Winning riichi mahjong: calculating your chances
Skilled pros only take first place 30% of the time. Whether that counts as winning depends on your rules, so here's how to find your win condition and play for it.
Strategy and tips戦略
Riichi mahjong strategy
How to get better at riichi mahjong, from the essays already published here.
Browse the Strategy categoryWin conditions順位
How to win riichi mahjong
Riichi mahjong win conditions are not first place under every ruleset. The right risk depends on which placements the event rewards.
Reads読み
Tenpai, furiten, and suji
Every hand asks whether you are ready, whether ron is legal, and which tiles are safer against a riichi. These three guides cover the wait, the blocked win, and the safe-tile read.
Tenpai in mahjong: what it means, waits, and noten payments
Tenpai means your hand is one tile from a win. How to read and count your wait, what tenpai pays when the wall runs out, and when a tenpai hand still counts as noten.
Furiten in mahjong: why you can't ron, and the three kinds
Furiten blocks ron once you've discarded a winning tile, after you pass a win, or for the rest of the hand in riichi. Tsumo still wins.
Suji in mahjong: safe tiles, kabe, genbutsu, and suji traps
A suji tile can't deal into a two-sided wait. A kanchan, penchan, tanki, or shanpon still can. How to read suji, kabe, and genbutsu, and where the traps sit.
Strategy統計
Statistical mahjong strategy
When the table tells you nothing, start from the chart. You bend the numbers after you can read the hand.
Tipsコツ
Riichi mahjong tips
Tenhou's penalty for fourth place builds habits that pros call out in live games. The log review covers tile efficiency, honor tiles, and discards that attack or defend. A losing streak runs longer once tilt takes the next hand.
Tenhou: ranked points, 4th place, and pro habits
Tenhou shapes your mahjong instincts in ways you might not realize, and not all of them transfer to real-life play. The server's unique point system punishes 4th place so severely that it breeds habits pros will call out immediately. I've been warned about this by nearly every professional player I've met. Here's what they see that you don't.
Mahjong game review: 10 key points from a Tenhou log
Most players make the same mistakes without realizing it. This actual Tenhou game review exposes the patterns: weak tile efficiency, poor honor tile handling, unnecessary risks during defense. See if you recognize your own habits.
How to stop your losing streak right now like a pro
You've lost three games in a row. Then four. The frustration builds, and suddenly you're playing worse than you did as a beginner. Here's the truth: most extended losing streaks are self-inflicted. Your brain, trying to protect your ego, sabotages your play. This post explains why that happens and how to break the cycle before it spirals.
Coaching指導
Want these notes on your own games?
An article can't see your log. Send a replay from Tenhou, Mahjong Soul, or a live table.
Book coaching