Daisangen

Daisangen
Type	Yakuman
Kanji	大三元
English	Big three dragons
Value	Yakuman
Speed	Slow
Difficulty	Hard

Daisangen 「大三元」 is a standard yakuman. This involves the collection of all three tile groups of the sangenpai (dragon tiles). It is one of the three yakuman gosanke 「役満御三家」, or "the three big families of yakuman".

Tile pattern

Agari:

Note: This hand is also winnable with

, but this hand would be shousangen instead.

Development

As the name implies, this yakuman depends on all three dragons. In the event where one dragon type is not available as a tiplet, then this yakuman is no longer possible.

Viability

Most instances of daisangen involve open calls for the dragon tiles. Therefore, one of the more reasonable hand states involve three pairs of the dragon tiles. That gives a player the opportunity to call on those tiles or at least have a shanpon tenpai involving one of the dragons. On occasion, a very lucky player could develop a completely closed hand with the yakuman embedded. This may leave players unsuspecting.

The chances for daisangen can be rendered impossible for a hand, if 2 out of 4 tiles of any dragon type is discarded or made unavailable.

Sekinin barai

Main article: Sekinin barai

The rule of sekinin barai applies to daisangen in the form of yakuman pao. This occurs when a player seeking to develop this yakuman already had made open calls (pon) with two out of the three possible dragon types. The rule is then invoked when the third type is discarded and called to complete the yakuman portion of the hand. So, the call upgrades the hand into a very obviously open daisangen. That third discarder becomes partially liable or fully liable for that play.