Highlights
4th to 1st
December 13th, Game 1, S1-2
In S1-2, Mizuhara is in 4th place and 600 behind 3rd place and 3,800 behind 2nd place. With 1,600 in bonus sticks on the table, the ability to overcome the 15,400 point difference for 1st still exists. Her hand starts out 3-shanten for tanyao, but otherwise lacks value. Her hand draws well through the first row and she gets to iishanten by the end of the 1st row with a chance at sanshoku. On turn 8, Mizuhara gets to tenpai for tanyao only. Because of the big potential to improve the wait (and get pinfu), she stays dama on her 3p tanki. The very next turn, she draws an 8s and calls riichi on a 258s wait. The very next turn, she draws the 5s to win the hand. Revealing one uradora, Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Ura 1 for 3,000+200/6,000+200 (plus the riichi stick from the previous hand). With that bit of luck, Mizuhara went from 4th place to 1st place.
Haneman
December 14, Game 2, E2-1
In E2-1, Maruyama is the dealer and starts out with a 3-shanten hand with a red 5s. In the first row, she fills in a kanchan, draws a dora and sets her hand up to accept ittsuu. By turn 5, she is already iishanten. On turn 6, she gets to tenpai on a 5s tanki, though doesn’t call riichi in order to be flexible. Despite the 12 tiles that would improve her wait shape, she cant finds any of them. Her hand does improve at the end of the 2nd row with an embedded ittsuu, but she is still waiting with a 5s tanki. Two turns into the 3rd row, Maruyama draws a 9m and calls riichi on a 369m. Though her hand is already Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1, she can still add value to the hand by winning on the 9m (adding ittsuu) or winning on the 3m (adding dora). On Maruyama’s very last draw, she fins the final 9m to win the hand. Maruyama wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Ittsuu/Dora 1 for 6,000+100 all to take a big lead.
Takizawa’s Takame
December 14, Game 2, S2-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p423
In S2-2, Takizawa is floundering in last place, having a score of -13,100 and being 33,600 from 3rd place. His hand starts out with 4 ryanmen shapes, but lacks any value. In the first row,, he completes the ryanmen shapes and draws some terminals, shifting the blocks closer to the edge. Bu the end of the 1st row, Takizawa is 2-shanten for both the distant sanshoku and even more distant junchan. On turn 8, he draws one step closer to his perfect hand. At the end of the 2nd row, Takizawa gets his confirmed sanshoku and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen wait. If Takizawa can draw the 9p himself, he can add junchan and tsumo to upgrade his hand to a baiman. Sure enough, on the ippatsu turn, Takizawa draws the 9p. Takizawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Junchan/Sanshoku for 4,000/8,000 to get him out of the negatives.
Final Switch
December 16, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p436
After passing Matsugase for the lead in S1-0 and losing it in S3-0, Date is given one last chance in S4-0. In S4-0, Date is 5,400 behind the dealer Matsugase and starts out with a nice 2-shanten hand with one dora. If Date can get Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1, it would be enough to overtake Matsugase. In the first row, she pairs up the 6 and gets rid of her west pair, giving her the potential for tanyao and the option to open her hand. Near the end of the 2nd row, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen wait. With 4 han guaranteed, any win would be enough. Sure enough on the ippatsu turn, Date draws the 8p to win the hand. Date wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 2 for 3,0000/6,000 to win her 4th game in the past 5 games.
Baiman
December 16, Game 2, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p434
In S1-1, Sonoda is in 3rd place and is 10,900 behind 2nd place. He starts out with 3-shanten for chiitoi, though the hand has the potential for a callable tanyao or a closed pinfu and iipeikou. In the first row, his hand actually shifts to a 567 sanshoku with tanyao and reaches a mangan 2-shanten by the end of the row. However, he still has to draw a 5s to confirm the souzu group and get the dora to overcome the most difficult hurdle. On turn 10, he draws the 5s and on turn 11 he draws the dora. Being tenpai on a 47p ryanmen wait with haneman minimum, he stays dama in order to catch players by surprise. Two turns later, Sonoda draws the 4p to win the hand. Sonoda wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Sanshoku/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 4,000+100/8,000+100 to take 2nd place and come within 800 of 1st.
Back-To-Back
December 16, Game 2
In S4-1, Sonoda is in 1st place and the dealer, but only 2,600 from falling out. He starts out 3-shanten with a pair of 9s dora and many ryanmen. By the end of the 1st tow, he has a pair of easts and green dragons ready for calling. (as well as pairing up the souths soon after) While Sonoda waits, Katsumata makes two calls to get to tenpai on a 36p ryanmen wait. Approaching the end of the end of the 2nd row, Sonoda calls pon on the south and the east in quick succession, getting to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen wait. Soon after, Takamiya discards the 5m and deals into Sonoda. Sonoda wins the hand with East/South/Dora 2 for 12,000+300.
In S4-2, Sonoda starts out with an ankou of souths, a red 5p and a 9m dora. He doesn’t get closer to tenpai in the first row, but he does consolidate his hands with better shapes. In the second row, he calls chii and in the 3rdd row, he gets to tenpai on a 9m dora tanki. In the middle of the 3rd row, Katsumata has an option to throw his 9m dora. Because his hand already has a pair and the fact that he is in last place, he decides to discard it to advance his hand. With the 9m, Sonoda wins the hand with South/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000+600, further cementing his lead.
Too Many Honba
December 17, Game 1
In E1-0, Hinata is the dealer and still looking for her first win of the season. Hinata starts the hand out 3-shanten with a pair of easts and red dragons. With the straightforward path, Hinata quickly calls the easts and the red dragon to get to iishanten. Soon after, Hinata gets to tenpai on a 14s ryanmen wait. With Ishibashi pushing, it wasn’t long before the 1s came out from him. Hinata wins the hand with Double East/Red Dragon for 5,800.
In E1-1, Ishibashi makes a turn 4 riichi on an 8p kanchan wait and Hinata calls riichi in the 2nd row with a 14p ryanmen wait. With neither of them able to get their waits, the hand ended in a draw with the two of them the only ones tenpai.
In E1-2, Hinata starts out 3-shanten with a pair of red dragons and two penchans. Through the first row, her hand accumulates pairs and gets to chiitoi iishanten by the 1st row. However, because she’s the dealer and doesn’t want a slow hand, she opts to go the standard route in the 3rd row, catching up to a standard iishanten in the middle of the row. When the 8s comes out, Hinata calls pon to get to tenpai on a 1m/red dragon shanpon (with the red dragon being the only tile to give a yaku). With Ishibashi getting to tenpai soon after, he tries to call riichi by discarding red dragon and deals into Hinata. Hinata wins the hand with Red Dragon only for 1,500+600, as well as getting the two riichi sticks from the previous hand.
In E1-3, Hinata starts out 4-shanten with a 9m dora. In the first row, she fills in a penchan and connects tiles to get to a very wide iishanten by the end of the row. At the end of the 2nd row, Hinata gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 369m wait. In the 3rd row, she gets chased by a Kayamori riichi, but it was defused soon after when Kayamori dealt the 3m on her ippatsu turn. Hinata wins with Riichi/Iipeikou/Dora 1 for 7,700+900.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p441
In E1-4, Hinata starts out 4-shanten with a single green dragon dora. By the end of the 1st row, she has her eye on the potential for sanshoku. In the 2nd row, she pairs up the green dragon and gets to iishanten for Chanta/Sanshoku/Dora 2. Approaching the end of the row, Hinata gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen wait. If Hinata can get the 9s, her hand is a guaranteed haneman with a chance at baiman with any other han. Soon after her riichi, Ishibashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen wait. On Ishibashi’s last draw, he draws the 6s and deals into Hinata. Revealing one uradora, Hinata wins with Riichi/Dora 2/Ura 1 for 12,000+1,200 (plus Ishibashi’s riichi stick) to break the 50,000 mark.
In E1-5, a turn 5 riichi on a 3s kanchan by Ishibashi caused some problems, but Hinata was able to work around it. She gets to iishanten in the 2nd row and she manages to get to tenpai on her very last draw. The hand ended in a draw with Hinata and Ishibashi the only ones tenpai.
In E1-6, Hinata again starts out 4-shaten, though with a pair of double easts and a dora 7m this time. Within the first go-around, Hinata calls pon on the easts to advance her hand. Giving her dora a twin and complete shapes, she ends up tenpai on a 47s ryanmen wait in the 2nd row. In the 3rd row, Hinata draws the 7s to win the hand. Hinata wins with Double East/Dora 2 for 4,000+600 all (along with a leftover riichi stick) to bring her score up to 75,500.
Though she would end up losing the dealership and the honba count in E1-7, the damage was already done. She was able to more than triple her starting score and she eventually won the game, marking her first win of the season.
Ishibashi Trap
December 17, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Kobayashi is the dealer and starts out with two red dora and a 1s dora at 4-shanten. Drawing the 3rd red dragon and getting a secure pair, Kobayashi reaches iishanten by the end of the 1st row. In the middle of the 2nd row Kobayashi draws to tenpai. Calling riichi, Kobayashi throws the red 5p to wait on the 3p. With the Ishibashi Trap laid, all Kobayashi has to do is wait for someone to fall for it. At the start of the 3rd row, Shiratori discards the 3p and Kobayashi calls ron. Kobayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 12,000.
Ippatsu Haitei
December 17, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p442
In S4-0, Uchikawa is in 2nd place and 10,400 behind 1st place Kobayashi. Since a mangan tsumo won’t be enough, Uchikawa will have to aim for a haneman. His hand starts out well, being 3-shanten with a pair of 7s. Developing quickly, Uchikawa manages to get to iishanten within the 1st row. As Uchikawa waits, 4th place Shiratori builds his hand by making three calls and gets to tenpai for a dealer honitsu mangan on a 9m tanki wait in the 2nd row. Uchikawa draws the 9m a few turns later and is forced to work around it and go back a shanten. As Shiratori switches his wait to a green dragon tanki, Uchikawa is slightly relieved, but his advancement is again inconvenienced when he draws the 4m. Working around that, Uchikawa gets to tenpai a few turns later on a 5m kanchan wait. Staying safe, he stays dama on his yakuless mangan hand. The wall depletes bit by bit, with Uchikawa’s hopes of winning still existing. On Uchikawa’s second-last draw, Uchikawa decides to take the maximum ippatsu chance and calls riichi on a 5m kanchan wait. On the very last draw, the haitei, Uchikawa draws the red 5m to make the surprise win. Uchikawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Haitei/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 4,000/8,000, going above and beyond to win the game.
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