Sanmenchan
Sanmenchan 「三面張」 is a class of wait patterns for three-sided waits. The most common involves a combination of two ryanmen (open wait). In fact, this is the default form. This pattern utilizes a string of five consecutive numbered tiles in the hand. The exact middle tile of this string is one of the waiting tiles, while the other two hand off the edge of the string. Hands can wait on three kinds of tiles using other forms. Some of them take names of their own, while others do not.
| Kanji | 三面張 |
|---|---|
| Fu | 0 fu |
| Tile types waiting | 3 sided wait |
| Tiles available | 11 tiles |
| Pattern example |
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| Tenhou.net example |
Open Furiten |
Named patterns
Ryanmenten
Waiting for: 
, , or 
Ryanmenten is the most common form of the three-sided wait. This involves two ryanmen, connected by one mutual waiting tile in the middle. The wait always points to one of the full suji patterns.
Entotsu
Waiting for: , , or
Entotsu incorporates the shanpon wait and a ryanmen. The pattern always includes a ryanmen wait, tied to a triplet of one of the waiting tiles. On top of that, any paired tile can be used with it.
Ryantan
Waiting for: 
, , 
Ryantan is composed of a triplet of a middle numbered tile with one more tile adjacent to the number either one less or one more. The single tile produces a tanki wait, while being part of the ryanment wait.
Sanmentan
Waiting for: , , or
Sanmentan uses three tanki along the suji. This pattern uses seven consecutive tiles.
Strategy
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Sanmenchan is a powerful wait due to the large number of waiting tiles: 11 maximum possible, using any of 3-tile types. That number cannot be 12, due to one waiting tile (the middle number) already present in the hand. The waiting pattern is limited, however, to one of the three numbered suits. With suji, the waiting pattern involves one of the three mahjong intervals.
External links
- Sanmenchan in Japanese Wikipedia