Your goal is two competitive hands. A beautiful high hand does little if the low hand cannot win.
Two pairs normally become one pair in each hand. With one pair, keeping it together is the usual starting point. The exception comes when an approved house way calls for a split and the other tiles can produce two useful hands.
A named hand is not automatically the best four-tile setting. A Wong in the high hand can still leave a weak low hand. Compare the whole split.
These examples show why the four tiles must be judged together. The Parkwest examples are taken from its California-approved 2025 rules; the remaining examples apply the same published ranking and pair-setting principles.
The loose tiles make seven. Keeping Teen together leaves both hands at least as strong as any alternative. Parkwest uses this exact 12, 12, 3 and 4 example to show that the obvious best play comes before its normal pair-splitting rule.
These tiles can make 4/Gong, 3/Wong or 7/7. Parkwest assigns all three a combined house-way value of 14, then lists 7/7 first. This is a good reminder that a Wong is not automatically the best four-tile split.
Each pair becomes one hand. Breaking both pairs would replace two top-tier hands with weaker special or point hands.
Parkwest says to split Gee Joon with 12-, 11- or 10-dot tiles. Here one Gee Joon tile counts as six with Foo to make seven; the other counts as six with Teen to make eight.
Keeping the pair leaves Day plus five for a seven-point low hand. Splitting the pair produces weaker ordinary hands. Published house ways commonly list the eleven pair among the pairs that remain together.
If two possible low hands both total seven, compare their highest single tiles. A seven containing the stronger tile is the stronger low hand. This is why moving two equal-value tiles between the low and high hands can change the result.
The hand trainer lets you choose a pairing and decide which half belongs low. It will flag a foul setting, score both hands and compare your legal choice with the strongest balanced split.
For casino-specific pair rules, use the house-way comparison.
Tool
The hand calculator takes any four tiles, shows all three splits with both hand values, and marks the split that wins on both hands when one exists. Two splits that are exactly equal are labelled equal.
Play at home
The eight checks become automatic after a few dozen hands. A complete set lets you deal them yourself.
All 32 tiles, so every split in this guide can be laid out for real.
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