Tanki: Difference between revisions

'''Tanki''' {{kana|単騎}} is one of the basic [[machi|wait patterns]]. While most mahjong hands wait to complete the fourth [[tile group]], a tanki wait serves to complete the hand's [[pair]]. Thus, it may be referred to as a "pair wait" in English. Unlike the other basic patterns, there are a few types of pair waits to consider.

'''Hadaka tanki''' {{kana|裸単騎}} is a special type of tanki wait. After a hand [[naki|calls]] for a discard 4 times, only one tile will be left closed in the hand. The hand waits for another copy of said tile, like a regular tanki. A [[suukantsu]] tenpai always has a hadaka tanki wait.

A hadaka tanki wait does not have any special properties of its own. However, because only one tile can be discarded, the hand is left with little option for [[defense]]. The worst case scenario for a hand in hadaka tanki involves both the waiting tile and the drawn tile as winning tiles for another player. In this case, the player has no choice but to deal in.

'''Jigoku''' {{kana|地獄}} ("hell wait") is a tanki wait where two of the three tiles are visibly unavailable (e.g. discarded, used as dora indicators). Thus, only one tile is left, making a win particularly unlikely. The final tile could be in another players hand or the [[dead wall]], making a win totally impossible.  

'''Nakabukure''' {{kana|中膨れ}} is a type of pair wait. Here, the middle tile is duplicated in a [[shuntsu|sequence]], and the hand waits on said tile. With two of the tiles already in the hand, this gives the wait one less tile to wait for compared to a regular tanki.  An alternate term, '''harabote''' {{kana|腹ボテ}}, may be used, but it is also an inappropriate term.

This shape is not good as a tenpai wait, but is strong before tenpai. The middle tile is an especially strong lone tile. With a nakabukure 4, as shown above, drawing any of 2s-5s or 3s-6s will end up with a [[ryanmen]] wait (compared to a normal 4, which only get a ryanmen when drawing 5s or 6s).