The basic waits
Two-sided (ryanmen): 3-4 waiting on 2 or 5. Closed (kanchan): 3-5 waiting on 4. Edge (penchan): 1-2 waiting on 3. Pair or single (tanki): one tile waiting for its pair. Dual pung (shanpon): two pairs, either of which can become a pung.
Complex waits
Combinations such as 2-3-4-5 (waiting on 2 or 5 to complete a pair, or 1 or 6 to make runs) create waits on several tiles. Flush hands often produce very wide waits.
Choosing your wait
When choosing between waits, count how many winning tiles remain unseen, and consider whether opponents are likely to discard them.
Scoring effects
In riichi, difficult waits add fu, and pinfu requires a two-sided wait. In MCR some single-tile waits score a point.
