AMERICAN MAH JONGG · DAY 3

Choose a hand

You'll learn

Find a promising section, compare rows and keep useful tiles.

Time

7 minutes

Builds on

Reading the card

Up next

Exposed, concealed and dead hands

Why it helps

You don't need a perfect plan at the deal. A few promising rows give you somewhere to start.

Practise this lesson

Wondering which hand to choose is part of learning the game. Start with the tiles you have, and let them suggest a few possibilities.

Let your tiles narrow the card

Try sorting your rack and noticing what you have most of. Those matches can point you toward a section of the card. Think of this as a helpful starting habit.

Pairs give you a head start on matching groups. Also check your flowers, jokers and strongest suit before comparing rows.

Keep a few options open

Find two or three rows that use your strongest tiles. It's fine to explore them for a while before choosing one. A tile worth keeping may help a different row than the one you first noticed.

In this example, one row needs 6 Dots and another needs 6 Bams. Keep both options while you discard odd tiles that help neither row.

In TileClack, tap a row on the card to pin it as a reminder. You can change your plan as new tiles arrive.

Useful pairPair of 6 BamsAnother option6 DotSpare odd tile9 Crak

Remember

Sort your tiles. Find a promising section. Compare a few rows. Discard what helps none of them. This is a starting strategy, and you can change direction.

Teaches on the Learner card · reviewed 2026-09-14