Highlights
Furiten Beats Non-Furiten
November 22, Game 2, S1-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p282
In S1-2, Mizuhara is in 3rd place and trying to close the gap between her and the 1st place dealer Hori. Both Hori and Mizuhara start out 4-shanten for a standard hand, though Mizuhara is slightly ahead with her pair of white dragons and being 3-shanten for chiitoi. By the end of the 1st row, Hori has improved his hand significantly by getting to iishanten, incorporating an iipeikou and two dora to his hand. In the middle of the2nd row, Hori is the first to get to tenpai, staying dama on a furiten 25m ryanmen wait. At the end of the 2nd row, Mizuhara gets to tenpai as well, waiting on a shanpon 4m/white dragon wait. Because the white dragons are all used up and the opportunity to add an sanshoku or a better wait to the equation, she stays dama.
Two turns later, she draws a better wait and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen, the same wait as Hori. With Hori being furiten and Mizuhara not being furiten, the odds seem to be in Mizuhara’s favour.
However, a few turns later, Hori draws the 2m to win the hand. Hori wins with Iipeikou/Tsumo/Dora 2 for 4,000+200 all, getting 1,000 extra points because of the riichi stick.
Rinshan
November 23, Game 1, S2-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p291
In S2-2, Sonoda is in last place and 7,900 behind 3rd place. He starts out with 3-shanten with a red 5p and a 9s dora. With 3,600 in bonus sticks up for grabs, he has enough in order to move up a place. By the end of the 1st row, Sonoda is iishanten. To quicken his hand at the start of the 2nd row, Sonoda gets rid of his 79s group to make way for a ryanmen. Soon after, the white dragon comes out and Sonoda calls pon to get to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen wait. Near the start of the 3rd row, Sonoda draws the 4th white dragon and calls kan.
Flipping the kandora, his 5p pair becomes dora to make his hand mangan.
With his rinshan draw, he finds the red 5m and wins the hand. Multiplying his hand value six times, Sonoda wins with Rinshan/White Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 3,000+200/6,000+200, taking 3,000 in riichi sticks as well to move to 2nd place.
Yakuman Tenpai!?!
November 23, Game 2, E1-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p292
In E1-2, Aki in 3rd place and chasing dealer Takizawa. She starts out her hand with a chiitoi 2-shanten, holding pairs of 1s, 9s, 6p and green dragon. On turn 2, she draws a pair of 8m to get to iishanten. Drawing ankous on turns 5 and 6, she converts her hand to a toitoi iishanten with a good potential for suuankou. In the middle of the 2nd row, Aki draws her 3rd ankou and gets to tenpai, calling riichi on a 9s/green dragon shanpon. If Aki draws her winning tile herself, she would get suuankou and be the first player this season to get to yakuman tenpai and succeed in getting the yakuman. Within the ippatsu turn, Takizawa chases with a 47m ryanmen riichi and Maruyama with a 36s ryanmen riichi. With three riichi calls, we all wanted to see who would win.
In the end, Takizawa draws the 4m and wins a hand. Takizawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1 for 2,000+200 all (plus the two riichi sticks) to continue his dealership and kill yet another yakuman.
Date’s Comeback
November 25, Game 1, S1-3
In S1-3, Date in in last place and just 400 points from getting 3rd. Her hand starts out 3-shanten with no value to be seen. In the first row, she draws some pairs and gets to chiitoi iishanten by the end of the row. In the middle of the 2nd row, she gets her 6th pair and stays dama on a 3s tanki wait. With dealer Sonoda making a pon on the south within the go-around, Date decides to put pressure on the table by calling riichi and wait on the 7s. Sonoda tries to do a half push to keep his tenpai by throwing the 4s on the ippatsu turn, but it ended up being a curse when he was forced to throw the 7s later on. Date wins the hand with Riichi/Chiitoi/Ura 2 for 8,000+900, moving her to 3rd place.
In S2-0, Date is now the dealer and 7,600 behind 2nd place. She starts out with a 4-shanten hand with the 4p for value. Very early on, she is faced with a riichi from Sonoda, who called riichi on a 47p ryanmen wait on a guaranteed mangan. Despite her initial fold, Date drew useful tiles, getting to iishanten in the middle of the 2nd row. In the 3rd row, she converts her hand to tanyao to have a yaku. With a call of the 2s and convenient draw, she gets to tenpai on a 58s ryanmen wait with two draws left for her. On her very next draw, she find the 8s to win the hand. Date wins with Tanyao/Dora 1 for 1,000 all (plus Sonoda’s riichi stick). Though it isn’t enough to move up in placement, her gives her some valuable points and closes the gap.
Losing her dealership to a draw in S2-1, Date continues her quest in S3-2. She starts out well, holding two red doras and two ryanmen in her 2-shanten hand. Adding a guaranteed tanyao to her hand and a potential pinfu in the first row, she holds a hand that is guaranteed give her 2nd (1st if she hits the right player). Near the start of the 2nd row, Date gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen wait. With her hand being a guaranteed 5-han hand, a tsumo would give her haneman to put her into 1st place. At the start of the 3rd row, Date draws the 3p to win the hand. Date wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 2 for 3,000+200/6,000+200 (plus a riichi stick from the previous hand) to move into 1st place.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p302
In S4-0, Date is in 1st place and just wants to finish the hand and in first place. Kurosawa, who is the dealer and in last place, wants to win the hand so she can move up and go on a dealer rampage. When we see Kurosawa’s hand we see that she has an iishanten hand. When we hear Date call pon very early on, we see she also has an iishanten hand with the potential to finish the game quickly. On turn 2, Kurosawa creates a 3-sided wait and Date makes another call to get to tenpai on a 1s tanki (which she switches to a 69m). On turn 4, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 147p sanmenchan. Switching to a 69s wait, Date pushes and waits. Before the row is done, Date draws the 6s to win the hand. Date wins with Red Dragon/White Dragon for 500/1,000 (plus the riichi stick) to finish the hand and win her 3rd game in a row.
Haitei!?!
November 26, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p311
In S4-0, Katsumata is the dealer in 3rd place and 21,700 behind 1st place. Katsumata starts out with a great iishanten hand with a dora 9m and a red 5p. At the end of the 1st row, he has a choice to take a 6p tenpai, but denies it to find a better wait. Two turns later, Katsumata gets the better wait he wants and he calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen wait. With a guaranteed mangan, Katsumata poised to move into 2nd place. With everyone folding, it seemed like tsumo would be the Katsumata’s only chance to win. As the wall got shorter and shorter and Katsumata’s waits going down to 1, it seemed like it would never come. Then, on the very last draw, Katsumata draws the 3p to win the hand. Katsumata wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Haitei/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 6,000 all, gaining enough points to move him into 1st place.
Kayamori’s Climb
November 26, Game 2, S4-1
In S4-1, Kayamori is in last place as the dealer and 7,100 behind 3rd place. Her hand starts out 3-shanten with a dora for value. With her first discard of the west, Aki, who is in 1st place, instantly calls pon on it to get a yaku and to rush the game to an end. By turn 2, Aki is ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. As Aki waits, Kayamori catches up and gets to iishanten by the end of the 2nd row. Near the start of the 2nd row, Aki gets to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen wait and Kayamori calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen wait. Aki keeps her tenpai and keeps pushing through the 3rd row. On Kayamori’s 2nd-last draw, she draws the takame 8p to win the hand. Kayamori wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Dora 1/Ura 2 for 6,000 all, catapulting her into 2nd place.
In S4-2, Kayamori starts out 3-shanten, though holds no value. Comparing her progress and Aki’s progress, Aki is further by far with an iishanten good wait compared to Kayamori’s 2-shanten bad wait at the end of the 1st row. However, Kayamori is the first to get to tenpai, calling riichi on a 69p ryanmen wait near the end of the hand. Within the ippatsu turn, Matsumoto has a chance to get to tenpai. Howevver in order for him to get a chance at a haneman and move up to 2nd place, he would have to call riichi by throwing the dora 6p. He takes the chance and deals into Kayamori. Kayamori wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1 for 12,000+600.
In S4-3, she starts out 4-shanten, again with no value. Drawing a pair of white dragons and some ryanmen shapes, she gets to 2-shanten by the end of the 1st row. In the middle of the 2nd row, Aki is the first to get to tenpai, waiting on a 5s tanki. At the start of the 3rd row, Okada is the second player to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7m kanchan wait. As Okada waiting and Aki continuously switching her wait, Kayamori makes a call to get to tenpai on a 7m kanchan wait. Two turns later, she switches to a 4s/6m shanpon wait. On Okada’s very last draw, she gets the 4s and deals into Kayamori. Kayamori wins the hand with White Dragon/Houtei/Aka 2 for 12,000+900 (plus Okada’s riichi stick), moving into 1st place.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p313
In S4-4, only 3,300 separates 1st place Kayamori and 2nd place Aki. Kayamori starts out with a pair of souths at 3-shanten, while Aki is 2-shanten with a potential ittsuu or possibly even chinitsu. The first of the two to get to tenpai is Aki, who calls riichi on a 147m wait at the end of the 1st row. Within the ippatsu turn, Okada gets to tenpai on a white dragon wait and Kayamori calls riichi on a south/north shanpon wait. Two turns later, Aki draws the south and deals into Kayamori. Kayamori wins the hand with Riichi/South/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 12,000+1,200 (plus Aki’s riichi stick).
By the end of the game Kayamori has 62,100. Winning a dealer haneman tsumo, hitting Matsumoto with a dealer mangan, hitting Okada with a dealer mangan and hitting Aki with a dealer mangan, Kayamori went from
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