M-League 2019 Finals: Games #9-10

Game #9

Ooi’s Explosive Start

Highlight video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-4_s30_p531

In E1-0, Ooi started with a nice 2-shanten hand to start the game, developing it as one typically would; he discarded his honours and terminals and converted his kanchans to ryanmens. It took him a bit, but he managed to reach iishanten in the middle of the 2nd row. When he got to tenpai, he was ready for Pinfu/Aka 1 with a chance for iipeikou and chose to call riichi. As mahjong luck would have it, he drew the 5m to give him Iipekou and Tsumo to bring him to mangan for 4000 all.

In E1-1, Ooi wated to keep his dealership, so he aimed for a fast tanyao hand. It would be difficult though, since he had three kanchans in his hand. At the end of the 1st row, he called chii to remove one of his kanchans and put himself into iishanten. Even with Ishibashi calling riichi, Ooi managed to keep his hand going, calling chii to get rid of another kanchan and be tenpai waiting on the 7p. Ooi beat out the riichi by drawing the 7p himself to win his Tanyao/Sanshoku hand for 1000+100 all, plus Ishibashi’s riichi stick

In E1-2, Ishibashi again tries to beat out Ooi, calling an early pon on the east. Seeing the call, Ooi needed to go for a quick hand himself. He called pon on the white dragon for iishanten and called pon on the 2p right after for tenpai. Waiting on the 69m, Ooi was now ready for a 1500+600. He wins this one when Uotani discards the 9m trying to get to tenpai, letting him keep his dealership.

In E1-3, no one else but Ooi could build their hand. They just weren’t able to get any good draws. Ooi was the only one in tenpai at ryuukyoku, giving him 1000 from everyone and letting him keep his dealership for yet another hand.

In E1-4, Ooi had a 2-shanten hand with a pair of east. On turn 2, he gets to iishanten and gets to tenpai on turn 3, calling riichi with an East/3m wait. He doesn’t have to wait too long, as Uotani deals in the east to give him Riichi/Double East for 7700+1200.

After those 5 hands, Ooi had more than doubled his score, helping his team in their pursuit to win the championship.

Sanshoku Superstar

In E3-0, Uotani was dealer and was in last place. She needed to get out of there in order to maintain the Phoenix’s lead in the finals. Ooi tried to stifle this dealer turn by calling pon early, confirming a yaku to go for a fast hand. Uotani stayed closed while she built her hand, managing to get into tenpai before him. She called riichi with no other yaku, though she did have a good 47p ryanmen wait and a possible chance at sanshoku. As the fear of dealer riichi looming, Ooi started to bail. However, all of the players managed to get iishanten in some odd way or another. When Uotani drew the 8s dora, she felt a little discomfort while discarding it. Ishibashi, who had a pair of them in his hand, called pon and was now tenpai for Tanyao/Dora 3/Aka 2 with a 58m wait. With this new threat, both Okada and Ooi were eventually forced to go into full defence mode, leaving it to be a battle between Uotani and Ishibashi. It was Uotani who eventually won the hand, winning by tsumo on the 4p to give her sanshoku and boost her up to dealer mangan for 4000 all.

What Could Have Been…

S1-0, Ooi was in the lead and was the dealer. Since it is the finals, he decided to build his hand instead of going extremely safe. This worked out for him getting to iishanten at the 2nd row. However, he was faced with some opposition from Uotani when she called riichi on her 7s kanchan wait. As everyone else was bailing, Ooi managed to safely keep his hand shape. Eventually he got to tenpai and had to choose.

Ooi was given the choice between taking a 2m/8s shanpon wait or going for the 3m kanchan wait. Because Uotani had discarded the 5m at riichi, it was possible that her wait would be somewhere within that area, making 4m a dangerous tile. To go for the safer route Ooi decided to discard the 2m. Even though it was dora, suji is at least safer than nothing at all.

Unfortunately, mahjong can be cruel sometimes. A few turns later, he drew the 8s, his winning tile if he had chosen the shanpon. To make matters worse, he ends up drawing the 7s and deals into Uotani. When Uotani won, she revealed that the 9m was the ura dora. A potential Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2/Aka 1/Ura 3 dealer baiman hand for Ooi did not come through and he instead deals in, all because he chose the wrong wait.

12000, 12000, 12000

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In S2-0, Uotani started the hand off quickly, calling a pon on the double south. Holding a dora and a red dora in hand, it looked like a quick shortcut to mangan. With her next few draws she brought her hand closer and closer to tenpai. Because it was earlier, she chose to reject an iishanten with a kanchan in favour of aiming for a ryanmen. She didn’t get the ryanmen she wanted, but ended up drawing the dora. The very next turn, she called pon on the 9m to be in tenpai for 2p/7s for a Double South/Dora 2/Aka 1 guaranteed mangan, haneman if she wins on the 7s. A threat was faced when Uchikawa called riichi, but it was Uotani who was victorious, drawing the takame 7s right after the riichi to give her the haneman.

In S3-0, Ishibashi has a nice hand, holding 2 dora. He moved his hand along quickly, getting to iishanten on turn 5. On turn, Ishibashi drew a dora, thereby completing a dora ankou and putting him in tenpai. He called riichi on a 8s/9p shanpon wait for a guaranteed mangan. Uotani tried to push her hand since she was dealer, but it caused her to deal into Ishibashi. When Ishibashi revealed the ura dora, his hand suddenly gained 3 more han to upgrade his hand to a haneman for Riichi/Dora 3/Ura 3 and 12000 points.

Highlight video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-4_s30_p533

In S4-0, Ishibashi has an amazing haipai, being iishanten for Honitsu/Dora 1 in his haipai. With such a haipai as dealer, he advances his hand as quickly as possible, calling pon on the red dragon to put him into tenpai with a 14s ryanmen wait. He won the hand off of Okada at the end of the 1st row, giving him Honitsu/Red Dragon/Dora 1 for 12000 points.

Should I Win?

In S4-1, Okada was deep in last place at -1900. With her team in 4th, heavily in the negatives, she needed a big win in order to have even a remote chance of getting her team out of 4th. Her hand started out nicely, developing into a standard pinfu with 1 dora. Her hand continued to develop more, having the chance for sanshoku, until she reached tenpai. In order to keep the 456 sanshoku dream alive, she kept dama in hopes of drawing a 6p to shift her 345p run. Unfortunately, she drew her winning 4m first. Here, she had a choice.

Okada could choose to call tsumo on the 4m, giving her Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1 for 700+100/1300+100, taking her out of the negatives, but still in last place. She could also discard the 3p and call riichi, hoping that she would draw the 6p and bring her up to a haneman with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Dora 1. She knew that in order for her to move placement, she would have to tsumo a sanbaiman, so that wasn’t happening. She knew that if she did choose to riichi, it there would be a risk of her not winning, giving her less points at ryuukyoku than if she had just called tsumo. And if she did win, it would only swing the points by about 10 points, which wasn’t very much considering the deficit. With these in mind, she decided to just take the points and called tsumo, ending the game at the very least in the positives.

Final Scores

	Player	Score	Final Score
1st	Ooi Takaharu	51800	+71.8
2nd	Ishibashi Nobuhiro	26900	+6.9
3rd	Uotani Yuumi	20200	-19.8
4th	Okada Sayaka	1100	-58.9

Standings

With the win, the Abemas surpass the Pirates to take the 2nd spot. The top of the standings is getting smaller and smaller, with only 56.1 points separating the 1st place Phoenix and 3rd place Pirates. With another 4th, the chances of the Sakura Knights getting any prize money approaches 0.

Page 1: Before the Games
Page 2: Game #9
Page 3: Game #10