Highlights
The Ishibashi Trap
November 23, Game 1, S1-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-7_s30_p142
In S1-2, Ishibashi is in 3rd place with 2nd and 4th in close proximity. Ishibashi starts out with a pair of souths, a regular dora and a red dora at 4-shanten. With the south being both his seat and round wind, Ishibashi quickly calls pon on the south to solidify two han. Near the end of the 1st row, Ishibashi makes another call to get himself to iishanten with two ryanmen. A turn later, he switches his pair to a dora pair to bring his hand to 5 han. In the middle of the 2nd row, he draws a third 1s dora for 6 han iishanten. At the end of the 2nd row, Ishbashi gets to tenpai and has a choice to go for a ryanmen wait by discarding the dora, or to go for a tanki wait and keep the dora. Ishibashi decides to take the 47s ryanmen wait for a higher chance at winning, even if it brings his hand down to 5 han. The next turn, Ishibashi draws the 5s. Ishibashi switches out the red 5s, for a regular 5s, a genius move. With the hand already worth 5 han, meaning that reducing the hand to 4 han will still make the hand mangan. Furthermore, discarding the red 5s would indicate that the tiles surrounding it (34567s) are unlikely to be winning tiles. The Ishibashi trap succeeds, with Taro throwing the 4s near the end of the hand to give Ishibashi 8,000+600 from Double South/Dora 2.
This isn’t the first time Ishibashi has engaged in shenanigans. In game 2 of the M-League 2019 Finals, Ishibashi tried to get everyone to fold by calling a 4-dora pon (with moderate success).
Never Too Late to Riichi
November 23, Game 1 , S2-0
In S2-0, after Taro had fallen for the Ishibashi trap, Taro is in 4th and 5,600 behind 3rd place Okada. Taro’s hand starts out with good potential, being 3-shanten and holding multiple ryanmen shapes and a dora. His first few turns progressed his hand quickly, leading him to iishanten and with a red dora by turn 3, setting him up for at least 5,200. On turn 5, Taro converted a kanchan to a ryanmen, giving him a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten and guarantee pinfu if he gets to tenpai. In the middle of the 2nd row, Ishibashi gets to chiitoi tenpai, calling a dealer riichi waiting on the west. Having a good wait, good value and needing points, Taro continued to push his hand. Through his push, Taro added tanyao to his hand at the end of the 2nd row. Near the start of the 3rd row, Taro gets to tenpai and stays dama on a wide 258s wait, with 2s and 5s both Ishibashi’s genbutsu tiles. With 8 more tiles left in the wall and noticing that there are still 5 of his winning tiles left, Taro decides to call riichi. Then, on Ishibashi’s last draw, the second-last tile in the wall, Ishibashi draws the 8s, dealing into Taro. Taro wins with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 12,000 and taking Ishibashi’s riichi stick.
Raking In the Reds
November 23, Game 2, E2-0
In E2-0, Hori wants to get his team out of the dumps, his team not winning a game since November 2. Hori starts out with with a red dora at 4-shanten. As Hori was 3-shanten, dealer Taro decides to call riichi on a 3m kanchan wait on turn 5. With not much in terms of progress in his hand, Hori decides to discard his pair of souths first and see if he can still salvage his hand safely. On his next turn, Hori finds the third red 5. With few safe tiles and good potential value, Hori continues to push his hand. Near the end of the 2nd row, Hori gets to tenpai, calling riichi on a 36s ryanmen wait for mangan minimum. On Hori’s ippatsu draw, he finds the 6s to win the hand. Hori wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 3 for 3,000/6,000. The haneman helped him into first, which he held to give his team their first win since November 2.
Back-to-Back Dealer Mangans
November 24, Game 2
In S1-3, Shiratori is in last place and looking to use his last dealer turn to improve his score. His haipai starts out poorly, being 3-shanten with kanchan and penchan shapes. In the first row, his hand improves somewhat, pairing up an isolated honour dora and bringing his hand to chiitoi 2-shanten. Near the end of the 1st row, Shiratori is faced with an early riichi from Takizawa. However, because Shiratori is going for chiitoi, he is able to advance fairly safely. On turn 8, Shiratori gets to tenpai and stays dama, waiting on the 5p. As Shiratori waits for his winning tile, Sasaki goes ahead and calls riichi as well. With two riichi calls on the table, Shiratori stays strong and keeps his tenpai. Near the end of the 2nd row, Shiratori switches his wait to a 3m and calls riichi. Two turns later, Takizawa draws the 3m and deals into Shiratori’s hand. Shiratori wins with Riichi/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 12,000+900, along with the two other riichi sticks and the two riichi from the previous hand, giving Shiratori a 16,900 gain.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-7_s30_p148
In S1-4, Shiratori starts out with a 3-shanten hand with two completed sets in manzu and a ryanmen in pinzu. By the end of the 1st row, Shiratori has an iishanten hand geared towards tanyao with two red dora. On his next draw, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a wide 134m wait. On Shiratori’s ippatsu draw, he finds the 1m to win with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 2 for 4,000+400 all.
East 1-Discard 1: Double Riichi
November 26, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Asakura starts out as the first dealer, looking to turn around after the dead hand and loss the last game he played. Asakura starts out with an outstanding haipai, already being tenpai. Asakura calls riichi with the very first discard of the game, waiting on a 7m kanchan. With no way to defend against a double riichi, everyone proceeds by first discarding honours and terminals. Very early as well, on turn 5, Kondo manages to get to tenpai and stays dama, waiting on a 3p/8s shanpon wait with a chance to add pinfu or sanshoku to his Tanyao/Aka 1 hand. Kondo waits many turns, but eventually decides to just call riichi in the middle of the 2nd row. Both Aki and Ooi fold their hands, making the hand a battle between Asakura and Kondo. The hand eventually goes to ryuukyoku, with Asakura and Kondo both in tenpai.
Not Too Late
November 26, Game 2, E2-0
In E2-0, Ooi is tied for 4th with Asakura, though the game is still in its early stages. Ooi’s hand starts out 2-shanten with a dora, needing to fill in kanchans to advance the hand. Through the first two rows, Ooi struggles to improve or fill in the kanchans, forcing him to go for an easier tanyao-based hand near the end of the 2nd row. In the middle of the 3rd row, Asakura calls riichi on a 4s kanchan wait. With the riichi on the table, Ooi keeps pushing, getting to iishanten on the turn after the riichi. With three tiles left in the wall, Ooi decides to call riichi and wait on the 69m ryanmen wait. Two turns later, Kondo draws the dora and discards the 6m to maintain his tenpai. Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Tanyao for 8,000.
Match Seven Tiles to Win!
November 26, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-7_s30_p153
In S2-0, Aki is in 1st place and looking to move the game along. Her haipai doesn’t provide much help in that respect, being 4-shanten with kanchans. Within the first 5 turns, Aki goes from having just a single pair to four pairs (including a dora pair). Holding multiple honours, she sets her hand up for chiitoi. At the start of the 2nd row, she finds her 5th pair and on the very next turn, she gets to tenpai. She calls riichi, waiting on the white dragon for a guaranteed mangan hand. If Aki wins by tsumo, whe would upgrade the hand to a haneman. At the end of the 2nd row, Aki finds the white dragon. Revealing two ura dora, she upgrades her hand to a baiman. Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2/Ura 2 for 4,000/8,000.
Ooi’s Rise
November 26, Game 2, S4
In S4-0, Ooi is at 25,400 points, 14,400 behind 1st place Aki. Ooi starts off with a good haipai, being 3-shanten with a red dora and a regular dora. Looking at all the other players, Both Kondo and Aki have haipais closer to tenpai, making Ooi’s comeback look unlikely. By the end of the 1st row, both Aki and Kondo have hands at iishanten, while Ooi is still struggling at 2-shanten. Having drawn to iishanten earlier in the second row, Ooi decides to make a call to tenpai near the end of the 2nd row, waiting on a 25s wait. With Kondo still looking for tenpai, Kondo discards the 2s to deal into Ooi. Ooi wins the hand with Tanyao/Aka 1 for 2,900.
In S4-1, Ooi starts out 2-shanten with two ryanmen in hand. His hand develops fairly quickly, but doesn’t hold much value. At the start of the 2nd row, Ooi calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen wait. Near the start of the 3rd row, Asakura discards the 3m for Ooi to win with Riichi/Ura 1 for 3,900+300
In S4-2, Ooi is only 7,300 points away from Aki now. His haipai starts out 2-shanten with an ankou of 1p, a pair of souths and a red 5. On turn 2, he gets to iishanten with a ryanmen-ryanmen. At the start of the 2nd row, Ooi calls riichi on a 47m wait, holding a guaranteed 7,700 point hand, enough to take 1st. At the start of the 3rd row, Ooi draws the takame dora 4m to win the hand. Ooi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/South/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 to get to haneman range for 6,000+200, bringing his score up to 51,100
With a big lead over Aki, Ooi was able to comfortably go noten in S4-3 to take the game and finish in 1st.
Your Weekly Shortcut to Haneman
November 27, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-7_s30_p156
In S1-0, Kurosawa is in 3rd place and wanting to maintain her 100% 4th place avoidance streak. Her haipai starts out with a 3-shanten hand with three pairs and no value. As an audience we could see that everyone else’s hands are progressing much faster than Kurosawa’s. By the end of the 1st row, Kurosawa is in only at 2-shanten while Murakami is at iishanten. However, Kurosawa’s hand accelerates quickly, getting to tenpai before Murakami in the middle of the 2nd row. She stays dama on her chiitoi tenpai, looking for a better wait. The very next turn, she calls riichi, switching her 6p wait to a 1m wait. On Kurosawa’s ippatsu turn, she finds the 1m to win the hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Ura 2 for 3,000/6,000.
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