Miscellaneous Tichu Resources
Tichu Strategy - BoardGameGeek
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/215/tichu/forums/67
Tichu Strategy by Aaron Fuegi
https://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/Games/Tichu ... ategy.html
Tichu Tips & Tricks
http://spotlightongames.com/analysis/tichu.html
Tichu Rules Summary and Convention Cards
https://spotlightongames.com/summary/tichu.html
Tichu Pass Convention
https://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/Games/Tichu/tichu_pass.txt
My Own Ideas...
Practice, practice, practice. Play with a lot of different partners in many different environments in person and online though other websites. It’s how you learn new stuff and pick up new tricks you might not have considered before. If you only partner with 1 or 2 people with similar styles of play in 1 environment, you’ll create an artificial box around yourself and subtly be forced into one style of play. It’s only by having different partners (all good in their own way) and being in different places that you can try out different styles of play to see what actually works best for you. You might need more than 1 account for this if you don’t feel comfortable partnering with lots of different people using just 1 account. If you have more than 1 account, you can also try different play styles with each account, experiment, learn new things in the process, compare stats, strength, and effectiveness of different approaches to the game.
It’s considered a successful bluff if you have 5 or 6 cards left, have no bomb, and then you play ace first and the other team does not play a dragon because they don’t want it to be bombed. You then exit the hand with the next 4 or 5 cards you play after playing the ace. Sometimes, this trick works. Sometimes, it doesn’t.
Another type of successful bluff occurs when you play ace, the other team does not play Phoenix, and then you manage to rid yourself of all your cards. The opposition thinks you have the dragon when, in reality your partner is the one who has the dragon.
Decent Bluff or Marginal Play? A more complicated bluff which might or might not work in your favor is to call small Tichu without Dragon or Phoenix, discourage the opposing team from calling small Tichu because (they think you might have a bomb), and then find a way to capture most of the point cards, minimizing any penalty around failing to make the small tichu call. Best to try this bluff only if you have a hand which can still capture 1/2 of more of the point cards. This is sometimes preferable and works in your favor score-wise versus not calling small Tichu and letting the other team call and successfully make their small Tichu with their Dragon/Phoenix strength hands.
There are 2 ways to play the small Tichu game as you go through the card exchange phase of the game 1) One is by giving a low card or dogs to your partner and getting a high enough card to then call small Tichu but beware that a) the card you receive might not be high enough for you to make the call and b) you might end up stopping your partner from calling small Tichu by giving them too low a card 2) The second way involves giving your highest or perhaps 2nd highest card to you partner while getting a high enough card to then call small Tichu but beware that a) you might not get a high enough card to call small Tichu b) you might end up giving too high a card that you can no longer call small tichu. Both methods above have their own pitfalls even though the first method seems like the more common one. Ideal win-win scenario occurs when you give a high enough card that your partner can call small Tichu and you receive a high enough card where you can make the call as well. This is when double victory is most likely to happen.
If unsure of what to pass to partner during the card exchange phase, pass highest card or 2nd highest card to partner if and only if 2nd highest card is an ace.
Beware of leaving yourself with one card if your partner has called GT and Dogs has not been played. You might make things difficult or even more complicated.
Contrary to popular opinion, the more powerful your hand, the higher the card you can afford to give to your partner. In the most powerful Tichu hands, you can give Dragon/Phoenix to your partner and still successfully fulfill your small Tichu or Grand Tichu call. (Which means if you get a high card from me, it does not always mean I have a weak hand)
Play for 1-2 and focus repeatedly on point maximization when possible going for rounds where you can get +300/+400 points. This involves A) giving the opposition the least amount of turns possible by not letting them play singles when you have a strong hand. Feel free to play ace on 3 or Dragon on 2 if it lets you get rid of all your cards quickly and if it cuts down on the amount of times opposition can get rid of their weakest cards B) Ending your hand with lone Phoenix, 1 dog, or low card C) Giving as high a card as possible to your partner while still maintaining your Tichu strength hand...In some cases, it CAN be Phoenix/Dragon...
Do not give MahJong to your partner if they’ve called Grand Tichu. It’s effectiveness is situational and you might end up hurting your partner’s hand.
What card you pass to your partner is sometimes dependent on play history. If it’s a first time partner and you’ve constantly been getting low cards from him/her throughout the early and middle stages of the game, don’t expect to get a high card from your partner during the late stages of the game, even if your hand is strong.
2K or 3K’s is overrated in my opinion. If K is the highest card in my hand, I’ll give K to my partner if I’m not calling small Tichu.
If I have 3 aces or 4 aces, and aces are my highest card, I’ll give an ace to my partner. If I get a Phoenix or Dragon back, I can still call small Tichu. If not, the ace that I’ve given to my partner helps him/her call small tichu if they have Phoenix/Dragon and gave me a low card during the card exchange phase.
Call small Tichu even if your partner has called small Tichu if and only if you don’t think your partner will go out first and you think you can get rid of all your cards before everyone else on the table.
I personally do not think it’s ALWAYS a good idea to give dogs to partner if I am about to call small Tichu or even Grand Tichu... It tends to stifle chances of a +300/+400 point round for my team.
I personally think the blind wish is not a good idea because I don’t want to inadvertently wish out my partner’s bomb.
Tichu Strategy - BoardGameGeek
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/215/tichu/forums/67
Tichu Strategy by Aaron Fuegi
https://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/Games/Tichu ... ategy.html
Tichu Tips & Tricks
http://spotlightongames.com/analysis/tichu.html
Tichu Rules Summary and Convention Cards
https://spotlightongames.com/summary/tichu.html
Tichu Pass Convention
https://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/Games/Tichu/tichu_pass.txt
My Own Ideas...
Practice, practice, practice. Play with a lot of different partners in many different environments in person and online though other websites. It’s how you learn new stuff and pick up new tricks you might not have considered before. If you only partner with 1 or 2 people with similar styles of play in 1 environment, you’ll create an artificial box around yourself and subtly be forced into one style of play. It’s only by having different partners (all good in their own way) and being in different places that you can try out different styles of play to see what actually works best for you. You might need more than 1 account for this if you don’t feel comfortable partnering with lots of different people using just 1 account. If you have more than 1 account, you can also try different play styles with each account, experiment, learn new things in the process, compare stats, strength, and effectiveness of different approaches to the game.
It’s considered a successful bluff if you have 5 or 6 cards left, have no bomb, and then you play ace first and the other team does not play a dragon because they don’t want it to be bombed. You then exit the hand with the next 4 or 5 cards you play after playing the ace. Sometimes, this trick works. Sometimes, it doesn’t.
Another type of successful bluff occurs when you play ace, the other team does not play Phoenix, and then you manage to rid yourself of all your cards. The opposition thinks you have the dragon when, in reality your partner is the one who has the dragon.
Decent Bluff or Marginal Play? A more complicated bluff which might or might not work in your favor is to call small Tichu without Dragon or Phoenix, discourage the opposing team from calling small Tichu because (they think you might have a bomb), and then find a way to capture most of the point cards, minimizing any penalty around failing to make the small tichu call. Best to try this bluff only if you have a hand which can still capture 1/2 of more of the point cards. This is sometimes preferable and works in your favor score-wise versus not calling small Tichu and letting the other team call and successfully make their small Tichu with their Dragon/Phoenix strength hands.
There are 2 ways to play the small Tichu game as you go through the card exchange phase of the game 1) One is by giving a low card or dogs to your partner and getting a high enough card to then call small Tichu but beware that a) the card you receive might not be high enough for you to make the call and b) you might end up stopping your partner from calling small Tichu by giving them too low a card 2) The second way involves giving your highest or perhaps 2nd highest card to you partner while getting a high enough card to then call small Tichu but beware that a) you might not get a high enough card to call small Tichu b) you might end up giving too high a card that you can no longer call small tichu. Both methods above have their own pitfalls even though the first method seems like the more common one. Ideal win-win scenario occurs when you give a high enough card that your partner can call small Tichu and you receive a high enough card where you can make the call as well. This is when double victory is most likely to happen.
If unsure of what to pass to partner during the card exchange phase, pass highest card or 2nd highest card to partner if and only if 2nd highest card is an ace.
Beware of leaving yourself with one card if your partner has called GT and Dogs has not been played. You might make things difficult or even more complicated.
Contrary to popular opinion, the more powerful your hand, the higher the card you can afford to give to your partner. In the most powerful Tichu hands, you can give Dragon/Phoenix to your partner and still successfully fulfill your small Tichu or Grand Tichu call. (Which means if you get a high card from me, it does not always mean I have a weak hand)
Play for 1-2 and focus repeatedly on point maximization when possible going for rounds where you can get +300/+400 points. This involves A) giving the opposition the least amount of turns possible by not letting them play singles when you have a strong hand. Feel free to play ace on 3 or Dragon on 2 if it lets you get rid of all your cards quickly and if it cuts down on the amount of times opposition can get rid of their weakest cards B) Ending your hand with lone Phoenix, 1 dog, or low card C) Giving as high a card as possible to your partner while still maintaining your Tichu strength hand...In some cases, it CAN be Phoenix/Dragon...
Do not give MahJong to your partner if they’ve called Grand Tichu. It’s effectiveness is situational and you might end up hurting your partner’s hand.
What card you pass to your partner is sometimes dependent on play history. If it’s a first time partner and you’ve constantly been getting low cards from him/her throughout the early and middle stages of the game, don’t expect to get a high card from your partner during the late stages of the game, even if your hand is strong.
2K or 3K’s is overrated in my opinion. If K is the highest card in my hand, I’ll give K to my partner if I’m not calling small Tichu.
If I have 3 aces or 4 aces, and aces are my highest card, I’ll give an ace to my partner. If I get a Phoenix or Dragon back, I can still call small Tichu. If not, the ace that I’ve given to my partner helps him/her call small tichu if they have Phoenix/Dragon and gave me a low card during the card exchange phase.
Call small Tichu even if your partner has called small Tichu if and only if you don’t think your partner will go out first and you think you can get rid of all your cards before everyone else on the table.
I personally do not think it’s ALWAYS a good idea to give dogs to partner if I am about to call small Tichu or even Grand Tichu... It tends to stifle chances of a +300/+400 point round for my team.
I personally think the blind wish is not a good idea because I don’t want to inadvertently wish out my partner’s bomb.
