Early Discard Efficiency - Terminals - Riichi Mahjong Strategy

Quick video discussing the most efficient way to look at shapes around terminal tiles.

Tile images combined from riichi-mahjong-tiles by FluffyStuff on Github, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

[Ace-rgic]

Exactly the kind of thing I've been looking for as a new Riichi player living in some random town in the US. Thanks for this stuff. Such a fun game.

[jordanmaggi]

Love this kind of guides, pls keep doing

[azer]

Cool video!
If I remember right, the 1 in 1-2-4 is indeed weak, but the 1 in 1-3-4 is a bit stronger than an isolated 1 iirc, mostly because the 1 in 1-3-4-5 is quite decent (better than a completely isolated 2!). 1-2-3-4 is also good when the hand has no pair yet as you explained later in the video. This stuffs can be quite hard to remember though (especially this 1-3-4 shape which has both combos and overlaps).
Another good thing to remember when you still have a choice between several seemingly useless terminal tiles to discard, is that 1-5 is okay if both are isolated. These isolated tiles cover many tiles in the suit, and drawing the 3 gives the ryankan 1-3-5.

Also, about the first exception, maybe it's a bit better to discard the 4m instead of the 7m? You might be able to get sanshoku instead if ittsuu doesn't happen.

[Redymare]

My gut reaction to seeing the example hand would be to go for a Chanta (possibly Junchan). And discard the 4-sou first.

[Bruniaru]

Hi, in the sou example, how come we don't discard the 4 sou before the 9 sou since our head would be 1 man, 9 sou and we already have a 4 sou, it would be harder to be a pair. Also we could keep the 9 sou as a potential safe tile if nothing goes our way. Thank you

[akusen]

me waiting on a 5 pin toitoi for the very slim chance of a red 5 pin

[karasutsuki]

for the first example, if im sitting on East, why wouldnt I discard the 2 Wests assuming it isnt West Round? Am I not unable to form a Yaku with them unless its West Round or im sitting on West? Would they still count as pair Triplet even tho they dont count as a yaku themselves?

[hazelora]

so where is your donation link or patreon or kofi?