Highlights
No More Ura San
October 24, Game 1, S1-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s80_p709
In S1-2, Nakabayashi is in 1st place, but only 600 ahead of 2nd. He starts out the hand 3-shanten with two completed sequences, but lacking good shapes. In the first few draws, Nakabayashi draws some kanchans, and fills them soon after. On turn 5, he gets to iishanten and on turn 7, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2m kanchan. With a less than ideal wait with only two left in the wall, the chances of winning seemed low. However, on the ippatsu draw, Nakabayashi finds the 2m and wins the hand. With a flip of the uradora, Nakabayshi almost doubles the number of han in his hand. Nakabayashi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 3 for 3,000+200/6,000+200 plus a riichi stick to take the solid lead.
Attemp-ai
October 24, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Nakabayashi, Setokuma, Hisato and Shibukawa face off against each other in the second game of the day. At the start, Hisato is the closest to tenpai at 2-shanten, followed by Setokuma at 3-shanten. In the first row, Nakabayashi makes good progress, getting to 2-shanten, while Shibukawa gets to iishanten with two kanchans. The first of the group to get to tenpai is Nakabayashi who calls riichi in the middle of the 2nd row with a 58s ryanmen.
Within the ippatsu turn, Hisato gets to tenpai as well, waiting on a west/6m shanpon.
After a few turns of back in forth between the two, Setokuma throws his hat into the ring, staying dama on a 2m/5m shanpon.
In the middle of the 3rd row, Shibukawa finally gets the tile he wants. However, he is forced to throw the 6m to get to tenpai and ends up dealing into Hisato.
Hisato wins the hand with Honitsu/Dora 1 for 5,200, plus a riichi stick.
Rumi vs. Maruyama
October 25, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-15_s90_p171
In E1-0, Rumi is the starting dealer and Maruyama sits at her right. Rumi starts out 3-shanten with a dora 9m and a red 5m. He hand progress quick, getting to iishanten on turn 4. On turn 5, she pairs up the dora and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. Two turns later, Kayamori pushes the once-chance 9s and deals into Rumi. Rumi wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 2/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 18,000.
Skipping to E2-0, Rumi start out 3-shanten with a pair of green dragons. Her hand creates some blocks in the first row and gets to iishanten by the end of it. In the 2nd row, she draws the dora and gets to tenpai a turn later, calling riichi on a 69s ryanmen. Later in the row, Shiratori gets to tenpai. In the 3rd row, Shiratori draws and discards the 9s, dealing into Rumi. Rumi wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 5,200.
In E4-2, Maruyama is in 2nd place and trying to catch up to Rumi, she had gained some points two hands ago, but lost them to a failed riichi the previous hand. Maruyama starts out 4-shanten, but has a dora west, a pair of red dragons and a red 5m. After drawing a lot of manzu in the first few turns, she moves her hand to honitsu. After few more draws and a call of the north, she gets to tenpai on a 2m kanchan. Soon after, Kayamori discards the 2m and deals into Maruyama. Maruyama wins the hand with Honitsu/Aka 1 for 3,900+600.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s10_p702
In S1-0, Maruyama starts out 3-shanten with two completed sequences. Drawing a pair of norths and filling in a kanchan, Maruyama gets to iishanten quickly. A turn later, she draws another pair. At this point, she can choose to take the 8s/north shanpon, but instead she chooses to reject it for a better wait. As she waits, Shiratori get to tenpai, calling riichi on a south/2p shanpon. Within the ippatsu turn, Maruyama draws the red 5m and calls riichi on a 4m kanchan. On Shiratori’s ippatsu draw, he draws the 4m and deals into Maruyama. Maruyama wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Aka 1 for 5,200 plus Shiratori’s riichi stick.
In S2-0, Maruyama is the dealer and has a 3-shanten starting hand with a pair of red dragons. In the first row, both Rumi and Shiratori try to speed up their hands with calls. In the 2nd row, Rumi and Kayamori both get to tenpai, with Rumi having a yaku and a ryanmen. A few turns after the two tenpais, Maruyama draws a red dragon to create an ankou and get to tenpai. She decides to call riichi, waiting on a 14p ryanmen. On the ippatsu draw, Maruyama gets the 4p to win the hand. Maruyama wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Red Dragon/Ura 1 for 4,000 all, putting her in the lead.
In S2-1, Rumi is 6,100 behind Maruyama and wanting to retake the lead. She starts out the hand 3-shanten for chiitoi (4-shanten for a standard hand) with a decent chance at tanyao. In the first row, she makes some nice draws to get to iishanten for both a standard hand and chiitoi. At the same time, Shiratori gets to iishanten with two dragon pairs. Shiratori is the first to get to tenpai, calling pon on the white dragon and waiting on a 258p sanmenchan. Soon after, Rumi drew a second ankou to get to iishanten, with a chance for suuankou. A few turns later, she calls pon on the 3s to get to tenpai on a 2s/4m shanpon. On Shiratori’s turn, he draws and discards the 4m, dealing into Rumi. Rumi wins the hand with Toitoi/Tanyao for 5,200+300, putting her just 600 behind Maruyama.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p710
In S4-1, 5,600 separates Maruyama and Rumi, while Shiratori and Kayamori are tied for 3rd/4th. With this hand likely being the last, any deal-in and win is important. Rumi starts 3-shanten for chiitoi (4-shanten for a standard) with a red 5p, while Maruyama is 4-shanten with a red 5m. With both Shiratori and Kayamori at 5-shanten, the hand was likely going to be a fight between the front-runners. At the end of the 1st row, Rumi leads at iishanten, while Maruyama lags behind at 2-shanten. In the middle of the 2nd row, Rumi is the first to get to tenpai. With her hand currently worth 5,200, she would either need to win by tsumo, hit Maruyama directly or find one more han. With the riichi, Maruyama makes a passive call to get to iishanten, but is prepared to fold if she needs to. Throughout the rest of the 2nd and into the 3rd row, calls were made to get the other players close to tenpai. In the middle of the 3rd row, Maruyama called pon on her west wind to get to tenpai on a 58m nobetan, which she later switches to a 2m tanki. With each draw, the wall got shorter and shorter. Then, on Rumi’s last draw, she finds her winning 5m. Rumi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100, winning the game.
Matsumoto
October 25, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p707
In S4-0, Matsumoto is the dealer and sitting in 3rd place, 2,700 ahead of 4th. So far, the Shibuya Abemas have gone the whole season without a last and they don’t want to start now. He starts out 4-shanten with a pair of white dragons and a 3m dora. In the first row, he makes the white dragon an ankou, creates another ankou, creates a pair and gets to iishanten by the end of it. In the middle of the 2nd row, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s/9m shanpon.
Immediately after, Uotani gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s wait.
Within the ippatsu round, Sonoda draws the 7s. However, he holds onto it for his potential chiitoi. A turn later, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s tanki.
At the start of the 3rd row, Uotani draws and discards the 9m, dealing into Matsumoto. Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/White Dragon/Dora 1 for 9,600 and two riichi stick, hurling Matsumoto in the lead.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p708
In S4-1, Matsumoto start out 3-shanten for chiitoi (4-shanten for a standard hand). Though decently far from tenpai, his hand is full of middle tiles, meaning that he would at least have tanyao if he chooses to open his hand. However, the useful tiles kept coming and Matsumoto was able to keep his hands closed. Late in the 2nd row, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 36p ryanmen. Even as Katsumata and Uotani made calls for tenpai, Matsumoto still had the better wait. In the middle of 3rd row, Matsumoto draws the 6p and wins the hand. Matsumoto wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou for 2,600+100 all., putting him above 40,000.
In S4-2, Matsumoto’s hand is 3-shanten, with his first 14 tiles being 13 simples and a single honour. With his path basically decided, he got to work. He filled in a kanchan, secured his pair, completed ryanmens and on turn 5, he draws the dora 4m and calls riichi on a 147m sanmenchan. Two turns later, Katsumata discards the 1m and deals in. Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 12,000+600, putting Matsumoto above 50,000.
In S4-3 Matsumoto starts out 3-shanten with many inside tiles. In the first row, he drew more middle tiles got rid of his stray honours, putting him iishanten at the end of the row. As he waited for tenpai, Katsumata and Sonoda were both hard at work to avoid falling into 4th and finish the game in 2nd. On turn 8, Katsumata gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s kanchan. Soon after, Sonoda makes a call to get to tenpai on a 25p ryanmen. Though Matsumoto isn’t tenpai yet and is in the lead, his lead is big enough that he won’t lose the lead if he were to deal in. When Matsumoto does get to tenpai, he calls riichi, waiting on a 14p ryanmen. In the middle of the 3rd row, Matsumoto draws the 4p and wins the hand. Matsumoto wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao for 2,600+300 all, putting him above 60,000.
All the Difference
October 25, Game 2, S4-4
In S4-4, only 1,700 separates 2nd place Katsumata and 4th place Uotani, with Sonoda sitting in the middle. With 1,200 in bonus sticks available, even the smallest win could have a big impact. At the start of the hand, Sonoda is 2-shanten, with two penchans, Uotani is 3-shanten with chiitoi and Katsumata is 4-shanten with a standard hand. In the 1st row, Uotani converted her hand to a standard one, Katsumata drew for a second pair of dragons and Sonoda’s hand just stalled. Before the row is done, Uotani makes a call for iishanten, while Katsumata and Sonoda are 2-shanten. Within a turn, Katsumata calls pon on the white dragon for iishanten as well. In the middle of the 2nd row, Uotani makes another call and sits tenpai on a 47m ryanmen.
At the end of the 3rd row, Katsumata makes an ankou of the green dragons and waits tenpai on a 58s ryanmen. With very little chance of ever advancing his hand, Sonoda decides that he should just fold and let the other two players duke it out. In the 3rd row, Matsumoto throws the 5s and deals into Katsumata. Katsumata wins the hand with White Dragon/Green Dragon/Dora 1 for 5,200+1,200 to finish the game in 2nd place.
Yakuman Tenpai??!
October 27, Game 1, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s30_p708
In E3-0, Okada is in 1st place after winning the two previous hands and now starts as the dealer. She starts out with four pairs in her hand, but those pairs also create a 678s iipeikou. With her hand being flexible, she starts out by getting rid of her lone honours. At the end of the 1st, she is chiitoi iishanten. At the start of the 2nd row, she draws an 8m to create an ankou and get to iishanten for a standard hand as well. On turn 8, she draws a 7s. Though this disrupts her 678s iipeikou, it gives her a second ankou and puts her iishanten for a potential suuankou. As Okada waits for tenpai, 4th place Takamiya challenges her by calling riichi on a 36p ryanmen.
Soon after Takamiya calls riichi, Okada draws the 6s, forming her 3rd ankou. With the tenpai now in hand, Okada calls riichi. Though her hand may seem like a simple 8s/8p shanpon for toitoi and a possible suuankou, her hand is actually waiting on the 5s as well. If she gets the 5s, her hand’s value drops, giving her only 3 han if she wins it by ron (compared to the minimum 6 han and the chance of yakuman with the 8s and 8p)
With October 26 being M-League’s Yakuman Day, the tradition seemed to be continuing. However, Takamiya was still standing in the way. Okada had two 5s and two 8p left in the wall for a total of 4 tiles to win (2 for yakuman), while Takamiya had two 3p and three 6p in the wall for a total of 5 tiles to win. With each draw, we wondered if it would be a yakuman win or a yakuman upset. With each draw, we saw as winning tiles were swallowed up. Then, in the 3rd row, Takamiya draws the 8p.
With a ron, Okada reveals her tiles. Okada wins the hand with Riichi/Toitoi/Sanankou/Tanyao for 18,000 plus Takamiya’s riichi stick. Though it wasn’t a yakuman it was still quite expensive. It was quite fitting for a near yakuman to win near Yakuman Day.
Takame
October 27, Game 1, E3-3
In E3-3, Takamiya is in 4th place, having only 1,400 and 18,000 behind 3rd. She starts the hand off 3-shanten for chiitoi (4-shanten for a standard hand), with two red fives, a good start for a comeback. With a standard hand being the faster route, she pursued it and got to 2-shanten by the end of the row. In the 2nd row, Takamiya filled in a kanchan and drew a 4m for tenpai, calling riichi on a 47m ryanmen. If she draws the 4s, she would also add a 456 sanshoku to her hand. Two turns later, she draws that very tile. Takamiya wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Aka 2 for 3,000+300/6,000+300, recovering more than half of her losses and putting her just 3,100 from 2nd.
From 4th to 1st
October 27, Game 2, S1-0
In S1-0, Hori is in 4th place, 8,800 behind 3rd and 13,800 behind 2nd/1st. With this being his last dealership, he needs a big hand for a chance at a comeback. He starts out 4-shanten, but holds two ryanmens, a 6p dora and a red 5m. While he throws isolated honours, he creates and fills ryanmens and shifts his hand to tanyao. By the end of the row, he is 2-shanten with three ryanmens. Near the end of the 2nd row, Hori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen, guaranteeing at least 5 han. Two turns later, he draws the 8s and wins the hand. Hori wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 6,000 all, catapulting him from 4th place to 1st place.
All You Need Is Tenpai
October 27, Game 2, S4-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s30_p709
In S4-3, there is 2,900 on the table and the top two players are separated by only 2,000. 3rd place Date is still in the running at 10,500 behind 1st and Sonoda is in 4th place with the dealership. Looking around the table at everyone’s starting hand, Hori has the most favourable hand at 3-shanten with a ryanmen. On turn 2, Date gets a pair of east dora and Uotani draws a 4th pair, giving both of them potential. By the end of the row, Hori is iishanten, Uotani and Sonoda are 2-shantren and Date is 3-shanten. In the middle of the 2nd row, Hori calls pon on the white dragon and waits tenpai on a 25m ryanmen.
As tiles were drawn, people got closer and closer to tenpai. Uotani draws a 5th pair, Sonoda makes a call for a wide iishanten and Date has 6 different tiles to get to tenpai. As the 3rd row continues, each tile frustratingly leaves them iishanten. With only three tiles left in the wall Sonoda is still noten and he chooses to throws the 3p.
With the 3p discard, Date calls pon from across to get to tenpai on a yakuless 36m ryanmen.
On Uotani’s last draw, she is still noten and chooses to discard the 3p.
Because of the call from Date, Sonoda had one more chance, but misses again, drawing and discarding the west.
On the very last draw, Hori draws the 3m, Date’s winning tile. From here, Hori has to choose between the 3m, 4m and 6m if he wants to keep tenpai. Two of the three choices put him in 3rd place.
With Date having previous discarded the 1m and being able to see pairs of 3m and the 6m, he decides to discard the 4m, letting him live.
The hand ends in an exhaustive draw with Hori and Date tenpai, putting Hori in 1st place and giving his team back-to-back wins.
Three Riichis
October 28, Game 1, E2-1
The game is relatively young in E2-1, with previous hand ending in a draw with Katsumata’s riichi being the only tenpai. At the start, all four players are 3-shanten, with Kurosawa’s hand looking promising with two completed groups. In the first row, Kurosawa draws a pair of white dragons, completes a ryanmen and gets to iishanten by turn 4. On turn 5, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p/white dragon wait.
At this point, Mizuhara is iishanten, but her potential tenpai waits were too poor. As a result, she chooses to break her hand by cutting the 6s pair. After breaking the pair, she ends up back at iishanten. Even so, she continues to fold as best as possible. But she kept getting to iishanten, as if the wall was telling her to push. At the end of the 2nd row, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen. With the 1p being the dora and giving her iipeikou, the hand has a good chance at big value.
At this point, Katsumata is iishanten, but when he draws the 1p dora, he drops the safe 2s. A turn later, he pairs up the 1p and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen, giving him a chance at a mangan or a haneman on tsumo.
With Hinata just folding, it was a tsumogiri battle between the three riichi players. Near the end of the hand, Mizuhara draws and discards the 8p and deals into Kurosawa. Kurosawa wins the hand with Riichi/Iipeikou/Ura 1 for 5,200+300 plus three riichi sticks, giving her the lead.
Ura San Again
October 28, Game 1, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p711
In E4-0, Katsumata is the dealer in 3rd place and sitting 8,000 behind 1st place. He starts out 2-shanten with a 4p dora in hand. With a penchan, kanchan and ryanmen in hand, Katsumata wishes that the ryanmen be left for last for a good tenpai wait. On turn 3, he draws an 8s to change his block to an 889s shape. The next turn, he draws a 3p to create an ankou and make the 8s the new pair, getting rid of the penchan. At the start of the 2nd row, he fills in the kanchan and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen. Two turns later, Katsumata draws the 9m and wins the hand, With the uradora flip his 3p ankou is now dora, doubling his han. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Ura 3 for 6,000 all, giving him the clear lead.
Dora Blessed
October 28, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s80_p710
In S2-0, Yu is the dealer and sitting 9,100 behind 1st place Aki. He starts out with a decent hand, being 3-shanten with a pair of white dragons. With the 5s being the dora, the red 5s in his hand is worth 2 han by itself. On turn 4, he draws a red 5p, giving his hand 3 han from dora. Even as Yu’s hand advances, his 5s still completely isolated. Even when it’s less efficient, he holds onto the value. At the start of the 2nd row, Yu draws the 4s to create a ryanmen with the red 5s dora. Soon after, Kurosawa discards the white dragon and Yu calls pon, putting him iishanten. In the middle of the row, Aki calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen, but it doesn’t faze Yu. At the start of the 3rd row, Yu gets to tenpai and waits on a 36m ryanmen. On Aki’s second-last draw, she gets the 6m and deals into Yu. Yu wins the hand with White Dragon/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 12,000 plus Aki’s riichi stick, putting him in 1st.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s80_p711
Jumping to S4-0, Yu is still in 1st place and wants to end the game as quickly as possible. He starts with a strong starting hand, being 3-shanten with a pair of west yakuhai, a red 5p and a pair of 3p dora. If Yu wins the hand, it would be guaranteed to be at least a mangan. On turn 2, he draws another 3p to make it an ankou and get him to 2-shanten. On turn 3, he makes his 5p pair an ankou for iishanten. At the end of the 1st row, Yu calls chii to get to tenpai on a 3m penchan. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a yaku, so he has to wait to pon the west pair he has before he can win. Immediately after, he calls pon on the west to get to tenpai with a yaku. Instead of choosing between a 1m tanki or a 2m tanki, Yu instead decides to discard one of his dora 3p to wait on a 3m penchan.
As Yu waits, Ooi is looking to defend his 2nd place and have a chance at 1st. Near the start of the 2nd row, Ooi is iishanten and he gets to tenpai soon after, calling riichi on a 14p ryanmen. If Ooi draws the winning tile himself or he gets one uradora, it would be enough for 1st place.
Immediately after Ooi calls riichi, Yu draws the 3m and wins the hand. Yu wins with West/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus Ooi’s riichi stick.
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