M-League 2019 Finals: Games #1-2

Game 1

Back-to-Back Hanemans

In E2-0, Kobayashi’s hand started out 2-shanten with the only value in it being one dora. As Kobayashi drew tiles, he managed to pair up a lone hatsu and drew a red five. Once Kobayashi drew to tenpai, he called riichi with a South/Green Dragon shanpon and drew the green dragon on his ippatsu turn. Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Green Dragon/Dora 1/Aka 1 was enough to put him into haneman territory for 3000/6000.

In E3-0, Kobayashi quickly brought his hand to tenpai on turn 6, being damaten for Pinfu/Sanshoku Doujun/Dora 1/Aka 1 with a 47s wait for mangan. Right after, Ooi called riichi to go for Riichi/Dora 1 with a 69s ryanmen wait. Because of Ooi’s riichi, Kobayashi decided to chase and called riichi. Eventually, Ooi dealt into Kobayashi’s hand to give him the haneman.

Passing Tenpai Three Times

In E4-0, Sawazaki calls a row 2 riichi on a 8m/6p wait, holding three of the dora. With Sawazaki being the dealer, any win would be dangerous to deal in to. Kobayashi, who was in the lead with 48800, drew 5m to put him in to a potential tenpai. However, due to the danger put forth by Sawazaki, he declined the ryanmen tenpai and discarded the 6m genbutsu. On his next draw, he drew the 7m, again giving him the opportunity to go for tenpai. For the second time, he refuses the tenpai and discards the other 6m in his hand. A little later, he completes the ryanmen and has a chance to go for a 235p ryantan wait, but declines for the third time by discarding 5m. Even though he had the chance to go for more points, he kept true and decided each time that keeping a safe lead is more worth it than being greedy.

Tanki Beats Ryanmen

In E4-1, Kobayashi was the first player to hit tenpai. Kobayashi decided to go and riichi on the north tanki for Riichi/Dora 1. Because his wait was on an honour tile, people who are looking to push are more likely to deal in, while people who draw it and are looking to defend will have a very difficult tile to use in their hand. Despite this, Sawazaki was able to get his hand into tenpai, calling riichi on the 13th turn for Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1. However, it was Kobayashi winning it out after Sawazaki dealt out the north wait. Kobayashi won that hand for 2600, plus 300 for honba and 1000 for Sawazaki’s riichi stick.

Atozuke

In S1-2, Kobayashi made an early call of north, giving him a 5m/5z shanpon tenpai. This wait meant that his hand had no yaku confirmed only allowing him to win on the white dragon. Normally a dubious play, he was able to make it work. Since he was dealer, a quick win is preferable in order to keep one’s dealership. Since the white dragon is very difficult for people to utilize in their winning hand, it is an easy tile to come out. The turn after the call, Kobayashi drew the white dragon for a White Dragon/Dora 1 win to give him 1300+200 from all.

Difficult Decision

In S1-3, As Ooi was was aiming to win Green Dragon/Honitsu hand, he discarded the white dragon dora. Kayamori then proceeded to call pon on the white dragon, putting her into iishanten. Soon afterwards, both Kayamori and Ooi got to tenpai, Kayamori on the 25s and Ooi on the 47m. Near the end of the hand hand, Ooi drew the 5s.

With Kayamori having the a dora pon, any hand that she wins would be worth 8000 minimum (kiriage mangan is present in M-League). Due to the lack of 3467s, there is still a good chance that she has a ryanmen wait. However, he does have a decent ryanmen wait. With three 6m visible to him, he knows that it’s difficult for other players to use 7m. If he deals in, that would put him 13700 behind 3rd and 19000 behind 2nd. After spending over a minute deciding whether or not to keep or throw the 5s, he decided to play it safe and threw the 6m.

Three Riichi, Only One is Victorious

In S3-0, all of the players had their hands progress well, putting 3 of them iishanten by the 8th discard. By the 11th discard, Sawazaki had gotten into tenpai with a 25m wait and called riichi for Riichi/Pinfu with a possible dora with the 5m. Despite being iishanten, Kayamori folded since she would have to throw dangerous tiles if she wanted to get to tenpai. Ooi drew a useful tile, but that caused him to reach a fork in the road. He could choose to discard 4m or 5m and be in tenpai for Tanyao/Iipeikou with a possible Dora 2, or he could riichi with either or them to increase the possible score, or he could bail. Ooi decided to stay dama and wait on the 5m dora. Kobayashi later drew his tenpai tile and also considered calling riichi. He decided to go for it, having a 7s penchan wait for Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1. Due to both Sawazaki and Kobayashi calling riichi, Ooi decided to call riichi on his 5m tanki wait. In the end, Sawazaki won the hand, self-drawing the 5m to give him Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 2000/4000.

Baiman Breakthrough

Highlight video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-4_s30_p512

In S4-0, Ooi Takaharu was in last place and needed some points. He was 8600 from 3rd and 9700 from 2nd. A direct hit haneman or a mangan tsumo would be enough to get him into second. From his haipai, two dora and one red dora was in his hand, guaranteeing mangan if he wins. By his thrid draw, Ooi drew to iishanten and by turn 7, he was in tenpai. With a 245m ryantan wait, a win would give him Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 2/Aka 1 for mangan. Since just mangan isn’t enough, he decided to call riichi to upgrade it to a haneman. Drawing the red 5m on his next draw, he added Ippatsu, Tsumo and a red dora to give him 9 han for a 4000/8000 baiman, catapulting him to 2nd place.

Finals Scores

	Player	Score	Final Score
1st	Kobayashi Go	62700	+82.7
2nd	Ooi Takaharu	21000	+1.0
3rd	Kayamori Sayaka	10700	-29.3
4th	Sawzaki Makoto	5600	-54.4

Standings After Game 1

The Pirates gained a lot of ground, making it all the way to 2nd place. With only 55.0 points separating 1st and 4th, it really is anybody’s tournament.

Page 1: Before the Games
Page 2: Game #1
Page 3: Game #2