Let's be honest guys. Who here actually defends prior to somebody calling or declaring riichi? The answer is probably not quite a lot. People tend to concentrate on building their hands until there is a visible sign that someone is in tenpai. Only then do people start playing defensively if they wish to.
Well I'm here to elaborate the main advantages of going for damaten (hidden tenpai) which is basically winning a closed hand, while not declaring riichi. While there are some disadvantages in choosing to remaining damaten (mainly one less han when scoring your hand, or it not working if your hand has no yaku prior to riichi), I believe the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
1) Your opponents won't see it coming.
As I mentioned before, damaten is a great way of keeping your opponents in that offensive, "I need to construct my hand" mindset. When you declare riichi people will start discarding defensively, which may hinder you from winning. Having them continue to construct their hands will result in them making those dangerous discards, which will definitely increase the chances of one of them discarding your winning tile. They'll definitely be surprised when that happens.
2) You can choose to bail out any time.
Think of this situation: You riichi'd on the fifth turn with a two sided wait. Fair enough, right? Well after you riichi'd, the guy in front of you called Chun (red dragon). Moments later, he called Haku (white dragon), and then it happened. You drew Hatsu (green dragon). By virtue of your riichi, you are forced to discard that tile, yet by doing so you are probably feeding into a Daisangen (great three dragons). (You could always try to chombo to avoid paying up, not that it'll work in online clients.) Now, if you were in damaten instead, you could have bailed and chosen to discard a safe tile. Not getting an additional one han sure beats having to pay a yakuman.
3) You can improve your hand and waits while waiting for your winning tile.
Imagine you have this hand: (Round: East 3, Seat: West, Dora: 9S)
1M-1M-4M-6M 3P-4P-5P 3S-4S-5S E-E-E
Your current winning tile is a 5M. Assuming you riichi and get an ippatsu ron (ron within one go around after riichi), you would have three han unless you get uradora (riichi, ippatsu, yakuhai) resulting in 5200 points. Note that this situation is nigh impossible as well due to the fact that you're waiting on a single tile.
Now what if you didn't declare riichi? You would still win albeit with lower points if someone discarded or you drew a 5M, but at the same time, you can choose to improve your waits. What if you drew an akadora for one of your 5's that you've been waiting on? What if you drew a 3M? If you had riichi'd, you would be forced to discard the 3M, but if didn't, you could have improved your hand significantly.
(Round: East 3, Seat: West, Dora: 9S)
1M-1M-3M-4M 3P-4P-5P 3S-4S-5S(akadora) E-E-E
That hand value if someone discards the same 5M is worth 4 han now, 8000 points (sanshoku doujun, yakuhai, akadora). You also improved your waits from a single to a double sided one. Plus you have the element of "surprise" with you (as discussed in no. 1)
4) Once you start using it, people will get paranoid.
Imagine winning two hands straight by virtue of damaten. At that point, people will probably start to be wary of your hand and discards. "Is he/she tenpai yet?" "Is this tile safe?" "Do I bail out now since I think he's about to win?" This will essentially make it more difficult for them to form their hands. By the time you reach tenpai, they probably will have sacrificed a high scoring hand for something more safe. Of course, since damaten hands are usually cheaper than riichi'd hands, some people will continue to play their usual game. Don't underestimate the power of damaten though. Damaten sanbaimans and kazoe-yakumans do exist.
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Now even after saying all of that, I still somewhat believe that declaring riichi in some situations is better than being in damaten. (A double riichi is an example of that, or when you're in last place and need to catch up.) In other situations, calling tiles for a cheap win (yakuhai) or an expensive one (chiinitsu/honitsu) is also better.
I still have to say though, damaten > other tactics all most of the time.
Chombo-王
@nevertenpai
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