Continuing our look at previous WRC participants, we now chat to Jaymond from Sydney. Jay has a long history with ARMA and was once a driving force within ARMA pioneering connections to the international community. Jay currently holds the prestigious 8 Dan rank on Tenhou and has posted several top 8 finishes in past Australian Riichi Mahjong Opens as well as having previously won the teams section of the International Online Riichi Mahjong Championship in 2019.

Q) What is your name? How did you get into mahjong and how long have you been playing mahjong?

My name is Jaymond He. I was eating lunch in Uni and saw the tile shuffle of the Mahjong club. I was quite curious about it and decided to join and learn the game and the rest, they say, is history. I’ve been playing for roughly 8 years now.

Q) Could you explain your playstyle? What type of mahjong do you like to play?

I would categorise myself as more of an aggressive player; generally trying to find tile kabes/early discards to try and inform a way to progress my hand forward. I try to look a lot of opponent’s discards to get a vibe as to where I’m at in a hand

Q) What are your current goals for mahjong?

I haven’t had as much of a chance to play Mahjong recently, and I know that there’s been a general rise in the use of Mahjong AI to help facilitate gameplay. I think my current goal is to touch base with the Mahjong AI meta and learn some more Mahjong from an angle I may have never considered!

Q) Could you describe your previous experience at WRC 2022 Vienna? Has that experience changed the way you look at Mahjong?

My experience at WRC 2022 was absolutely exceptional! A few of the Australians shared a house with a few Americans and it was really amazing to connect with the international Mahjong community. I think the experience just showed me how much Riichi mahjong there is out there and how much potential there is to grow the game + passion there are between dedicated people.

Q) Why are you trying to qualify for WRC and what would it mean to you if you did?

I always want to be improving myself and testing my mettle against the best which naturally drew me to trying to qualify again for WRC. I think it would be amazing to connect with the Mahjong community and would mean absolutely the world to me if i could qualify again.

As of the writing of this article Jay holds a middle of the pack rank of 9/22 in the Aussie WRC Qualifier League. Despite how rusty he is, he appears to be making good ground and has the momentum going into this week’s competition. We look forward to seeing Jay come back to actively competing and his evolution as a player as he integrates AI into his gameplay.