Highlights

Yakuman Chance

October 31, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s60_p711

In S3-0, Kondo is in 4th place and his dealership has already passed. If he wants to get out of 4th place, he needs to somehow make 8,100 points. He starts out the hand 4-shanten with no value to be seen. In the 1st row, he brings the number of pairs in his hand from 2 to 5, putting him iishanten for chiitoi. With one of those pairs also being an ankou, he also has the option to shift to toitoi. At the start of the 2nd row, Kondo draws a second ankou, getting him iishanten to a potential suuankou. At the end of the 2nd row, he draws his third ankou. Being tenpai for suuankou, Kondo calls riichi and waits on a 3s/8m shanpon, wanting to tsumo it for maximum value.

With every tile, we wondered if the month would end the same way it started: with a yakuman. Even with the riichi, Kobayashi worked around it. In the middle of the row, Kobayashi makes a call to get to a 7s kanchan tenpai.

With the wall getting shorter, Kondo had one more chance. The last tile is… 3m. Right number, wrong suit. Kobayashi folds his hand and on Aki’s last draw, she manages to get to tenpai, but that was it. The hand went to a draw soon after with Kondo and Aki the only ones tenpai.

Tanki

October 31, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s60_p712

In E4-0, Kayamori is 3rd place, but the scores are still fairly close. Challenging her are 2nd place Matsugase, 4th place Date and 1st place Yu. At the start, Yu is the furthest away at 4-shanten while everyone else is 3-shanten. With the first few draws, Matsugase and Kayamori had their hands advanced quite quickly. On turn 4, Kayamori is the first to get to tenpai, waiting on an atozuke east/8m shanpon (with the 8m giving a yaku).

A few turns later, Matsugase gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s kanchan.

In the 2nd row, Kayamori draws an 8m dora that completes her hand, but she can’t call tsumo because she doesn’t have a yaku. To work around it, she breaks her 123m sequence.

Later on in the row, Kayamori draws the east and waits on a 2m tanki. Even when given a chance to wait on a 36p nobetan, she chooses to keep the tanki. Just a turn later, Yu gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen.

After the riichi Kayamori chooses to switch from a 2m tanki to a 9p tanki. Again when given the choice to have a 47p nobetan, she rejects it for a tanki. Right after, Matsugase draws and discards the 9p, dealing into Kayamori. Kayamori wins the hand with Double East/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 18,000 plus two riichi sticks, putting her above 45,000.

Speed

October 31, Game 2, E4-1

In E4-1, Kayamori is the dealer and starts out with a great hand, being 2-shanten with a red 5m. On turn 2, she draws a 3p to fill in a penchan and get to iishanten. The very next turn, she creates an ankou and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen. On the ippatsu draw, she finds the 6m and wins the hand. Kayamori wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000+100 all, getting more than 12,000 in just over a minute and a half.

Matsugase’s Rise

October 31, Game 2

In S1-3, Matsugase is the dealer and sitting 13,000 behind 3rd place. Though he did gain some tenpai payments the previous hand, he needs more to change placement. He starts the hand off 2-shanten with three ryanmens to choose from and a red 5s. On turn 3, he completes an iipeikou. On turn 5, he gets to tenpai and stays dama on an 8m tanki, waiting to improve his wait. A turn later, he switches to a green dragon tanki and calls riichi. As he waits, Yu improves his own hand. In the middle of the 2nd row, Yu gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s/south shanpon. Near the end of the hand, Kayamori had no safe tiles and chose to discard the green dragon, dealing into Matsugase. Matsugase wins the hand with Riichi/Iipeikou/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 12,000+900 plus a riichi stick to move into 3rd place.

In S1-4, Matsugase starts out 2-shanten with a pair of 8m dora. In the early game, Matsugase makes two calls for tanyao to speed up his hand. With one more call in the middle of the 2nd row, Matsugase gets to tenpai on a 3s kanchan. It takes a lot of waiting, but Matsugase finally gets his win when Yu discards the 3s to try to get to tenpai. Matsugase wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000+1,200

Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p712

In S1-5, Matsugase is still the dealer and 11,300 behind 1st place. With a mangan or better, Matsugase would have enough to move into top spot. Matsugase starts out with another high-value hand, holding a pair of white dragon dora and a red 5s. Drawing a red 5p, filling in a kanchan, Matsugase draws nearly flawlessly. By the end of the first row, Matsugase is 2-shanten with a path to haneman. On turn 10, Matsugase makes the white dragon an ankou for iishanten. A turn later, he gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 25s nobetan. With each draw, Matsugase waits. As Matsugase sits, he also shifts his manzu sequence closer to 345m to give him a chance for sanshoku. In the middle oft he 3rd row, Matsugase creates it, giving him a chance for sanshoku and looking for the 2s for takame. Though Yu has a riichi on the table and Date is in tenpai, Matsugase keeps waiting. Soon after, Matsugase draws his takame 2s. Matsugase wins the hand with Tsumo/Sanshoku/White Dragon/Dora 3/Red Dora 2 for 8,000+500 all plus a riichi stick to go above 55,5000.

In just three hand, Matsugase went from dead last to dead first, a great comeback when all seemed lost.

Madlad Matsugase

October 31, Game 2, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s80_p712

In S4-1, Matsugase is in 1st place and Yu is in 4th place. Matsugase wants to win any hand to end the game, while Yu wants to get a haneman tsumo or a baiman general ron to move into 3rd. Matsugase starts out with a painful 5-shanten while Yu fills a kanchan to get to iishanten on turn 1. With a chance at a 678m sanshoku, he has a good chance at a Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Sanshoku/Aka 1 for a haneman, with tsumo and ura getting him to a baiman. On the second turn, Yu draws the wrong side of the sanshoku, but still gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 369p sanmenchan. In order to move up, he would need to tsumo the 3p or 6p and get an uradora.

With the riichi, Matsugase chooses to fold, as his hand wasn’t going to advance anyways. To Matsugase’s left, Kayamori is hard at work. Holding the dealership and with no chance of falling into 3rd, Kayamori pushes her hand to go for 1st place. After some good draws, Kayamori gets to tenpai in the middle of the 2nd row on a 69m ryanmen.

With Kayamori in tenpai now, Matsugase has to be even more careful. Even though a Kayamori tsumo would be bad, dealing into her would be a disaster. With every draw, we wonder if the 369p or the 69m would prevail. Despite both being good waits, neither of them seemed to come out. As the hand neared its end, Kayamori discarded the 1s, something that Matsugase has a pair of. If Matsugase were to skip it, he would be able to throw the 1s as the final tile and end the hand in a draw. However, that would mean that there would be at least one more hand. Instead, Matsugase chooses to call pon, giving Yu the haitei draw with a chance for Yu to win and end the game.

Sure enough, on Yu’s final draw, he finds the 3p and wins the hand. Yu wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Haitei/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus two riichi stick to put Yu in 3rd place and give Matsugase the win.

Rinshan and Then Some

November 1, Game 1, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p709

In E3-0, Hinata is the dealer in 3rd place and just 4,500 behind 1st place Uchikawa. She starts off with a 4-shanten hand, but holds an ankou of 7s for a potentially valuable hand. On turn 3, Hinata is 2-shanten and at the start of the 2nd row, she gets to iishanten. Unfortunately, her hands slows down from here, allowing Uchikawa to catch up. In the middle of the row, Uchikawa is the first to tenpai, calling riichi on a 7p penchan.

On the ippatsu draw, Hinata draws a ryanmen to get to a perfect iishanten, encouraging her to push the hand. Even with dangerous draws afterwards, a good wait with good value as the dealer is good enough to almost ignore the riichi. Around the start of the 3rd row, Hinata finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen, guaranteed to be at least a mangan.

On the ippatsu draw, Hinata finds the dora 7s. She calls kan, giving her chances at even more dora.

The kandora is a 2s. A miss, but she still has a chance at the rinshan. With the rinshan draw, she reveals the 6m, giving her the win. The first flip gives her one dora, bringing her hand to a baiman. With the second flip, the 7s becomes double dora, turning her baiman into a sanbaiman! Hinata wins the hand with Riichi/Rinshan/Tsumo/Dora 4/Ura 5 for 12,000 all plus Uchikawa’s riichi stick, sending her score from below starting to over 60,000.

No More Ura San

November 1, Game 2, S4-0

In S4-0, Honda is in 1st place and on his way to his second win in a row. He starts out with a strong 3-shanten hand with a red 5p for value. On turn 2, he creates a ryanmen to advance his hand. By turn 4, Honda is iishanten. At the start of the 2nd row, Honda fills in a kanchan and gets to tenpai, calling riichi on a 69m ryanmen. With Taro the dealer holding a hand geared towards a souzu-suited hand and in little danger of falling out of 2nd place, he pushes. In the middle of the 2nd row, Taro throws the 6m and deals into Honda. With the flip of the uradora, Honda’s riichi only hand turned into a mangan. Honda wins the hand with Riichi/Ura 3 for 8,000, a nice bonus to go with the win.

A Team’s Hope

November 3, Game 1, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s10_p703

n E3-0, Sonoda is tied for 2nd/3rd and holding the hopes of the team on his shoulders. The Akasaka Drivens haven’t won a game in 17 games and the team needs a morale boost. He starts out the hand 4-shanten with two penchans, but a 2p dora provides the hand with a small glimmer of hope. On turn 2, he draws a red 5p, adding some value to the hand. Filling in a penchan and securing a ryanmen, Sonoda is 2-shanten by the end of the first row. On the 2nd row, he gets rid of his other penchan and moves his hand closer to a 678 sanshoku. In the middle of the row, Sonoda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen. The difference between the two waits is substantial, with the 8m giving the additional sanshoku for a haneman. With the rest out of his control, Sonoda watches the rest of the table. In the third row, Nakabayashi calls pon on the 2p dora to get to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen, adding some worry for Sonoda. However, just two turns later, Sonoda draws the takame 8m and wins the hand. Sonoda wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 6,000 all.

This would be the only hand that Sonoda would win this game, but it was enough to give him 1st place.

No Riichi Mangans

November 3, Game 2

In E1-1, Kobayashi sits as the only member of the U-Next Pirates. He starts out the hand with a cool ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten with a 4p dora and a potential 456m iipeikou. Despite the good start, the wall didn’t do much besides giving him a red 5m. At the start of the 2nd row, he finally gets to tenpai, drawing the 6m for iipeikou. Kobayashi stays dama on a 25p ryanmen, sitting with a guaranteed mangan. On Hori’s draw he draws the red 5p. Since it didn’t fit with his souzu honitsu, he discarded it and dealt into Kobayashi. Kobayashi wins with Pinfu/Iipekou/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 8,000+300, moving into 1st place.

Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s80_p713

In E2-0, Kobayashi starts off with another strong hand, being only 2-shanten with an ankou of dora wests (which is also his yakuhai) and a red 5p. At the end of the row, Kobayashi gets to iishanten by calling pon on the 8p. With a chii two turns later, he gets to tenpai on a 4m/6p shanpon. Right after the call for tenpai, Hori gets to tenpai as well, calling riichi on a 147s sanmenchan. Despite Hori having the superior wait, Kobayashi manages to draw the 4m and winning the hand. Kobayashi wins with West/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus Hori’s stick, putting Kobayashi above 40,000.

To 1st

November 4, Game 1 E3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p709

In E3-1, Honda is in 4th place, 1,800 behind 3rd place. He won the previous hand, but still needs a bit more to move ahead. He starts out the hand 3-shanten, but lacks value. In the first few turns, he draws souzu, but his 6p pair keeps him from pursuing a chinitsu. By turn 4, he is iishanten for an ittsuu. With the 1st row as well, Takizawa gets to iishanten for a dama mangan, waiting on a 3p penchan. At the start of the 2nd row, Honda gets to ittsuu tenpai and calls riichi on a 2s kanchan. Two turns later, Honda draws the 2s and wins the hand. With the uradora flip, he adds two more hand to upgrade his hand to a haneman. Honda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ittsuu/Ura 2 for 6,000+100 all, moving him from 4th to 1st.

Shiratori’s Show

November 4, Game 1

In E4-3., Shiratori is the dealer and sitting in 4th place, needing 8,000 to move into 3rd place. He starts out the hand 3-shanten and lacks value. In the first row, he shifts his hand to tanyao. Though he still sits 3-shanten at the end of the row, he has some improved shapes. In the 2nd row, Kayamori tries to cut Shiratori’s dealership short by calling riichi on a 5m dora tanki wait. Even so, Shiratori is to draw good tiles and push. Near the end of the row, Shiratori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen for mangan minimum. Two turns later, Kayamori draws and discards the 2s and deals into Shiratori. Shiratori wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1 for 12,000+900 and two riichi sticks to move into 2nd place.

In E4-4, Shiratori again starts out 3-shanten, but holding a 2p dora and two ryanmens this time. Completing some of the ryanmens and filling in a kanchan, Shiratori has a chance at tenpai at the end of the 1st row. Since doing so would mean throwing the dora and having no yaku, Shiratori rejects it and stays iishanten. Two turns later, Shiratori connects the dora and calls riichi on a 3p penchan. On the ippatsu draw, just as Honda gets to tenpai on a 3p kanchan, Shiratori draws the 3p and calls tsumo. Shiratori wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 1 for 4,000+400 all, putting him in 1st place.

Shiratori would win two more hand after that to put his score above 50,000.

2,100 in Bonus Sticks

November 4, Game 1, E4-7

In E4-7, the honba count has reached 7 for the second time this week (the second game on October 31 went to S2-7). Kayamori sits in 4th place and 12,100 behind 3rd, looking to win at least a mangan tsumo for a placement change. She starts out with a 4-shanten hand, holding a lone yakuhai south dora and a red 5m as part of a sequence. On turn 4, she pairs up the dora and immediately after, she calls pon to advance to iishanten. At the end of the 2nd row, Kayamori gets to tenpai and waits on a 58s ryanmen. Soon after, Takizawa gets to tenpai on a dama 25s ryanmen. Both waits are fairly equal, meaning it was basically a coin flip. In the 3rd row, Kayamori draws the 5s and wins the hand. Kayamori wins with South/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 2,000+700/4,000+700, moving her into 3rd place.

Tsumogiri Riichi

November 4, Game 2, E4-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s60_p714

In E4-3, the scores are decently spread out, being around a mangan from one rank to the next.. Looking around the table, 1st place Takamiya’s hand is full of ryanmens at 3-shanten, 2nd place Kurosawa is 4-shanten with an ankou and a dora, 4th place Ooi is 3-shanten with a dora and a pair of easts and Kondo is 2-shanten with a red 5s. The first action comes in the 2nd turn, when Ooi calls pon on the east. By the end of the 1st row, everyone but Takamiya is iishanten. At the start of the 2nd row, Ooi is the first to tenpai, waiting on a 7m penchan.

Right after, Kondo gets to tenpai on the exact same wait. However, even though he has two red fives, Kondo chooses to stay dama with no yaku. A turn later, he switches to a 9m tanki, still choosing to not call riichi.

In the middle of the 2nd row, Kurosawa gets to tenpai on a 3m penchan, but chooses not to call riichi. A turn later, she gets rid of the penchan, fishing for a better wait. She succeeds the very next draw and she calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen.

At the end of the 2nd row, Ooi switches his penchan for a kanchan, throwing the 9m to accept the 6m. Unfortunately for Kondo, he has no yaku and can’t call ron. On Kondo’s draw, he makes a tsumogiri riichi, ensuring that he has a yaku.

In the middle of the 3rd row, the tenpai battle ends with Kondo drawing his 9m. Kondo wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 2 for 2,000+300/4,000+300 plus a richi stick, moving him into a tie for 2nd place.

The Difference

November 4, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p708

In S4-0, only 300 points separate 2nd place dealer Takamiya and 1st place Kondo. With a difference this small, even tenpai payments can decide who takes 1st place. Takamiya starts out the hand with a 4-shanten hand and four stray honours. After getting rid of the honours, her hand was in slightly better shape. being 3-shanten with a good chance at a good wait. At the start of the 2nd row, Takamiya creates a 9p pair, leaving her with two ryanmens and a penchan to deal with. With each draw, she gets closer to tanyao, allowing her to get rid of the terminal pair and get to ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten at the end of the 2nd row. In the 3rd row, Kurosawa gets to a damaten mangan waiting on a 69s ryanmen giving her a shot at 1st. Soon after Takamiya gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen. Two turns later, Takamiya draws the 5m and wins the hand. Takamiya wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Ura 1 for 4,000 all. She would end up taking the game and winning her first game of the season.

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