Suushiihou

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 the two wind-based yakuman: shousuushii 「小四喜」 and daisuushii 「大四喜」 (big four winds). Both involve all four wind tiles. Shousuushii requires three groups winds, and a pair of the last wind, while daisuushii requires groups of all four. Both are worth yakuman, though daisuushii can be worth double yakuman if a ruleset allows it.

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 reckoned as a yakuman with a base value of 8000 points, meaning that a dealer wins 48000 while a non-dealer wins 32000 with the hand. As daisuushii is a rarer yakuman, some rules allow it as a double yakuman, in which case it scores twice as much. In other rulesets, however, especially competition rulesets, daisuushii is only scored as a single yakuman.

Strategy

Like daisangen, suushiihou are often developed by taking a hand with potential to develop with honitsu and pushing them to the extreme. As even shousuushii requires having eleven of the sixteen wind tiles, pushing directly for these hands is unlikely to be met with success. More often, suuhsiihou are developed by developing towards a hand that encourages holding onto spare honours, and then drawing enough winds to make a viable push for the hand.

Attempting

Six winds, including at least one of each, is probably the minimum that one should have before even considering chasing suushiihou. In most cases, however, it would be ill-advised to begin aiming for these hands without seven or, more often, eight winds. The distribution matters, as winds are easily ponned. As a result, having pairs of more winds is better, since it allows for calls to complete triplets. 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

Main article: sekinin barai

When sekinin barai is used, it is usually applicable 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 is applicable 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

• 小四喜

Shousuushii in Japanese Wikipedia

• 大四喜

Daisuushii in Japanese Wikipedia