Highlights
Getting to 50,000 in Two Hands
December 6, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p371
In E1-0, Uotani starts out with a 4-shanten hand (3-shanten for chiitoi) with a pair of 3p dora. Through the first row, Uotani draws another dora, makes some ankous and is 2-shanten by the end of the row. She advances slowly but surely in the 2nd row and at the start of the 3rd row, Uotani calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen wait. Despite there being little time to draw the winning tile, the good wait gives her a chance to get it. On Uotani’s last draw, she finds the 7m to win the hand. Revealing the 3s ankou to also be the ura dora, Uotani wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 3/Ura 3 for a surprising 4,000/8,000 win.
In E2-0, Uotani starts out with a 5-shanten hand (4-shanten for chiitoi) with an ankou of 7m dora. With bad hand shapes and Okada making two early calls, Uotani’s chances seemed slim. However, Uotani managed to get to iishanten near the start of the 2nd row. In the middle of the row, Uotani gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 4m kanchan wait. Soon after, Murakami gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7m dora kanchan wait. Looking around the table, there are no 7m left in the wall and one 4m left in the wall, meaning that the hand is likely going to a draw. However, Murakami manages to draw the last 4m and deals into Uotani. Uotani wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 3 for 8,000. Adding on Murakami’s riichi stick, she adds 9,000 points to her score. With the 16,000 from the previous hand, her score becomes exactly 50,000 in two hands.
Shortcut to Baiman
December 7, Game 2, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p383
In E1-0, Asakura starts out as the dealer and is 2-shanten for chiitoi. On turn 2, he draws his 5th pair to get to iishanten. Through the rest of the row, he just waited. He did make an ankou, but nothing that came out or that he drew caused him to shift his goal. In the middle of the 2nd row, Asakura gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a south dora tanki wait.If he can draw it himself, he would be able to get a haneman. On the very next turn, Asakura draws the south to win the hand. Getting a favourable flip, Asakura wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2/Ura 2 for 8,000 all. With the baiman win, it put him far into the lead.
Hanemania
December 9, Game 1
In E2-1, Kondo is the dealer and starts out with a nice 2-shanten hand with a good potential for pinfu. On turn 2, he fills in a kanchan to get to iishanten and almost guarantee the pinfu. On turn 6, he draws a dora and decides to keep it despite having already thrown an 8s. With the single 9s dora, though, he has the chance to pair it up to get him to a mangan or 5,200 at the very least. On turn 8, he does find another 9s and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen wait. Two turns later, he draws a 7m to win the hand. Flipping one uradora, Kondo wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 2/Ura 1 for 6,000 all to take the early lead.
Jumping to E3-0, Uchikawa is in 3rd place and is the dealer. He starts out with a 2-shanten hand with a decent chance at tanyao. In the first row, he upgrades some of the shapes and gets a red 5p, but still remains at 2-shanten. He fills in his last kanchan on turn 8 and in the middle of the 2nd row, he reaches tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen wait. He waited a bit and in the middle of the 3rd row, Uchikawa found his takame 4s to win the hand. Revealing one uradora, Uchikawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 6,000 all, going from 3rd place to within 1,400 of the lead.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p391
In E3-2, Kurosawa is in 3rd place and starts out with a 4-shanten hand with an isolated white dragon dora. Pairing it up on turn 4 and getting to iishanten by the end of the 1st row, she has a chance to take a tenpai at the start of the second row. After taking a bit of time to decide whether to take the 3m kanchan yakuless tenpai, she chooses not to and starts to break up the 24m group for a better wait. On the very next turn, she draws the 3m.
Painfully missing the ippatsu, she decides to just take the furiten and calls riichi on a 25m furiten wait. At the end of the 2nd row, Uchikawa challenges and calls riichi on a 7p penchan wait.
At the start of the 3rd row, Kurosawa luckily draws the 5m to win the hand. Revealing one uradora, Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+200/6,000+200 (plus two riichi sticks) to take the lead.
Skipping to S3-2, Kondo is in 3rd place and 11,600 behind 2nd place. He starts out with 8 souzu tiles and multiple options for calling. Early on, Kondo draws a 1s dora and makes two calls to get to iishanten for honitsu. In the 2nd row, he gets to a mangan tenpai on a south jigoku tanki. Two turns later, he draws another souzu tile to convert his hand to a 147s wait. On his next draw, he finds the 4s to win the hand. Kondo wins with Chinitsu/Dora 1 for 3,000+200/6,000+200, moving into 2nd place and making the 4th haneman of the game.
No More Ura San
December 10, Game 1, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p401
In E2-0, Takamiya is the dealer and starts out with a 2-shanten hand with an ankou of wests. She draws nearly the perfect draws and gets to tenpai on turn 3, calling riichi on a 58p ryanmen wait. Though the hand is just 3,900, the good wait and being the dealer make it a good move. With no one even close to tenpai, everyone just folds. In the middle of the 3rd row. Takamiya draws the 5p to win the hand. Revealing the south as the uradora indicator, her hand value jumps significantly. Takamiya wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Ura 3 for 6,000 all.
Perfect Ura
December 10, Game 1, E4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p403
In E4-1, Rumi is 4th place and trailing 3rd place by 13,000. She starts out the hand 2-shanten with a red 5m and a red 5s double dora. Though her prospects of winning seem good, she has to contend with dealer Kobayashi who has ankous of two dragons and Takamiya with ryanmen shapes. By the end of the 1st row, Both Kobayashi and Rumi are iishanten. At the start of the 2nd row, Rumi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen wait. The hand is at least 5 han, with any extra hand upgrading it to a haneman. Soon after, Kobayashi gets to tenpai and waits on a 5s dora tanki. In the middle of the 2nd row, Rumi draws the 4m. Getting two uradora, Rumi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 2/Ura 2 for 4,000+100/8,000+100, jumping from 4th to 2nd.
Bold Push
December 10, Game 1, S1-0
In S1-0, only 200 points separate 3rd place Sonoda and 4th place Kobayashi. Sonoda starts out with 5 pairs (4 of them being souzu) and Kobayashi is 4-shanten with two 7s dora and a red dora. Through the first row, Sonoda calls pon on the 8s, 2s and 9s and gets to tenpai on a 1s/3s shanpon wait for haneman.
At this, Kobayashi is still iishanten and will almost certainly need to throw dangerous tiles. In the 2nd row, Kobayashi calls pon on Sonoda’s thrown 5s. He takes the risk and throws the 6s, successfully surviving and getting to tenpai on a 58p ryanmen wait. He keeps pushing with the north and the east, keeping the tenpai.
As the hand approached its end, Sonoda drew the 8p. His hand being expensive, he decides to push it and deals into Kobayashi. Kobayashi wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000 to move into 2nd place.
Tie
December 10, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p406
In S4-0, only 3,000 points separate 3rd place Rumi and 2nd place dealer Kobayashi. Rumi starts out 3-shanten, though lack any value to make the comeback. By the end of the 1st row, she has her 2-shanten hand aimed at Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou for 1st place. In the middle of the 3rd row, Rumi gets to tenpai and calls riichi ona 25m ryanmen wait. With the riichi, Kobayashi goes to hard fold mode. Even though Takamiya and Sonoda have chances to keep their tenpai, they choose to fold as well. In the end, the hand went to a draw with Rumi the only one tenpai.
Though a one person tenpai draw would be a 4,000 point swing, the riichi stick reduced it to 3,000. With the 3,000 point difference overcome, Rumi and Kobayashi were tied at 2nd place.
Expensive Ura 3
December 10, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p404
In S2-0, Mizuhara is the dealer and is in 3rd place, 900 behind 2nd place. She starts out with a 3-shanten hand with a single red 5m for value. By the end of the 1st row, she is iishanten with a ryanmen. At the start of the 2nd row, Date challenges the table by calling riichi on a 3m penchan wait. Two turns later, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen wait. On the ippatsu turn, Mizuhara draws the 6m to win the hand. With the flip and Mizuhara’s 8s ankou becoming dora, her hand is upgraded from a mangan to a baiman. Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 3 for 8,000 all (plus Date’s riichi stick) to surprisingly move into 1st place.
Unexpected
December 10, Game 2, S4-0
In S4-0, 4th place Date is 600 behind 3rd place Katsumata and 2nd place Mizuhara is 2,600 behind 1st place Taro. Mizuhara starts out with a 2-shanten hand without the value she needs, while Date is 3-shanten with a hand looking like it will be riichi only. At the end of the 1st row, Date gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p penchan wait.
Within the ippatsu turn, Mizuhara has a chance to get to tenpai. Her hand currently has no yaku and winning with riichi only would give her a 2,300 gain on Taro, not enough to advance in placement. However, a single han would do it. Mizuhara decides not to call riichi, staying dama on a yakuless 5s to look for other options.
On Mizuhara’s very next draw, she gets the red 5s and wins the hand. Because of the red dora, Mizuhara gets a Tsumo/Aka 1 win for 700/1,300 (plus Date’s riichi stick) to get an unexpected 1st.
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