One more mahjong tall tale
Every hand in mahjong is independent from the others. No matter how badly you lost, the field of play is reset, and you start again with as much chance of winning as everybody else around the table. The game has no memory of what has gone before; the only thing that is carried over is the score.
Despite this, you will often run up against a player who just seems invincible. No matter what happens, no matter what the odds are, they always seem to draw the right tiles at exactly the right moment.
I am never that player, as my tenhou ranking will attest.
And yet today I had a little taste of what it must feel like to lead such a charmed life.
I was up against a double riichi, and I managed to win that hand while only ever discarding perfectly safe genbutsu tiles -- for no fewer than fourteen turns.
Did my luck last? Of course it did not. Two hands later, I lost the game with the familiar humiliating stereo ron ringing in my ears, dealing into two winning hands at once.