Here you stop playing your own rack and start reading the table. The discard pond as a newspaper. The exposure decoder — what two exposed pungs actually tell you about the eleven tiles you cannot see. Natural load: which lines your tiles are already closest to before you have decided anything. Pivot maps, so a dying hand knows where its exits are. And defense, which is good manners with teeth.

Most players plateau here for years, and it is a comfortable plateau. But if you have ever put down a tile and known, one half-second too late, exactly what you had just handed the woman across from you — this is the course that ends that feeling.

One hundred dollars an hour. Ten hours bought together is nine hundred, paid up front, and those hours do not expire. Available as a full course or as single sessions on defensive play, offensive play, or Charleston strategy.

Lessons are taught in person within twenty miles of Rochester, Minnesota, or by video over Google Meet. Bring your own current-year National Mah Jongg League card — we never photocopy, dear, the League earns its fifteen dollars every year.

I will read what you send me, pair you with the instructor who suits it, and she will write to you directly. Payment is collected once your lesson plan is finalized, not before.

Is this really different from the intermediate course?

Entirely. Intermediate is about your own rack — reading the card, choosing a line, passing well. Advanced is about the other three racks. Different skill, different drills.

Can I book a single session on one topic?

Yes. Defensive play, offensive play or Charleston strategy, an hour at a time. Many players come for one afternoon on defense and find it the best money they have spent on this game.

I have played for years. Will I be bored?

If you can tell me what two exposed pungs narrow the card to, and which tile has not appeared by turn fourteen, then perhaps. Most players who have played for years have never been taught either.

Do I need the playbooks as well?

They are the same material drilled in print, and useful between lessons. Your instructor will tell you honestly whether you need them.

Do I bring my own card?

Yes, please — your own current-year National Mah Jongg League card. We never photocopy, dear.

When do I pay?

Once your lesson plan is finalized, not before. Send the form, I read it and pair you with an instructor, she writes to settle the details, and payment comes after that is agreed.

How many hours will I need?

That depends what you are after. Ten hours bought together is nine hundred, a ten percent saving, and those hours do not expire.