Highlights

Mastering the Dora Ankou

March 31, Game 1

In E2-2, Uchikawa is in 4th place, 5,000 from 2nd/3rd place and 17,000 from 1st place. He starts out with a beautiful hand, holding an ankou of red dragon dora and being 2-shanten. By turn 2, Uchikawa is iishanten with two ryanmens. On turn 7, Uchikawa gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 36m ryanmen for mangan. On turn 8, Takizawa discard the 6m and deals into Uchikawa. Uchikawa wins the hand with Red Dragon/Dora 3 for 8,000.

Jumping to S1-1, Uchikawa is in 2nd place, 5,400 from 1st place and starting at 4-shanten with a lone white dragon dora. By the end of the 1st row, he is 2-shanten, but his hand is full of kanchans. In the middle of the 2nd row, Uchikawa draws a white dragon to increase his hand’s value. Near the end of the 2nd row, his progress was stymied by a riichi from Matsumoto the dealer who waits on a 58p ryanmen. However, Uchikawa reaches iishanten on the ippatsu turn and pushes. At the end of the 2nd row, Uchikawa gets to tenpai and waits on a 7m kanchan, staying dama. In the 3rd row, Matsumoto draws and discards the 7m, dealing into Uchikawa. Uchikawa wins the hand with White Dragon/Dora 3 for 8,000+300 (plus two riichi sticks) to move into 1st place.

Skipping the Tenpai

March 31, Game 2

In S3-3, Hori is in 1st place and 18,900 points ahead of 2nd place. He starts out with a truly awful 5-shanten chiitoi hand (6-shanten for a standard hand). By the end of the 1st row, Hori created three ryanmen and got to 3-shanten. By the end of the 2nd row, Hori was iishanten. Around the same time, Sasaki got to tenpai and called riichi on a 2m kanchan.

Hori was able to keep his hand advancing safely and got to tenpai in the middle of the 3rd row. With Hori’s last draw, he was able to keep his hand tenpai.

However, when the hand went to ryuukyoku, Hori declared himself noten!

With every extra hand, it would give other players, 3rd place Sasaki in particular, a chance to win another hand and a chance for Hori to be dealt the dealer penalty. Instead of taking the small win of 1,500 points, he instead chooses to have a higher chance of winning by losing 1,000 points. Even the players helping with the commentary in the EX Theatre Roppongi agreed with the decision.

The choice pays off, as Hori was able to get a quick hand in S1-4 to finish the game in 1st place.

Haneman All Around

April 1, Game 2

In E2-1, Kobayashi has a small lead as the dealer and starts out 3-shanten with two 4s dora and geared towards tanyao. On turn 3, he draws a red 5m to increase hi hand’s value and gets to iishanten. In the middle of the 2nd row, Kobayashi fills in a kanchan and gets to tenpai on a 47m ryanmen, staying dama with a 5-han mangan. If Kobayashi gets it by tsumo, his hand would be upgraded to a haneman. Soon after Kobayashi gets to tenpai, Sasaki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7m kanchan. With the riichi on the table, Kobayashi calls riichi himself. In the middle of the 3rd row, Kobayashi draws the 7m to win the hand. Kobayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 6,000+100 all plus 3,000 in riichi stick, putting him above 50,000.

In E2-2, Sasaki is in 4th place after a failed riichi the previous hand. His hand starts off well, being 3-shanten with a secured red 5p. At the end of the 1st row, he draws a 6p dora to go along with his red 5p to get to 2-shanten. Near the end of the 2nd row, Kondo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p kanchan. Within the ippatsu turn, Sasaki reached tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s nobetan. In the middle of the 3rd row, Sasaki draws the 5s to win the hand. Sasaki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1.

Skipping all the way to S3-2, Aki is the dealer and in 4th place, 9,700 from 3rd and 16,900 from 2nd. She starts her hand at 4-shanten for chiitoi (5-shanten for a standard hand) with a red 5m. Her 1st row draws did a great deal in advancing her hand, allowing her to chiitoi iishanten by the end of the 1st row. On turn 8, Aki achieves tenpai and calls riichi on a 6m tanki. With each of her future draws, it seemed as if her hand was never going to win. But on her very last draw, she finds the 6m to win the hand. Flipping two uradora and completing the shortcut to haneman, Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 6,000+200 all (plus two riichi sticks) to move her into 2nd place and be within a dealer mangan from 1st place.

Not Daisangen?

April 1, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p983

In S2-0, Kobayashi is in 1st place and wanting to keep it that way. He starts out the hand at 3-shanten with pairs of both the red and white dragon, as well as a singleton of the green dragon. With these dragons, Kobayashi has a chance for shousangen or even daisangen.

On turn 4, Kobayashi calls chii to advance to 2-shanten. Soon after, Kobayashi calls pon on the red dragon to advance to iishanten, holding the single green dragon to keep the dream alive.

In the middle of the 2nd row, Kobayashi draws a green dragon!

However, instead of holding three pairs for a chance to get daisangen, Kobayashi decides to hold the two pairs of dragons and a 36m ryanmen to guarantee shousangen and increase his chances of winning.

In the 2nd row, Kobayashi’s chances of winning are reduced when Kondo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s kanchan.

In the 3rd row, Kondo discards the green dragon and Kobayashi calls pon to get to tenpai on a 36mm ryanmen.

Soon after, Kondo discards the white dragon, giving Kobayashi a chance to call pon for daisangen tenpai.

However, Kobayashi chooses to not call pon and keep his haneman tenpai.

In the end, the hand went to a draw with Kobayashi and Kondo the only ones tenpai.

During the 1st place interview, Kobayashi explained his decisions. At the point that he had a choice to take the three pairs or the two pairs and the ryanmen, he had to decide between a haneman or a chance at yakuman. Because nobody would dare throw another dragon if he were to call pon on one of them, his chances of winning would be near zero. So, Kobayashi chose to take the ryanmen so he has a higher chance of winning and a higher chance of staying 1st. Similarly, a tanki wait is much more difficult to win than a ryanmen, so he chose the one that had a higher chance to win.

Hefty Honitsu

April 4, Game 1, S3-2

In S3-2, Okada is in 4th place and 5,400 from the lead. With 3,600 points on the table, even a 2-han hand would be enough to take 1st place. Her hand starts out with 11 tiles being either pinzu or honours, setting her up for a honitsu. However, she is still 4-shanten from both a chiitoi and a standard hand, meaning she will have to be lucky with her draws if she wants to pursue it. By the end of the 3rd row, her hand is rid of all the other suits, but still sits 3-shanten. In the 2nd row, both Shiratori and Katsumata make calls to try to get the valuable poin sticks, with Katsumata getting to tenpai early in the row with a 47s ryanmen. Okada was able to draw more pinzu to advance her hand, getting to iishanten in the middle of the row. Near the start of the 3rd row, Okada draws to tenpai and waits dama on a 1p/green dragon shanpon. The very next turn, Okada draws the 1p to win the hand. Okadas wins with Tsumo/Honitsu for 2,000+200/4,000+200 (plus 3,000 in riichi sticks) to go from 3,600 points behind 3rd to ahead by 8,400.

12000, 12000

April 4, Game 2

In E3-0, Katsumata is in 4th place and 7,000 behind 1st place. His hand starts out nicely, being 3-shanten with a red 5s. He fills in a kanchan on turn 2, gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten on turn 4 and gets to tenpai in the middle of the 2nd row, calling riichi on a 25p ryanmen. On the ippatsu draw, Katsumata gets the 2p to win the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000, taking the lead.

In E4-0, Asakura is the dealer and in 3rd place after Katsumata made the big leap to 1st place. He starts out with a 4-shanten hand, but the dora 6p and the three ryanmens make it promising. By the end of the 1st row, Asakura is 2-shanten and still holding some strong shapes. Unbeknownst to Asakura, Katsumata has a strong hand as well, being tenpai by the end of the 1st row and deciding to call riichi on a 36m ryanmen on turn 8. With Asakura being the dealer and iishanten at the time of the riichi, he continues to push his hand. At the end of the 2nd row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen. Two turns later, Asakura draws the 5p to win the hand. Asakra wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 1 for 4,000 all (plus Katsumata’s riichi stick) to take the lead.

From Last to First

April 4, Game 2

In S2-0, Hinata is in 4th place and 9,900 from 3rd place. She starts out with a pretty good hand, being 3-shanten with a red 5p and a red 5m. In the first row, Hinata creates and fills in a penchan, getting her to iishanten by turn 4. A few turns later, Hinata gets to tenpai and calls riichi by throwing the red 5m to wait on an 8m for sanshoku. Two turns later, Asakura throws the 8m and deals into Hinata, falling for the trick that is considered to be Ishibashi’s signature move. Hinata wins with Riichi/Sanshoku/Aka 1 for 8,000.

In S3-0, Hinata starts out with another good hand, being 2-shanten with a 5s dora and a pair of white dragons. On turn 3, she draws a red 5m to create a ryanmen. On turn 4, she completes a ryanmen to get to iishanten. Approaching the middle of the 2nd row, Hinata gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen for mangan minimum. She gets chased by Asakura a turn later on a 36p/west wait, but Hinata ends up the victor when she draws the 5p at the start of the 3rd row. Revealing one uradora, Hinata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 6,000 all (plus Asakura’s riichi stick), putting her into 1st place.

Shaky

April 4, Game 2, S4-0

In S4-0, an interesting event occurred. While the players were in their 3rd row of discards, the table and the floor began to shake. There was an earthquake happening! Knowing exactly what to do, the players put their tiles down and waited.

The earthquake was a M 4.8 earthquake, 7km south of Shiroi in Japan. After the shaking, the game was paused temporarily to ensure that everything was alright. After everything was good, the game continued as if nothing happened.

Perfect Discard, Perfect Draw

April 4, Game 2, S4-1

In S4-1, Katsumata is in 3rd place and 13,700 from 2nd place. With one honba and one riichi stick available to be won, Katsumata would need a haneman tsumo, or a mangan tsumo with someone else in riichi, to get to 1st place. He starts his hand out with an annoying 4 shanten chiitoi hand (5-shanten for a standard hand), it it does have a pair of 8m dora and a red 5p for value. By turn 5, Katsumata’s hand has already progressed to iishanten. In the middle of the 2nd row, Katsumata gets to tenpai on a 7m kanchan for mangan, but decides to stay dama.

Near the end of the 2nd row, Asakura calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen, putting pressure on Katsumata.

Katsumata chooses to keep dama, but has a choice at the end of the 2nd row when he draws the 5m. Katsumata can:

• Throw the 8m dora for pinfu on a 47m ryanmen
• Throw the 6m for a 6s/8m shanpon
• Throw the 5m to keep the iipeikou on a 7m kanchan

Katsumata decides to take the risk of throw the dora for the wider wait, tossing the 8m sideways and calling riichi on a 47m ryanmen.

The very next turn, Katsumata draws the 4m to win the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 (plus 2,000 in riichi sticks) to finish the game in 2nd place.

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