Last-discard win 河底撈魚 · houtei raoyui

Win by ron on the final discard of the hand — “netting the fish from the river bottom.”

Houtei is the ron-side twin of haitei: the very last discard of the hand is worth an extra han to anyone who wins on it. You can't force it, but you can stay eligible. When the wall is almost empty and you're tenpai テンパイ, every remaining discard is a live chance, and the final one pays more.

It also rescues a certain kind of broken hand. Houtei is a yaku in its own right, so an open hand that lost its planned yaku along the way can still win legally on that final discard, with houtei itself supplying the required han. The normal rules still apply, though: if your winning tile sits in your own discards, you are furiten フリテン and cannot ron at all (see furiten).

On the other side, treat your own last discard with respect. The hand ends with it either way, so a risky tile has no upside. Reach for the safest thing you hold, usually a tile an opponent has already discarded, since a tile in a player's own discards can never deal into that player. A moment of care here saves the occasional houtei payment.

Key points

• The mirror of haitei: last discard instead of last draw
• Experienced players discard safe tiles at the end of the wall partly to avoid feeding this

Related yaku

• Last-tile self-draw 海底撈月 — Win by self-drawing the final tile of the live wall — “scooping the moon from the sea bottom.”

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