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April 10, 2009 - 2009 World Series of Mah-Jong XII Results

2009 Champion - Paul Chow

Final Totals

Player	Chips
Paul	898
James	2
Victor	-412
Henry*	-488

Recap

Congratulations to Paul for winning the twelfth World Series of Mah-Jong! He did it in convincing fashion, winning by an astonishing 896 points! He even knocked Henry, aka the Roberto Duran of Mah-Jong, so mercilessly, that he didn't even finish up! That earns Henry the asterisk above, since Jenny had to pitch in and mop up the final hands.

This year's contest took place at CQ's new home. Despite our gracious host's claims that his home is not large enough, there was more than enough room for our three tables. We had eleven players for the second year in a row, meaning that we had another three-handed table in the first round. This time, the three-handed table consisted of Jenny, Randy, and Patrick. Jenny finished last on the table, but didn't mind since there was a cash game waiting for her.

On the second table, CQ, James, Paul, and Victor turned out to be a power table. The three who advanced all ended up in the finals. At least this year, home field advantage did not translate into victory, as CQ ended up being eliminated.

Henry, Pascal, Rich, and Ryan made up the third table. Henry dominated, and no one else finished in the positive. However, Rich and Pascal lost less to advance, meaning Ryan failed to reach the second round.

In the second round, the first table consisted of Henry, James, Pascal, and Patrick. Henry once again advanced with the highest chip total, with James coming in second.

The second table proved to be the most interesting, where the outcome was not decided until the final hand. Victor was the only player with a positive chip total, while Paul, Rich, and Randy were all within 6 chips of each other on the final hand. If anyone other than Victor had won simply a one-point hand, he would have advanced. Of course, Victor ended up winning, with Rich throwing out the losing tile. That allowed Paul to sneak ahead of Rich to advance to the final table.

In the final table, Paul started things off with a self-picked bow pang. James answered with a laht a few hands later, but Paul immediately counters with a self-picked laht. James later won two more lahts in the first round, one regular and one self-picked, and led comfortably by 242 chips over Paul. Henry and Victor could do little to stop the two man slugfest, winning just a combined 7 hands out of 22.

The second round was all Paul, all the time. He won a ridiculous three self-picked lahts, a self-picked six pointer, and two bow pangs. All told, Paul won a whopping 728 chips in the second round, giving him a total of 898. James actually lost the most chips in the second round, but held on to finish with 2 positive chips. Victor and Henry slugged it out for third place, which Victor secured with a late self-picked six point hand.

Now, this recap would not be complete without bring up Henry's "no mas" moment. Paul's rope-a-dope was so unrelenting that the final round lasted deep into the night. It got so late that Henry decided to throw in the towel. (How's that for a bunch of boxing references?) In a WSoMJ first, a contestant didn't have enough stamina to complete a round! Amazing... Jenny graciously stepped in and played as Henry's proxy, but the outcome was already determined by that point.

So congratulations to Paul for an impressive win! Welcome to the winner's circle!

With Paul being another first time champion, he becomes the eighth player to hold the title. Eric has suggested that since we have eight, we can now consider a contest of champions. Someone else also mentioned the idea of a mid-year tournament, if there is enough interest. In any case, there looks like there will be more mah-jong tournaments coming soon!

February 17, 2008 - 2008 World Series of Mah-Jong XI Results

2008 Champion - James Kwan

Links

WSoMJ XI Statistics
WSoMJ Hall of Champions/Final Four Appearances

Final Totals

Player	Chips
James	326
Charles	74
Jenny	-36
Henry	-348

Recap

Congratulations go out to James on winning for the fourth time. The tournament was well played, and the final round was full of lead changes and excitement. But in the end, James has become the first four time winner in WSoMJ history.

This year's tournament format was different from previous years. With eleven players, the options were to either hand out three byes or to have one table play three-handed. Since three byes was generally considered too many to hand out, the third table played with just three players.

The three lucky players chosen for the short-handed table were CQ, Patrick, and Paul. The three played a modified round to make up for the missing player. The bamboo stick set was eliminated, and only three of the four walls were assembled each hand. The table also played three rotations, to make up the missing hands that were removed by the fourth player.

In the end, Paul and CQ advanced to the second round, with Patrick getting thoroughly pummeled. Paul was clearly in his element, coming close to winning 1,000 chips! CQ did what he does best - survive. And finally, Patrick found a way to end up losing over 600 chips. With only two suits, the average winning hand was a bow pang. The action was lively, and two point hands were ultimately meaningless.

The other tables followed a more conventional format. On one table, the players were Eric, James, Pascal, and Richard. In a stunning upset, Rich was elimitated, thus ending his bid for a hat trick. Eric was particularly miffed about James' late push, dropping Eric's chip total into the negative. That cost Eric his advancement rebate!

The other table had Henry, Jenny, Randy, and Victor competing. At least this year, home field advantage worked against the host, and Victor was knocked out early.

In Round Two, the first table included Charles, Eric, Jenny, and Randy. In keeping with WSoMJ tradition, Randy pulled off this year's Jah Woo on the second hand. The 192 chip hit proved insurmountable, and set Randy on his way to elimination. Joining Randy on the sidelines after Round Two was Eric, despite having a huge lead after the first round. With a disastrous second round, Eric saw Jenny leap over him into the final round.

The second table had Henry, James, Pascal, and Paul competing. Henry had an easy time advancing, and was never in danger of losing one of the two top spots. Pascal had a tenuous hold on the second spot deep into the second round, but was overtaken by James when he won seven hands in a row. The win streak netted James 288 chips, which was more than enough to secure a seat on the final table.

The final round was tight until the end. The lead changed hands between James and Jenny several times, and CQ made a push to come close to the leaders. Henry was behind most of the round, and never did catch the pack to stay competitive. (We should note that the final round was played under mild protest by Henry. He was not inclined to finish the final round on the same day, but consented in the end. The WSoMJ XI is thus duly annotated with yet another "asterick.")

While James ultimately won by 252 chips, his win was not immediately secured during his last "jong." Since he held the dice at the end of the final round, he could not strategically win a small hand to end the game. This resulted in a drawn out sequence at the end, with James winning eight hands in a row. Since winning any hand would end the game, everyone but James had to hold out for a huge hand. A small win would serve only to hand James the win.

James' win streak consisted of small hands, but many were self-picked. The chips proved crucial, since CQ finished the game with a gee maw laht. Had James not collected his string of wins, CQ would have had enough chips to surpass him for the title. As it was, Jenny was the last one with any chance of catching James. But it would have taken a complete brain freeze on James' part for Jenny to win, requiring James to either bow a gee maw laht or to call a jah woo.

So congratulations to James once again for a well deserved win. Thanks also go out to Victor and Kim for providing the venue. Next year, let's hope for at least twelve players. While three-man mah-jong is fast-paced and exciting, it should have no place in the World Series of Mah-Jong!

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