Highlights
Furiten Chinitsu
February 14, Game 1, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p751
In E2-1, Matsugase has the temporary lead after being the only one tenpai in E1-0. He starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a pair of green dragons. When looking around the table, it would seem that Matsugase was one of the slower ones, as Uotani gets to iishanten on turn 3. By the end of the 1st row, Matsugase is also iishanten, but hasn’t made his dragon pair into an ankou.
In the middle of the 2nd row, Matsugase makes a call to get to honitsu iishanten and draws to a 3p penchan tenpai soon after that.
After Matsugase gets to tenpai, Murakami gets to tenpai as well, calling riichi on a 26s ryanmen.
On the ippatsu turn, Matsugase draws the 2p dora and starts to break his green dragon pair, allowing him to both defend against the dealer riichi and to push the hand to chinitsu. At the start of the 3rd row, Matsugase gets to chinitsu tenpai and waits on a 369p sanmenchan. However, Matsugase is in furiten because of the 9p he discarded on turn 3, meaning that his three-sided wait can only in by tsumo. Three turns later, Matsugase draws the 6p to win the hand. Matsugase wins with Chinitsu/Tanyao/Dora 2 for 4,000+100/8,000+100 (plus two riichi sticks) to widen his lead.
Aiming for Chuuren!?!
February 14, Game 1, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p752
In S1-1, Uotani is in 2nd place and starts out with a 3-shanten chinitsu hand. Holding 1112356789p, the hand is only a 4p and two 9p away from the valuable chuuren. At the end of the 1st row, Uotani draws a 4p.
At this point, Uotani can choose to take a 69m tenpai for three han (four if she chooses to call riichi) or aim for a chinitsu or chuuren. With the game being early and being 2-shanten from chuuren, she takes the risk and breaks up her final manzu block.
On the very next turn, she draws a 9m, deeply hurting Hiyoshi with the missed ippatsu tsumo haneman. Even so, Uotani continues forward. Soon after, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen.
As Uotani continues, she draws to an 8s kanchan tenpai. Within the go-around, Matsumoto throws the 8s and deals into Uotani. Uotani wins the hand with Riichi/Ittsuu/Dora 1 for 7,700+300 (plus Matsumoto’s riichi stick and one from the previous hand).
Chasing Chuuren Again!?!
February 14, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p753
In S4-0, Uotani is in 2nd place and 17,100 behind 1st place Matsugase. She starts out 2-shanten with not much value, but with an ankou of 9s and a 1234s group and a previous attempt at chuuren, the idea of chuuren and a potential yakuman is still in the mind of fans. On turn 2, she gets to iishanten for a cheap hand and has a choice to be tenpai on turn 3, but declines it by breaking up her penchan. On turns 4 and 6, she draws more souzu tiles to push her hand towards chinitsu. With the hand being 3-shanten for both chinitsu and chuuren, the dream is still alive. As Uotani tries to get more souzu, Matsugase and Matsumoto both make calls to try for a quick win. In the 2nd row, Uotani draws an extra 5s for her chuuren, making her wait to get 7s, 8s and 1s for the yakuman. A turn later, she draws an extra 4s to ruin the chuuren, but does put her iishanten for chinitsu. At the end of the 2nd row, Uotani draws a 7s.
Uotani is faced with a choice on whether to call riichi or not. On one hand, calling riichi allows her to take 1st place if she draws the winning tile herself. On the other hand, it can reduce her win rate by a bit and doesn’t allow her to improve her hand to either add more yaku for a guaranteed baiman ron or to upgrade the hand to chuuren with a 1s or 8s draw. In the end, Uotani decides to stay dama on her 36s ryanmen. In the middle of the 3rd row, last place Murakami draws and discards the 3s, dealing into Uotani. Uotani wins the hand with Chinitsu only for 12,000.
Takizawa Triplet
February 15, Game 1
In E3-0, Takizawa is in 2nd place and 2,300 behind 1st place. He starts out at a poor 5-shanten (4-shanten for chiitoi) and holds a single white dragon dora. Turning his pairs into ankous and creating a ryanmen, he manages to push his hand to iishanten by the end of the 1st row. In the 2nd row, Takizawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen. Late in the 3rd row, Takizawa draws the 2m and wins the hand. Takizawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao for 1,000/2,000.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p761
In E4-0, Takizawa is the dealer at 5-shanten and is sorely lacking any value. His hand is slow in the 1st row, only getting to 3-shanten and holding a penchan and two kanchans. In the 2nd row, he gets rid of his penchan, fills in a kanchan and pairs up the dora. By the end of the row, Takizawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen. Three turns later, Takizawa draws the 8m and wins the hand. Revealing one uradora, Takizawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 2/Ura 1 for 6,000 all.
In E4-1, Takizawa is yet again at 5-shanten from the start. Getting rid of the usual terminals and honours, Takizawa gets to 3-shanten by the end of the 1st row. With three draws in the 2nd row, Takizawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi with a 36s ryanmen. At the start of the 3rd row, Takizawa draws the 3s and wins the hand. Takizawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1 for 2,000+100 all, pushing his score to 53,100.
Oyakaburi and Revenge
February 15, Game 1
In S2-4, Ishibashi is in 3rd place and 1,500 from falling into 4th. He starts out with a 4-shanten hand full of ryanmens. He finishes some blocks and makes an ankou with the first few turns, getting to iishanten by turn 4 with a chance at sanshoku. Near the start of the 2nd row, Ishibashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen, though failing to get a sanshoku. On his very next draw, Ishibashi draws the 4m to win the hand. Ishibashi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 3,000+400/6,000+600 (plus a leftover riichi stick)move into 2nd place.
In S3-0, Hagiwara is trying to gain back points after getting hit with the dealer penalty on a haneman tsumo. He starts out with a pretty good hand, holding four pairs, including a pair of dora and a single red 5p. On turn 2, he is able to pair up the 5p to get to iishanten. On turn 4, he makes a 6th pair to get to a quick chiitoi tenpai and calls riichi on a west tanki. With Ishibashi being the dealer and having no safer tiles, he doesn’t hesitate throwing the west on the ippatsu turn and ends up dealing into Hagiwara. Hagiwara wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chiitoi/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000 to make the surprising jump to 2nd place.
Tanki over Ryanmen
February 15, Game 1 S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p762
In S4-1, the distance between 2nd and 4th was only 2,200 and can quickly flip the standings with a single 2-han hand. Sawazaki is in 4th place and starts out 4-shanten with no value besides a distant sanshoku. By the end of the row, Sawazaki could only get to 3-shanten. In the 2nd row, Sawazaki advances his hand towards tanyao by calling pon on the 6s. In the middle of the row, he gets to iishanten. With Hagiwara wanting to defend his 2nd place, he makes a call to get to iishanten as well. At the start of the 3rd row, Sawazaki makes a daiminkan of the 7m. The rinshan misses, though the kandora benefits him by giving him three extra dora. With Sawazaki’s discard, Hagiwara makes another call to be the first to tenpai, waiting on an atozuke red dragon wait.
In the middle of the 3rd row, Sawazaki makes a call to get to tenpai. However, he chooses to take a 6p tanki wait instead of a 58p ryanmen.
A turn later, he switches the wait to a 2m.
On Hagiwara’s draw, he draws and discards the 2m, dealing into Sawazaki.
Sawazaki wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 3 for 8,000+300, moving him to 2nd place and Hagiwara to 4th place.
Bad Waits Always Win
February 15, Game 2, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p763
In E1-0, Asakura is the starting dealer and start out with a 4-shanten hand with a pair of south dora. With the pair of undiscardable dora, Asakura’s only hope for a yaku is riichi. At the end of the 1st row, he is iishanten with a ryanmen left to finish.
Even though Asakura is the dealer and has the most valuable hand, both Date and Hagiwara try to be faster by calling. Near the start of the 2nd row, Date gets to tenpai on an atozuke 14s ryanmen (with the 4s giving tanyao).
With a call, Hagiwara gets to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen.
When Asakura draws the 7m, he knows that he can’t throw it against Hagiwara’s obvious honitsu and breaks up a ryanmen. Soon after, he makes the south dora an ankou and gets to iishanten. Approaching the middle of the 3rd row, Asakura finally get to tenpai. He can choose to throw the 7s, which would give him a 7m wait with two already in his hand, or discard the 7m and wait on a 47s ryanmen. With Hagiwara’s threat still looming, he chooses to take the really bad 7m wait.
On Asakura’s last draw, he finds the very last 7m in the wall to win the hand. Asakura wins with Tsumo/Iipeikou/Dora 3 for 4,000 all, taking the early lead.
South 4 Showdown
February 17, Game 2, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p774
In S4-1, the scores are as follows:
- Kayamori: 19,200 (3rd)
- Shiratori: 7,500 (4th)
- Date: 32,100 (2nd)
- Hori: 41,200 (1st and dealer)
With ever with something at stake, everyone will want to win major points. From the start, Date makes a 2m call before her first draw, aiming for either a quick tanyao or a slower but more expensive chinitsu. With a pon of the 9m the very next turn, she confirms her journey to chinitsu. Kayamori, who is in 3rd place, gets to iishanten soon after in order to defend her 2nd place. At the end of Kayamori’s 1st row, she has a choice to get to tenpai on a 2p kanchan, but chooses not to to aim for tanyao and a chance for baiman to move into 2nd place.
The first player to get to tenpai is Shiratori, who waits on a 79s for 5,200.
As Shiratori gets to tenpai, Date makes her 3rd call for chinitsu, but is still 2-shanten from the desired hand. A few turns later, Shiratori draws the 7s.
Though a 7s tsumo would give him a mangan tsumo win, it wouldn’t be enough to move up in placement. As a result, Shiratori chooses to discard the 9s and wait on a 679s furiten wait.
Within the first go-around of Shiratori rejecting tsumo, Kayamori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen. If Kayamori were to draw the 5s, she would win with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 2/Aka 2 for a baiman, enough to go into 1st place. If she can find two uradora, her hand would be upgraded to a sanbaiman, a huge win for both her and her team’s chances of making the playoffs.
With the riichi stick from Kayamori, a mangan tsumo is now enough for Shiratori to win. A few turns later, he draws the last 5s. After almost two minutes of thinking Shiratori calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen.
With Date only a mangan away from taking 1st, she makes a 4th call and gets to tenpai on a 5m tanki, the only tile in her hand.
Late into the game, Kayamori draws and discards a 2s and deals into Shiratori. Shiratori wins with Riichi/West/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000+300 (plus Kayamori’s riichi stick) to move into 3rd place.
Into the Lead
February 18, Game 1, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p782
In S4-1, Katsumata is the dealer and in 3rd place, being only 3,500 behind 1st place. His hand starts out 5-shanten for a standard hand (4-shanten for chiitoi) with a 8p dora and a red 5s. His hand develops fast, creating sequences, securing the 7p and getting to iishanten by the end of the 1st row. Near the start of the 2nd row, Kobayashi makes a push for 1st and calls riichi on a 4m kanchan.
Right after Kobayashi calls riichi, Taro makes a call to get to iishanten for chiitoi. Soon after, Katsumata secures the red 5s to get to a better iishanten. Near the start of the 3rd row, Katsumata gets to iishanten and calls riichi on a 7m kanchan.
On his very next draw, Katsumata draws the 7m to win the hand. Revealing one uradora, Katsumata wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 6,000+100 all (plus two riichi sticks) to take a big lead and basically securing 1st place.
Punished?
February 18, Game 2, E3-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p783
In E3-2, Ishibashi is the dealer and in the lead by 8,700 points. He starts with a very poor starting hand, being 5-shanten. In his first 5 draws, he discards terminals and an honour and gets to 3-shanten by the end of the row. Drawing mostly tanyao tiles in the 2nd row, he his hand advances to an iishanten hand that is set for mangan. At the start of the 3rd row, Ishibashi gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 47s ryanmen.
Three turns after getting to tenpai. Ishibashi draws the red 5s. In true Ishibashi fashion, he discards the red 5s to coax out the 4s and 7s from peoples’ hands.
The very next turn, Ishibashi draws the 7s to win the hand. Ishibashi wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 4,000+200 all (plus two riichi sticks). If Ishbashi had only kept the red 5s, he would have upgraded his hand to haneman.
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