Highlights
Yakuman Tenpai!?!
October 25, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Murakami is the dealer and starts out with a 3-shanten hand with a pair of red dragons and a single dora. Across the table is Matsumoto, who starts out with a 3-shanten hand that looks like pinfu. On turn 3, Matsumoto gets to iishanten for tanyao and confirms both tanyao and pinfu on turn 4. At the end of the 1st row, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen wait. With Murakami being the dealer and already holding an iishanten hand, he keeps going. Near the middle of the 2nd row, Murakami pairs up his 1s dora to give him two pairs and two ankou. The next turn he makes another pair to put him iishanten for a potential suuankou. The turn after that, he turns his 8p pair an ankou and gets to tenpai on a 6p/1s shanpon wait, with a ron on the 1s being a baiman and any tsumo being suuankou. With three tiles left in the wall, the chance is very real.
However, he draws the 2m immediately after and deals into Matsumoto. Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 12,000 and takes Murakami’s stick as well.
Yakuman Tenpai!?!
October 25, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p123
In Matsumoto is in the lead after having just won off of Murakami who had yakuman chance. Matsumoto starts out with 9 unique terminal and honours for what could be a kokushi tenpai, while Murakami 4-shanten. Murakami’s hand develops quickly and gets to iishanten on turn 4. On turn 5, Matsumoto draws a south to 2-shanten for kokushi. On turn 8, Matsumoto finds the 1p and waits on either the 9p and north to get to tenpai. On the same turn, Murakami gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 147p sanmenchan wait.
Immediately after, Matsumoto draws the north and gets to kokushi tenpai on the 9p. With the 9p a safe tile against Murakami and the fact that there are still two 9p left in the wall, everyone is excited to see if the first M-League yakuman of the season would be won after so many yakuman tenpais.
On turn 10, Ishibashi gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 4s/7s shanpon wait, but is forced to fold a few turns later when drawing the red dragon.
At the start of the 3rd row, Katsumata gets to tenpai and unwaveringly calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen wait. With Ishibashi doing a straightforward fold, it was a battle between the other three. With the excitement in Hiyoshi’s voice, everyone was watching to see who would become the victor.
On turn 16, on Katsumata’s 2nd last draw, he finds the 1s to kill the kokushi and the sanmenchan and to win the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2 for 4,000 all.
Pei Jigoku Tanki
October 25, Game 2, S2-0
In S2-0, Murakami is in last place while Matsumoto is within haneman range of 1st. Matsumoto starts out with 4 different pairs while Murakami is 4-shanten with a very good chance at tanyao. On turn 3, Matsumoto gets to iishanten. As with any chiitoi, Matsumoto merely sits around the next few turns while waiting for tenpai. During this time, Ishibashi makes a call to get to iishanten and Murakami draws to a ryanmen-kanchan iishanten at the end of the 1st row. The first player to get to tenpai is Ishibashi, who waits on a 9m/3p shanpon wait. As the hand approaches the end of the 2nd row, Murakami upgrades to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten and Matsumoto gets to tenpai and waits on an 8s. Soon after, Matsumoto draws the north and calls riichi on a north tanki wait. With two norths already discarded, Matsumoto is dangerously waiting on the one north tile that may or may not be in the dead wall. In the ippatsu turn, Murakami draws the north and discards the normally safe tile. Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 12,000.
Tenhou Chance!?!
October 26, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p131
In S4-0, Hagiwara is in last place and looking for a good hand to move up some places. With Hagiwara’s first 13 tiles, he has 6 pairs in his hand and a single 8p just waiting to find a friend.
In dramatic fashion, Hagiwara drew his tile and revealed…
The 2p. Instantly, he threw and called riichi.
A few turns later, he draws the 8p and wins the hand with Double Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi for 4,000 all. Though it wasn’t the big win that would have been perfect for Yakuman Day, the 12,000 point hand did get him out of last place.
Baiman Boy
October 26, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p132
In E3-0, Sasaki is in 3rd place and 12,900 behind 1st place. His hand starts out 2-shanten with 4p dora and an ankou of 8p. In order to get more points and get better shapes, he goes back a shanten by getting rid of his penchan. With a call from Uotani on his left to skip Sasaki’s turn and everyone else developing their hands, Sasaki falls behind a bit. With three calls, Uotani is the first to get to tenpai and waits on a white dragon/5s shanpon. When he draws a 4th 8p, he calls kan, revealing the 3m ()which he has a pair of) as the new dora. A turn later, he draws a 4s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3m/6m shanpon wait. With his 5 han hand, any single uradora will get him to a haneman and winning by tsumo will also add sanankou for baiman. In the 3rd row, he finds the 6m and wins the hand. Sasaki wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Sanankou/Dora 3 for 4,000/8,000 and to take the lead.
How Many Dora!?!
October 28, Game 2, E4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p144
In E4-2, Hori is in 3rd place and 15,200 behind 1st place. His hand starts out with a pair of 6m dora for value, but otherwise nothing of interest for his 4-shanten hand. On turn 2, he draws another 6m to make an ankou. He pairs up his white dragons on turn 3 and he calls pon on it a few turns later. Waiting at iishanten, everyone else at the table had time to make their hands, with both Honda and Matsugase getting to iishanten.
Hori, who had drawn a red 5p during the waiting time to bring his dora count to 4, draws a white dragon near the start of the 2nd row and calls kan. Missing the rinshan and the kandora, he keeps waiting. The first player to get to tenpai is Honda, who waits on a 25m ryanmen wait. Near the end of the 2nd row, Hori draws another 6m dora to bring his dora count to 5. At the end of the row, Matsugase gets to tenpai as well and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen wait. On the ippatsu turn, Hori decides to break it by calling kan on the 6m
With the kandora flip, he reveals the white dragon as the kandora to bring his dora count to 9. The rinshan misses, but he gets to tenpai the very next turn and waits on a 6p kanchan wait.
In the end, it was Honda who succeeded. Honda wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 1,000+200/2,000+200 and takes Matsugase’s riichi stick.
A Tie!?!
October 28, Game 2, S4-0
In S4-0, Hori is in 2nd place and 11,000 points behind Honda, meaning he would need a haneman tsumo or indirect hit or a 3/50 direct hit to get 1st. He starts out 3-shanten with a red 5m, not enough in terms of points to make a comeback. Drawing two 6p dora and removing all the terminals and honours, Hori gets to iishanten at the end of the 1st row. If he can get Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 2 (or replacing iipeikou for tsumo), it would be enough. Through the 2nd row, Hori waits with his hand as Taro, who is in last place, improves his hand. At the end of the row, Taro gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 13467s wait. Though he has a wide wait, he is looking for a 1s in particular from 3rd place Matsugase or by tsumo for a chance to get out of 4th.
With Matsugase rushing to keep his dealership, he calls pon on the 8s to get to tenpai on a 3m/4m shanpon wait. Because of the riichi, Hori is also forced to rush his hand, making a call to get to a 14p ryanmen tenpai for manga, with the 4p being the only wait to give a yaku. Soon after he switches his wait to a 2p tanki wait.
In the middle of the 3rd row, Honda throws the 1s, but Taro declines the ron since it wasn’t enough. In the middle of the 3rd row, Hori draws the 2p to win the hand. Hori wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000. Typically, the tsumo win would close a 10,000 point gap between two non-dealers. However, because of Taro’s riichi it gives him enough points to tie Honda at 36,000.
In the first tie of the season, Honda and Hori split the oka and uma and both end up getting +38.0 for their respective teams.
The Flip
October 29, Game 1, E2-1
In E2-1, Ishibashi has just successfully defended against a riichi but lost his dealership in the process. He starts out with a 4-shanten hand with a 4s dora and a chance at sanshoku. Through the 1st row, he advances his hand to 2-shanten but loses the sanshoku. In the middle of the 2nd row, Ishibashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen wait for Riichi/Dora 1. The very next turn, he draws the 4th 2m and calls kan. Revealing the 1m as the dora indicator, his newly made 2m kan has just become an ankan of dora. A few turns later, he draws the 6s to win the hand. Ishibashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 5 for 3,000+100/6,000+100, taking the riichi stick from the previous hand and taking the lead.
The Ippatsu
October 29, Game 1, S1-0
In S1-0, Uotani is in 3rd place and 17,500 behind 1st place. She start out 3-shanten with an ankou of 6p dora. having three other pairs, she is also 3-shanten for suuankou. At the end of the 1st row as Uotani is still 2-shanten, Hinata gets to tenpai and stays dama on a yakuless 4m kanchan wait despite her mangan minimum hand. Two turns later, Hinata decides to call riichi on the 4m wait. Uotani keeps pushing against the riichi and gets to tenpai at the end of the 2nd row on a 47m ryanmen wait. The very next turn, she draws the takame 4m to win the hand. Uotani wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 3 for 4,000/8,000, taking Hinata’s riichi stick and takes the lead.
The Steal
October 29, Game 1, S2-0
In S2-0, Ishibashi has just been passed by Uotani and wants to retake the lead. Ishibashi starts out with a 3-shanten hand with a single dora for value. Though Ishibashi’s hand develops well, dealer Hinata moulds her hand faster, getting to tenpai and calling riichi on a 58p ryanmen wait at the start of the 2nd row.
At this point, Ishibashi is still 2-shanten but has two dora. With Ishibashi-style aggression, he pushes everything and tries to push for tanyao. Dangerous tile after dangerous tile, his throws keep passing. By the end of the 2nd row, he is still iishanten and pushing. In the middle of the 3rd row, he gets to tenpai by drawing a 3rd 6s dora and waits on a yakuless 8p tanki, a dangerous tile he has refused to throw. He calls pon on the 3p a turn later to get to get rid of his 1p and get tanyao in his hand.
On the very next turn, on his last draw, he finds the 8p to win the hand. Converting a hopeless-looking hand, Ishibashi beats out the dealer ryanmen wait and wins with Tanyao/Dora 3 for 2,000/4,000 to take the lead.
Yakuman Tenpai!?!?
October 29, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p153
In E2-0, Date is the dealer and starts out with a 3-shanten hand that has a red dora and a 1s dora. Both she and Ooi are amazingly at tenpai for iishanten by turn 3, though Ooi has the edge since he is also iishanten for a standard hand. On turn 5, Date draws an ankou, giving the potential for a suuankou, something that everyone has been longing for after the slew of yakuman tenpai last week. On Ooi’s draw, he gets to tenpai, calling riichi on a 7m penchan wait. On the ippatsu turn, she draws another ankou, putting her iishanten for suuankou. With the dealership and the potential value, she pushes the suji 1s dora. Approaching the end of the 2nd row, Date draws her 3rd ankou and calls riichi on a 3m/6m shanpon wait.
On the ippatsu draw, Date finds the 7m and deals into Ooi. Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Iipeikou for 2,600.
Another yakuman tenpai, another miss. With this hand, it marks the 6th yakuman tenpai (7th if you count Hagiwara’s Tenhou chance) in the past 2 weeks.
M-League Watch 