What Is Push-Fold in Riichi Mahjong?

In Riichi Mahjong, a push-fold decision is the judgment you make every time an opponent declares Riichi: do you continue advancing your hand by discarding dangerous tiles, or do you fold and prioritize safety? This decision comes up in nearly every game and is widely considered the most important skill in Riichi Mahjong.

No matter how well you understand tile efficiency or hand building, poor push-fold judgment will cost you points. Folding when you should push lowers your win rate. Pushing when you should fold raises your deal-in rate. Many players who study strategy but still struggle to improve have solid knowledge in other areas while their push-fold instincts remain undeveloped.

The 10 problems below are designed for beginners and share the same conditions. One opponent has declared Riichi. The tile you would push to keep building is not safe — it has no suji or other protection — and there is no Ippatsu if you deal in. Your safe option is always the North: you hold three of them, and the Riichi player has already discarded a North, so it cannot deal in.

The Core Rule: Are You Tenpai?

The single most important factor in push-fold judgment is whether your hand is in Tenpai. This one question determines your default action:

• If you are Tenpai: you should generally push. You have a real chance to win, and the risk of discarding a dangerous tile is offset by that chance.
• If you are not Tenpai: you should generally fold. Discarding a dangerous tile without being ready to win is almost always a losing play.

The logic is simple: pushing a dangerous tile when you cannot win means taking on all the risk of a deal-in with none of the reward of winning. Even if your hand could become excellent eventually, the expected value of continuing to push from a non-Tenpai state against a Riichi is negative in most situations.

When You Are One Step Away: The Shape-Value-Turn Framework

When your hand is at 1-shanten (one step from Tenpai), the decision is more nuanced. There are situations where pushing is correct even from 1-shanten—but only when three specific conditions are all met.

• Shape: Your 1-shanten must have two two-sided partial sets (Ryanmen). This is called a "good shape" 1-shanten because reaching Tenpai will produce a strong wait.
• Value: Your hand must be worth 3-Han or more. This ensures the points you gain if you win justify the risk of dealing in.
• Turn: It must be the 9th turn or earlier. The later the round, the fewer draws you have remaining to complete your hand, and the less the risk is worth taking.

If all three conditions—Shape, Value, and Turn—are met, pushing from 1-shanten is correct. If even one condition is not met, you should fold. From 2-shanten (Ryanshanten), folding is almost always the right play because you must gamble on multiple dangerous tiles before even reaching Tenpai.

When You Are Tenpai: Wait and Value Rules

When your hand is in Tenpai against an opponent's Riichi, the decision depends on the quality of your wait and the value of your hand.

• Good wait (Ryanmen), any value: Push. A two-sided wait has a high probability of winning, making it worth pushing even when the hand value is low (1-Han).
• Bad wait (Kanchan or Penchan), 3-Han or more: Push. The lower probability of winning is offset by the high point value if you do win.
• Bad wait, low value (1-Han): Fold. The probability of winning is low and the reward does not justify the risk of dealing in.

A bad wait is one that waits on a single tile type—an inside wait (Kanchan), an edge wait (Penchan), or a pair wait (Tanki)—so at most four winning tiles exist. A wait also becomes bad when most of its winning tiles are already gone: a two-sided wait whose tiles have mostly been discarded wins no more often than a Kanchan.

Problems 1–2: When to Fold Before Tenpai

Problem 1 — Turn 5, Far from Tenpai

Your turn: Opponent declared Riichi on Turn 5. No Dora in your hand. Do you push the West, or fold with a North?

Show answer

Answer: Fold — discard a North.

Without the West, this hand is still 3-shanten: three inside waits (1-3 Man, 7-9 Man, 2-4 Pin) and a pile of loose tiles. You would need three more useful draws just to reach Tenpai, and every one of them would come with another dangerous discard. The West is not a safe tile against this Riichi, and pushing it buys almost nothing.

The North is the Riichi player's own discard, so it is completely safe, and holding three of them lets you fold for three turns in a row.

Problem 2 — Turn 5, 2-Shanten with Three Dora

Your turn: Opponent declared Riichi on Turn 5. The Dora is 6-Sou (indicator: 5-Sou), and you hold three of them. Do you push the 3-Man, or fold with a North?

Show answer

Answer: Fold — discard a North.

This hand looks tempting. With three Dora, a win is worth Riichi + Dora 3 (4-Han) at minimum, and every block is a two-sided shape, so Tenpai would come with a good wait.

But after discarding the 3-Man the hand is still 2-shanten. You need two more useful tiles before you are even Tenpai, and each of those turns forces another unsafe discard. The deal-in risk piles up long before the hand can win. High value does not change the rule: from 2-shanten, fold.

Problems 3–6: Iishanten and the Three-Factor Test

Problem 3 — Turn 9, 1-Shanten with Weak Shapes

Your turn: Opponent declared Riichi on Turn 9. The Dora is 7-Man (indicator: 6-Man), and you hold three of them. Do you push the 5-Sou, or fold with a North?

Show answer

Answer: Fold — discard a North. (Shape ✗)

Discarding the 5-Sou keeps the hand at 1-shanten, and the value is good: Riichi + Dora 3 is 4-Han. The turn is also fine. The problem is the shape. The two partial sets are a 4-6 Pin inside wait and an 8-9 Sou edge wait, so whichever way the hand reaches Tenpai, the wait will be a single tile type.

Shape ✗, Value ✓, Turn ✓. One condition fails, so fold.

Problem 4 — Turn 9, 1-Shanten, Good Shape, Low Value

Your turn: Opponent declared Riichi on Turn 9. You hold no Dora. Do you push the 3-Pin, or fold with a North?

Show answer

Answer: Fold — discard a North. (Value ✗)

Discarding the 3-Pin leaves two two-sided shapes (2-3 Man and 5-6 Pin) next to three complete sets, so the shape is good, and Turn 9 is still early enough. But there is no Dora and no other Yaku: even if you win, it is Riichi only (1-Han).

Shape ✓, Value ✗, Turn ✓. One condition fails, so fold.

Problem 5 — Turn 13, 1-Shanten, Good Shape, Good Value

Your turn: Opponent declared Riichi on Turn 13. The Dora is 6-Man (indicator: 5-Man), and you hold three of them. Do you push the 3-Pin, or fold with a North?

Show answer

Answer: Fold — discard a North. (Turn ✗)

This is the same shape as Problem 4, but now the 6-6-6 Man triplet is three Dora, so a win is worth Riichi + Dora 3 (4-Han). Shape and value are both good.

The issue is timing. On Turn 13 only a few draws remain, so the chance of reaching Tenpai and then winning is small, while each push still risks a deal-in. Shape ✓, Value ✓, Turn ✗. Fold.

Problem 6 — Turn 9, 1-Shanten, Good Shape, Good Value

Your turn: Opponent declared Riichi on Turn 9. The Dora is 6-Man (indicator: 5-Man), and you hold three of them. Do you push the 3-Pin, or fold with a North?

Show answer

Answer: Push — discard the 3-Pin. (Shape ✓, Value ✓, Turn ✓)

The same hand as Problem 5, four turns earlier. The shape is good (two two-sided waits), the value is good (Riichi + Dora 3), and Turn 9 still leaves enough draws to reach Tenpai and win.

Shape ✓, Value ✓, Turn ✓. All three conditions are met, so this is one of the few 1-shanten hands worth pushing.

Problems 7–10: Tenpai Decisions

Problem 7 — Turn 9, Tenpai with a Good Wait

Your turn: Opponent declared Riichi on Turn 9. The Dora is 9-Sou (indicator: 8-Sou), and you hold two of them. Discarding the 5-Pin makes Tenpai. Do you push the 5-Pin, or fold with a North?

Show answer

Answer: Push — discard the 5-Pin. (Tenpai, two-sided wait, 3-Han)

Discarding the 5-Pin gives Tenpai on a 1-4 Man two-sided wait, worth Riichi + Dora 2 (3-Han). A middle tile like the 5-Pin is one of the more dangerous tiles to push, but a good wait and a good hand together are exactly what you are looking for when you decide to fight.

Problem 8 — Turn 9, Tenpai with a Bad Wait but High Value

Your turn: Opponent declared Riichi on Turn 9. The Dora is 9-Pin (indicator: 8-Pin), and you hold two of them. Discarding the 5-Man makes Tenpai. Do you push the 5-Man, or fold with a North?

Show answer

Answer: Push — discard the 5-Man. (Tenpai, inside wait, 3-Han)

Discarding the 5-Man gives Tenpai on a 5-7 Sou inside wait for the 6-Sou. The wait is weak, but the hand is already worth Red Dragon + Dora 2 (3-Han) without Riichi. With 3-Han or more, the reward is large enough to push even from a bad wait.

Problem 9 — Turn 9, Tenpai with a Good Wait but Low Value

Your turn: Opponent declared Riichi on Turn 9. You hold no Dora. Discarding the 5-Sou makes Tenpai. Do you push the 5-Sou, or fold with a North?

Show answer

Answer: Push — discard the 5-Sou. (Tenpai, two-sided wait)

Discarding the 5-Sou gives Tenpai on a 4-7 Man two-sided wait. The hand is worth only Red Dragon (1-Han), but a two-sided Tenpai wins often enough to justify pushing at any value.

This case matters most for players whose deal-in rate is low but whose win rate is also low. Folding a two-sided Tenpai, even a cheap one, gives up your chance to win the hand and leaves you paying for the opponent's self-drawn win or the no-Tenpai penalty.

Problem 10 — Turn 9, Tenpai with a Bad Wait and Low Value

Your turn: Opponent declared Riichi on Turn 9. You hold no Dora, and another player has already discarded two 3-Man. Discarding the 8-Pin makes Tenpai. Do you push the 8-Pin, or fold with a North?

Show answer

Answer: Fold — discard a North. (Bad wait + 1-Han)

Discarding the 8-Pin gives Tenpai on a 2-4 Man inside wait for the 3-Man, worth Riichi only (1-Han). The wait is structurally weak, and with two 3-Man already discarded, at most two winning tiles remain. Both the wait and the value are poor, so this Tenpai is not worth a dangerous discard.

Summary: Push-Fold Decision Framework

Use this framework as your default guide when facing an opponent's Riichi.

Definitions:

• Tenpai — one tile away from a complete hand.
• 1-shanten / 2-shanten — one or two useful draws away from Tenpai.
• Good wait — a two-sided wait (Ryanmen) with most of its winning tiles still available.
• Bad wait — a single-type wait (Kanchan, Penchan, Tanki), or any wait whose winning tiles have mostly been discarded.
• Han — the unit of hand value. Riichi, each Dora, and each Yaku such as a Red Dragon triplet add Han.
• Turn — how many discards each player has made in the current hand.

A hand worth exactly 2-Han with a bad wait sits between the two Tenpai rules. Beginners can treat it as a fold; it becomes a push as you get better at reading how dangerous each tile is.

Final Thoughts

Push-fold decisions feel complicated at the table, but the beginner version comes down to a short checklist. Are you Tenpai? If not, are you 1-shanten with good shape, good value, and enough turns left? If you are Tenpai, is either the wait or the value good? Answer those questions in order and you will avoid the two most expensive habits: pushing hopeless hands and folding hands that should win.

These rules are defaults, not laws. As you gain experience, scores, seat position, and how dangerous each specific tile is will start to shift the line. But a player who follows this framework consistently will already deal in less and win more than one who decides by feel.

Related Reading

Push-fold judgment starts with knowing which tiles are safe. Suji and kabe: finding safe tiles when facing a Riichi covers the defensive tools behind every fold.

The push side depends on how quickly you reach Tenpai in the first place. The four core rules of tile efficiency explain how to build hands that are ready to fight when a Riichi comes.