Lunch Time Tichuers: March 2006 Archives

Ugh. Failed Tichu calls, lead to failed GrandTichu calls and further sliding down the score track...

Wow, how one sided can a Tichu game get? Not as bad as 3 GrandTichu/12s in a row by one team, but still bad. Anyways, Tichu can be like that at times. We had a first for me. A zero/zero round.

What turned out to be a come from behind win for our team crumbled under the pressure of my Tichu data program. Our team was given 100 too many points early on in the game (we were playing under the assumption that our team was at 115 after my missed Tichu call). Which reminds me that even though you have a strong Tichu hand, an opponent who has a perfect hand will beat you. I played a straight and was left with Dragon, Ace, and Ace. Unfortunately Mike had two straights. One that beat mine and another to go out on.

My Tichu call was risky and fortunately for me my partner, Ed, was able to go over Adam's plays twice to help me out. That really turned the tide for us and the next hand was a repeat Tichu/12. Adam's desperation GrandTichu call looked risky from the start. I had two Aces and my partner passes me the Dragon. I was down to three cards (AJJ), the Phoenix and Dragon had been played, and a single was lead. I played my Ace knowing that was good. Unfortunately, Dan bombed me. Adam got back control but was forced to dog Dan. Unfortunately for Adam, Dan had three Kings which were all good.

I made one mistake for my missed Tichu call. I had Dragon+A+A+Q+Q left and led QQ. Dan overtook with AA and worked his way down to leading a full house with one card left. Ed, who had 5 cards left was in an obvious dilemma. If he passes then Dan is out first and I miss my Tichu call. It is obvious that he has a greater full house in his possession. So if he plays it then he sets me. Which he does, for at least, he is able to get the taken tricks of the last place person. I should have played D then AA then QQ. Sigh. On the last hand, we decide not to go for GrandTichu. I have Ace and Phoenix and decide to pass the dog to Ed and call Tichu no matter what. Fortunately, Ed was able to help me go out first! And we got enough points to win the game!!

This game was also weird in that there were a number of hands where one team got 100 points...

Sigh... Should I believe in bad luck? Can that bad luck be in the form of one person? Perhaps. Why do I ask this? Because Jon shows up to watch our game. So far, we had been winning. However, when he arrives, we begin our downward spiral... Can you guess when he shows up from the following?

Well, today we had five people up for the game. Dan discussed a method where some one sits out each hand and the partners rotate in all of the possible combinations. Each person would be scored individually. It sounded interesting and I would be up for it some time. However we decided to cut cards for who would be in and the low person would be out. Fortunately, luck was with me and I was in!

I made a couple of mistakes in this game. And I feel bad about it. I can be so hard on myself sometimes. On the first hand, I had missed the fact that the Phoenix had been played. I could have gone out for a one/two. And then when I called Tichu, I was down to three cards (King, King, Two). Since the Phoenix had been played I was hoping that there were not a pair of Aces out there. I should have instead played the Two and then either play Kings on a pair or split the Kings on singles.

Woo woo! Would you believe that this is the first time that I have won a Tichu game at work? And strangely enough I haven't lost a Tichu game at home. Anyways, on the first hand, Mike random-wished out my two bomb. So on the next hand, I random-wished out Ed's three bomb. And on my hand, Mike wishes for a four (?) and I play another card and call Tichu. Unfortunately, Mike random-wished the four bomb out of Adam's hand. I still made the Tichu. And speaking of bombs, Adam calls Tichu and then bombs the dragon. Mike then over-bombs on the assumption that it would hurt Adam. Adam then overbombs again! Which made Mike throw away his five bomb.