M-League 2019 Finals: Games #9-10

Game #10

Up With Ura

In E1-0, Kayamori started out with a pair of 3s dora and a north ankou, leaning the hand towards honitsu. As she drew a ryanmen in pinzu, her hand became more difficult to deal with, forcing her to wait for a riichi opportunity. During this wait for riichi, she draws another dora, then a red dora and later makes an ankan with her norths. When she gets to tenpai on turn 13, she calls riichi, waiting on the 36p, to give her hand a yaku. Though, unknown to her, Ooi had built his hand for pinfu greatness, drawing the 8m dora that Kayamori had revealed to get to tenpai. Ooi chased Kayamori with a riichi of his own, waiting on the 25p. During Ooi’s ippatsu turn, Kayamori discarded the 2p to give him the win. With the help of ura, Ooi’s hand won with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 2 to get him to haneman and 12000 points

Playing for the Pot

In E4-3 the points up for grabs was 3900. The previous three hands went to a draw, accumulating riichi sticks in the process. With the equivalent of a 3 han hand in bonus sticks available, the players aimed for quick hands. Asakura’s hand had a few ryanmen waits for tanyao, but could spell trouble if he drew the wrong side. Kayamori had a haipai filled with pinzu, naturally leading her to aim for Chinitsu. Both Kayamori and Asakura made early calls and to iishanten before the end of the 1st row. Asakura got to tenpai first when he made his second call, waiting on a 25p wait. Kayamori got to tenpai in the middle of the 2nd row, waiting on the 58p and holding 4 of Asakura’s winning tiles. With the other two players bailing, it was all a battle to see who would draw their winning tile first. In the end, it was Kayamori winning with a big Chinitsu hand to win the big pot for 2000+300/4000+300, along with the three riichi sticks (which also got him out of last place and back in the running).

Playing for the Pot (again)

In S2-3 the points up for grabs was 3900. The previous three hands went to a draw, accumulating riichi sticks in the process. With the equivalent of a 3 han hand in bonus sticks available, the players aimed for quick hands. Uchikawa has an iishanten haipai, a blessing as the dealer looking to take the pot. On turn 2, he draws to tenpai and calls riichi, waiting on the 7m. Both Kayamori and Ooi continued to push their hand, with Kayamori getting to tenpai first waiting on the 4p. When Ooi got to tenpai shortly after, he called riichi waiting n the 58m for a guaranteed mangan. This plan backfires on Ooi when he draws Uchikawa’s winning tile on his very next draw. Uchikawa won the hand with Riichi/Dora 1 for 3900+900, along with the three riichi sticks on the table and Ooi’s stick.

Fast Hand, Even Faster Win

In S2-4, Kayamori starts off with a 2-shanten hand, though holding a pair of green dragons and a red 5s. On the next turn, she draws to get to iishanten and the turn after that, she draws another 5s, bringing her to tenpai. On that turn 3 tenpai, she called riichi, waiting on a Green Dragon/5s shanpon wait. Unfortunately for Asakura, he had no safe tiles during that ippatsu turn. So, he threw the safest tile that he had: the green dragon. With that, Kayamori won the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Green Dragon/Aka 1 to get a mangan, take the pot and take the lead.

Sashikomi

In S4-1, Kayamori was in 1st place and was ahead of Ooi the dealer by 10400 points. In order to finish the game in the lead, she tries her hardest to win the hand. Asakura, who needed to get out of last place, needed to win a hand worth at least 4500 to get out of last. Asakura was the first player to get to tenpai, but he declined calling riichi at first since it was a bad shanpon wait and a lot of room for improvement. When he did draw a better wait, he called riichi, waiting on the 36m with a chance for iipeikou. Kayamori’s plan shifted, going from wanting to win the hand to not wanting to deal in. When Kayamori ran out of safe tiles she had to do some risk analysis.

She noticed that Ooi was continuing to push, meaning that if the hand did go to a draw, Ooi would be in tenpai and the game would continue, giving Ooi another chance to win the game. She also knew that dealing into a haneman would lose her 1st place. Asakura only needs a 5200 hand or a mangan to get out of last, and would need a baiman ron or better to get into 2nd. Weighing the facts, Kayamori discarded the 3m, arguably trying to intentionally deal in (also known as sashikomi) to end Ooi’s dealer turn and win the game. The gamble works, with Asakura winning the Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 hand for mangan to get out of last and Kayamori maintaining her 1st place to win the game.

Final Scores

	Player	Score	Final Score
1st	Kayamori Sayaka	30800	+50.8
2nd	Ooi Takaharu	28700	+8.7
3rd	Asakura Koushin	22700	-17.3
4th	Uchikawa Kotaro	17800	-42.2

Standings