Highlights
No More Ura San
November 14, Game 1, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p709
In E2-0, Date is in 2nd place, 9,000 behind 1st place Hagiwara. She starts the hand out 3-shanten with a pair of green dragons and a red 5m. In the first row, she makes an ankou of 9m and makes a ryanmen with the red 5m, giving her in a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten on turn 4. To her left, 1st place Hagiwara is pushing hard on his hand, calling pon on the west yakuhai and the white dragon dora. To her right, 3rd place Kondo is progressing well and ends up being the first to tenpai, calling riichi at the start of the 2nd row on a 25s ryanmen.
With his good hand, Hagiwara pushes. Drawing safe tiles and switching out her green dragon pair for a 5s pair (including the red 5s), Date pushes as well. In the middle of the row, Date gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen.
Within the ippatsu turn, Hagiwara gets to mangan tenpai and waits on a 58s ryanmen.
On Hagiwara’s next turn, he draws and discards the 9p and deals into Date. Revealing the 8m as the uradora indicator, Date’s 9m ankou is now dora and her hand upgrades to a haneman. Date wins with Riichi/Aka 2/Ura 3 for 12,000 plus Kondo’s riichi stick, putting her into 1st place.
Shortcut to Haneman
November 14, Game 2, E4-0
In E4-0, Shibukawa is in 4th place after dealing into a mangan the previous hand. He starts out with a top-tier hand, iishanten for chiitoi with a pair of 3s dora and a red 5s. All he has to do is find one more pair to get to tenpai. Despite drawing honours, a normally good tile to wait on, Shibukawa chooses to discard them to disguise his chiitoi. On turn 5, he draws his 6th pair and calls riichi on a 7p tanki. Having previously discarded the 4p, the 7p is a nice suji trap for his haneman minimum hand.
With the 7p well embedded in both Kayamori’s and Takamiya’s hand, only one 7p remains in the wall. More trouble arrives for Shibukawa when Kayamori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.
With two riichi calls on the table, Takamiya begins to fold her hand. With each turn, the 7p looks like a better and better discard. But just before she runs out of other safe tiles, Kayamori or Shibukawa gives her a genbutsu and saves her for another turn. In the middle of the 2nd row, the riichi faceoff ended when Shibukawa drew the last 7p. Shibukawa wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 6,000 all plus Kayamori’s riichi stick, catapulting him from 4th to 1st.
Kayamori
November 14, Game 2
In S1-0, Kayamori is the dealer and sitting 4,200 behind 1st place. She starts out with a 2-shanten hand with two ryanmens and a kanchan. In the first three turns, she replaces the kanchan with a ryanmen and fills it, getting her to iishanten. On turn 4, she draws a 6s, putting her 2-shanten for chinitsu and iishanten for Pinfu/Iipeikou. On turn 5, she draws a 7p, giving her a 5th pair. To keep her hand fast and flexible, she opts to not go for chinitsu and throws the 9s. With the throw, she will get either Chiitoi or Pinfu/Iipeikou. On turn 7, she completes the ryanmen and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen. Soon after, Hagiwara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s penchan despite not having any other han. At the end of the 2nd row, Kayamori draws the dora 2s and wins the hand. Kayamori wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 6,000 all plus one riichi stick.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s60_p717
In S1-1, Kayamori starts out 3-shanten with two dora 7s and a red 5m. Unfortunately, her shapes are less than ideal, holding no ryanmens. Even with the bad shapes, Kayamori gets a few good draws and gets to iishanten on turn 3. On turn 5, she draws a ryanmen and shifts her hand to tanyao. In the middle of the 2nd row, Kayamori gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 7m/5p shanpon.
Soon after, Hagiwara gets to tenpai, waiting dama on a 7m penchan for mangan.
Late in the 2nd row, Takamiya draws the red 5p. She is iishanten, but the 5p is awkward. After a turn of holding onto it, she discards it trying to accept better shapes, dealing into Kayamori. Kayamori wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 12,000+300, putting her above 60,000.
Tatsumaki
November 14, Game 2, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p710
In S4-1, Takamiya is sitting 9,800 behind the 3rd place and last dealer Shibukawa. Shibukawa on the other hand, is trying to make the most out of his dealership and claim the 1,300 in bonus sticks. Shibukawa starts out 3-shanten with a sanmenchan and a red 5p while Takamiya is 3-shanten with a floating 1m dora, a red 5s and a 33455s shape. In the first row, Shibukawa creates a ryanmen to add to the sanmenchan, completes the sanmenchan and gets to iishanten by the end of the row. At the same time, Takamiya is 2-shanten and still waiting to secure the 1m dora. In the 2nd row, Takamiya draws a 3s and a 5s, putting her iishanten and waiting on 9 different tiles for tenpai. In the middle of the 2nd row, Shibukawa is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.
Holding no safe tiles and having a wide iishanten, Takamiya pushes her hand. Two turns later, she draws a 2m which connects her 1m dora and puts her in tenpai. She calls riichi, waiting on the very wide 23456s wait. As the wall got shorter, it seemed like it would never come. On Takamiya’s last draw, she misses, leaving Shibukawa’s discard to be her only real chances of winning. On Shibukawa’s last draw, he draws the 6s and deals into Takamiya. Takamiya wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 5,200, finishing the game in 2nd place.
Birthday Present
November 15, Game 1, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p715
November 15 was Aki’s birthday and she was also playing in her 100th regular season game. Still without a win this season, she looks to make this birthday a special one.
In E2-0, Aki starts out with a 3-shanten hand with an embedded 4m dora. In the first row, she pared her hand down to ryanmens and got to iishanten at the end of the row. While Aki waits to get to tenpai, Hinata gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen.
In the middle of the 2nd row, Aki also has to contend with a dama from Kobayashi on a 25s ryanmen.
Soon after, Aki gets to tenpai as well, calling riichi on a 25p ryanmen. With the riichis on the table, it became a tsumogiri battle. Near the end of the 2nd row, Kobayashi draws and discards the 2p, dealing into Aki. Flipping two uradora, Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 2/Ura 2 for 18,000 plus a riichi stick, putting her in 1st place.
Jumping to S3-1, Aki is now the dealer and in 2nd place, 1,900 behind Murakami. Her haipai is comprised of 4 pairs, putting her 2-shanten for chiitoi. Also of note is Murakami’s starting hand, which is 2-shanten with a 4m dora and a red 5p. By the end of the row, Aki, Murakami and Hinata are all iishanten. The first of the three to get to tenpai is Murakami, who sits dama on a 36m ryanmen.
Immediately after, Aki gets to tenpai on a 7m tanki for chiitoi, staying quiet. Right after her, Hinata calls chii to get to tenpai on a 25s ryanmen.
On Aki’s next draw, she gets a 9s. She switches her wait and calls riichi to wait on the 9s. With Murakami holding a mangan in his hand, he pushes the 9s on the ippatsu turn and deals into Aki. Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chiitoi for 9,600+300 and one riichi stick, giving her the clear lead.
She would hold on to the lead and win the game, a perfect present for her birthday and 100th regular season game.
Mizuhara
November 15, Game 2
In E1-0, Mizuhara is brought in to try to raise the team’s score after Kobayashi’s loss the previous game. She starts out the hand 4-shanten with a red 5s and a ryanmen. By the end of the 1st row, she is iishanten with a ryanmen and a kanchan. In the middle for the 2nd row, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2m kanchan. Two turns later, Taro draws and discards the 2m and deals into Mizuhara. Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Aka 1 for 2,600, giving her a small and early lead.
In E2-0, Mizuhara is the dealer and sits 3-shanten with a pair of green dragons and white dragons, as well as a 2p dora. When the white dragon comes out, she calls pon to advance her hand. Later, she calls pon on the green dragon to get to iishanten. In the 2nd row, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and waits on a 2s tanki. A turn later, she draws a green dragon and calls kan. Though the rinshan misses, it improves her hand to a 14m ryanmen. A few turns later, Mizuhara draws the 4m and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with Green Dragon/White Dragon/Dora 1 for 3,200 all.
After being the only one tenpai in E2-1, Mizuhara’s dealership continued E2-2. She starts out the hand 3-shanten. On turn 4, Mizuhara gets to iishanten and at the start of the 2nd row, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen. Two turns later, she draws the 9m to win the hand. Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1 for 2,000+200 all.
In E2-3, Mizuhara is still the dealer and starts out 4-shanten and lacking dora or clear han. In the first row, Mizuhara pairs up the 1m and then makes it an ankou, getting her to iishanten on turn 4. On turn 6, she pairs up the east wind, putting her iishanten for toitoi and a possible suuankou. In the middle of the 2nd row, Taro discards the 8m and Mizuhara calls pon, putting her tenpai on an east/6s shanpon. Soon after, Rumi pushes the east and deals into Mizuhara. Mizuhara wins the hand with Toitoi/Double East for 12,000+900, raising her score to 59,700.
Taro Time
November 15, Game 2
In S3-1, Taro is the dealer in 2nd place, sitting 29,500 behind 1st place Mizuhara. He starts out 3-shanten with an ankou of 3m and two pairs. In the first row, he creates a ryanmen but otherwise nothing useful. At the start of the 2nd row, he pairs up the white dragon, giving him a potential yaku option. The very next turn, he makes a pair of 8s, putting him iishanten for chiitoi. While Taro waits to get to tenpai, Mizuhara makes a chiitoi herself and gets to tenpai first, waiting on a north.
To speed up his hand, Taro calls pon on the west to pursue toitoi. Near the end of the 2nd row, Taro calls pon on the 9s to get to tenpai on a white dragon/8s shanpon.
Though only two people are tenpai, there are four players at the table. After Taro gets to tenpai, Matsumoto gets to tenpai on a yakuless 7p tanki. After Mizuhara switches her wait to a 6p, Rumi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen.
The riichi causes Mizuhara to fold her hand, but Taro pushes. Matsumoto switches his wait to a 6p, still without a yaku. On his next draw, he draws dangerously and folds. With two players folding, it was between Rumi and Taro. On Taro’s very last draw, he finds the white dragon. Taro wins with Toitoi/White Dragon for 3,200+100 all, putting him above 30,000.
In S3-2, Taro is 15,300 behind Mizuhara, meaning a mangan tsumo would put him in 1st place. He starts out with a nice hand, holding a pair of souths, a red 5m and has a clear path to honitsu. By turn 3, Taro’s hand only has manzu and honours. Near the end of the first row, Taro calls pon on the 2m and gets to tenpai on a 36m/south wait. Soon after, Rumi discards the 6m and deals into Taro. Taro wins the hand with Honitsu/Aka 1 for 5,800+600.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s10_p710
In S3-3, Taro is just 8,900 behind Mizuhara, just a 3/30 tsumo away from 1st place. He starts off 3-shanten with a completed sequence, but lacking dora or yaku. He draws very well in his first few draws, getting to iishanten with a ryanmen on turn 4. Around the table, plans are brewing with Mizuhara iishanten for honitsu and Matsumoto wait waiting on 9 different tiles to get to tenpai. On turn 8, Mizuhara draws the 6s which kills her honitsu but gets her to tenpai on a 36s ryanmen.
In the middle of the 2nd row, Taro gets to tenpai as well, waiting on a 9p/7s shanpon.
On the ippatsu turn, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen.
On the ippatsu turn, Mizuhara draws the north dora, forcing her to fold. At the start of the 3rd row, Taro draws the 9p and wins the hand. Flipping two uradora, Taro wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 2 for 4,000+300 all, bringing his score to 52,600 and putting him in 1st place.
Taro would hold on to the lead until the end of the game, giving him his 1st win and being the second member of his team to get a 1st.
Shiratori
November 17, Game 1
In E1-0, Shiratori is sitting in the unlucky south seat, but he is determined to keep his 4th place avoidance streak alive. He starts out 2-shanten with a very good chance at chanta. In the first few turns, he pairs up the 8s, killing his chanta but putting him iishanten. On turn 4, she creates an ankou to get to tenpai on an 8p kanchan. With the dama guaranteed sanankou, he is just one draw away from a potential suuankou.
Even though Shiratori’s speed seemed like it couldn’t be matched, Taro made a call soon after to get to tenpai on a 7m dora tanki. A turn later, she shifts his wait to a 258p wait.
Even after Shiratori called a closed kan, he stays dama with his 8p wait, hoping for something more expensive. In the 2nd row, Shiratori end up drawing his winning 8p. Shiratori wins the hand with Tsumo/Sanankou for a 3 han 80 fu win worth 2,000/4,000.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p713
In E2-0, Shiratori is the dealer and starts out 3-shanten with a pair of 6p dora. On turn 3, he fills in a kanchan and then fills in a penchan two turns later to get to iishanten. Near the start of the 2nd row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen for a guaranteed mangan minimum. With a dealer riichi and no visible dora, it was folding practice for the other three, leaving Shiratori hoping to draw it himself. On his second-last draw, Shiratori draws the red 5m for the win. Shiratori wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 6,000 all, putting him above 50,000.
Moving to E3-0, Shiratori starts out 3-shanten with a red 5p and a ryanmen. The first row doesn’t advance his hand much, but it confirms tanyao and some good shapes. In the middle of the 2nd row, Shiratori confirms iipeikou and gets to tenpai on a 58m ryanmen, dama on a guaranteed pinfu.
To Shiratori’s left, Taro pushes his hand, makes a call and gets to tenpai before the end of the 2nd row.
In the 3rd row, Setokuma gets to tenpai as well, calling riichi on a 7s kanchan.
On the ippatsu turn, Shiratori pushes the dangerous 1p. The next turn, he throws the safe 9m. Two turns after the riichi, Setokuma draws and discards the 8m, dealing into Shiratori. Shiratori wins the hand with Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 8,000 plus a riichi stick, putting him at exactly 60,000.
Taro Time #2
November 17, Game 1
In E4-1, Taro is in 3rd place and 11,300 behind 2nd. He starts out the hand 4-shanten with a red 5p. His hand advances quite quickly and gets to iishanten by turn 4. As Taro waits, Shiratori gets to tenpai first, waiting on a 6m kanchan for sanshoku. Near the end of the 2nd row, Taro makes a 1m ankou and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen. On the ippatsu draw, Taro gets the 9m to win the hand. Taro wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 2 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus one riichi stick, putting him in 2nd place.
In S1-0, Taro is the dealer and is 31,600 behind 1st place. He starts out 3-shanten with a red 5p and a 3s dora. Through the first row, he moves the hand to a likely tanyao, but still has some annoying waits. Looking around the table, Shiratori and Setokuma look like they have faster hands. Near the end of the 2nd row, Setokuma is the first to tenpai, calling riichi on a 36s ryanmen. Two turns later, Taro gets to tenpai as well, calling riichi on a 3s/8m shanpon for mangan minimum. With each draw, they kept missing. With Takizawa and Shiratori folding, the wall would decide who is the victor. On Taro’s second-last draw, he finds the 8m and wins the hand. Taro wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 4,000 plus one riichi stick, cutting Shiratori’s lead down to 14,600.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s10_p711
Skipping S3-0, Taro’s trails Shiratori by 13,400, meaning he needs a mangan direct hit or a haneman tsumo to move into 1st place. He starts out 3-shanten with a dora 1m and a pair of west yakuhai. On turn 5, Taro has improved his hand to incorporate two ryanmens and a guaranteed honitsu. From here, the hand slows, allowing his opponents to catch up. With a call and some good draws, Setokuma is the first to tenpai, sitting on a 6p kanchan.
With two calls by Shiratori, he is the next to tenpai, waiting on a 9p/white dragon shanpon (with the white dragon giving a yaku).
Though Taro is behind on the tenpai race, he is still at iishanten by this point with an expensive hand. With one sequence already called, he is waiting on 5 different tiles to get to tenpai. At the end of the 2nd row, Taro draws an ankou red dragon and waits on a 1m/west shanpon, guaranteed to be a haneman if he wins. When Shiratori draws a 2m, he folds to avoid the honitsu. In the middle of the 3rd row, Taro draws the west to win the hand. Taro wins with Honitsu/Red Dragon/West/Dora 2 for 3,000/6,000 putting him in 1st place.
Just as on Tuesday, he would hold on to the lead and end up winning his second game in a row.
Furiten Riichi
November 18, Game 1, E2-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s30_p711
In E2-2, Uchikawa is the dealer in 1st place and holding a narrow 3,000 lead over everyone else. He starts out 3-shanten with a red 5p and a ryanmen. He starts off by getting rid of his honours, trying to be efficient. Once he has his 5 blocks locked in, he gets rid of some straggling terminals. By the end of the row, Uchikawa is iishanten with two ryanmens, but has a chance to be furiten because of his previously discarded 1m. The very next turn, Uchikawa completes a 345p iipeikou to get to tenpai. Despite the furiten, Uchikawa decides to call riichi and wait on a 14m ryanmen. Being furiten, he can only hope to tsumo. If Uchikawa does manage to win, it will be at least a mangan on the 1m and at least a haneman on the 4m. Across the table, Yu had been in tenpai for a few turns, but chooses to fold against the dealer riichi. At the end of the 2nd row, Uchikawa draws his takame 4m and calls tsumo. Uchikawa wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 6,000+200 all, bringing his score to 46,600.
50,000 Speedrun
November 18, Game 2
In E1-0, Aki is in the south seat and wanting to extend her winning streak to 2. She starts out by filling in a penchan on her first draw to get to 4-shanten with two red fives. To her left is Nakabayashi, who sits 3-shanten with a ryanmen. By turn 5, Nakabayashi has a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten while Aki sits back at 2-shanten. At the end of the row, Aki gets to iishanten with a ryanmen in hand. On turn 9, Aki is the first to get to tenpai, calling riichi on a 47p ryanmen.
Two turns later, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on the exact same 47p ryanmen wait.
With Aki in front of Nakabayashi in turn order, Aki would be the winner if Uchikawa or Kondo discarded either winning tile. However, headbump rules did not need to be enforced, as Aki draws the 7p on Nakabayashi’s ippatsu turn to win the hand. Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 2 for 2,000/4,000.
In E2-0, Aki is the dealer and starts out 2-shanten with two ryanmens. On turn 4, she draws a 3s to get to iishanten. At the start of the 2nd row, Aki switches her 7p kanchan to a 6m kanchan, setting herself up for a 567m iipeikou. A turn later, she draws the 6m and gets to tenpai, calling riichi on a 258s wait (with the 58s giving pinfu as well). Two turns later, as Kondo is trying to advance his iishanten hand with two dora, Kondo throws the 8s and dealing into Aki. Flipping two uradora, Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Ura 2 for 18,000. With the win, Aki’s score hits 52,000, a high score to get to after just two hands.
Ura Overkill
November 18, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s30_p712
In E3-0, Uchikawa is in 3rd place and trailing 2nd by 6,400. He starts out 4-shanten with a hand leaning towards tanyao. From turn 3, pairs started coming. First a 6s pair, then a red dragon pair. At the end of the 1st row, Uchikawa draws a 5th pair to get to chiitoi iishanten. As Uchikawa waits for tenpai, so do the rest of his opponents. By turn 8, everyone is iishanten. In the middle of the 2nd row, Nakabayashi draws a fourth 9p and calls kan. The kandora and the rinshan miss for Nakabayashi, but the kandora adds two han to Uchikawa’s hand. A turn later, Uchikawa gets a pair of norths and calls riichi on an 8s tanki. Nakabayashi folds. Aki folds. Kondo tries to work around it but is still stuck at iishanten. On Uchikawa’s second-last draw, he finds the 8s to win the hand. Both of the uradora hit, giving him four more hand. Uchikawa wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2/Ura 4 for 4,000/8,000, putting him in 2nd place and 10,000 behind 1st.
Dama Haneman
November 18, Game 2, E4-0
In E4-0, Aki is in 1st place and trying keep Uchikawa away. She starts out with a good 3-shanten with three ryanmens. On turn 6, Aki draws a red 5p to get her to iishanten. On turn 7, she draws a 6m, getting her to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten and giving her a chance at a 567 sanshoku and tanyao. Near the end of the 2nd row, Aki draws the perfect tile: the red 5m. With the draw, she adds a han, guarantees sanshoku and gets to tenpai. Guaranteed to be at least a haneman, she stays dama and waits on a 14s ryanmen, At the start of the 3rd row, Aki draws the 1s and wins the hand. Aki wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 3,000/6,000m bringing her score to 57,900 going into the south round.
Clutch Ura
November 18, Game 2, S4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s80_p715
In S4-2, Nakabayashi is in 3rd place and 11,800 behind 2nd place Uchikawa. Because Kondo’s riichis in the past two hands failed to bring a winning hand, 2,600 in bonus sticks are up for grabs. These bonus sticks are very important, as they allow Nakabayashi to get to 2nd with a mangan tsumo. His starting hand has a lot of potential, 3-shanten with a red 5s and a good chance at tanyao. On turn 3, Nakabayashi gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten, but his ryanmens are a 14m and a 14s, putting him at risk of losing tanyao. At the start of the 2nd row, Nakabayashi draws the 1s. It’s an unfortunate draw, but it does get him to tenpai. To take the tenpai, Nakabayashi has a choice between a 14m ryanmen or a 36m/6p entotsu. Since he needs one more han (along with the riichi and tsumo) to pass Uchikawa, Nakabayashi chooses to give himself the most chances at uradora, caling riichi on a 14m ryanmen.
On the ippatsu draw, he draws the 6p. If he took the other wait, he would have gotten the ippatsu and gotten 2nd! He discards it and stays hopeful for a 14m.
In the middle of the 2nd row, Nakabayashi draws a fourth 5s and calls kan. The rinshan and kandora miss, but it does give him one more chance at an uradora.
As the wall got shorter and shorter, a Nakabayashi comeback seemed less and less likely. Then, in the middle of the 3rd row, Nakabayashi draws the 1m. He has one step done, but still has to find an uradora. Under the original dora, the 7m is revealed. A miss. Under the kandora is a 4m, making his 5m a dora and completing the comeback. Nakabayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 2,000+200/4,000+200 plus two riichi sticks, giving Nakabayashi 2nd place by only 1,000 points.
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