Highlights
Rinshan
February 28, Game 2, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p835
In S1-1, Kobayashi is the dealer and 9,900 behind 3rd place. He starts out with a nice 2-shanten hand, though it has no clear way to add value besides a possible tanyao. On turn 3, Kobayashi confirms tanyao and gets to iishanten. On turn 4, he has a chance to get to tenpai, but keeps his hand iishanten instead of taking a really bad 4p/7m shanpon. On turn 5, Kobayashi gets to a better tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen. In the middle of the 2nd row, Kobayashi draws a 4th 8m and calls kan. Flipping the kandora, he reveals a west, not helping his hand. However, his rinshan draw was much better, getting the 2p that gives him the win. Kobayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Rinshan/Tanyao for 2,000+100/4,000+100 (plus a riichi stick from the previous hand), allowing him to jump up to within 100 points of 2nd place.
Raiden Reversal
March 1, Game 1, E1-0
Prior to March 1, Team Raiden’s last 1st came on January 25th, more than a month ago. Previous to that, they got their last 1st on December 24th. Though they have no chance of making the playoffs, a win would allow the team to save face.
In E1-0, Setokuma starts out south and starts out with a frustrating 4-shanten but does have a completed sequences with a red 5p. Creating an ankou and making a ryanmen, he gets to 2-shanten by the end of the 1st row with a good chance at tanyao. Though Setokuma does well in advancing his hand, dealer Hinata is the first to get to tenpai, doing so near the start of the 2nd row on a 6p kanchan. A few turns later, Setokuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen, with the 5m upgrading the hand to a haneman. At the end of the row, Setokuma draws the 8m to win the hand. Revealing one uradora, Setokuma wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, a big boost to his score and a good first step to the well-needed 1st place.
Throughout most of the game, Setokuma was unable to win anything else besides some tenpai payments and a small 2-han hand. On S1-0, he was passed by Sawazaki and Setokuma sat at 2nd. That is, until S4-1.
Strong Setokuma
February March 1, Game 1, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p842
In S4-1, Setokuma is trailing dealer Sawazaki by 5,100 and starts out 4-shanten, but has value with a red 5m and a single west as the west seat. Early on, Setokuma’s chances of becoming 1st was put in jeopardy when Hinata called pon on the south to get to an iishanten and got to a 3p/9p shanpon tenpai soon after. However, Hinata dropped her tenpai to hold a west dora, allowing her to both have a chance to take 2nd and to prevent 4th place Matsugase from getting points.
In the 2nd row, Hinata calls pon on the 9p, getting her to iishanten and setting her up for a Double South/Honitsu/Dora 2 haneman for 2nd place. Soon after, Setokuma pairs up the west to get an extra han and Matsugase makes an ankan in order to try to get more points (though misses the kandora). As Hinata gets close to the end of the row, she draws a 7p and decides to take a 3p/7p shanpon tenpai, throwing the west.
Setokuma calls pon on the west to give him a guaranteed haneman (visible mangan to everyone else) and gets to iishanten. Right after the pon, Matsugase gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1s/5s shanpon.
Within the ippatsu turn, Setokuma gets to tenpai and waits on a 36s ryanmen.
With Setokuma having a lot to gain and Hinata not having safe tiles, but of them push through every discard. In the 3rd row, Hinata draws and discards the 3s, dealing into Setokuma. Setokuma wins the hand with West/Dora 3/Aka 2 for 12,000+300, pushing him to 1st place, the first for the team in over a month.
The deal-in from Hinata actually benefited the Shibuya Abemas as well.If the game had ended with the same scores going into South 4, the point difference between Sawazaki and the Shibuya Abemas would be around 80 points. However, despite Hinata losing 12 points from the haneman deal-in, she actually reduced the difference between the two teams to around 50 points.
Kurosawa Continuation
March 1, Game 2
After Setokuma got the 1st place, Kurosawa was sent out to continue the streak.
In E1-0, Kurosawa is the north seat and starts out 3-shanten. By the end of the 1st row, Kurosawa is 2-shanten with a pair of green dragons and set up for a chance at a 678 sanshoku. In the 2nd row, Hori is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen. Having previously called kan, he hopes to take advantage of the extra chance at uradora. However, the kan also gave Kurosawa an extra han and, near the end of the hand, Kurosawa tries to take advantage of the extra uradora by calling riichi on a green dragon/6m shanpon. On the ippatsu turn, tenpai Aki draws and discards the green dragon and deals into Kurosawa. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Green Dragon/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 8,000 (plus Hori’s riichi stick) and the early lead.
Skipping to E3-1, Kurosawa starts out 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a pair of red dragons. In closed Kurosawa fashion, she gets rid of her red dragons to aim for pinfu and gets to 2-shanten by the end of the row. Two turns later, Kurosawa gets to iishanten with a wide acceptance ability. However, the wall wasn’t kind and just didn’t give her the tenpai easily. As Kurosawa waited, Ooi the dealer was the first to get to tenpai and called riichi on a 369s wait. Immediately after, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen. Four turns later, Kurosawa draws the 1s and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 1,3000+100/2,600+100 (plus Ooi’s riichi stick).
In E4-0, Kurosawa is the dealer and starts out 3-shanten with a pair of easts. In Kurosawa fashion, she declines to call pon on the double east when it comes out on turn 1. Remaining closed, she pushes her hand to iishanten on turn 4. In the middle of the 2nd row, Kurosawa notices Aki making progress when she makes an ankan on the 5s. Because of this, Kurosawa calls pon on the second east to get to tenpai on a 58s ryanmen. In the 3rd row, she is faced with a 58p ryanmen riichi by Hori, but Kurosawa keeps pushing and eventually is able to call ron off of Hori when he discards the 8s. Kurosawa wins with Double East/Aka 1 for 5,800.
In E4-1, Kurosawa starts out 3-shanten with a pair of green dragons and a 4p ankou. Already on turn 5, Kurosawa was faced with a challenge when Aki got to tenpai and called riichi on a 2s kanchan.
By this point, Kurosawa was already iishanten and only had one 100% safe tile, so she kept going. On turn 7, Kurosawa reaches tenpai and stays dama on a green dragon/5p shanpon (with the green dragon giving yaku). On turn 8, she draws a dangerous 6m and starts to discard her green dragon pair. On turn 10, she gets back to tenpai and stays dama on a 5s/5p shanpon. In the middle of the 3rd row, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p/5s wait. Two turns later, Kurosawa draws the 5s and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 4,000+100 all (plus Aki’s riichi stick.), putting her above 55,000.
Dora Tanki
March 3, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Kondo is the south seat and starts out with a 2-shanten hand with a dora 7m. The wall is unfriendly to Kondo in the 1st row, with Kondo unable to advance his hand. His first two draws in the 2nd row gave him just the tiles he needed, putting him in tenpai. Even though a dora tanki is unlikely to win by ron, Kondo calls riichi in hopes to draw it himself. On his very next turn, he draws the 7m to win the hand. Kondo wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 2 for 2,000/4,000.
Yakuman Tenpai!
March 3, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p853
In E2-0, Honda is a bit behind after getting hit with the dealer penalty in E1-0. His hand starts out horribly, being 5-shanten from a standard hand and from kokushi. His hand goes slowly but surely, getting to 3-shanten by the end of the 1st row
Of course, going for a slow kokushi means that you will be one of the slower ones at the table. As Honda sits 3-shanten, Matsumoto gets to tenpai on a 147m wait in the middle of the 2nd row.
At the start of the Honda’s 3rd row, he gets to iishanten, waiting only for 9p and east to complete the thirteen orphans. On Honda’s second-to-last draw, he gets the east, putting him into kokushi tenpai and waiting for the very last 9p in the wall.
Kondo draws to tenpai and discards the 4p. Matsumoto draws and discards the white dragon to keep his tenpai. Kobayashi continues his folding and discards the 4p. Honda (whose nickname is the “Yakuman Prince”) draws the very last tile in the wall and gets…
a 4m. With the 4m being near the 2m dora and it being live, he discards the white dragon and goes out of tenpai.
The hand ended in a draw with Kondo and Matsumoto tenpai.
Shortcut to Haneman
March 3, Game 2, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p854
In E2-1, Kondo is in 1st place and the dealer and starts out 4-shanten for both a standard hand a seven pairs. He starts raking in pair after pair after pair, getting to iishanten for chiitoi by turn 4. Though he does have the option to go for a toitoi-based hand, he chooses to secure the chiitoi at the start of the 2nd row. In the middle of the 2nd row, Kondo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s tanki. Kondo has to wait a while, but he ends up drawing the 7s on his second-last draw, winning the hand. Revealing two uradora, Kondo wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Ura 2 for 6,000+100 all, pushing him above 50,000.
Delay
March 3, Game 2, E2-2
In E2-2, Kondo has just surpassed the 50,000 mark and is looking for more. He starts out 3-shanten with a hand full of holes (well, kanchans) and two red dora. In the first row, he creates a pair, fills in a kanchan and gets to iishanten. On turn 9, Kondo has a choice.
As dealer, an instant riichi on turn 8 is usually a good thing, especially with two dora. However, Kondo declines the 2m kanchan and stays iishanten.
Two turns later, Kondo has yet another choice to riichi.
He can choose to discard either the 3s or the 3m and wait on a tanki for the other. If he chooses not to call riichi he would have no yaku. Yet, Kondo chooses not to call riichi and waits for a better wait.
A turn later, Kondo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 147s wait.
Immediately after, Matsumoto draws the 4s. With Matsumoto holding a tenpai hand with a 258m/red dragon wait, he discards the 4s.
Kondo wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Aka 2 for 12,000+600, pushing him past 65,000.
Dead Hand
March 4, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p863
In E2-0, Sawazaki is in 1st place and the dealer and starts out with 13 tiles. When players have 13 tiles and it’s their turn, they are supposed to draw from the wall. However, Sawazaki forgets to take his first draw and discards! The moment puts the north into his discards he realizes his mistake. Everyone pauses and a voice comes from the ceiling. The voice tells Sawazaki that he is short on tiles and has a dead hand.
When a player has a dead hand, they are not allowed to make any calls and must declare themselves noten at ryuukyoku.
This isn’t the first time Sawazaki has gotten into trouble. On October 3, 2019, Sawazaki did the exact same thing. He forgot to draw his very first tile and it wasn’t noticed until midway through the game and his hand was declared dead (East 4-3). On February 7, 2020, Sawazaki Makoto called a noten riichi by discarding the wrong tile. The hand went to ryuukyoku and he received a chombo penalty.
No More Ura San
March 4, Game 2, S3-3
In S3-3, Sasaki is the dealer and in 1st place after getting a dealer mangan in S3-0 and being tenpai in the next two hands. He starts out 3-shanten with a red 5p for value. By the start of the 2nd row, he gets to iishanten. A turn later, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 6p kanchan. Even though he is only guaranteed two han, the hand will be worth at least 4,800 points (plus 3,300 in bonus stick) becuase of fu. Near the start of the 3rd row, Sasaki draws the 6p to win the hand.Revealing three uradora, Sasaki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 3 for 6,000+300 all (plus three riichi sticks). With just one flip, he was able to bring his hand up to a haneman and puts his score above 50,000.
M-League Watch 