conceding the majority of the points and going out on a Chombo hand at one stage.

Then the flow of the game began to move Noda's way, but David finished in the black and received a further boost from Nobu's Yakitori.

David changed seat in the third game, which was a pity for him as he proceeded to give half of his winnings to Noda who was in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Still, since Nobu committed his second Chombo during this game and finished it owing David 12,000 and Noda 30,000, David didn't feel he ought to complain too much.

It was only twenty minutes to midnight so a fourth game was offered, but Nobu seemed somewhat dismayed by his blasting in the bud and elected to call it a night.

Noda -18, +40, +150 = +172
David +103, +9, -58 = +54
===
Nobu -85,* -49,** -92,* = -226

* Chombo
** Yakitori

So, in a single swipe, we have a new top player (if one can seriously call Noda "new" in any sense of the word) and a new bottom player, and a new top record and a new bottom record, and a new best result and a new worst result, and to cap it all, a new worst ever form record of -226/3.

Yes, April can be a cruel month for the lilacs.

David H
Japanese-Mahjong.com