Highlights
Yakuman Tenpai?
February 7, Game 2, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p713
In S1-0, Ishibashi is in 3rd place and 11,500 from 1st place, while Kurosawa is the dealer and 10,400 behind Ishibashi. At the start, Kurosawa is 4-shanten with a pair of souths and Ishibashi holds 8 unique honours/terminals (plus a pair) to be 4-shanten from kokushi. By the end of the row, Kurosawa is 2-shanten and Ishibashi has only advanced by one. In the 2nd row, Ishibashi advances another step while Kurosawa still sits 2-shanten. Near the start of the 2nd row, Kurosawa gets to iishanten, with Ishibashi following soon after. With five tiles and one more draw left, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and decides to call riichi on a 36p ryanmen.
Within the ippatsu turn and only three more tiles in the wall, Hori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 4s kanchan.
To break the ippatsu, get to tenpai and move the haitei away from herself, Aki calls pon on Hori’s 7m dora discard and gets to tenpai on a 6s/white dragon shanpon for a chance at haneman.
On Ishibashi’s last draw and second-to-last tile in the wall, he gets to tenpai for kokushi and waits on a 9s with one more left in the wall!
However, on the haitei, Kurosawa draws the 3p to win the hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Haitei for 2,000 all (plus Hori’s riichi stick) and fans will have to wait even longer to see the league’s first yakuman of the season.
Shortcut to Haneman
February 7, Game 2, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p714
In S4-1, Aki is in 2nd place and 7,100 behind 1st place Hori. With a honba and a riichi stick available, she would only need 5,800 points for 1st place. She starts out 3-shanten for chiitoi and 4-shanten for a standard hand. If she can find a pair of doras, then she would have enough for 1st place. She finds pairs on both turns 3 and 4 to quickly advance her hand to iishanten. At the start of the 2nd row, Aki draws her 6th pair and calls riichi on a green dragon tanki. Though she only confirms 3 han, hitting Hori directly or getting any uradora or tsumo would give her top spot.
Two turns later, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 4p kanchan for haneman minimum. If Aki gets hit with the ron, she would fall to 3rd, 4th if Kurosawa gets baiman.
With each passing turn, Aki’s fate was getting more and more uncertain. The 2nd row becomes the 3rd row, the wall becomes shorter. Then, on Aki’s last draw, she finds the green dragon to win the hand. Finding two uradora, Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 4,000+100 all (plus two riichi sticks) to give the EX Furinkazan their 2nd win in a row.
Great Gains
February 8, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p721
In E2-0, Murakami is trying to make his way out of last place in the individual rankings. His hand starts out with an annoying hand, being 3-shanten but with two penchans, one kanchan and no value. Early on, he starts to get rid of the penchan to advance his hand quickly. However, in the middle of the 2nd row, Ooi is already tenpai on a 3p/9p shanpon. At the end of the row, Muramaki is iishanten and Uotani is tenpai on a 69m ryanmen. In the 2nd row, Murakami gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 147m wait (with 47m giving yaku). Two turns later, Murakami draws the 7m to win the hand. Murakami wins with Tsumo/Pinfu for 400/700, a small win to put him into 2nd place.
In E3-0, Murakami is 4-shanten with a red 5p and an isolated 7m dora. On turn 3, Murakami pairs up the dora and on turn 4, he pushes the hand to tanyao for mangan. In the middle of the 2nd row, Murakami makes a call and gets to tenpai on a 36m ryanmen. Murakami is challenged by Ooi at the end of the 2nd row with his 47m ryanmen riichi, but Murakami is able to draw the 3m two turns later to win the hand. Murakami wins with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 (plus Ooi’s riichi stick) to take the lead.
In E4-0, Murakami had a double riichi chance, but his first draw missed and had to “settle” with a tanyao iishanten with a red 5p. On turn 4, Murakami gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen. Through the 1st and 2nd row, Murakami kept missing his wait. In the middle of the 3rd row, Murakami finally drew the 4s to win the hand. Murakami wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000.
In S1-0, Murakami is finally the dealer and starts out 4-shanten with two ryanmens. Murakami draws perfect tiles and gets to iishanten by turn 4. At the start of the 2nd row, Murakami gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 3p/7s shanpon, hoping to draw a tile to get a btter wait and to add pinfu to his hand. The very next turn, Murakami draws the 3p to win the hand. Murakami wins with Tanyao/Tsumo for 1,000 all.
In S1-1, Murakami threatened a honitsu mangan to force others to fold. The hand ended up going to a draw to give Murakami 1,000 points from each player.
In S1-2, Murakami’s dealership continues and holds a 4-shanten starting hand with a pair of souths. By the end of the row, he is 2-shanten. In the middle of the 2nd row, Murakami upgrades the south pair to an ankou, completes another block and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen. At the start of the 3rd row, Murakami draws the 6p to win the hand. Murakami wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Double South/Dora 1 for 4,000+200 all, surpassing the 60,000 mark.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p722
In S1-3, Murakami is 3-shanten with a single 9m dora. On turn 2, he pairs up the dora. On turn 5, he gets to iishanten and makes the interesting decision to keep a penchan over a kanchan. As Murakami waits to get to tenpai, Sasaki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen for mangan minimum. Two turns later, Murakami draws a 4th 4m and calls kan to try to get to tenpai. The rinshan tenpai attempt fails, though the kandora doesn’t give Sasaki any dora. As Murakami approaches the 3rd row, he finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s penchan. In the middle of the row, Sasaki draws the 3s and deals into Murakami. Murakami wins with Riichi/Dora 2/Ura 4 for 18,000+900 (plus Sasaki’s riichi stick) to get enough point to have exactly 80,000.
Ura 2
February 8, Game 2, E2-2
In E2-2, Kayamori is in 3rd place and Taro is behind in 4th. Kayamori starts out with the perfect hand for tanyao and pinfu at 3-shanten and Taro starts out 4-shanten with no value. By the end of the row, Kayamori has made it to iishanten and Taro to 2-shanten. In the 2nd row, Kayamori takes a slightly less efficient route in order to aim for a potential ryanpeikou. At the end of the 2nd row, Kayamori draws the wrong side of a double sequence, but gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen for mangan minimum. Two turns later, Taro gets to tenpai and tries to call riichi by throwing the 7p, but ends up dealing the takame into Kayamori. Revealing two uradora to upgrade the hand, Kayamori wins with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 12,000+600 (plus two riichi sticks) to put her solidly into 2nd place.
Failed Fold
February 8, Game 2, E4-0
In E4-0, Taro is in last place and trying to gain any points that he can. He starts out with an excellent chiitoi iishanten hand with a red 5m. Quickly on turn 5, Taro gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a red dragon tanki.
On the ippatsu turn, Takamiya has to decide what to throw. With only one safe tile and a decent ability to do a half push, Takamiya breaks her red dragon pair and ends up dealing into Taro.
Taro wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chiitoi/Aka 1 for 8,000.
Ura 2, Part 2
February 8, Game 2, S1-0
In S1-0, Takamiya is in 3rd place and has to find 22,300 in order to get to 2nd place. Her hand starts out with an okay 3-shanten, but has no dora or apparent valuable yaku. On turn 5, Takamiya draws a 5th pair to get iishanten for chiitoi, but still keeps her options open. On turn 6, she gets to iishanten for a standard hand and breaks up a pair to commit to it. In the middle of the 2nd row, Takamiya gets to tenpai by completing an iipeikou shape and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen. In the 3rd row, Takamiya draws the dora 5p to win the hand. Revealing two uradora, Takamiya wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Iipeikou/Dora 1/Ura 2 for 6,000 all. With the big dealer haneman win, she earns enough points to get her to 1st place.
Yakuman Tenpai!?
February 10, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p732
In E4-0, Katsumata is in 3rd place and 9,200 off the lead. His hand starts out 2-shaneten, but has no obvious yaku besides a difficult pinfu and riichi. Katsumata doesn’t advance in shanten in the 1st row, but he develops the pinfu and a possible iipeikou for value. At the start of the 2nd row, Katsumata makes a 2nd ankou and loses the pinfu. A turn later, he draws a pair to get to iishanten, 2-shanten for toitoi. Drawing yet another pair two turns later, Katsumata increases the probability of toitoi. Because Katsumata hasn’t opened his hand yet, drawing one more ankou would put him tenpai for a potential suuankou. In the 3rd row, he draws the 3rd ankou to get to tenpai on a 6s/south shanpon. With one south still left in the wall, the suuankou dream is still alive.
As Katsumata waits, dealer Kondo gets to tenpai on a 69p ryanmen (with 9p giving a yaku). On Katsumata’s next turn, he makes a kan to try to get a rinshan. He misses on the rinshan and has to keep waiting.
With a call, Kurosawa also gets to tenpai and waits on a 7m penchan. With a second call, she adds one more han to get to mangan tenpai.
With Kurosawa pushing, she quickly draws and discards the south and deals into Katsumata. Katsumata wins the hand with Toitoi/Sanankou for 8,000, giving him the lead.
Chiitoi West Tanki
February 11, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p746
In E4-0, Mizuhara is in 2nd place and 6,900 behind 1st place Hinata. She starts out with four pairs, being 2-shanten for chiitoi. In usual chiitoi fashion, Mizuhara isn’t able to make any progress in the 1st row. At the start of the 2nd row, Mizuhara draws her 5th pair and in the middle of the 2nd row, she gets her 6th pair and calls riichi on a west dora tanki. On the very next turn, Mizuhara draws the west and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 3,000/6,000, the shortcut to haneman.
In S1-0, Hinata is in 2nd place and trying to get back to 1st place. She starts out with a red 5s and 3-shanten hand for both chiitoi and a standard hand. On turn 2, she draws a red 5p to get to chiitoi 2-shanten. On turn 3, she draws a 5s to pair up the red 5s and gets to iishanten. On turn 4, she gets to tenpai and stays dama on an 8p tanki. When she draws the rest in the middle of the 2nd row, Hinata decides to give up the tanyao and call riichi on a west tanki. At the end of the 2nd row, Sonoda gets to tenpai and chases Hinata with a 7p/8s shanpon. However, Sonoda ends up drawing the west two turns later and deals into Hinata. Hinata wins the hand with Riichi/Chiitoi/Aka 2 for 8,000 (plus Sonoda’s riichi stick) to take back the lead.
Game 100, South 4
February 11, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p744
The 2nd game of February 11 featured Ooi’s 100th regular season game in his M-League career.
In S4-0, Ooi is in 3rd place and 6,200 behind 1st place. If he can get a 3/50 general ron, 2/50 direct hit or a 3/40 tsumo, it would be enough to get 1st. He starts out with a 3-shanten hand with no visible path to 1st. In the 1st row, he gets to iishanten, but still lacks any value. Seeing a path to ittsuu, he decides to go back a shanten and find the three tiles that he needs for ittsuu. At the start of the 2nd row, he draws one more piece of the ittsuu to get to iishanten. A turn later, Ooi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s penchan. If he doesn’t want to rely on uradora, he would need to get a direct hit off Hori or win by tsumo.
On the ippatsu turn, Hori gets to tenpai and discards the 7s in order to get a 58m ryanmen. With the throw, he deals into Ooi.
Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Ittsuu for 8,000 to win his 100th regular season M-League game.
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