Show Notes
This week on The Mahjcast, Jason and Ira are back at the table with a big tournament recap, Mahj Confessions, mailbag madness, and one very serious mahjong family feud. First up, Ira recaps his big day at Jackie’s Mahjong Warriors tournament in New York City — 84 players, 28 games, seven hours of mahj, and a very respectable finish. We talk tournament pressure, moving fast, knowing the rules, getting called out for your wall, and why everyone needs to try tournament play at least once. Then Jason heads down to Jersey to play with his mom and her crew, where the chicken was dry, the tiles were cruel, and his mother showed absolutely no Mahj Mercy. Plus: Ira’s fake sick revenge plot Jason’s ongoing cheating confession fallout Mahjong Warriors tournament tips A conversation with Keen from Spools about floating pool tiles, travel racks, and building mahjong gear from a rocket scientist’s brain Mahj speed dating becomes our newest terrible/brilliant idea Our first Mahj Confessions winner Mailbag rules: can you rack before the deal is over? And a Last Tile about why every player should take the leap and try their first tournament Pull up a chair, rack your tiles… and let’s play. Mentioned in this episode: @ladiesthatmahj @shop_spools @mayorofmahj Follow us on Instagram and DM us anytime, we'd love to hear from you! @themahjbros
More from The Mahjcast: Two Bros Talk Mahjong
The tiles were flying, the competition was fierce, and the biggest names in mahjong descended on Las Vegas for Mahjong World Championships, hosted by Destination Mah Jongg! The Mahj Bros may have missed the action in person (the FOMO is REAL), but we've got the inside scoop from some of the best players on the tournament circuit! 🏆 Meet the new King of Vegas! World Champion Dave Moussa joins us fresh off his big win, sharing the strategies, split-second decisions, and secrets that helped him take the crown. From playing smart with Jokers to knowing when to switch hands and when to go defensive, this is tournament advice you won't want to miss! 🀄 OG Mahj Bro Lance Karp from @mahjwithlance is back with a masterclass in tournament strategy! We're talking Charleston secrets, reading your opponents, playing fast, and the one section of the NMJL card he thinks EVERYONE needs to master. 🎥 Stephanie Breitbard from @bougiemahjie takes us behind the scenes of the World Championships with all the Vegas personalities, fierce competition, table drama, and a sneak peek at the exciting new mahjong documentary in the works! 🌊 PLUS! Liz from @HamptonsMahj stops by with her gorgeous new Out East collection and an exclusive 15% discount for Mahjcast listeners using code MAHJBROS at hamptonsmahj.co. And of course, we've got Mini Mahj Daily updates, plenty of laughs, and all the Mahj Bros chaos you love. Whether you're a tournament regular, thinking about entering your first competition, or just want to become a better player, this episode is PACKED with tips from the top! 🎧 Listen to The Mahjcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Amazon Music. 📲 Instagram & Facebook: @themahjbros 🌐 www.themahjbros.com Pull up a chair, rack your tiles, and LET'S PLAY! 🎲
This week, the Mahj Bros welcome the one and only Jamie Lynn Sigler! From playing Meadow Soprano on one of television's most iconic shows to becoming an author, podcast host, and full-fledged mahjong maven, Jamie joins Jason and Ira for a hilarious, heartfelt, and completely unfiltered conversation. Turns out, Jamie learned mahjong the Texas way, complete with blanks, a few loosey-goosey rules, and some revelations that nearly sent the Mahj Bros over the edge! She dishes on her mahjong obsession, her favorite ways to play, and how the game has become a meaningful source of friendship, connection, and joy while navigating life's challenges. And of course, we couldn't let her leave without imagining what a mahjong night with Carmela, Meadow, Dr. Melfi, and the rest of The Sopranos crew might look like. Fuggedaboutit! PLUS: The fabulous 10-Joker @Zac.Mathias joins us to share an incredible cause benefiting the Breast Cancer Alliance, and the Bros are getting in on the action! We're also giving the 2026 NMJL card a six-month review, celebrating some @MiniMahjDaily victories, and dishing on all the latest Mahj Moments. It's an episode packed with laughs, a little controversy, and a whole lot of heart. Pull up a chair, rack your tiles, and let's play! 🎧 Listen, follow, and share The Mahjcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. 📲 Instagram & Facebook: @themahjbros 🌐 www.themahjbros.com 💗 Support the Breast Cancer Alliance: www.breastcanceralliance.org 📖 Check out Jamie Lynn Sigler's And So it Is: A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope on Amazon here
It’s spooky season, and this one is stacked. Gotham's Mahj Queen of Halloween Jill Kargman joins us with Sandi Drucker-Wright and Peyton Cochran, the founders of Center & Spring, to talk mahjong, Halloween, goth glamour, fast play, dead hands, and the limited-edition collection that’s basically impossible to get your hands on. Jill also gets into why mahjong became such an obsession, her dream table, tournament play, and why sometimes the best response to table drama is simply: it’s just an f'in game, people! Then we recap one of the mahj-iest weeks we’ve ever had: the Mahjong Warriors tournament, a house full of out-of-town players, a visit from the team behind a new mahjong documentary, a big Mahj the Magazine night in NYC, Mini Mahj Daily chaos, and more questionable decisions than we’d care to admit. Plus: Jason wins a hand that may have changed his life, Ira continues to be everyone’s favorite, and we raise a cauldron to badass women making mahjong cooler, weirder and more fun. Pull up a chair, rack your tiles, and let’s play. Follow us: @themahjbros on Instagram + Facebook Follow our new friends: @jillkargman & @centerandspring Everything Mahj Bros: www.themahjbros.com Listen, subscribe, rate & review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music.
This week on The Mahjcast, we’re joined by Lara from @larasmahjongedit, one of the fastest-rising teachers in the mahjiverse, to talk about how she went from teaching herself the game to building a huge online mahjong community, plus her best advice for beginners, Charleston strategy, black dragons, tournaments, playing for money and more. Then Jason and Ira get into a question they’ve been asking for a while: why don’t more men mahj? We dig into some of the history of mahjong in America, how it became so closely associated with women, and why the game may finally be having a bro moment. Plus: Mini Mahj Daily drama, a very competitive mailbag, mahjong tells, a lost card found, @sodakmahj hysterics, a grandmother’s vintage set, and plenty of nonsense along the way. Pull up a chair, rack your tiles, and let’s play. Follow The Mahj Bros: Instagram: @themahjbros Facebook: @themahjbros Check out our site and new merch: www.themahjbros.com Follow Lara: Instagram: @larasmahjongedit Website: www.laurasmahjongedit.com
This week on The Mahjcast, it’s Jason’s birthday, and the Bros are celebrating with one of our BIGGEST episodes yet. 🎂🀄 First up, the hysterical social media mahjong sensations @mahjladies pull up a chair. Mara and Sharon talk about going from a decades-long weekly mahjong game to social media stardom, Cameos, mahjong fame, questionable tuna fish etiquette, pickleball, the Alamo, Marshalls, and everything in between. Let’s just say there wasn’t a dry Depends to be found. And then, a Mahjcast exclusive: Lesssssssslie Kimel, founder and creator of @MiniMahjDaily, joins us for a rare interview about the phenomenon that has taken the mahjong world by storm. Leslie gives us the story behind MMD, how she built the “Wordle of mahjong,” what nearly half a million games played looks like, why Ivy is such a bitch, the recent National Mah Jongg League card rollout, and where Mini Mahj Daily goes from here. Plus: 🀄 Jason and Ira play the 1973–74 NMJL card 🀄 Ira reveals the final results of his Summer Challenge… and then loses the evidence 🀄 A birthday edition of “How Well Does Ira Know Jason?” 🀄 The Mahj Bros Battle heats up on Mini Mahj Daily 🀄 And The Last Tile looks at the creators, personalities and communities turning mahjong from a game into a full-blown lifestyle It’s funny, a little inappropriate, occasionally educational, and very Mahj Bros. Pull up a chair. Rack your tiles. Let’s play. 🎧 Listen to The Mahjcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music 📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @themahjbros 🌐 Everything Mahj Bros: themahjbros.com And, as always… may the jokers be with you. 🀄