‘Minus two hundred-something’

MESTRE  - Today, she is dressed to kill. Yet, Stefania Gori, our ‘Mahjong News guide’ during the OEMC2011 at Mestre, has not chosen her ‘killer dress’ to impress or distract her opponents. “It’s been very hot, all day long”, she sighs. And then she looks a bit sad at me and says: “It did not go well today.”

The first day, it went all right for Stefania. She had 14 table points and she was on position number six. But now, on the second day, she could only add 3 points to her total, which means she dropped to the 33th position.
No, it was not because she was tired, she says: “I slept well tonight. But I made some mistakes and then I felt a bit bad about that. You know how it goes: you discard a tile, and in the same moment you realize that that was the wrong tile. And then you have no chance to correct that.” Still, she ended on the second place at that first table, so she had 2 table points.

All Fives

“In the second session, I had just 1 point. There was this French guy who was very much backward. But in the last two games he had nice self pick hands. So eventually, he won.”
The ‘French guy’ is Anthony Ea, who has been listening to us and steps forward: “Yes, I had an All Fives Hand. Worth just 16 points, but very beautiful.” He smiles.
Stefania continues: “And then, the final round  today, it went really bad. I had minus two hundred-something. The other players kept on going out on self picks, or on my discards.”
She smiles and stands up. Time for some relaxation. At nine tonight, it will be the Gala Dinner.