Highlights
Takame
February 22, Game 1, S2-3
In S2-3, Okada is in 3rd place and 2,900 points are up for grabs. While the dealer Taro starts out with 10 different terminals and honours to go for kokushi, Okada starts out with a 3-shanten hand with a white dragon pair and a red 5s. By the end of the 1st row, Okada is iishanten with a chance at sanshoku. In the middle of the 2nd row, Okada calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen wait. The difference in the two waits are significant, as the 3p will give Riichi/Aka 2, while the 6p will add sanshoku for mangan and a chance at haneman. On Okada’s 2nd land draw, she draws the takame 6p. Okada wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Sanshoku/Aka 2 for 2,000+300/4,000+300, plus the 2 riichi sticks from the previous hands.
Haitei Shifting
February 22, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-7_s30_p392
In S3-0, Ishibashi is just barely in the lead, being only 800 points of 2nd place Okada. While Ishibashi’s haipai isn’t particularly interesting, Setokuma holds a 3-shanten hand with a good chance at both iipeikou and pinfu. By the end of the 1st row, Setokuma is 2-shanten with the flexibility to pick up a dora. Near the start of the 2nd row, Setokuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on 4m dora kanchan. With no reason to challenge 3rd place Setokuma, Ishibashi folds his hand. The process goes very well for Ishibashi, having no fear of dealing in.
As the end of the wall became more and more apparent, Ishibashi noticed that the last tile was poised to go to Setokuma. To get rid of the possibility of a surprise haitei win, Ishibashi calls chii to shift the last tile to Taro.
Sure enough, the last tile turned out to be the 4m and Ishibashi avoids disaster!
The hand ends with Setokuma the only one tenpai.
With this hand, it helped Ishibashi maintain his top spot and end the game in 1st. The game was also the game that moved the Pirates into 7th place in the standings.
Typical Sasaki
February 23, Game 1, S1-0
In S1-0, Sasaki starts out as the dealer tied for 2nd place with Wakutsu. He starts out with a standard hand 4-shanten with no visible value. Through the first row, he creates some ryanmen blocks and gets rid of some bad shapes. By the end of the 1st row, Sasaki gets to iishanten with a ryanmen and a sanmenchan. At the start of the 2nd row, Wakutsu challenges Sasaki with a 47s ryanmen riichi. Two turns later, Sasaki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 258m sanmenchan wait. Having drawn a red 5 and a dora in the first row, his pinfu hand is suddenly upgraded to a dealer mangan. On Sasaki’s very next draw, he gets the 5m to win the hand. Sasaki wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 6,000 all and the lead.
With this hand it allowed him to win his 3rd game in as many games.
No More Ura San
February 25, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-7_s30_p403
In E4-0, Uchikawa is in 1st place and looking extend his lead. He starts out with a 4-shanten hand with no value. Through the first row, Uchikawa improves his hand by drawing a red dora and improving his shapes. By turn 5, Uchikawa gets himself to iishanten with a penchan and a ryanmen. In the 2nd row, he manages to improves his shapes to get rid of the penchan and at the end of the 2nd row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen wait. Within the first go-around Murakami also gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen wait. Near the end of the hand, Murakami draws the 1s and deals directly into Uchikawa. When Uchikawa reveals the 4m as the uradora indicator, it makes his 5m ankou dora. Uchikawa wins the hand with Riichi/Aka 1/Ura 3 for 8,000, stealing Murakami’s riichi stick as well.
Pirates Dealer Mangan
February 26, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-7_s30_p406
In S3-0, Mizuhara is the dealer and starts out with a standard hand 5-shanten hand with no value. Through the first row, Mizuhara fills in penchans and kanchans and gets to iishanten with a guaranteed iipeikou by the end of the 1st row. In the middle of the 2nd row, Mizuhara expands her point possibilities by getting to chiitoi iishanten as well as a chance for ryanpeikou. In the middle of the 3rd row, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3m penchan wait. Two turns later, Mizuhara draws the winning 3m to win the hand. Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Iipeikou/Ura 1 for 4,000 all.
With this hand, it allowed Mizuhara to take the lead and eventually win the game. The game helped the team get within 1.7pts of 6th place.
Pirates Dealer Mangan (Again?!)
February 26, Game 2, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-7_s30_p408
In S2-1, Kobayashi is in 3rd place and wants to take advantage of his dealer turn and take back the riichi stick he lost to ryuukyoku last hand. Her starts out with a 4-shanten hand with two red dora. Through the first row, he created ryanmen waits and picked up another dora to guarantee a minimum mangan hand. Though his hand didn’t progress too quickly, his hand does eventually get to iishanten near the end of the 2nd row. A turn later, he gets to tenpai and stays dama on his 47p ryanmen wait. With other player pushing, it was a sneaky way to get a dealer mangan wait. At the start of 3rd row, 1st place Takamiya discards the 4p and deals into Kobayashi. Kobayashi wins the hand with Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 12,000+300, as well as taking back the riichi stick from last hand.
With this hand, it allowed Kobayashi to take the lead and eventually win the game. The game helped get the team to 5th place in the rankings and within 46.0pts of 3rd place.
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