Europe may host 1st WC Riichi. MaybeAMSTERDAM, the Netherlands, January, 27th - There is a chance that a first world championship riichi mahjong will be held the years to come. And this might very well take place somewhere in Europe. This is stated in a report, written for the Dutch mahjong association. Picture: The Second European Mahjong Championship, Hanover, Germany, 2010. Read more…
Latest News
- Six held after former top triad leader bashed
- EMA modifies riichi rules
- Mum feeds liquor to baby
- WC Riichi possibly in Europe
- Decades Old Gambling Parlors Still Bustle in Chinatown
- Austrian Riichi Championship at Baden
- Cherry Blossom Tournament now is called Sakurai Taikai, moves to Berlicum
- ‘More than 80 true mahjong iOS games now’
- Marianne Croeze best all-round player of 2011
- Also Austria interested in next EC Riichi
Follow Mahjong News on Facebook!
Related Articles
| Juho Pakarinen is no more |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by Martin Rep |
| Monday, 05 January 2009 19:15 |
 HELSINKI - They said he won large sums of money by playing poker on line. I do not know if it is true. But I do know that mahjong was a passion for Juho Pakarinen from Finland, And now, quite unexpectedly, he is no more. Last month, December 2008, he was found dead.It is just incredible. Juho was a flamboyant player and yet very, very shy. I think the last time I played against him was during one of the last rounds of the World Mahjong Championship in Chengdu, China, 2007. I was not doing too great, and neither was Juho. I desperately needed some points in order to get a better ranking. Juho played quite well. He showed great insight in the game. Yet, he lost terribly. The Chinese and the Japanese, who were the other players at that table, gratefully picked up most of his discards. Juho was just very unlucky. I do not remember the exact result on that table, but thanks to Juho I could add one or two table points to my total. During that game, it would have been impolite to make conversation with each other, since our Asian partners did not understand English. Only between rounds, I could exchange some words with Juho. But he did not say much. At the bar, with a glass in his hand, he could laugh and talk for hours. But talking to a half-stranger like me, that was something that was not so easy for him. "You are playing well, but you have no luck", I said. Juho just mumbled something and nodded. Later that evening, he was making lots of conversation again with his Danish friend Anders Labich, having fun at the bar. No shy man then. No shy man either when promoting mahjong in Finland. Originally, Juho played the Chinese classical game with his Finnish friends, following the rules that came with the mahjong sets. They did not like that game very much, so, when they found the rules of the Japanese modern game (riichi), they adapted that rule set. "Later", Juo told, "perhaps in the summer 2006, we found an ‘official’ rule set for mahjong, which we thought was the most played variant, as it was ‘official’. Of course this rule set was CO (MCR). In the fall of 2006, one of the Finnish players moved to Denmark, and found a mahjong club in Århus. Now the Finnish could be informed about the details of MCR". Later on, Juho made many trips to Denmark himself, and brought back home lots of valuable mahjong strategy. He was very grateful to the Danish players for the way they taught him how to play better. Juho became an enthusiastic mahjong player and took care his country became a member of the European Mahjong Association. He played in many international tournaments, e.g. the Open European Mahjong Championship 2007 in Denmark, the World Mahjong Championship 2007 and the European Riichi Mahjong Championship 2008. He made a long journey to Japan in the spring of 2008, where he mostly stayed at his friend Benjamin Boas's place. He played a lot of mahjong there and he made a lot of new friends. He even promised to write a story about it for Mahjong News, but he forgot all about it on the way. "Sorry about that, Martin", he said shyly to me, when we met again, that summer in Hanover, during the European Riichi Mahjong Championship. By then, I had heard many stories about that trip. He must have had incredible fun then. I enjoyed listening to his stories, at Wolfgang Franke's place, where we sat and drank and played after hours. Juho, always in the same, worn-out T-shirt. If he really had become rich by winning poker games on line, he did not bother to show it in his looks. It was not hard to forgive Juho for not writing that story. And now, he is no more. The mahjong world will miss him. |
| Last Updated on Saturday, 08 August 2009 13:51 |
Tina Christensen, vice-president of the European Mahjong Association
Marco Milandri, president of the Italian Mahjong Federation FIMJ
Anders Labich, Danish mahjong payer and a friend of Juho's