Ugh. More smacking down. What was amusing was what happened after we finished early. We then played a couple of more hands. On the first one, I Grand-Tichued and made it and on the second one, we set Ed’s Tichu call. Sure, when the game doesn’t count, I have great luck…

Sigh… The luck has not been with me… I can only hold up against so much smacking down…

For Adam’s first Tichu call, there was slight hiccup. During the deal, Adam accidently deals me a card face up. He quickly puts it back into the cards remaining to be dealt at some position. I noticed that it was the Dragon and jokingly asked to keep it as long as everyone knew I had it. Then Adam called Tichu. And during his play I noticed that he had the Dragon! Interesting coincidence…

For the opposing team’s first one/two, Ed had the ability to go on top of Adams 2-pair-sequential run. It would have killed his hand though. If Ed had done so and led a single card to me (knowing that he passed the Dragon to me and I still had not played it), I could have gone out second and stopped the 1/2.

For my second Tich call, I had good cards. However, Mike won a trick and then dogged Ed, who had a 13 card straight. Mike also had a bomb and was able to go out second. Sigh.

For Adam’s first Grand-Tichu call, Ed opend up with the Mahjong and made the standard Ace wish. However, what surprised me was that Adam played a 3 and Mike played the Ace! I was passed the Dog by Adam but I never got a chance to take the lead and he was set.

In this game, I made two mistakes. The first was letting the other team 1/2. I held an Ace, a Phoenix, a full house, and other cards. I was trying to help get my partner, Jon, go out. So I mainly passed. Unfortunately, this allowed Adam to get rid of low cards. And he was able to go out second. Sigh

For my second mistake, I was worried about a bomb. I called Grand-Tichu and had no problems. Well, until the end. I had two Aces and an 8 remaining. Instead of playing the Ace pair, I led the 8. And the rest is history…

Mike, the random wisher, was threating to sit on my right but did not. Apparently, my complaints about the random wish has become legendary. On the second hand, Adam might have made a four wish but chose not to since I was his partner. This would have taken out Jon’s bomb. Sigh.

For the last hand of the game, Mike started and played a number of cards (two straights). When he led a single and had two cards left, I risked it and called Tichu. I had two Aces, the Dragon, a medium single and a long straight. True, there was a chance that Jon had a bomb and a dog. But I had to call it just the same.

Wow, what a short and painfull game — at least for the other team! On the second or third hand, I had a dilemma: should I Tichu on this hand: AAKKQT9876543M ? I wasn’t worried about the straight, but I would play the Mah Jong next. I had two Aces but no Phoenix or Dragon, so I can count on neither Ace gaining a lead for me. Also, with the Phoenix out there, the pair of Kings might not be good. So I didn’t call Tichu. But I did go out first.

Ed had a dilemma of his own. Twice, Adam calls Tichu (or GrandTichu). Mike has only one card left. It is up to Ed to play high enough to stop Mike. And neither time could Mike be stopped from eventually going out first.

Ugh. Another one sided day and Adam was getting all of the good cards, calling Tichu, and making it. And just to rub it in, Adam over Tichued on my desperation Grand-Tichu call. Oh yeah, and they scored most of the points as well (one 100, a couple of 95s, a 75, and a 65).

On the third hand, I did what I normally rail against. I made a random wish for a 3. And this time it took out Mike’s bomb (and stopped him from calling Tichu). Ed was on fire today. I think he made a record four Tichu calls and made everyone of them. On one hand, I had three of the Aces and Ed still calls Tichu. What a risky guy ;).

Wow, our team was pummled in the last half of the game. On my second GrandTichu, I called it blindly since Ed did not call it. And I had some really great cards. Sometimes, I love blind GrandTichu calls! However, I was still set. I got down to three cards (A88). I knew that the Phoenix was still out (the Dragon had been played earlier by me). So I lead the pair of eights. Unfortunately, Adam went over them and never played a single card before he went out.

Luckily, Mike was not on my team and wished a bomb out of Adam’s hand which caused him not to call Tichu. I am hoping that he will grow out of the random wish phase.

Our team was not getting many points at all from the cards. After five hands, we only had 95 of the 500 points (19%). And after nine hands, we had 200 of the 900 points (22%). What saved us was that we were able to set both Adam and Mike’s Tichu calls which caused them to break even in Tichu points.

For Mike’s desperation Grand Tichu call, he had 23468PDX. Ed had three Aces and I had one. Which was sad given the fact that he also had the MahJong and couldn’t pass it to me (since I would wish for an Ace out of Ed’s hand). And even with all of the Aces, Mike still went out! Flawed!!