The Mahj Salon's Cathy Herrington plays her way into the Top Ten

Letter No. 32, The Price of a Title, sent on October 22, 2026, gave its Who's Talking column to Dave Moussa of San Bruno, California, who learned the game from his wife in 2011 and became the first man to win the Mah Jongg World Championship. Prim's lesson from his win was patience: the title went to the player who kept making sound choices deep into a long weekend.

To show what he had beaten, she named the field around him. Among the names in the Top Ten, she wrote, was Cathy Herrington of The Mahj Salon. This is the story behind that name, and the show it belongs to.

A Top Ten finish in a sold out room

The championship, sponsored by Destination Mah Jongg, was held October 16 to 18, 2026, in the ballroom of the Paris Las Vegas Hotel, according to the event's flyer. The flyer set a $5,000 grand prize, based on 150 players, and said play would follow National Mah Jongg League guidelines with additional tournament rules.

Tricia Conover of Mahj Tile Talk, reporting from the room, wrote on October 18 that the championship sold out with 332 players from across the country, who played 12 rounds and 48 hands over three days. Moussa won with 700 points. In congratulating the Top 10, Conover named Cathy Herrington of The Mahj Salon podcast and YouTube show. Her exact place was not given.

Conover had already met the show that weekend. On the second day, she wrote, she was interviewed by The Mahj Salon's co-hosts, Jennifer Hohman and Cathy Herrington.

What The Mahj Salon is

The Mahj Salon is a podcast about American Mahjong hosted by Jennifer Hohman and Cathy Herrington of Mahjong Meets Moxie, according to the show's own page, which links to Apple Podcasts, iHeart and Spotify. Its podcast feed lists Mahjong Meets Moxie as its author. Mahj Tile Talk describes Hohman and Herrington as the show's hosts and creators, found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube, and Hohman as the creator of Mahjong Meets Moxie.

The show bills itself as a place for stories and opinions, made for people who care how other players shuffle, stack and score. Its feed sums up the ground it covers as pet peeves, tile choices, money at the table and the business of the game.

The episodes released before October 22, 2026 give a fair picture. Why Social Play is the Heart of Mahjong arrived on August 18. On August 26, Destination Mah Jongg founder Fern Oliphant came on to announce a new business partner. September brought a nine year old player and his mother talking strategy, and the hosts' views on the booming resale market for tiles. Can Men Play Mahjong?, on October 13, took up the welcome at the table after a man was left out of an open group. And on October 21, three days after the final round, the show sat down with Dave Moussa and Nancy Dubner in Meet the King of Mahjong: Dave Moussa's Vegas Win.

“where Mahjong players come for the stories and stay for the opinions”The Mahj Salon, describing itself on its show page

Home base in Houston

Mahjong Meets Moxie describes itself as a group of Mahjong enthusiasts in Houston, Texas, creating free, open social play, competitive tournament prep and large competitive tournaments. Its open play costs nothing and runs seven days a week, with invitations sent through the Spond app each Sunday evening. Players are expected to know National Mah Jongg League rules and to keep a decent pace.

The Mahj Salon has its own page on the group's site, and the group's Tournament Trips page points players toward nonprofit tournaments in Texas, among them semiannual events for the Temple Sinai Sisterhood and Hadassah in Houston.

Prim's view

I adore a podcast host who can play. Plenty of us talk a good game, and I include myself, but Cathy Herrington went to Las Vegas, sat down in a sold out room of 332, and came home among the Top Ten. Then, three days after the King was crowned, her show had him on. That is covering the beat from the inside.

I am fond of the whole premise, too. The Mahj Salon promises stories and opinions, and I have never met a Mahjong table short of either. A show that takes on the resale market, the wild variety of house rules, and whether men belong at the table is having the conversations players already have over the wall, only out loud and on the record.

In the Letter I said the title goes to the most patient player in the room, not the boldest. A Top Ten finish says something similar about Cathy Herrington. Congratulations to her, to Jennifer Hohman, and to everyone in Houston who keeps a free table open every day of the week.