(5) Tips On Picking A Hand

This is the fifth lesson and how to play American Mahjongg.
I’m super thrilled that so many people have enjoyed these videos and many of you have asked me to do a video on how to pick a hand.
So here it is, my tips for how to pick a hand and my biggest tip is this you are not going to know when you are first dealt 13 tiles which hand you’re playing!
It’s important to organize your tiles, and if you organize them by category, you get a better sense in a more timely fashion of what category you’re going for.
You need to order the National Mahjong League’s official card in order to play the game. Because it is copyrighted I cannot show it on the video so I have made up hands to try to teach you how to select a hand.
I can’t over recommend the need to practice. One practice that helped me tremendously was doing this. First I ordered my card and I got a set of tiles. I would sit in the recliner and have all of the tiles in a bowl, a rack in front of me and on the other side of me, an empty bowl. I would close my eyes and pick out 13 tiles and then practice coming up with a category; using the tips on this video you would easily be able to practice. Pick three tiles to pass and put them in your empty bowl then pick three more out of the Tile Bowl.
This is a great way to practice and you could easily do it in about 30 minutes once a day
Please do not expect to do this quickly. This game takes practice and study. I play with a woman who has played for 20 years and she knows right away which three she’s going to pass.
It’s perfectly normal to make mistakes. We were all beginners at one time and it’s OK to make a mistake. Just keep practicing, go to your local game. Sit and watch people play. Ask somebody knowledgeable to sit behind you and coach you through a few games . You will pick up on it!
Thank you for all of the views and the comments keep those comments coming. Tell me what you’d like to learn next or what you’re having trouble with. Send me questions. I’m happy to answer them. 
PS. In watching the video I can see where I made it mistake or two. When I was forming the quint hand, I actually had 14 tiles on the rack. That is a possibility if you are the person who was east you would start with 14 tiles.