Highlights
Beating the Double Riichi
March 21, Game 1, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p911
In S2-1, the scores are close, with 1st and 4th only being separated by 4,200. Right off the bat, Kayamori starts out with a monster hand, being tenpai from the start and calls a double riichi on a 2s kanchan, guaranteed at least 5 han if she wins.
With such an early riichi, all players started by throwing out their terminals and honours. As folding fodder came, all players began to fold. Even with the folding, however, hands began to take shape. At the end of the 2nd row, Mizuhara got to iishanten with good chances to get to tenpai. At the start of the row, Mizuhara does get to tenpai and she makes a chasing riichi on a 36p ryanmen.
On Mizuhara’s last draw, she finds the 3p to win the hand. Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 1 for 1,000+100/2,000+100 (plus two riichi sticks), beating the double riichi and taking the lead.
Draw Denial
March 21, Game 2, E4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p914
In E4-1, Ishibashi is in 2nd place and wanting to both get to 1st place and keep the rest of his opponents at bay. His hand starts out 3-shanten but the quality of his hand was lacking. On turn 4, Ishibashi’s plans to advance were foiled when Matsumoto called riichi on a 6s/east shanpon.
With the early riichi from 3rd place, Ishibashi did his best to keep safe. In the middle of the 2nd row, he was faced with another challenge, this time with a riichi from the dealer and 4th place Katsumata on a 2m dora tanki.
With the two riichi calls, Ishibashi was forced to throw the safest tile possible. As the wall got smaller, Ishibashi paid more and more attention to the wall. On Ishibashi’s last draw, he noticed that there are two tiles left in the wall. If Ishibashi took no action, then both Katsumata and Matsumoto would get a draw. However, Ishibashi has four 5s, meaning he has the chance to call kan.
If he calls kan, he would deny Matsumoto a draw and reduce the chances of anyone getting ahead of him (due to the reduced number of draws). The downside to calling kan is that it would give the dealer Katsumata extra dora chances, as well as giving him the haneman. He decides that the benefits outweigh the risks and calls kan.
He reveals the new kandora, which luckily doesn’t give anyone any extra value. On Ishibashi’s next draw, he gets an 8s, the fourth of its kind in his hand! Quickly, Ishibashi calls kan to deny Katsumata his draw.
He then discards the safe 2p to finish the hand. The hand ends in a draw with Matsumoto and Katsumata the only ones tenpai.
A Tie!
March 21, Game 2, S4-0
In S4-0, the battle for 1st place is close, with 2nd place Matsumoto just 1,000 away from 1st place Kondo. Matsumoto starts out 3-shanten with a clear path for tanyao, paving the way for the 1,000 points he needs to tie Kondo. On turn 4, Matsumoto makes a call to get to iishanten. A few turns later, Matsumoto makes a call and gets to tenpai on a 36m ryanmen. Soon after, Katsumata draws and discards the 3m, dealing into Matsumoto. Matsumoto wins the hand with Tanyao only for 1,000.
With the hand, Matsumoto brings his score to 40,700, the same score as Kondo and tying them at 1st place. This isn’t the first time this season that two players have tied for 1st. On October 28, 2021, Honda and Hori both ended with 38,000 and tied for 1st place.
Ippatsu Tsumos
March 22, Game 1
In E2-0, Asakura is the dealer and has a slim lead over everyone else. He starts out with a great hand, being 2-shanten with three ryanmens in hand. On turn 3, he advances his hand to iishanten. On turn 8, Asakura gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen for two han minimum. On Asakura’s very next turn, he draws his winning 4p to win the hand. Asakura wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 1 for 4,000 all, putting 18,000 between him and the next player
In E2-1, Uotani is trying to chase down Asakura the dealer and starts out 4-shanten with two red dora. Getting rid of isolated honours and terminals, she pushes her hand closer to tanyao and gets to iishanten by the end of the row. In the 2nd row, Uotani is faced with opposition with calls from Sasaki and a riichi call from Uchikawa on a 6s/green dragon shanpon. At the end of the row, Uotani draws a 9m. It kills her tanyao, but it gets Uotani to tenpai and she calls riichi on a 356p wait. On her very next draw, Uotani draws the 6p and wins the hand. Uotani wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 2 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 (plus Uchikawa’s riichi stick) to get closer to the lead.
Trying to Repeat
March 22, Game 1, E4-0
In E4-0, Asakura is in 1st place and trying to keep it that way. He starts out with pairs of the green and white dragon, as well as a singleton of the red dragon. On turn 3, Asakura pairs up the red dragon, giving him three pairs of dragons. Fans had flashbacks of the haipai Asakura had in the 2019 finals that gave him a daisangen and helped the team win the championship that year.
On turn 4, Uotani discards the red dragon and Asakura calls pon. Immediately after, Uotani discards the white dragon and Asakura calls pon, getting 2/3rds of the way to a yakuman.
Unfortunately, Asakura wasn’t able to get any further than that After Uotani discarded the two dragons, she was able to get to tenpai for a mangan and, in the middle of the 2nd row, was able to call ron off of Uchikawa on a Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 8,000, killing off another yakuman chance.
Yakuman Tenpai!!!
March 22, Game 1, S1-1
Abema TV: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p922
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94-FlWHQ0rQ
In S1-1, Sasaki is the dealer and in 3rd place, 4,000 from 4th and 15,000 from 1st. His hand starts out with a red 5s and holding four pairs. On turn 3, Sasaki turns one of the pairs into an ankou and on turn 4, he makes a 5th pair. With his hand composition, he can pivot to either toitoi or chiitoi.
At the start of the 2nd row, Sasaki draws a second ankou and becomes iishanten for toitoi. If Sasaki can keep his hand closed, he has a chance to get suuankou and win the first yakuman of the season.
The very next turn, Sasaki draws a third ankou to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1p/7s shanpon.
With a dealer riichi and none of the east dora visible, everyone begins to fold. Even when Uotani has a chance to get to tenpai, she chooses to fold instead because she would need to throw an east to get there. With no opposition, it was up to the wall whether the first yakuman of the season would be won.
On turn 13, the wall gave its answer. With Sasaki’s draw, he gets the 1p and wins the hand. Sasaki wins the hand with a Suuankou yakuman for 16,000+100 (plus a riichi stick) to win the first yakuman since April 29, 2021.
Back From the Dead
March 22, Game 1, S4-0
In S4-0, Uchikawa is in the negatives and is the dealer, 10,500 from 3rd place and 14,200 from 2nd place. He starts out with a 3-shanten hand that is lacking dora or value, a big problem if Uchikawa wants to move up in placement. With Uchikawa draws, he kept drawing more manzu, pushing his hand towards chinitsu. On turn 3, Uchikawa draws a red 5m, setting his hand up for a dealer mangan if he chooses to go the chinitsu route. In the middle of the 1st row, Uchikawa calls pon on the 1m, confirming his push for chinitsu. Soon after, he calls pon on the 9m to get to iishanten.
At the end of the 1st row, Sasaki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2m/1p shanpon.
Even with the riichi, Uchikawa is desperate and keeps pushing. A turn later, Uchikawa gets to tenpai on a 3m/5m shanpon. With these two obviously tenpai, it became a question of who would deal into the other or who would draw it themself. The question was answered near the end of the 2nd row when Uchikawa drew the 3m. Uchikawa wins the hand with Chinitsu/Aka 1 for 6,000 all (plus Sasaki’s riichi stick) to move from 4th place up to 2nd place with a 10,800 cushion.
By 100 Points
March 22, Game 1, S4-1
In S4-1, Uotani is in 4th place and 3,700 behind 3rd place Asakura. She starts out with a decent hand at 2-shanten. Unfortunately, the hand will still need to find value in order to move her up a rank. Very early on, Uchikawa calls pon on a white dragon to get to tenpai on a 3p penchan. Even with the early tenpai from Uchikawa, Uotani matches the speed closely and gets to tenpai in 1st row and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. Though the hand is only 2 han and not enough, any single han, whether tsumo or uradora, will put her into 3rd place. With each draw, Uotani kept missing. But in the 3rd row, on Uotani’s last draw, she finds the 9s and wins the hand. Uotani wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu for 700+100/1,300+100, just enough to be 100 points ahead of Asakura and to be in 3rd place.
Riichi! Riichi! Riichi! Tsumo!
March 24, Game 1, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p932
In S2-0, everyone but Takizawa starts out 3-shanten, with Okada having the upper hand with lots of ryanmens. By the end of the first row, the three of them are iishanten or better. On turn 8, Okada reaches tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen.
Right after, Hinata, who had already been tenpai a few turns earlier, decides to chase and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen.
Right after Hinata, Matsugase get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen.
With three riichi calls, fans expected an exciting round. However, Okada cut the round short when she drew her winning 1m on the ippatsu turn. Okada wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000.
The Strength of the Dealer
March 24, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Hori is the dealer and coming off of Okada’s win in the previous game. Hori starts out 3-shanten with a ryanmen and a kanchan. By the end of the 1st row, Hori is 2-shanten (but still lacking dora). In the middle of the 2nd tow, Rumi tries to end Hori’s dealership with a riichi on a 4s kanchan. Hori held strong and kept pushing. At the start of the 3rd row, Hori gets the tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen for mangan. On the ippatsu draw, Hori draws the 4s to win the hand. Hori wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 6,000 all.
The 4p!?!
March 24, Game 2, E3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p934
In E3-1, Rumi is in 4th place and 1,000 from 4th place, 12,800 from 3rd place. She starts out with an acceptable 2-shanten hand, but lacks value. Very quickly, Takamiya gets to tenpai on turn 2 for chiitoi and stays dama on a 5m. Throughout the turns, Takamiya switched through multiple different tanki waits. On turn 5, Hori added pressure to the table by calling riichi with a 25s ryanmen. At the point of Hori’s riichi, Rumi was already iishanten and she decides to continue pushing her hand.
At the start of the 2nd row, Takamiya switches her tanki to a 1p. A turn later, she calls riichi with the wait.
At the start of the 3rd row, Rumi has a chance to get to tenpai. She can shoose either the 1p or the 4p to get to tenpai. In theory, 1p can deal into a ryanmen, shanpon and tanki. The 4p can deal into all that, plus a kanchan. Even though the 1p seems to be the clear choice, Rumi chooses to discard the 4p and calls riichi!
As if she can see Takamiya’s hand, she manages to get to tenpai safely and waits on a 36m ryanmen.
On the ippatsu turn, Hori discards the 3m and deals into Rumi. Rumi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Ura 1 for 12,000, moving her into 2nd place.
M-League Watch 