scottndindy
scottndindy
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February 19th, 2011 at 5:24:27 PM permalink
I have read through a number of strategys that the wizard has put together along with J.B.'s stategys. I am struggling to come up with a few consistent rules that I can follow that will be correct the majority of the time. There are a lot of hands that are obvious and I can handle those pretty well. What I seem to be getting caught up on is not playing a balanced hand but playing a hand such as 0/8. Is there a target low hand that I should always strive for and if not achieved always play the highest top hand possible? Any other rules that I can follow consistently would always be a big help.
teddys
teddys
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February 19th, 2011 at 5:31:24 PM permalink
Sure. A good rule of thumb is never to play a low hand that isn't three-chong (a three with at least the chong tile, which is the weird-looking six). This is found in most house ways. Another good rule of thumb is to always play high nine if you can (that is, a nine that includes the 2 or 12 tiles). High nines are dynamite.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
mkl654321
mkl654321
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February 19th, 2011 at 5:37:43 PM permalink
Quote: teddys

Sure. A good rule of thumb is never to play a low hand that isn't three-chong (a three with at least the chong tile, which is the weird-looking six). This is found in most house ways. Another good rule of thumb is to always play high nine if you can (that is, a nine that includes the 2 or 12 tiles). High nines are dynamite.



That also includes playing the high nine even at the expense of the low hand, as in high 9/low 6 instead of low 8/high 7.
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.---George Bernard Shaw
appistappis
appistappis
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February 19th, 2011 at 9:29:26 PM permalink
this is the one hand where seeing the other players tiles can help......if you see teens and days, the dealer is less likely to have one so play 7/8......if you don't see any play the 6/9 especially a teen high 9
PaiGowFan
PaiGowFan
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February 24th, 2011 at 4:23:00 PM permalink
One thing about the Wizard and JB strategies is that it takes into account the house strategy. That is why they suggest playing 0/9 over a 4/5, for example. This is not mathematical, but intuitively, that is because the house way will generally go for the balance. Your 0/9, in this example, will be more likely to push. It's turning two bad hands (4/5) into a terrible low, but a reasonable high.

Generally you will push about 40% of the time and win/lose the other 30%/30%. (This is certainly not exact, but close enough for this example.) The 4/5 hands (and I just use 4/5 as a proxy for all the 3/4, 2/3, 6/7 type hands) will lose to good hands and will be close when the dealer has a bad hand. I'd rather just shoot for the push with the 0/9.

In the doc on JB's strategy, their is a chart with a distribution of hands. You'll see the peak (mode) of the distribution is just under a 7 low and just under a 9 high. His strategy pushes up the low when it is close to a higher six or seven and pushes up the high hand, at the expense of the low hand if you can not get close to there.
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