Although I think I’m a fairly good player, I am not always playing Mah Jongg at my best. Sometimes I make a tactical error or should have switched hands to better accommodate some discarded tiles. I’m sure we all have games like that. But what do you do if you thought you played your best with the tiles you were given, but an observer says, “Why didn’t you play this hand?’ while pointing to a hand on the card that you had never considered. Or what about, “If you had picked up that 3 Dot and moved this Joker here, you could have had Mah Jongg.”

Do you get defensive when someone critiques the hand you have played? Do you consider the advice or just brush it off? Do you realize that this is another set of eyes looking at the same tiles in another way? Or would you prefer the observer says nothing?

I generally welcome comments from others because I feel it helps me to be a better player. I may realize that I did not consider a certain hand or section of the card at all. Sometimes that spurs me to look more closely at those possibilities the next time. I’ve talked to others who feel pressured or nervous if a more experienced player is watching them. Some players consider comments as criticism of their play and get defensive. They don’t welcome any comments.

So which do you prefer- to critique or not to critique?