14 L E H A V R E N E W S F E B R U A R Y SHOE DRIVE Collection drive will be from January 9th to February 27th Shoes will be sent to third world counties such as Haiti, Uganda, Bolivia, and several more. Shoes are to be gently used and can be for men, women and children. We accept, heels, sandals, boots, sneakers and even flip flops. There is a box located in the Le Havre Clubhouse to collect your shoe donations. I AM ALSO WILLING TO COME BY AND PICK THEM UP. YOU CAN REACH KATHERINE AT 917-750-3481 OR VIA EMAIL THEMCQUADEGIRLS@VERIZON.NET HELP us reach our goal of 2,500 pairs of shoes! THE SAFE DISCARD BY ELAINE SANDBERG In my last post I discussed the “hot” tile, defined as a tile that had not been discarded during the game or a tile that you determi n e an opponent needs for an Exposure or Mah Jongg— -a dangerous tile to discard. So now we’ll discuss the opposite of the dangerous discard—the safe discard, defined as a tile an opponent does not call or a tile an opponent cannot call. In the beginning of the game, 99.9% of the time, your discards are safe. Rarely does anyone call for an early discard because most hands are not solidly decided or the combinations are “uncallable”, needing other tiles to qualify for a “call”. So you can be fairly sure any discard is “safe”. And notice, even tile in rapid succession, being assured the “new” tile is safe. But as the game progresses, The answer is you must keep accurate track of the discards. 14 LEHAVRE COURIER | FEBRUARY 2015 | WWW.QUEENSCOURIER.COM For example, remembering no 8 Craks have been discarded, you can be almost sure a discard of an 8Crak is not safe. If there are 2 8Craks out, a third 8 Crak is more safe. If 3 8 Craks are out, a 4th is almost surely safe. But, here’s a caveat! Just because a tile is safe at the beginning of the game, doesn’t assure it will be safe later on in the game. A player may have waited for a specific tile to be repeatedly discarded before calling or have accumulated the necessary tiles to qualify to call and so what may have been a safe tile is no longer safe. It’s just one of the vagaries of Mah Jongg. The Exposure(s) of an opponent leads you discover that the hand requires a Pair, which can only be called for Mahj. Early on, discarding that tile is usually safe, because the opponent cannot call it. And once one of the Pair’s tiles is out, the possibility of others being discarded is great, because the first discard wasn’t called. But at the end of the game, as discussed in the “Hot Tile” blog, the only safe discard is the Joker. So pay close attention to the discards——and play it safe! Reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles and Elaine Sandberg. Elaine is a mah-jongg instructor, who has taught the game for Holland American Cruise Lines and at American Jewish University, and the author of “A Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg: How to Play the Game and Win” (Tuttle, $14.95). as the game is progressing, it’s not unusual that when a “new” tile is discarded and uncalled, the others discard the same how can you tell if a tile is safe? AMERICAN til next time... may the tiles be with you!
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