Discard Strategy
Last updated: 2026-06-18After drawing with 14 tiles, which tile to discard is a core tile efficiency question—it appears almost every turn.
What Is a Discard Puzzle
It is not trivia: you weigh shanten, ukeire, scoring, and danger together. In closed play, one tile can swing win rate by several points.
Decision Steps
- Check shanten for each candidate — How to Count Shanten
- Compare ukeire when shanten ties — Counting Effective Tiles
- Estimate scoring after tenpai
- Read discards for safety (suji, genbutsu)
Example: tenpai discard
Discard 9m for waits on 2m, 3m, 5m, 6m (13 effective tiles). Cutting 2m or 5m narrows to single waits—worse efficiency.
Example: one-shanten discard
Discard 2m for a wide wait on 3m–9m. Compare with value-seeking cuts—that is the heart of discard strategy.
Common Mistakes
- Keeping isolated terminals too long
- Overvaluing triplets at the cost of ukeire
- Folding without reason
- Ignoring wait quality — see Wait Types
Practice
Daily discard drills with stated reasons; review second-best lines. Overview: Tile Efficiency.