Agari houki

Agari houki 「アガリ放棄」, or a dead hand, is a lesser penalty compared to chombo. A penalty for a dead hand denies the player to win the corresponding turn, when the minor rule violation was committed.

Consequences

When the player's hand is declared dead, additional tile calls are prohibited. This includes all tile calls, win by ron or tsumo, or declare riichi.

However, the player must continue to draw and discard the tiles (tsumokiri 「ツモ切り」) as he usually would in order not to deal into other players' hands. If the player called riichi before his hand was declared dead, he loses the 1000 points deposited and has to continue as usual when being in riichi, discarding the tiles after drawing them.

A dead hand is never considered tenpai, because a win may not be called.

As an added penalty, making any type of call with a dead hand results in a chombo.

Causes

These scenarios usually result in a dead hand.

Wrong amount of tiles

At any point of the game, if the player has less or more than 13 tiles before drawing the next tile, the hand is considered dead.

Drawing from the dead wall

Accidentally drawing from the dead wall will result in a dead hand.

Improper tile calls

Players may end up calling on discarded tiles, without having the appropriate tiles to complete a tile group. For example, a player may call "pon" on a tile, without having the prerequisite paired tiles.