Suushiihou
| Type | Yakuman |
|---|---|
| Kanji |
小四喜 大四喜 |
| English |
Little four winds Big four winds |
| Value | Yakuman |
| Speed | Very slow |
| Difficulty | Very hard |
Suushiihou 「四喜和」 are a group of two wind-based yakuman:
- Shousuushii 「小四喜」: Have triplets/quads of three winds, and a pair of the last wind.
- Daisuushii 「大四喜」: Have triplets/quads of all four winds.
Both are worth yakuman, though daisuushii can be worth double yakuman, depending on the ruleset.
Tile diagram
Shousuushii
Agari:
Daisuushii
Agari:
Either
Agari: Yasume:
In this case, the takame tile will give daisuushii, while the yasume will give shousuushii.
Value
Shousuushii is almost universally scored as a yakuman, which scores 32000 points for a win.
Daisuushii is either a single yakuman or a double yakuman (which scores 64000), depending on the ruleset. Competition rulesets will often score daisuushii as a single yakuman.
Strategy
Like daisangen, the suushiihou are often developed with a honitsu hand that happens to draw a lot of wind tiles. As even shousuushii requires 11 or the 16 wind tiles, pushing directly for these yakuman is unlikely to work (unless very far behind).
Attempting
Having six winds, with at least one of each type, is likely the minimum to even consider suushiihou. Even then, it would be ill-advised without at least eight winds. Since winds are easily ponned, having pairs is significantly stronger than single winds. Because winds are usually discarded early, if the player is missing a pair of one wind, there is a decent chance that others will discard it aggressively and ruin the chance at forming the hand.
Waits
When developing a suushiihou hand, attention should be taken to ensure that the hand will complete as quickly as possible once enough winds have been attained. This usually means holding together another group to accompany the winds, usually allowing for shousuushii.
Because of its requirement to have four triplets, daisuushii hands will only have two possible waits: either a pair wait on a non-wind tile, or a triplet wait on the last wind and a non-wind tile. In the shanpon case, getting the non-wind tile will always give shousuushii. An opportunity may arise to improve the wait to a sequence wait, at the cost of abandoning the chance at shosuushii. If this arises, it is generally a good idea to take it, especially if daisuushii is counted as single yakuman. Even if it counts double, other players may be wary of dealing the last wind, particularly if several calls have been made already and they are alerted to the possibility of yakuman.
When daisuushii occurs on a pair wait, it is again possible that the hand will be given the opportunity to downgrade to a shousuushii sequence wait. The same considerations apply as before.
Fallbacks
If an attempt at suushiihou is ruined by other players discarding three of the same wind (preventing a pair), then the hand will probably still have viable options to meet its yaku requirement. In most cases, it will already have obtained yakuhai from one of the winds, but honitsu, chanta, and toitoi remain as potential alternatives.
Sekinin Barai
When sekinin barai is used, it usually applies to daisuushii. Under this rule, if a player has three visible melds of wind tiles, another player deals the fourth wind, and the first player calls that to form a group, then the second player becomes liable for the hand, and must pay its full value in the case of a tsumo or half its value in the case of a ron. This liability arises as a penalty for creating a guaranteed yakuman hand, and applies even though the upgrade does not increase its value from shousuushii.
Combinations
As yakuman, the suushiihou can only be combined with other yakuman. Both shousuushii are often combined with tsuuiisou, where the last triplet or the pair are formed from dragon tiles. Shousuushii and tsuuiisou is in fact the most common yakuman combination, even though daisangen is easier than shousuushii. Very rarely, these yakuman are combined with suuankou, and while they are in theory compatbile with tenhou, chiihou, renhou (if a yakuman), and suukantsu, the odds of any of these combinations occurring are astronomically small.
External links
- Shousuushii in Japanese Wikipedia
- Daisuushii in Japanese Wikipedia
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