Mahjong Poker

In theory, you can substitute a poker deck for a mahjong set and still use standard poker hands:

• Remove the flowers and seasons
• Play with all 4 sets of tiles
• Pip cards (coins, strings and myriads) are normal suits ranked 987654321
• Dragons and winds are put together in a suit of “specials”
  • The special suit cannot be used to form straights
  • but for tiebreakers, specials are ranked higher than pip cards:
    1. Red dragon
    2. Green dragon
    3. White dragon
    4. North wind
    5. West wind
    6. South wind
    7. East wind
    8. Pip cards 9-1

Although the probabilities of each hand will be different, The probability ranking will be the same. 4-of-a-kind will be more rare than full house etc.

Additional Clarification: Like in poker, sets (pairs, triplets, etc.) can mix suits.

¶ Odds Comparison: 52 card deck vs Mahjong Set

Here’s a table comparing the probability of each poker hand:

This tweak is useful for playing Pyramid Poker.