Highlights
Honitsu Hit
October 18, Game 2, E3-0
In E3-0, Murakami is the dealer in 2nd place and is 7,600 behind 1st place Takizawa. Murakami starts out with a 3-shanten hand with a red dora, while Takizawa holds a 2-shanten hand with two ryanmen groups and a 6s dora. On turn 5, Takizawa holds enough souzu to convert his hand to a honitsu iishanten. By the end of the row, Takizawa remains ahead of Murakami’s 2-shanten hand. At the start of the 2nd row, Takizawa is the first to get to tenpai and stays dama on a south/7s shanpon wait. If Takizawa draws either of them himself, he would add sanankou to his hand and get a haneman. Soon after, Takizawa upgrades his hand to a 369s/south wait, forgoing the haneman tsumo chance for a good wait guaranteed mangan. In the middle of the 2nd row, Murakami also gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen wait. Two turns later, Takizawa chooses to chase Murakami and calls riichi on his 369s/south wait. Near the start of the 3rd row, Murakami draws the 9s and deals into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with Riichi/Honitsu/Iipeikou/Dora 1 for 12,000 and stealing Murakami’s riichi stick.
Strong Tsumo
October 18, Game 2, S1-0
In S1-0, Tojo is in 2nd place after having just won a mangan. Her hand starts out with four wests, along with a pair of red dragons and a pair of 6s dora. When the red dragon comes out on turn 3, Tojo makes the unusual decision not to call it. despite the decision not to call, she draws the last red dragon at the end of the 1st row to get to 2-shanten. With her hand progressing well, she decides to finally call kan to try to get to iishanten. She misses, but the kan does upgrade her hand to a mangan. Through the early part of the 2nd row, Tojo is actually the furthest behind at 2-shanten while everyone else is iishanten. She catches up to them in the middle of the 2nd row and is actually iishanten for suuankou. When the 7p comes out, Tojo calls pon and gets to tenpai on a 6s/9m shanpon wait, opting for the higher value chance against the higher win chance. Soon after, Murakami gets to tenpai, but opts to stay dama on a yakuless hand. Right after that, Asakura chases with a riichi on a 58m ryanmen wait. With a poor shanpon wait, Murakami decides to dismantle his tenpai hand to play safe. Two turns later, Tojo draws the winning 9m to win the hand. Tojo wins with Toitoi/Sanankou/Red Dragon/Dora 2 for 6,000 all and takes Asakura’s riichi stick with her.
Yakuman Tenpai!?!
October 18, Game 2, S1-1
In S1-1, Tojo is the dealer and in 1st place after the dealer haneman the previous hand. her hand starts out with a pair of both wests and 3p, being 4-shanten and holding nothing but a 5p dora for value. With Asakura getting to iishanten on turn 2 and a call from Murakami, it looked like Tojo’s dealership would end short. However, Tojo drew a few good tiles to get to chiitoi iishanten by turn 5. On the same turn, Asakura gets to a ryanmen tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen wait. Seeing as her other options weren’t very good, she decides to throw her 8s suji pair first. The very next turn, she draws back to iishanten and has a hand looking like a honitsu. The turn after that gives her even more reason to push, drawing the red 5p double dora. Trying to rush out both of them, Murakami makes a call to get to tenpai on a 6m kanchan wait. Tojo continues to push, getting to iishanten for suuankou by the end of the 2nd row. The very next turn, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a north/west shanpon wait. If she wins on ron, she would have Riichi/Honitsu/Toitoi/Sanankou/Dora 3/Aka 1 for a 12 han sanbaiman. If she draws it with tsumo, she would get a suuankou. Unfortunately for her, Takizawa is holding onto all of her waits and isn’t going to throw them.
With everyone holding onto everyone else’s waits, the hand naturally went to a draw with Asakura and Tojo the only ones tenpai.
Strong Suji and Spoiler Strike
October 18, Game 2
In S1-2, Tojo is still holding onto her dealership and trying to extend the lead further. Her hand starts out 4-shanten with two ryanmen, while Takizawa starts out with an incredible 2-shanten for suuankou and iishanten for chiitoi. By the end of the 1st row, Tojo is 2-shanten with Murakami, Asakura is iishanten with a red 5p and Takizawa is still where he started. With Murakami calling pon on the south, he gets to iishanten. Later, he draws the 4th south and call kan with it, revealing the 8m as the dora which Tojo draws an ankou of a turn later to get to iishanten. The first player to get to tenpai is Tojo, who calls riichi on a 3s kanchan. Since she had thrown the 6s earlier, she hopes her suji trap will make the 3s more likely to come out. In the 3rd row, Murakami throws the 3s as he tries to call riichi, dealing into Tojo. Tojo wins the hand for Riichi/Tanyao/Dora 3 for 12,000+600 and taking the two riichi sticks left over from the previous hand.
In S1-3, Tojo starts out with a pair of white dragons, a red 5s and a 4p dora, being 4-shanten. With Murakami holding a pair of souths and green dragons and Takizawa holding a 2-shanten haipai (who gets to iishanten on turn 2), it again looks like her dealership will end this hand. In the middle of the 2nd row, both Murakami and Tojo make calls to get themselves to iishanten. With another call, Murakami gets his hand up to 5 han. The first player to get to tenpai is Tojo, who calls a chii to get to a 36p ryanmen wait. Soon after, Takizawa gets to a yakuless tenpai and stays dama on a 4p dora kanchan wait. In the 3rd row, Murakami gets to tenpai and waits on a 36m ryanmen wait.
Soon after, Takizawa improves his wait and tries to call riichi by throwing the 3p, dealing into Tojo.
Tojo wins the hand with White Dragon/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 5,800+900.
Ippatsu Pain
October 18, Game 2, S1-4
In S1-4, Murakami is deep in 4th place at -11,100, while Asakura is in 3rd place with 13,500. Tojo starts out with a pair of easts and souths, Asakura starts out 4-shanten with no and lacking good waits, Murakami is 3-shanten with a pair of white dragons and Takizawa’s hand is headed for honitsu. By the end of the 1st row, Asakura is iishanten while everyone else is 2-shanten. The first player to get to tenpai is Tojo, who calls pon on the east in the middle of the 2nd row and waits on a 2m kanchan wait. Two turns later, Murakami gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen wait, with the 4m giving sanshoku. Tojo decides that it’s time to fold as Asakura continues to move forward. At the end of the 2nd row, Asakura gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen wait. Immediately after, Murakami draws the 5p and deals into Asakura.
Revealing one uradora, Asakura wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 12,000+1,200, as well as Murakami’s riichi stick.
Yakuman Tenpai?!?
October 18, Game 2, S2-0
In S2-0, Tojo is far in the lead, Murakami is deep in the negatives and Asakura and Takizawa are 1,300 apart and fighting for 2nd place. Asakura starts out 3-shanten, Takizawa holds eight different terminals and honours and Tojo has a pair of white dragons. Though Takizawa would like to go for a fast hand, he gets to kokushi 2-shanten by turn 4, waiting on a white dragon, 9p and south. On turn 5, he draws the south in order to get to iishanten. By the start of the 2nd row, Murakami is also iishanten. Because of the slow and difficult nature of kokushi, it gives the other players time to catch up. With a call a few turns later, Asakura progresses his hand for tanyao and gets to iishanten with another call. With a call of the white dragon by Tojo, everyone is iishanten. With a chii, Murakami is the first to get to tenpai, waiting on a 258s sanmenchan wait.
Immediately after, Takizawa draws the last white dragon and gets to tenpai on a 9p wait. With two 9p left in the wall, the yakuman chance is real.
Tojo and Asakura keep pushing, with Asakura calling to get to tenpai on a 58m ryanmen wait. When Murakami draws the 4s, he discards the 7s to play it a bit safer and giving up on the 8s wait. The very next turn, he draws the 8s for the hand to backfire. The final player to get to tenpai, Tojo, gets to tenpai near the middle of the 3rd row and waits on a 3s kanchan wait. Soon after, Takizawa draws the 3s and deals into Tojo.
Tojo wins the hand with White dragon only for 1,000, killing the yakuman with the smallest of hands.
Complex Chinitsu
October 18, Game 2, S3-0
In S3-0, Asakura is 2,300 ahead of 3rd place Takizawa. Asakura starts out with a 3-shanten hand and holding 8 manzu tiles. By the end of the 1st row, Asakura is 3-shanten from a chinitsu. He draws manzu the next two turns and gets to iishanten. When the 9m is discarded, Asakura calls pon to get to tenpai on a 2m kanchan wait. Two turns later, he draws a 3m and discards the 1m, leaving him with the following shape:
Initially, Ooi said that the wait was a 3689m wait. Then corrected himself, saying that it was also waiting on the 7m just as Takizawa dealt in. Asakura wins the hand with Chinitsu for 8,000 and to take a clear lead for 2nd place.
Katsumata Luck
October 19, Game 2, S4-0
In S4-0, Katsumata is in 2nd place and is 9,300 behind 1st place dealer Matsumoto. In order to surpass him, he would need a 3/50 tsumo, a 3/40 direct hit or a haneman indirect hit. He starts out with a really poor starting hand, being 5-shanten with no value. By the end of the row, his hand is significantly improved, holding a red dora and a potential to get pinfu and iipeikou. The first player to get to tenpai is Hori, who waits on a 23p wait and stays dama in the middle of the 2nd row. Soon after, Katsumata draws to get to iishanten and completes his iipeikou two turns later and calls riichi on a 2p kanchan wait. With Honda getting to tenpai and trying to escape last place with his guaranteed mangan hand, he throws the 2p on the ippatsu turn. With Katsumata’s hand only being 4 han, he will need to find two uradora to change placement. Sure enough, his two 4m become dora with the flip and Katsumata gets the comeback. Katsumata wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Iipeikou/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 12,000 and to win the game.
Crushing Chanta
October 21, Game 2, S2-0
In S2-0, Ooi is the dealer and is in 2nd place. He starts out with an incredible iishanten hand, with chanta basically guaranteed. On turn 2, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1p/white dragon shanpon wait. Within turns, Hagiwara throws the white dragon and deals into Ooi. Ooi wins the hand wih Riichi/Chanta/White Dragon/Dora 1 for 12,000.
Game of Draws
October 21, Game 2
The second game on October 21 (Game 21 of the M-League Regular Season) was quite the unusual game. 7 out of the 13 hands, more than half of the hands played, went to a draw.
Clever Chiitoi
October 22, Game 1, S1-0
In S1-0, Date is 2nd place and 2,700 behind 1st place. She starts out with 4 pairs, being 2-shanten from chiitoi. Her first 5 draws were useless, but she gets to iishanten by the end of the 1st row. Two turns later, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a green dragon tanki wait. The wait seems strong, but what she doesn’t know is that Uotani holds an ankou of green dragons. With Uotani bailing from the riichi, she starts to dismantle her hand. Soon after, after calling a kan a few turns earlier, Okada gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen wait at the start of the 3rd row. With Uotani running out of 100% safe tiles near the end of the 3rd row, she gets rid of the safest tile in her hand: the green dragon. Date calls ron and wins the hand with Riichi/Chiitoi/Ura 2 for 8,000.
Not Yakuman Tenpai!?!
October 22, Game 1, S3-1
In S3-1, Date is the dealer and in 1st place. Her hand doesn’t start out too great, being 4-shanten with no value. By the end of the 1st row, Date gets iishanten for chiitoi. In the 2nd row, Date draws an ankou, giving her the ability to pivot to a standard hand. Soon after, Okada gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen wait.
Two turns later, Date draws a 2nd ankou, getting to iishanten for a potential suuankou. The turn after that, she gets the 3rd ankou, putting her tenpai on a north/4s shanpon wait. A tsumo win qould give her a huge 48,000 win. 6s, 1s, green dragon, she keeps pushing. Then she draws the 5m.
The chance of for a yakuman is extremely hard to reject.
But the 5m is extremely dangerous. Because of the danger factor and the fact that she’s already in 1st, she uses her self-control to discard the north.
In the end, it was Aki, who was pushing through the riichi the whole time, who won the hand. Aki wins the hand with Tanyao/Aka 3 for 2,000+100/4,000+100
Headbump
October 22, Game 2, S4-1
In S4-1, Sawazaki is in 4th place and Kondo is 2nd place as the dealer. Kondo starts out with a pair of 9p dora and a red 5p at 3-shanten, while Sawazaki is 3-shanten with a red 5m and a potential tanyao. By turn 4, Sawazaki is lucky and gets to iishanten with a chance at tanyao and iipeikou. At the end of the row, Takamiya is actually the first to tenpai with a call of the south and waits on a 58s ryanmen wait. Even though Kondo is behind, his hand advances well with a 9p dora draw and filling in a kanchan. At the end of the 2nd row, Kondo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 6s kanchan wait, with any one extra han getting him to haneman. A few turns later, Sawazaki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen wait, with the 6s getting him tanyao and iipeikou.
Since Takamiya doesn’t want Kondo to get any more chances to win, she throws the 6s nakasuji to risk dealing into Sawazaki. As Kondo tries to call ron, Sawazaki also calls ron and headbumps Kondo because of turn order. Sawazaki wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 12,000+300, plus Kondo’s riichi stick.
M-League Watch 