Highlights
First Hand of 2023
January 2, Game 1, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-15_s90_p522
In E1-0, players came back for the first game of 2023. Setokuma starts out as the first dealer and starts out 3-shanten. Shifting his hand to tanyao, Setokuma gets himself to 2-shanten. After some waiting, Setokuma got tired and made a call in the middle of the second row. While Setokuma’s hand stalled, Rumi’s expensive hand advanced. Holding an ankou of north doras, Rumi gets to tenpai at the start of the third row and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen.
Two turns after Rumi called riichi, Setokuma makes a second call to get to tenpai on a 5p kanchan. Two turns later, Setokuma draws the red 5p and wins the hand. Setokuma wins with Tanyao/Aka 2 for 2,000 all plus a riichi stick.
Breaking the Deadlock
January 2, Game 1, S2-0
In S2-0, the scores for the top three were close, with 3rd place Setokuma being only 800 behind 1st place Sonoda. Setokuma starts out with good value holding two dora 8s, but is 4-shanten for chiitoi (5-shanten for a standard hand). He begins by getting rid of his stray honours and terminals. By the end of the first row, Setokuma was rid of most of his stray honours and was sitting 3-shanten. After drawing a few more simple tiles and calling pon on the 8s dora, Setokuma gets himself to iishanten in the middle of the second row. A turn later, Setokuma calls chii to get to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen. Two turns later, Setokuma draws the red 5m and wins the hand. Setokuma wins with Tanyao/Dora 3/Aka 2 for 3,000/6,000, breaking the close race and moving above 40,000.
To 1st
January 2, Game 1, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p723
In S4-1, Rumi is in 3rd place and 1,500 behind 2nd place. With 2,300 in bonus sticks available, she can win any hand to go up in placement. However, Rumi has her sights set higher. Being 15,700 behind 1st place Setokuma, Rumi can win a haneman tsumo, a mangan direct hit or any baiman to move into top spot.
Her haipai shows a lot of potential to get to 1st place, being 2-shanten for chiitoi (3-shanten for a standard hand) with a pair of green dragon doras and two red fives. In the first row, Rumi created an ankou of 5s and filled in a kanchan, getting to iishanten by the end of the row. On turn 8, Rumi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen. If Rumi can draw either, she will get her sixth han and win. Two turns later, Rumi finds the 4p and wins the hand. Rumi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus two riichi sticks, taking the first game of 2023.
Kurosawa
January 2, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p720
In E2-3, Kurosawa is tied for 2nd place and 12,500 behind 1st. She starts out 3-shanten with a pair of 8s doras and a pair of red dragons. When the red dragon comes out from Matsugase’s hand on turn 2, Kurosawa declines to call it, staying true to her brand. When Tojo discards it, Kurosawa declines it as well. After breaking her red dragon pair, Kurosawa is 2-shanten at the end of the first row for tanyao. In the middle of the second row, Kurosawa draws an ankou of 2p to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2s/8s shanpon.
Immediately after, Tojo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a north/4s shanpon.
With Matsugase and Murakami folding, it was a battle between the two ladies at the table. At the start of the third row, Kurosawa draws the 2s and wins the hand. With the flip of the uradora, the 2p ankou becomes dora, giving her three extra han and upgrading her hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 2/Ura 3 for 4,000+300/8,000+300 plus a riichi stick to put her in the lead.
In E3-0, Kurosawa starts out 2-shanten with a pair of red dragons for value. On turn 2, she draws a 5m to fill in a kanchan and get to iishanten. On turn 3, she draws a 3s to fill in a kanchan and calls riichi on a red dragon/8s shanpon. With an early riichi, her opponents have very little information to work with. With no more safe tiles, Murakami discards the red dragon in the middle of the second row and deals in. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Red Dragon/Ura 1 for 5,200.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p721
In E4-0, Kurosawa is the dealer and starts out 3-shanten with a dora 3m, a red 5p and pairs of green dragons and red dragons. As always with Kurosawa, she chooses not to call pon on either the red dragon or the green dragon when the first copy of each comes out. By the end of the second row, Kurosawa is 2-shanten and still holding the two dragon pairs. When the last copy of the green dragon comes out from Matsugase, Kurosawa calls pon to get to iishanten. When Tojo discards the red dragon at the start of the second row, Kurosawa calls pon to get to tenpai on a 36s ryanmen, waiting with a mangan.
To Kurosawa’s left Tojo is holding a pair of 3m. Two turns after Kurosawa gets to tenpai, Tojo draws a red 5s and gets to tenpai on a 147p sanmenchan, also ready for mangan minimum.
Immediately after, Murakami calls chii to get to a yakuless tenpai on a 58m ryanmen. On Murakami’s next draw, he finds the 5m but can’t call tsumo without a yaku. Since Kurosawa appears to be the largest threat, he discards the safe 5m against her.
To Kurosawa’s left, Matsugase is aiming for a big hand, sitting iishanten for chinitsu. With Murakami’s 5m discard, Matsugase makes a chii call for tenpai. Unfortunately, his 3s discard to get to tenpai ends up dealing into Kurosawa.
Kurosawa wins the hand with Green Dragon/Red Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000, bringing her score up to 58,100.
Matsugase
January 2, Game 2
In E4-3, Matsugase only has 1,700 after dealing into Kurosawa while pursuing his chinitsu. Being 14,500 behind 3rd place and 17,800 behind 2nd, Matsugase has some work to do if he wants to gain points for his team. He starts out 3-shanten holding an ankou of 8s with no other value besides the prospect of tanyao. Filling in a kanchan and drawing some simple tiles, Matsugase got to iishanten my the end of the row. In the middle of the second row, Matsugase gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen, with the 3s giving iipeikou. Two turns later, Matsugase draws the takame 6s and wins the hand. Matsugase wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 2,000+300/4,000+300 plus three riichi sticks, putting him within 300 of 3rd and 3,600 of 2nd.
In S1-0, Matsugase starts out 3-shanten with a 3s dora and a few ryanmens. In the first row, he created and completed more ryanmens guaranteeing pinfu, getting to iishanten by the end of the row. At the start of the second row, Matsugase draws the red 5m and calls riichi on a 258m sanmenchan, guaranteeing at least a mangan. With Kurosawa being iishanten and holding a dora, she pushes the 8m on the ippatsu turn and ends up dealing in. Flipping one uradora, Matsugase wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 12,000.
In S2-0, Matsugase is now in 2nd place and within 17,700 of 1st place. He starts out the hand 3-shanten with a pair of red dragons a red 5m and a 2m dora. To his left is 3rd place dealer Murakami and to Murakami’s left is 4th place Tojo. Both Murakami and Tojo were 3-shanten with their haipais as well. Through the first row, both Murakami and Tojo had their hands advance quickly, getting to iishanten by turn 5. At the start of the second row, Murakami gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2m kanchan.
During the ippatsu round, Tojo gets to tenpai as well and stays dama on a 25s ryanmen.
When Murakami called riichi, Matsugase was holding multiple stray honours, allowing him to maintain his hand and advance safely. After drawing a red dragon ankou and filing in a penchan, Matsugase gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 36p ryanmen. Near the middle of the third row, Matsugase draws the 3p and wins the hand. Matsugase wins with Tsumo/Red Dragon/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick.
Dora Chumo
January 3, Game 1, E3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p720
In E3-1, Hinata is in 4th place, only 8,200 behind 1st place. She starts out with a good hand, being 3-shanten with a red 5s and a pair of 1p dora. On turn 2, she completes a ryanmen to get to 2-shanten. On turn 3. she pairs of the white dragon for iishanten. On turn 4, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1p/white dragon shanpon. With no one having a good hand to fight with, it gave Hinata lots of time to draw her winning tile. In the middle of the second row, she draws the 1p dora and wins the hand. Hinata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 to move into 1st place.
4,600 Bonus
January 3, Game 1, S4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p721
In S4-2, Hinata is in 1st place with 33,100, Date is 2nd with 29,900, Mizuhara is 3rd with 18,100 and Okada is 4th with 14,900. With 4,600 in bonus sticks up for grabs and scores being decently close, everyone has something to gain and something to lose this hand.
Looking around the table, we see Date start out the closest with a 2-shanten hand, followed by Hinata at chiitoi 2-shanten (4-shanten for a standard hand) and Mizuhara and Okada at 4-shanten. On turn 3, Date calls pon on the red dragon to guarantee a yaku. Soon after, Okada calls pon on the green dragon to guarantee her own yaku. By the end of the first row, both Date and Okada are iishanten. At the start of the second row, Date is the first to tenpai, waiting on a 47s ryanmen. Any way she wins, she will take 1st place.
After Date gets to tenpai, Mizuhara gets to iishanten. In the middle of the second row, Hinata makes a call for iishanten and discards the west. With the west discard, Okada calls pon to get to tenpai on a 25s ryanmen. Despite only having two han in hand, the bonus sticks will put her in 3rd place if she wins.
As Okada got to tenpai, she discarded the white dragon. With the white dragon, Hinata called pon to get to tenpai on an 58p ryanmen. Since she is in 1st place, any win will secure her 1st.
Not wanting to be left out, Mizuhara gets to tenpai a few seconds later and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen. Being the dealer, any win is good. However, winning by tsumo and finding one more han will give her mangan, enough for 1st place.
With all four tenpai, nobody knew who would take top spot. Every fan was on the edge of their seats, waiting for their rep to win. On Hinata’s draw during Mizuhara’s ippatsu turn, she gets the 4s. Holding a good wait and still holding a chance to end the game, Hinata discards it and deals into Date. Date wins the hand with Red Dragon/Aka 1 for 2,000+600 plus five riichi sticks to win the game.
Mari-ment
January 3, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p722
In E1-0, Takamiya is coming off of a win from Date and is wanting to continue the New Year’s momentum. She starts out the hand 4-shanten with an ankou of easts and a red 5p. Drawing some simple tiles, she manages to get to tenpai at the end of the first row on a 4p/5p shanpon. Despite it being a less than ideal wait, Takamiya chooses to call riichi. In the middle of the second row, Takamiya draws a fourth east and calls kan. Though the rinshan misses, the kan gives her one kandora and upgrades her hand to be at least a mangan. In the third row, Takamiya draws the 4p and wins the hand. Flipping one uradora, Takamiya wins with Riichi/Tsumo/East/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000.
In E2-0, Takamiya starts out 2-shanten with a red 5m and a good chance at iipeikou. To her left is Shiratori, who starts out his hand at 3-shanten. Despite Takamiya starting out closer to tenpai, Shiratori manages to draw better tiles. On turn 5, Shiratori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen.
With the help of some luck draws, Takamiya manages to get to a safe iishanten by the end of the first row. Two turns later, Takamiya gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7m penchan.
Within the ippatsu turn, Shibukawa draws an 8p, one of Shiratori’s winning tiles. Shibukawa tries to call riichi and throws the 7m, but ends up dealing into Takamiya.
Takamiya wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 8,000 plus a riichi stick.
In just two hands, Takamiya gained 21,000 for a wide lead. She would hold onto this lead and win the game, putting her in 2nd place in the individual standings.
Aka Aka Aka
January 5, Game 1, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s60_p727
In E2-0, Kayamori is in 1st place and is now the dealer. she starts out the hand 2-shanten with a ryanmen and two red fives. Across from her is Ooi, who starts out 3-shanten with a pair of souths. During the first few turns, Ooi makes an ankou of souths and creates a penchan, getting to iishanten on turn 3. At the same time, Kayamori pushes her hand to tanyao and gets to iishanten on turn 4. At the start of the second row, Kayamori draws the red 5m, giving her all three of the red fives. Later in the row, Ooi calls chii to get to tenpai on a 7m penchan, ready for a mangan.
Calling pon on Ooi’s discarded 2p, Kayamori gets to tenpai and waits on a 36s/5m wait. On Ooi’s next turn, he draws and discards the 3s, dealing into Kayamori. Kayamori wins the hand with Tanyao/Aka 3 for 12,000.
Deja Vu
January 5, Game 1, E4-0
In E4-0, Honda is tied for 4th place and sitting 8,200 behind 2nd place. Before he even gets his first draw, he calls pon on a discarded east to secure a yakuhai and get himself to 2-shanten with a red 5s. A turn later, he gets to iishanten. On turn 5, Honda draws a red 5m double dora, doubling the number of han in his hand. With a chii a turn later, Honda gets to tenpai and waits on a 4m kanchan. When Honda gets a 5m dora on his next draw, Honda switches to a 36s/5m wait, the exact same wait that Kayamori had in E2-0. In the middle of the second row, Honda draws a dora 5m and wins the hand. Honda wins with East/Dora 3/Aka 2 for 3,000/6,000.
Shortcut to Haneman
January 5, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p722
In S3-0, Honda has his last dealership and is sitting 19,000 behind 1st place Kayamori, meaning it’s now or never if Honda wants to aim for 1st place. He starts out the hand 3-shanten with a red 5p firmly incorporated. In the first row, Honda started drawing pairs. Starting with 2 pairs in his starting hand, he was already at 4 by turn 4 and 5 by turn 5. At the start of the second row, Honda draws his 5th pair and calls riichi on a 1m tanki. Later in the row, Kayamori makes a call to get her hand to tenpai, trying to end the dealership. Unfortunately, she discards the 1m to get there and ends up dealing into Honda. Flipping two uradora, Honda wins with Riichi/Chiitoi/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 18,000, putting him in 1st place.
Ooi Up
January 5, Game 1
In S3-1, Ooi is in the negatives and 18,600 behind 3rd place. With the team slipping in the standings, Ooi is desperate to save the team. He starts out 3-shanten with a hand that looks like tanyao. Even though most of his tiles were leaning to tanyao, Ooi still holds onto the double south. On turn 3, he draws a second south to get to 2-shanten. At the end of the first row, Ooi gets to iishanten, but has to determine how he wants to advance. He can either pursue the pinfu or he can bet on completing the souths. Without deciding on either, Ooi discards the 2m pair, leaving the souths as his only pair for now. The very next turn, Ooi draws a third south, giving him 8 different tiles that get him to tenpai. On turn 8, Ooi gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 3p tanki. In the middle of the row, Ooi switches to a 47s ryanmen and calls riichi. On the ippatsu draw, Ooi finds the 7s and wins the hand. Ooi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/South for 2,000+100/4,000+100.
In S4-0, Ooi has the final dealership and is sitting 8,200 behind 3rd. He starts out 3-shanten with a pair of souths. In the first row, Ooi draws and completes good shapes, getting to iishanten on turn 5 with all the tiles that get him to tenpai giving him a good wait. On Ooi’s next draw, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen. Two turns later, he draws the red 5s and wins the hand. Flipping an uradora, Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000 all, moving into 3rd place.
Holding On
January 5, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-15_s90_p542
In E2-0, Hagiwara is the dealer and sitting tied for 2nd place. He starts out 4-shanten with two ryanmens and an isolated 1s dora. On turn 2, Hagiwara pairs up the dora, ensuring that his winning hand has at least two additional han. At the start of the second row, Hagiwara finishes a ryanmen to get to iishanten. While Hagiwara waits to get to iishanten, Matsumoto gets to tenpai on an 8s kanchan for one han. In the middle of the second row, Hagiwara adds value to his hand with a red 5p. The very next turn, he draws a third 1s dora and calls riichi on an 8s/6m shanpon. With a dealer riichi, Matsumoto chooses to fold his hand. Later in the third row, Hagiwara finally draws and 8s and wins the hand. Hagiwara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 6,000 all, moving into 1st place.
369 vs 369
January 5, Game 2, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s60_p729
In E2-1, Tojo is in 3rd place after Hagiwara pulled ahead. Hagiwara starts out with a 2-shanten hand with a dora 6s and a pair of red dragon, while Tojo starts out with a 4-shanten hand with a red 5s. Very quickly, Hagiwara’s hand advanced with a wide tile acceptance. On turn 5, Hagiwara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 369s sanmenchan.
With no safe tiles, Tojo pushes her 2-shanten. On turn 6, she has a chance to get to iishanten, but refuses to discard the dangerous 9s and keeps her 2-shanten. In the second row, Tojo pairs up the 9s, keeping her safe against Hagiwara’s riichi. She gets to iishanten in the middle of the second row and gets to tenpai at the end of the row. With the tenpai, Tojo calls riichi and waits on a 369m sanmenchan, guaranteed to be at least a mangan. Within the ippatsu turn, Matsumoto gets to tenpai. However, to accept this tenpai, Matsumoto will have to break his 9m ankou for chiitoi. Matsumoto calls riichi and tries to discard the 9m, but ends up dealing into Tojo. Flipping one uradora, Tojo wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 12,000+300 plus a riichi stick to move into 2nd place.
Straight to the Top
January 5, Game 2, S3-1
In S3-1, Tojo is the dealer and sitting 7,500 behind 1st place. She starts out the hand drawing a dora 8s to go with her red 5m , advancing her to 3-shanten. On turn 2, Tojo draws a 4s, giving her the seventh piece of a souzu ittsuu. On turn 4, Tojo gets to iishanten, waiting on a 5s and a 2s for an ittsuu. On turn 8, Tojo draws a red 5s and waits dama on a 2s kanchan. Matsumoto, who discarded a 2s just a turn earlier, draws another 2s and quickly discards it. With a ron call, Tojo reveals her hand. Tojo wins with Ittsuu/Aka 2/Dora 1 for 12,000+300. With the win, Tojo moves into 1st place with 45,000. With the loss, Matsumoto moves down to -12,000.
Revenge
January 5, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p723
In S4-0, Tojo is in 1st place with 42,400. Sitting to her left is Hagiwara with 40,200, just 2,200 behind. In third is the dealer Aki with 29,400. Sitting in last is Matsumoto with -12,000.
For Hagiwara, a 3 han hand or a 2 han tsumo is enough for top spot. For Aki and Tojo, any win is good (albeit for different reason). For Matsumoto, a big hand would be nice, even though it probably wouldn’t change his placement.
At the start of the hand, we see Aki 3-shanten with a red 5p and a green dragon pair, Matsumoto with a 5m double dora, Hagiwara 3-shanten with a red 5s and Tojo sitting 2-shanten. On turn 2, Matsumoto draws a dora 5m, guaranteeing at least a mangan if he wins. On turn 4, his hand is officially rid of all terminals and honours. On turn 5, Matsumoto gets to iishanten. Near the middle of the second row, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and waits dama with a 3m kanchan. Two turns later, Tojo discards the 3m while pushing her iishanten hand and ends up dealing into Matsumoto. Matsumoto wins with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000.
With the win, Matsumoto gets revenge on Tojo for the 2s ittsuu dama and pushes Tojo out of 1st place. At the same time, Hagiwara moves into 1st place, his second in as many games.
Yakuman Tenpai x2???
January 6, Game 1
Video:
In E2-1, the scores are still relatively close, with 4th place Takizawa still within a haneman of 1st place Nakabayashi. At the start we see dealer Nakabayashi 4-shanten with three ryanmens and Uchikawa holding four pairs. In the first row, Nakabayashi fills in some ryanmens and creates a new one, while Uchikawa gets a pair of white dragon doras. By the end of the first row, Nakabayashi is 2-shanten with a probable pinfu and Uchikawa is iishanten for chiitoi. At the start of the second row, Uchikawa makes an ankou of 4s, giving him the potential to go for triplets. On turn 8, Nakabayashi draws a 7p to create an iipeikou and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen.
Uchikawa, who holds no safe tiles against Nakabayashi, is lucky to draw a safe tile on the ippatsu turn. Though Nakabayashi throws the 2p and south during hist next two turns, Uchikawa neither calls pon on them nor breaks his own hand. Later in the second row, Uchikawa draws a 7s to create a second ankou and putting him iishanten for a possible suuankou. At the start of the third row, Uchikawa draws a 2p to create a third ankou. Uchikawa discards his last tile and waits tenpai on a south/white dragon shanpon. If Uchikawa draws the last tile himself, he would win a suuankou, the same hand that was won during the last M-League public viewing. Though two white dragons are stuck in the hands of other players and a south has already been discarded, it means that there is one south left in the wall. All Uchikawa needs is that one south.
Right after Uchikawa gets to tenpai, Taro draws the last south, an anticlimactic end to the dream. As the turns go around, the only risk now is Uchikawa throwing the 1s into Nakabayashi. Eventually, the wall was exhausted and the hand ended in a draw with Uchikawa and Nakabayashi being the only ones tenpai.
Skipping to E3-0, Uchikawa starts out 3-shanten with a triplet, a sequence and a pair in hand. In the first few turns, Uchikawa draws pairs, having four pairs and a triplet by turn 5. On turn 6, he draws a third 3p to give him a second concealed triplet. At the start of the second row, he draws a third ankou and calls riichi on a 4m/6s. If Uchikawa can draw either of them, he will win suuankou.
Uchikawa isn’t the only threat on the table, though. Just a turn earlier, Takizawa drew to a 2m kanchan tenpai.
Looking around the table, we see that Uchikawa’s only hope is a single 6s that is left in the wall. For Takizawa, there are still three of his 2m left in the wall. With each turn, we wondered if the dream would come true or if Takizawa would play spoiler. In the middle of the second row, Takizawa draws a red 5m and switches to a 4m kanchan, basically killing his hand. In the middle of the third row, Takizawa again switches his wait, this time to a 5s/5m shanpon. As Uchikawa drew his last tile, he knew his dream was dead. On Takizawa’s last draw, the final tile in the wall, Takizawa finds the 5s! Takizawa wins the hand with Double East/Haitei/Aka 2 for 4,000 all.
Takizawa to the Top
January 6, Game 1
Video:
In S1-2, Takizawa is in 1st place, but only in the lead by 5,200. Ideally, he wants to make this game a runaway to win his first game of the season. He starts out the hand with a very nice chiitoi iishanten, holding a sequence and two dragon pairs (including the red dragon dora) for the option to move to a standard hand. On turn 3, Takizawa calls pon on the white dragon to get to a standard iishanten. It takes a few turns, but Takizawa is able to call pon on the red dragon at the end of the second row to get to tenpai on a 1s/8s shanpon.
A few turns later, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai and waits tenpai on a 14m ryanmen.
As the two of them waited, the fans sat with interest, watching a big hand vs. a potential upset. In the third row, Takizawa draws a fourth red dragon dora and calls kan. The new kandora is the 3p, giving Nakabayashi two more han. On Nakabayashi turn, he draws the 8s. After taking a few moments to think, Nakabayashi throws the 8s and deals into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with Red Dragon/White Dragon/Dora 4 for 12,000+600 plus a riichi stick, extending his lead.
In S2-0, Takizawa now has a 27,200 lead over 2nd place, but you can never be too careful. He starts out the hand 3-shanten but lacking in value. Creating a ryanmen in manzu, Takizawa gets to 2-shanten at the end of the first row with a chance at a manzu ittsuu. On turn 8, Takizawa gets to iishanten with the ittsuu chance still alive. In the middle of the second row, Takizawa draws a 7m to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen (with the 4m giving ittsuu). Two turns later, Taro throws the 4m trying to maintain his iishanten and ends up dealing into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Ittsuu for 8,000.
Taro Turnaround
January 6, Game 1
Video:
In S3-0, Taro is in 4th place, 10,800 behind 3rd place and 15,000 behind 2nd. With only two hands to work with, Taro needs to win big hands. He starts out the hand 4-shanten with a red 5s for value. The first row provides Taro with a lot of simple tiles, getting him to iishanten by turn 5. On turn 6, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3m kanchan. Late in the second row, Takizawa throws the 3m trying to take a tenpai and deals into Taro. Taro wins the hand with Riichi/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 8,000.
In S4-0, Taro has one last chance to change placement. He is currently 2,800 behind 3rd place Nakabayashi and 7,000 behind 2nd place dealer Uchikawa. Taro starts out 3-shanten, a decent start but lacking in any value. Nakabayashi and Takizawa also start out 3-shanten, but they have far better shapes than Taro, posing a threat. In the first row, Taro is stuck at 3-shanten (though improves some shapes) while Nakabayashi gets to 2-shanten and Takizawa gets to iishanten. In the middle of the second row, Nakabayashi also gets to iishanten. A turn later, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai on a yakuless 4m/4s shanpon. In the third row, Nakabayashi draws a red 5s and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen.
At this point, Taro is iishanten with tanyao. On the ippatsu turn, Taro gets to tenpai. Because of the riichi stick, a riichi is no longer required to move into 3rd. With this in mind, Taro chooses to stay dama, holding someone will throw the 4s which is safe against Nakabayashi. After one turn of dama, Taro chooses to call riichi and wait on the 47s nobetan. If Taro can draw his tile on the ippatsu turn, Taro will move into 2nd. Sure enough, on Taro’s ippatsu turn, Taro finds the 7s and wins the hand. Taro wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Tanyao for 2,000/4,000, finishing the game in 2nd place.
High-Hitting Hori Highlights
January 6, Game 2
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In E1-0, Hori begins the game as the first dealer and starts out 4-shanten with a pair of white dragons. Unfortunately, the white dragons appear to be trapped when Sonoda draws a pair on turn 2. Even with the slgiht setback, Hori does his best to incorporate ryanmens, getting to 2-shanten with three ryanmens on turn 4. Another obstacle is put in front of Hori when Hisato calls riichi on a 5p/9s shanpon on turn 5.
During the ippatsu round, Hori gets to iishanten. With no completely safe tiles and being the dealer, Hori pushes his hand. In the second row, he shifts his hand to tanyao. A turn later, he calls a chii on the dora 6s and gets to tenpai on a 25p ryanmen. Two truns after that, Hisato discards the 2p and deals into Hori. Hori wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 5,800 plus Hisato’s riichi stick.
In E1-1, Hori starts out 2-shanten with a red 5p and a dora 6s. On turn 2, Hori fills a ryanmen to get to iishanten. On turn 3, he fills in a penchan and calls riichi on a white dragon tanki. With very little for his opponents to work with and an honour tanki, Hori’s win was almost guaranteed. On turn 4, Hisato discards the white dragon and deals into Hori. Hori wins with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 7,700+300.
Jumping to E4-1, Hori starts out 4-shanten with no good shapes or value. To his left is the dealer Sonoda holding a 4-shanten hand with multiple ryanmens. To Hori’s right is 4th place Hisato sitting 3-shanten with a red 5p. In the first row, Hori pushes his hand towards a manzu honitsu while Sonoda and Hisato finesse their shapes. By the end of the row, Hisato is at 2-shanten, Sonoda at 3-shanten and Hori still at 4-shanten. In the second row, Hori’s hand makes significant progress. By turn 10, Hori is already iishanten. In the third row, Hori calls pon on the red dragon to widen his tile acceptance.
Approaching the middle of the third row, all three of them are stuck at iishanten. The wall determines their fate. On turn 15, Hisato finally gets to tenpai and stays dama on a yakuless 7m kanchan.
Soon after, Hori gets to tenpai on a 369m wait.
On Sonoda’s second-last draw, he gets to tenpai. Sonoda chooses to call riichi, which may be an odd call for some. However, the riichi basically asks his opponents whether they will risk dealing into a dealer riichi or avoid the danger. Even if those fail, he still has a chance at an ippatsu haitei. On Hori’s draw, he gets a safe 9p and throws it out. Hisato draws a safe 3p and keeps his tenpai. On Sonoda’s last draw, the final tile in the wall, he finds the 3m, Hori’s winning tile.
Hori wins the hand with Houtei/Honitsu/Red Dragon for 8,000+300 plus Sonoda’s riichi stick, putting Hori above 45,000.
In S3-0, Hori is ahead by 14,200 and wanting to move the game along. He starts out 2-shanten with an isolated 7p dora and a hand geared toward tanyao. On turn 2, he pairs up the 7p dora for iishanten. A few turns later, Hori creates an iipeikou and sits dama on a 25s ryanmen. Two turns later, Hori draws the 2s to win the hand. Hori wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 2 for 3,000/6,000.
In S4-0, Hori is now above 50,000 and wanting to end the game. He starts off by drawing a pair of red dragons, putting his starting hand 2-shanten for chiitoi and 3-shanten for a standard hand. To his left is Sonoda who is desperately trying to win to catch up to Hori. Sonoda calls the white dragon early to push his souzu honitsu hand forward. As Sonoda throws non-souzu hands, Hori takes advantage of them by calling them. By the end of the row with two calls, Hori is iishanten. In the second row, Hori moves his hand to a manzu honitsu, hoping that one more call from Sonoda will put him tenpai. With a call of the red 5m from Sonoda, Hori gets to tenpai and waits on a south/red dragon shanpon. A turn later, Hori draws the red dragon and wins the hand. Hori wins with Honitsu/Red Dragon/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000.
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