RCR strategy - When do you open your hand?

[Cetonis]

Let's see if we can't get some actual discussion going on here... the
basic question of open hand/closed hand seems like a fine enough place
to start.

All too often I see players instinctively calling every dragon pung
they see, but certainly it cannot always be the correct thing to do.
So, to the riichi players out there, when do you like to go with the
open hand? Obviously every hand and game is different, but are there
some general guidelines you follow, etc.

Myself, I'll usually avoid going open unless I'm either forced to, (a
clear all pungs hand or something that's going nowhere otherwise) or
have a means to get to 3 fan on the open hand, sometimes 2 if it's a
lower scoring game. And if it looks like I'm going to get a good solid
riichi hand plus pinfu/simples I'll pretty happily drop any pair of
dragons or winds I might be holding.

Of course, there's much more to this than a little paragraph can
cover, but rather than dumping a huge diatribe on here I figure it'd
be better to just pose the question and see if it goes anywhere. Any
thoughts?

[ryukage19]

i saw this really crazy strategy by this one player who once held the
number six slot in the rcr and hk ratings simultaniously
her strategy seemed to be that when she want east she went open as
soon as possible, getting the easiest cheap hand possible (normally
all pungs/kongs open hand) then when east she would save up with a
closed hand and drop a yakuman on all the unsuspecting players,
usually with extra points with dora, red tiles, and richi bets added
on. plus with her being east that turn, added up to a monster score,
then once she lost her position as east shed go right back to the
simple hands to prevent anyone from winning their points back. she
never strayed from this strategy unless she was in a quick mahjong
game, where she went for the easy hand regardless of position. the
strategy takes a lot of skill and risk but is downright scary if you
can do it right.

[David(PS)]

Knowing that something can hit you lets you duck faster than the punch
can come. But as I've played in Riichi, using schemes and strategies
is quite quite situational. Most of the time you just look at your
hand and try to make the best of what you have. Is it not so?:)

Back to the question: Riichi is the way I go most of the time... of
course as long as I see that the opponents are worthy the time and
effort. If you have two players just starting out - go for a fast win
or suffer the loss of rating. So as far as I'm concerned - it depends
on your opponents whether you go opened or closed.

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