Counting the Wall
When a hand is arithmetically dead
Proving it, rather than suspecting it.
Advanced · lesson 3 of 21
A hand is finished the moment the tiles it needs cannot exist. Not unlikely, not slow. Gone.
The clearest case is a pair. If you need two of a tile and only one is unaccounted for, the hand is over, and no joker can rescue it because a joker cannot fill a pair.
Tip
It is worth checking your hand this way before every exposure. Exposing into a hand that is already impossible is the most expensive mistake on this page.
Reading ahead is fine. The path takes lessons in order, so this one ticks off once you get here.
See where you are