Oya: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 19:57, 14 September 2024

The oya 「親」 (lit. parent), known in English as the dealer, is the player in the East seat. The dealer gets special benefits when winning a hand.

Rule overview

Dealers have the following properties:

The dealer is always the East seat. This means the dealer always gets the first draw, which is a slight increase to hand speed.
A dealer's winning hands are worth +50% more (or about +50%, due to rounding).
Dealers can renchan. When a dealer wins the hand, or when tenpai at exhaustive draw, the wind seating does not rotate. This extends the game by an extra hand.
Dealers pay x2 as much when another player wins via tsumo. (They do not pay more when dealing in.)

The current dealer is denoted by using the dealer marker. Alternatively, the dealer marker notes the original dealer, and some other method is used to mark the current dealer.

Dealer rotation

During the course of the game, the dealer seat rotates among the four players. Seats rotate when:

A player other than the dealer wins a hand.
The dealer fails to attain tenpai at exhaustive draw.

Conversely, if a dealer wins, or is in tenpai at exhaustive draw, then the seats do not rotate. Each time this happens, the game length is extended by 1 extra hand.

Once every player gets to be a dealer once, the round wind changes. In a hanchan, everyone gets 2 chances at the dealer seat.

Some rulesets only enable renchan if the dealer wins, meaning that seats rotate when the dealer is tenpai at exhaustive draw.

Strategy

Being the dealer is mostly beneficial. It is better to win as the dealer than not, due to the +50% score bonus and the ability to renchan (an extra hand, while retaining dealership).

However, being the dealer is not always helpful:

When a dealer has a large lead near the end of the game, they should avoid winning to avoid extending the game. Each renchan gives the other players a chance to build a yakuman and comeback.
When another player wins by tsumo, the dealer has to pay more. The extra points lost from tsumo can be significant during close games or with big hands.

Rule variations

Renchan

There are two main rule variations regarding the dealer's renchan:

Renchan conditions:

Agari renchan: The dealer only renchans after a win.
Tenpai renchan: The dealer renchans after a win, or if tenpai at exhaustive draw.

Agariyame: In the last round, dealers may or may not be allowed to decline a renchan.

Some rules let the last dealer choose to end the game when they win the hand.
Other rules end the game when a 1st-place dealer wins, regardless of whenever they want to or not.
Other rules do not let the dealer to end the game. The game ends when the dealer does not win.

Tiebreakers

When players are tied at the end of the game, some rulesets break the tie based on initial dealership. In order of priority, 1st dealer (East player in East 1) > 2nd dealer (South player in East 1) > 3rd dealer (West player in East 1) > 4th dealer (North player in East 1). This order is used because, traditionally, being the last dealer is seen as an advantage. The last dealer can end the game as soon as they reach first place in the last round; other players do not have this luxury.

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-For every hand, one player is designated as the '''oya''' {{kana|親}}, or dealer.  At all instances, this player is also seated as east.  During the game, player is denoted as the dealer with the dealer marker; or, the dealer marker notes the original dealer, while some other means to mark the dealer is used.
+The '''oya''' {{kana|親}} (lit. parent), known in English as the '''dealer''', is the player in the [[Jikaze|East seat]]. The dealer gets special benefits when winning a hand.
-== Dealer rotation ==
+== Rule overview ==
-During the course of the game, the dealer position rotates among the four players.  This can occur in two ways:
+Dealers have the following properties:
+* The dealer is always the East seat. This means the dealer always gets the first draw, which is a slight increase to hand speed.
+* A dealer's winning hands are worth +50% more (or about +50%, due to rounding).
+* Dealers can [[renchan]]. When a dealer wins the hand, or when [[tenpai]] at [[exhaustive draw]], the wind seating does not rotate. This extends the game by an extra hand.
+* Dealers pay x2 as much when another player wins via [[tsumo]]. (They do not pay more when [[ron|dealing in]].)
+The current dealer is denoted by using the dealer marker. Alternatively, the dealer marker notes the original dealer, and some other method is used to mark the current dealer.
+=== Dealer rotation ===
+During the course of the game, the dealer seat rotates among the four players. Seats rotate when:
 # A player other than the dealer wins a hand.
-# The dealer fails to attain tenpai at [[ryuukyoku]] (exhaustive draw).
+# The dealer fails to attain [[tenpai]] at [[exhaustive draw]].
+Conversely, if a dealer wins, or is in tenpai at exhaustive draw, then the seats do not rotate. Each time this happens, the game length is extended by 1 extra hand.
+Once every player gets to be a dealer once, the [[ba|round wind]] changes. In a [[hanchan]], everyone gets 2 chances at the dealer seat.
-Seldom, a game can end without the dealer position ever changing.  Notably, this scenario can occur if a player's points [[Tobi|fall below zero]] beforehand.  Of course, some [[Scoring_variations#Tobi|rules]] allow continuance of the game, despite the scores.
+Some rulesets only enable renchan if the dealer wins, meaning that seats rotate when the dealer is tenpai at exhaustive draw.
-== Dealer conditions ==
+==Strategy==
-The dealer seat has some benefits:
+Being the dealer is mostly beneficial. It is better to win as the dealer than not, due to the +50% score bonus and the ability to renchan (an extra hand, while retaining dealership).
-* If the dealer wins the hand, the wind seating does not rotate.
+However, being the dealer is not always helpful:
-* If the dealer is [[tenpai]] at [[ryuukyoku]] (exhaustive draw), the wind seating does not rotate.
+*When a dealer has a large lead near the end of the game, they should avoid winning to avoid extending the game. Each renchan gives the other players a chance to build a yakuman and comeback.
-* The dealer's hand value is worth exactly or approximately 50% more than that of non-dealer hands.
+*When another player wins by tsumo, the dealer has to pay more. The extra points lost from tsumo can be significant during close games or with big hands.
-* The dealer is always the first to grab four dealt tiles.
-* The dealer always draws first and begins the hand.
-Ideally, players greatly benefit by retaining the dealer position, in order to maximize point gains.  Often, games may be won or lost regarding the dealer position.
+==Rule variations==
+===Renchan===
+There are two main [[Rule variations#Agari|rule variation]]s regarding the dealer's [[renchan]]:
-Naturally, other players may force wind rotation by winning the hand themselves.  Yet, at times, it may be beneficial for the dealer to simply concede the dealer position.  Ideally, the dealer would prefer to let the wind seating rotate either when other players win points off of each other directly (by ron), other players win by tsumo using cheap hands, or being noten at ryuukyoku to minimize point losses.
+Renchan conditions:
+*'''Agari renchan:''' The dealer only renchans after a win.
+*'''Tenpai renchan:''' The dealer renchans after a win, or if tenpai at [[exhaustive draw]].
-[[Rule_variations#Agari|Variation]] on the rotation rule may be applied depending on the requirement. Sometimes, the rule setting may require the dealer to win the hand, instead of merely achieving tenpai at ryuukyoku.  This is to increase the pressure on the dealer to win hands.  This also prevents the dealer from elongating the game by attaining additional hands by being tenpai at ryuukyoku.
+Agariyame: In the [[oorasu|last round]], dealers may or may not be allowed to decline a renchan.
+*Some rules let the last dealer choose to end the game when they win the hand.
+*Other rules end the game when a 1st-place dealer wins, regardless of whenever they want to or not.
+*Other rules do not let the dealer to end the game. The game ends when the dealer does not win.
-The dealer is only disadvantaged when non-dealer players win by [[tsumo]].  In this case, the dealer plays approximately twice as much as the other players.  This is significant during close games or on big hands, where the point differences may be adequate enough for a [[gyakuten|place change]].
+===Tiebreakers===
+When players are tied at the end of the game, some rulesets break the tie based on initial dealership. In order of priority, 1st dealer (East player in East 1) > 2nd dealer (South player in East 1) > 3rd dealer (West player in East 1) > 4th dealer (North player in East 1). This order is used because, traditionally, being the last dealer is seen as an advantage. The last dealer can end the game as soon as they reach first place in the last round; other players do not have this luxury.
 [[Category:Game rules]]
 [[Category:Terminology]]