Those who’ve watched me play, know that I am not afraid of furiten. Sometimes it is just an inevitability as I react to what happens on the table. Other times…
(Look carefully at the tile I riichi on)
I was 1-away with the following for a while. I’m not East and we’re still in East round.
I wish I had taken a photo of the points situation and other context here, but I was hoping this could be the hand that could position me into a first place victory.
I draw the 3m.
I could call tsumo, dora for 2 han. But it’s not enough to give me that lead I believe this hand could offer, so I make the decision; I throw the 3s and riichi, accepting that I’m furiten. In my mind, the point difference is worth the risk despite that I have only 5 draws left to get it. It’s a minimum of sanshoku, riichi, dora, tsumo (because it has to be when I’m furiten), I’ve got mangan. If I hit ura dora, it’s even better and exactly what I would need to then defend a top position to the end of the game.
I luck out and my next tile draw is 2s, and I hit ura for a haneman. From that hand on, I change gears to defense until the end. (I did win this game)
We often talk about strategizing your orasu game to improve your position. But there are at least seven hands before that one. Unless you’re on a particularly lucky spree, you’re going to draw a lot of shrapnel so it is hands like these that you should be looking to upgrade if possible and sometimes the cost of that is going furiten.