I still remember the first time I thought I had Dreamlight Valley completely figured out. There I was, sitting with over 15,000 Dreamlight saved up, feeling like I could conquer any realm in the castle. The game gives you this illusion of choice - do you go for the cheaper realms first or dive straight into the more expensive ones? I chose the Frozen Realm at 10,000 Dreamlight, thinking I'd be building snowmen with Elsa and Anna within the hour. What I didn't anticipate was hitting that frustrating wall where suddenly I needed Iron Ore, which only spawns in biomes I hadn't even unlocked yet. That moment taught me more about strategic thinking than any poker tutorial ever could.
You see, the same principle applies to Tong Its, the Malaysian card game that's been sweeping through gaming circles. Just like in Dreamlight Valley where I had to backtrack and grind for more currency, in Tong Its, you can't just charge ahead with whatever cards you're dealt. You need what I call the "biome strategy" - understanding that resources (in this case, cards) come from different "areas" of play, and you need to plan your unlocks carefully. When I first started playing Tong Its, I'd get excited about potentially completing a high-scoring combination early, much like how I rushed into the Frozen Realm. But just as I discovered you can't build advanced items without basic resources, in Tong Its you can't win big without managing your basic card combinations first.
Let me share something crucial I've learned after playing over 500 hands of Tong Its - the game is approximately 40% luck and 60% strategy. That might surprise you, but hear me out. Remember how in Dreamlight Valley I thought I could just power through the Frozen Realm objectives? Similarly, in Tong Its, new players often think they can rely on good card draws alone. The reality is much more nuanced. You need to understand card distribution patterns - there are exactly 52 cards in play, and tracking which ones have been discarded gives you about a 23% advantage over players who don't pay attention. I've developed what I call the "Iron Ore tracking system" for Tong Its, where I mentally note every high-value card that's been played, much like tracking which biomes I need to unlock for essential resources.
The most common mistake I see - and I've made this myself countless times - is what I call "Frozen Realm syndrome." Players get so focused on building that perfect winning hand that they ignore the smaller, incremental advantages. In Dreamlight Valley, I needed to step back from the Frozen Realm and methodically unlock the Forest of Valor and Glade of Trust first. Similarly, in Tong Its, you need to build your foundation before going for the flashy wins. I've found that players who focus on winning small pots consistently end up with about 68% more chips over a 3-hour session compared to those waiting for the perfect hand.
Here's where personal preference comes into play - I'm naturally an aggressive player, both in video games and card games. But through painful losses (about 15 consecutive games when I first started), I learned that Tong Its rewards patience more than aggression. There's this beautiful rhythm to the game that reminds me of resource gathering in Dreamlight Valley. You don't just mine every rock you see - you plan your route to maximize efficiency. In Tong Its, you don't play every decent hand - you wait for positions, you track discards, you calculate probabilities. I've calculated that waiting for just two more rounds before making your move increases your win probability by nearly 18%.
What most strategy guides won't tell you is that Tong Its has this psychological layer that's completely absent from many other card games. It's not just about the cards you hold - it's about the story you're telling your opponents. When I was stuck needing Iron Ore in Dreamlight Valley, I had to change my entire approach to resource gathering. Similarly, in Tong Its, sometimes you need to completely shift your strategy mid-game. I remember one particular session where I lost three big pots early, down to about 30% of my starting chips. Instead of panicking, I treated it like having to regather Dreamlight - methodical, patient, focusing on small wins. I ended up not just recovering but winning the entire session, turning 1,500 chips into over 7,000.
The beautiful thing about Tong Its strategy is that it mirrors good resource management in games like Dreamlight Valley. You learn to value small advantages - winning a pot with just a pair when everyone folds, much like gathering those 50 Dreamlight from a quick task. These small victories add up. From my tracking spreadsheet (yes, I'm that kind of player), I've found that players who consistently win small pots actually have a 42% higher overall win rate than those who only play for big pots. It's the card game equivalent of realizing that sometimes you need to step back from the Frozen Realm to gather basic materials elsewhere.
After all these months of playing, I've developed what I call the "biome-hopping" strategy for Tong Its. Just as I learned to switch between different areas in Dreamlight Valley based on what resources I needed, in Tong Its I switch between aggressive and conservative play based on card distribution, position, and chip stacks. The key insight - and this took me losing about 8,000 chips to learn - is that your strategy needs to be as fluid as your card draws. You can't stubbornly stick to one approach, just like I couldn't stubbornly keep trying to complete Frozen Realm objectives without the necessary Iron Ore.
Ultimately, what makes Tong Its so fascinating is the same thing that made my Dreamlight Valley experience memorable - both teach you that success comes from adapting your strategy to available resources rather than forcing your preferred approach onto the situation. The best Tong Its players aren't necessarily the ones with the best card memory or mathematical skills - they're the ones who understand the flow of the game, much like how the most successful Dreamlight Valley players understand when to pivot between different activities. It's this strategic flexibility that separates consistent winners from occasional lucky players, in both card games and life.