Taiwanese Mahjong · 2 tai
Ping Hu (All Chows) in Taiwanese Mahjong: Tai, Rules, Examples and Odds
In Taiwanese mahjong, Ping Hu (平胡, all chows) is worth 2 tai: when you win, all five sets are chows, the hand has no honor tiles and not a single flower, you were waiting two-sided, and you won on someone else's discard. Miss any one condition and it doesn't count.
On this page
The five conditions for Ping Hu
| Condition | Breaks it |
|---|---|
| All five sets are chows | Any pung or kong, in hand or claimed |
| No honors | Even an honor pair (e.g. two white dragons) |
| No flowers | Any flower you've replaced, ever |
| Two-sided wait | Edge, closed, pair or two-pair waits |
| Won on a discard | Self-draws don't count |
- Chowing is fine: Ping Hu doesn't need a concealed hand, claimed chows count
- A concealed Ping Hu adds concealed hand, 1 tai
- Flowers are the condition people forget: however pretty the hand, one replaced flower means no Ping Hu
How Ping Hu waits
Ping Hu needs a two-sided wait: the missing set is two consecutive suited tiles that can be completed at either end, like waiting on or .
Waits that look close but don't make Ping Hu:
- Edge wait: waits only on — that's a single wait, not Ping Hu
- Closed wait: waits only on — also a single wait
- Pair wait: five chows done, waiting for the pair tile — also a single wait
- Self-draw: two-sided and everything else right, but drawing it yourself cancels Ping Hu
How Ping Hu is scored
The tai below are computed live by the same scoring code the game uses (dealer and dealer-streak tai are added on top).
Won on a discard
| All runs, no honors or flowers (平胡) | 2 |
| Total | 2 tai |
|---|
Dealer and dealer-streak tai are added on top.
Won on a discard
| Concealed hand (門清) | 1 |
| All runs, no honors or flowers (平胡) | 2 |
| Total | 3 tai |
|---|
Dealer and dealer-streak tai are added on top.
Self-drawn
| Concealed self-draw (不求人) | 3 |
| Total | 3 tai |
|---|
Dealer and dealer-streak tai are added on top.
Won on a discard
| Concealed hand (門清) | 1 |
| Own seat flower (正花) ×1 | 1 |
| Total | 2 tai |
|---|
Dealer and dealer-streak tai are added on top.
Common combinations:
| Combination | Tai |
|---|---|
| Ping Hu | 2 |
| Ping Hu + concealed hand | 3 |
| Ping Hu + Pure One Suit | 10 |
| Ping Hu + concealed hand + Pure One Suit | 11 |
How it relates to other hands
- Concealed hand: a Ping Hu with nothing claimed adds concealed hand, 1 tai.
- Concealed self-draw: if a concealed Ping Hu is self-drawn, Ping Hu goes and it scores concealed self-draw, 3 tai, instead (on a discard it would be concealed hand plus Ping Hu, 3 tai). A self-draw is paid by all three players, so don't pass one up for the sake of Ping Hu.
- Single wait: Ping Hu needs a two-sided wait, so the two never appear together.
- Pure One Suit: it has no honors anyway, so five chows, a two-sided wait and a discard win add Ping Hu too.
- Own seat flower: any flower kills Ping Hu, so the seat flower's 1 tai and Ping Hu's 2 tai never stack.
Ping Hu odds
How often Ping Hu happens
The computer played 12,000 hands normally (normal level) with 11,677 wins; 1.5% of those wins had Ping Hu, averaging 2.4 tai.
The biggest hurdle is flowers: a set has eight, and by the end of a hand a player holds at least one 78% of the time. A 16-tile opening hand with no honors at all happens only 2.0% of the time; two or fewer, 32%.
Is forcing Ping Hu worth it?
We had the computer play on this site's table: in each hand, among the players with no flowers after the opening, the one with the fewest honors was forced to go for Ping Hu — throw honors first, chow but never pung, and win on a discard only if it scores Ping Hu; a self-draw it still took (Ping Hu can't be self-drawn, and nobody passes up a self-draw). As soon as it drew a flower Ping Hu was impossible, so from then on it played normally. The other three played normally, and we compared with players who also started with no flowers and the same number of honors, playing normally. 17,768 hands in total (hands where all four players started with flowers were skipped).
| Honor tiles in the opening hand | Opening hands | Made it | Won with something else | Someone else won | Exhaustive draw | Avg. result forcing it | Avg. result playing normally |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 516 | 4.1% | 16% | 77% | 3.5% | −3 | +31 |
| 1 | 2,529 | 5.2% | 13% | 78% | 4.1% | −9 | +19 |
| 2 | 5,040 | 3.8% | 12% | 81% | 3.2% | −21 | +1 |
| 3 | 4,788 | 3.2% | 9.6% | 83% | 3.8% | −30 | −3 |
| 4+ tiles | 4,895 | 1.8% | 7.2% | 88% | 3.4% | −41 | −7 |
Source: computer play on this site. In each of 17,768 hands the seat with the best start forced All runs, no honors or flowers (平胡); the other three played normally. Money at 100 base + 20 per tai, dealer tai included.
The verdict: forcing Ping Hu doesn't pay either.
- Even from the best start, no honors at all, it ended in Ping Hu only 4.1% of the time, for an average result of −3; the same starts played normally average +31.
- The killer is flowers: 40% of the forcing players drew a flower along the way, and Ping Hu was gone on the spot.
- Ping Hu itself is only 2 tai, and the hands that made it averaged 2.2 tai; refusing pungs and passing on non-Ping-Hu wins costs more than it brings in.
When to go for Ping Hu
- No flowers: if you replaced a flower at the start, forget it. Drawing one later ends it too.
- Few honors, many connected tiles: every honor has to go, so the fewer the better; the more two-tile runs you have, the easier the chows.
- Keep two-sided shapes, break edges and gaps: beats or , because only the two-sided wait makes Ping Hu.
- Don't pung: a pung kills Ping Hu; chows are fine.
When to give up: you draw a flower, or you hold too many pairs that can only become pungs. Then just play for speed. To practise, open a table of online Taiwanese mahjong — the computer plays with you and scores every hand.
Ping Hu in other mahjong styles
Many styles have an "all chows" hand, with different conditions:
- Japanese mahjong calls it pinfu (平和): 1 han, concealed only, two-sided wait, the pair can't be a value tile, self-draw allowed (Japanese mahjong yaku list)
- Hong Kong mahjong calls it ping wu (平糊): 1 fan (Hong Kong mahjong fan table)
- Guobiao (Chinese Official) mahjong calls it all chows (平和): 2 fan, four chows and a non-honor pair (Guobiao mahjong fan list)
FAQ
How many tai is Ping Hu?
Ping Hu is worth 2 tai in Taiwanese mahjong. A concealed Ping Hu adds concealed hand, 1 tai, for 3 tai.
Can Ping Hu be self-drawn?
No. Ping Hu must be won on someone else's discard; the same hand self-drawn scores concealed self-draw (3 tai) if concealed, or self-drawn (1 tai) if you have claimed sets.
Does Ping Hu count if I have a flower?
No. Ping Hu means no honors and no flowers; one replaced flower and it's gone.
Can I chow in Ping Hu?
Yes. A claimed chow is still a chow, and Ping Hu doesn't need a concealed hand — but no pungs.
Do edge, closed or pair waits count as Ping Hu?
No. Ping Hu needs a two-sided wait; edge, closed and pair waits usually wait on a single tile and score single wait, 1 tai, instead.
Related hands
Concealed Hand 1 tai
No chows or pungs, won on a discard — 1 tai. Concealed kongs, the difference from concealed self-draw, and when staying concealed pays.
Pure One Suit 8 tai
Every tile from a single suit — an 8-tai big hand. Examples, Half One Suit vs Pure One Suit, and how many suited tiles you need to go for it.
Single Wait 1 tai
Only one tile can win — 1 tai. Edge, closed and pair waits, false single waits, and how often it happens.
Try it at the table
Taiwanese Mahjong — Play authentic Taiwanese 16-tile mahjong free in your browser against three computer opponents. Flowers, chow, pung, kong, dealer streaks and automatic tai scoring. No sign-up, works on phone and desktop.