<p><strong>Because he needs Nangou to cooperate.</strong></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/RIJv4.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RIJv4.png" alt="Nangou ready to abandon Akagi"></a></p>

<p>The cops are literally knockin at the door, looking for him and Nangou doesn't seem too happy to go as far as lying to the police. I don't know how he knew they were coming, but I'm guessing they were rather hot on his heels as he was running in the rain. He needs Nangou to give him an alibi, so he forces his hands.</p>

<p>You'll notice that after ignoring the calls, he miraculously has not just <em>Daisangen (big three dragons)</em>, but <em>Suu Ankou Tanki (four concealed triplets, single wait)</em> as well. Well, it's not so much a miracle as him ruthelssly cheating by stealing the tiles from the pools when the others were distracted by the cops.</p>

<p>There are a number of ways the way he did this makes it a better plan:</p>

<ul>
<li>He has a better hand to get the point with.</li>
<li>The hand is concealed, so nobody knows to be careful with their discards.</li>
<li>When (no, it's not even an "if") the yakuza notice that he has chated, the police are still there. They do not want to cause a scene in front of the cops, so they will <em>have</em> to let it go.</li>
</ul>

<p>And most improtantly:</p>

<ul>
<li>The hand is <em>ruinable</em>. This is important to get Nangou to cooperate. Had he called the tiles, he couldn't threat to discard them. To keep the insanely valuable hand, Nangou has to cover for him by lying to the cops.</li>
</ul>

<p>All in all, a nice plan.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-05T18:47:33.163Z
2017-08-05T20:28:26.100Z
2017-08-05T20:28:26.100Z
DJ Pirtu
<p>It is never really mentioned as to why, so this is mostly speculation. It is very possible Akagi knew or had a gut feeling that the police were closing in, and took the opportunity to use the police to cheat. He might also still have been in a "wait and see" mode, sacrificing a victory in return for the opportunity analyzing the playstyles/patterns of the other players.</p>

<p>As for his genius part, he is the type of genius that cannot be comprehended. He does not play "calculated" or "digital" mahjong, but knows how to play his opponents, read the flow of the game, and take hold of pure chance, as you will see later in the series. Also, the narration mentioned how "normal" his initial play was, compared to his genius plays in the future, so you can think of it as him only starting to warm up.</p>

<p>That being said, let me explain mahjong a little more. Those tiles aren't "bonus" tiles, just plain dragon tiles. While it is an easy way to get a yaku, stealing a tile also has its demerits, such as the inability to call Reach, reducing the worth of your hand, exposing part of your hand and being marked by the other players. Nangou's tendency to go with the easiest hand illustrates that he is a run-of-the-mill mahjong player, in contrast to Akagi, who has some sort of game plan going in his mind that normal people could never imagine. Perhaps Akagi had a feeling that stealing a tile would not lead to victory. I do think that most normal players would've stolen that first chun (including me), which means we could never be Akagi.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T11:26:17.473Z
2017-06-06T11:26:17.473Z
Jimmy
<p>No he was just bored by the lack of competition. Sometimes you need to understand that true genius needs to be really challenged. Akagi was probably not even considering the clear implications that this was going to have on his future as he was likely more concerned with how Nangou's remarks from before right?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T13:12:12.510Z
It was his first game, he was losing. Also, Nangou didn't say anything, those remarks were just in his mind.
Enne
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T12:54:12.587Z
2017-06-05T12:54:12.587Z
AMAN77
<p>I have watched just the anime, and even if he didn't know about specific hands, he leaves the chance to gather the bonus tiles and improve his hand, as Nangou remarked.</p>

<p>Am I missing something here? Being the genius that he is, should he not have played better?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T13:40:52.160Z
Can you clarify what you want to know?
kuwaly
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T15:23:25.253Z
@kuwaly The answer to the question in the title. I want to know if there was any reason Akagi left it.
Enne
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T18:01:48.327Z
On which episode is this from? Around what time-mark?
Aki Tanaka
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T18:25:14.403Z
@AkiTanaka Episode 1, a minute after when he has just started playing his first game.
Enne
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T18:46:06.337Z
Is it the first game when he had 3 dragon pairs (haku, hatsu, chun) for the opportunity of Dai San Gen and passed the first 4 dragon tiles?
Aki Tanaka
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T13:37:25.883Z
@AkiTanaka Yep!
Enne
<akagi>
Why did Akagi leave the opportunity to have a better hand in his first game?
# Why did Akagi leave the opportunity to have a better hand in his first game?
Posted by: username_0 on 2017-06-05
I have watched just the anime, and even if he didn't know about specific hands, he leaves the chance to gather the bonus tiles and improve his hand, as Nangou remarked.

Am I missing something here? Being the genius that he is, should he not have played better?
**Tags:** akagi
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Can you clarify what you want to know?  
> **username_0**: @kuwaly The answer to the question in the title. I want to know if there was any reason Akagi left it.  
> **username_2**: On which episode is this from? Around what time-mark?  
> **username_0**: @AkiTanaka Episode 1, a minute after when he has just started playing his first game.  
> **username_2**: Is it the first game when he had 3 dragon pairs (haku, hatsu, chun) for the opportunity of Dai San Gen and passed the first 4 dragon tiles?  
> **username_0**: @AkiTanaka Yep!  
---
## 3 answers
### Answer by username_3 on 2017-08-05. Score: 2
**Because he needs Nangou to cooperate.**

[![Nangou ready to abandon Akagi](https://i.sstatic.net/RIJv4.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/RIJv4.png)

The cops are literally knockin at the door, looking for him and Nangou doesn't seem too happy to go as far as lying to the police. I don't know how he knew they were coming, but I'm guessing they were rather hot on his heels as he was running in the rain. He needs Nangou to give him an alibi, so he forces his hands.

You'll notice that after ignoring the calls, he miraculously has not just *Daisangen (big three dragons)*, but *Suu Ankou Tanki (four concealed triplets, single wait)* as well. Well, it's not so much a miracle as him ruthelssly cheating by stealing the tiles from the pools when the others were distracted by the cops.

There are a number of ways the way he did this makes it a better plan:

* He has a better hand to get the point with.
* The hand is concealed, so nobody knows to be careful with their discards.
* When (no, it's not even an "if") the yakuza notice that he has chated, the police are still there. They do not want to cause a scene in front of the cops, so they will *have* to let it go.

And most improtantly:

* The hand is *ruinable*. This is important to get Nangou to cooperate. Had he called the tiles, he couldn't threat to discard them. To keep the insanely valuable hand, Nangou has to cover for him by lying to the cops.

All in all, a nice plan.
---
### Answer by username_4 on 2017-06-06. Score: 1
It is never really mentioned as to why, so this is mostly speculation. It is very possible Akagi knew or had a gut feeling that the police were closing in, and took the opportunity to use the police to cheat. He might also still have been in a "wait and see" mode, sacrificing a victory in return for the opportunity analyzing the playstyles/patterns of the other players.

As for his genius part, he is the type of genius that cannot be comprehended. He does not play "calculated" or "digital" mahjong, but knows how to play his opponents, read the flow of the game, and take hold of pure chance, as you will see later in the series. Also, the narration mentioned how "normal" his initial play was, compared to his genius plays in the future, so you can think of it as him only starting to warm up.

That being said, let me explain mahjong a little more. Those tiles aren't "bonus" tiles, just plain dragon tiles. While it is an easy way to get a yaku, stealing a tile also has its demerits, such as the inability to call Reach, reducing the worth of your hand, exposing part of your hand and being marked by the other players. Nangou's tendency to go with the easiest hand illustrates that he is a run-of-the-mill mahjong player, in contrast to Akagi, who has some sort of game plan going in his mind that normal people could never imagine. Perhaps Akagi had a feeling that stealing a tile would not lead to victory. I do think that most normal players would've stolen that first chun (including me), which means we could never be Akagi.
---
### Answer by username_5 on 2017-06-05. Score: 0
No he was just bored by the lack of competition. Sometimes you need to understand that true genius needs to be really challenged. Akagi was probably not even considering the clear implications that this was going to have on his future as he was likely more concerned with how Nangou's remarks from before right?
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2017-06-05): It was his first game, he was losing. Also, Nangou didn't say anything, those remarks were just in his mind.  
---
