Highlights
Furiten
January 9, Game 1, E3-0
In E3-0, Tojo is in 1st place and holding an early 6,400 lead. She starts out the hand iishanten with a ryanmen and a penchan. In the first few turns, Tojo breaks up a penchan to accept a red 5s. At the end of the first row, Tojo has the option to take a tenpai. Unfortunately, it would either be a 5s tanki or a 5p tanki. Because of the poor waits, Tojo chooses to stay iishanten and discards a 4p. The very next turn, Tojo draws a 5p, one of possible tanki options. With a good wait in hand, Tojo chooses to call riichi on a 4679p furiten wait.
Despite the riichi call, Mizuhara is still able to develop her hand. In the middle of the second row, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen. Normally, she would not be able to win by ron because Tojo is earlier in turn order. However, Tojo is in furiten, meaning that Tojo would not be able to call ron.
With the stage set, it was a battle between the 4-sided furiten hand and the non-furiten ryanmen hand. Within Mizuhara’s ippatsu turn, Tojo draws her winning 6p. Tojo wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1 for 1,000/2,000 plus Mizuhara’s riichi stick.
Gase
January 9, Game 1
In E4-1, Matsugase is the dealer in 2nd place and 10,400 behind 1st. He starts out the hand 2-shanten with a dora 6s and very likely to have pinfu. On turn 3, Matsugase gets to iishanten and guarantees tanyao. On turn 5, Matsugase gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen for mangan minimum. In the middle of the second row, Matsugase draws the 7s and wins the hand. Matsugase wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1 for 4,000+100 all plus a riichi stick, moving into 1st place.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p724
In E4-2, Matsugase starts out with another 2-shanten hand with a lone west dora. On turn 2, Matsugase gets to iishanten. With his hand likely to be a sequence hand, Matsugase gets rid of the dora west on turn 3.On turn 6, Matsugase fills in a kanchan and stays dama on a 4p/7s shanpon. A turn later, Matsugase draws the 3p and calls riichi on a 258p sanmenchan. Even though Tojo breaks the ippatsu by making a call, Matsugase draws the 5p on his next draw and wins the hand. Matsugase wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Ura 1 for 4,000+200 all, putting him above 50,000.
Shortcut to Haneman
January 9, Game 1, S2-0
In S2-0, Tojo is in 2nd place, 21,700 behind 1st place Matsugase and 8,800 ahead of 3rd place Mizuhara. In 4th place is Maruyama, 4,500 behind 3rd. Maruyama starts out 3-shanten with a dora 5m while Tojo is 4-shanten with a dora 2p and a red 5p. By the end of the first row, Maruyama is 2-shanten for a standard hand and Tojo is iishanten for chiitoi (already holding a pair of dora 2p). In the second row, Maruyama fills in a kanchan and makes a call to be the first to tenpai, waiting on a 6s/8s shanpon.
Near the middle of the third row, Tojo draws her 6th pair and calls riichi on a west tanki despite seeing two of them already out. During the ippatsu turn, Mizuhara draws to iishanten. Unfortunately, Mizuhara had been holding the west as a safe tile. When she discards it on the ippatsu turn, Mizuhara is to surprised to hear Tojo call ron. Tojo wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 12,000.
Mangan-Mangan
January 9, Game 1
In S3-0, Mizuhara is trying to recover her score after dealing into a haneman from discarding into a west jigoku tanki. With no dealership left and being 7,500 behind 3rd place, Mizuhara needs to win quick and with value. She starts out the hand 2-shanten but lacking in han. On turn 5, Mizuhara discards her last terminal to get to iishanten. On turn 6, Mizuhara has an option to take a 6m kanchan, but declines it to try for a wider tenpai. A few turns later, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 356m wait. During the ippatsu turn, Tojo tries to take a tenpai by discarding the red 5m and ends up dealing into Mizuhara. Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Aka 2 for 8,000 to move into 3rd place.
In S4-0, Mizuhara is just 500 ahead of 4th place. One wrong move and she would fall back down to 4th. She starts out with a very slow hand, being 4-shanten for chiitoi and 5-shanten for a standard hand. To try to give herself options to call and prevent other players for getting to tenpai quickly, she holds onto as many stray yakuhai as she can, including a dora green dragon. While Mizuhara sits with her slow hand, Maruyama starts out with a fast hand. By turn 3, Maruyama is already tenpai on a 3m/4m shanpon (though without a yaku).
With no idea that Maruyama is in tenpai and the score being too close to not be in tenpai, Mizuhara pushes her hand hard. By the end of the row, Mizuhara is 3-shanten with no clear yaku. On turn 8, Mizuhara draws a second green dragon dora, rewarding her patience. On turn 10, Tojo discards the green dragon. Calling pon, Mizuhara now has a yaku and is iishanten for mangan minimum. After seeing Mizuhara hand develop quickly, Maruyama chooses to call riichi on her 3m/4m shanpon to add pressure and give her an opportunity to win the hand. On the ippatsu turn, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and waits on a 3p kanchan. On her next draw, Mizuhara finds the 3p and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with Green Dragon/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus Maruyama’s riichi stick, finishing the game in 3rd.
Ura Ura
January 9, Game 1, S1-2
In S1-2, Nakabayashi is the dealer and holding a slim 1,500 lead. He starts out 4-shanten and lacking value. However, the ryanmen shapes in his hand have the ability to accept dora and shift his hand towards pinfu. On turn 5, Nakabayashi draws the dora 9s and makes his hand very likely to be pinfu. Nakabayashi gets to iishanten on turn 7 and then calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen on turn 8. Three turns later, Nakabayashi draws the 7s and wins the hand. With a flip of the uradora Nakabayashi’s 3m pair becomes dora! With that one flip, Nakabayashi’s hand goes from just below mangan to haneman. Nakabayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 2 for 6,000+200 all plus a riichi stick.
Riichi Battle
January 9, Game 1, S1-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s10_p723
In S1-3, Taro is in 4th place and recovering from Nakabayashi’s haneman tsumo. Currently, he is 500 behind 3rd and 4,500 behind 2nd. If he were to set his sights higher, he is 31,800 behind 1st place Nakabayashi, a yakuman indirect ron or a baiman direct ron away. At the start we see Nakabayashi starting 2-shanten while Taro is 3-shanten with many ryanmens, a dora 7m and a red 5p. Both Nakabayashi and Taro have their hands develop quickly, getting to iishanten on turn 5. Part of the iishanten crew is Kayamori, sitting iishanten with a honitsu with a chance at chanta. The second row chooses to not let anyone get to tenpai, but the players are able to further improve their own hands. At the start of the third row, Nakabayashi is the first to tenpai, calling riichi on a 58p ryanmen.
Holding two red doras and two regular doras, Taro pushes his expensive hand against the dealer riichi. In the middle of the third row, Taro gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen, guaranteed to be at least a haneman. If Taro wins on the 3p, his hand would be upgraded to a baiman. On Taro’s last draw, he misses, leaving Nakabayashi’s discard as his only real hope. On Nakabayashi’s last draw, he draw’s Taro’s takame 3p and deals in. Taro wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 16,000+900 plus Nakabayashi’s riichi stick. With Nakabayashi’s loss and Taro’s gain, Taro moves all the way up from 4th place to 1st place in just one hand.
Fighting
January 10, Game 1, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p721
In E4-0, Hinata is the dealer and sitting in 3rd place. To her left is 2nd place Kurosawa just 700 ahead. To Hinata’s right is Shibukawa who is 16,700 ahead of Hinata. Hinata starts out the hand 4-shanten with a pair of 2s dora, Shibukawa is 4-shanten for chiitoi (5-shanten for kokushi and 6-shanten for a standard hand) with a pair of white dragons and Kurosawa is 2-shanten with a red 5m. In the first row, Shibukawa pairs up and calls triplets to advance his hand, while Hinata and Kurosawa stay closed to aim for tanyao. By the end of the first row, Hinata and Kurosawa are 2-shante while Shibukawa is 3-shanten. Near the middle of the second row, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.
While Kurosawa is in riichi, Shibukawa make two triplet calls to get to tenpai on a 9m/east shanpon.
Hinata is facing against a riichi from Kurosawa and three calls from Shibukawa. However, being the dealer and holding two dora, she pushes. Near the middle of the second row, Hinata fills in a kanchan for iishanten. Two turns later, Hinata gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen, with the 6m being at least a haneman. In the third row, Hinata draws the takame 6m and wins the hand. Hinata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 2 for 6,000 all plus a riichi stick, putting her in 1st place.
Out of Last
January 10, Game 2, S3-0
In S3-0, Shibukawa is the dealer and in 4th place, 19,300 behind 3rd place Ooi. If he wants to prevent an erasure of his work the previous game, he has to start winning. He starts out the hand 3-shanten with a pair of easts, a dora 5p and a red 5s. In the first row, Shibukawa calls pon on the east and on a sequence to get to iishanten. At the same time, Hagiwara keeps his hand closed and draw for tanyao. At the start of the second row, Hagiwara gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 6p/7p shanpon. Two turns later, Hagiwara switches to a dora 5p kanchan wait.
After waiting a few turns, Shibukawa finally gets to tenpai and waits on a 36m wait (with the 3m giving sanshoku). A few turns later, Ooi throws the takame 3m while trying to take a tenpai and deals into Shibukawa. Shibukawa wins the hand with East/Sanshoku/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 12,000.
Into First
January 10, Game 2, S4-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p724
In S4-3, Takizawa is the last dealer and sitting 7,100 behind 1st place Hagiwara. He starts out with a nice 2-shanten with a 678m iipeikou and a red 5p. On turn 2, Takizawa draws a red 5m to get to iishanten. On turn 3, he breaks up the iipeikou to have a 14m ryanmen and a chance at a 567 sanshoku. On turn 4, Takizawa draws a 1m and calls riichi on a 6s kanchan.
During the ippatsu turn, Hagiwara gets to 2-shanten. Still holding a few safe tiles, Hagiwara pushes forward with little trouble. On turn 6, Hagiwara gets to iishanten and on turn 7, Hagiwara gets to tenpai on a yakuless 7m kanchan.
With both Takizawa and Hagiwara both with the ability to decide who will finish 1st, it is a battle between the two of them. In the middle of the second row, Hagiwara draws a 6s with three 5s visible to him and Takizawa having discarded the 9s previously, the 6s seems like a same discard. Unfortunately, the one-chance is actually the win. Takizawa wins the hand with Riichi/Aka 2 for 7,700+900 plus two riichi sticks, moving into 1st place.
Final Say
January 10, Game 2, S4-4
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p722
In S4-4, Ooi is in 4th place and 4,700. Due to the four honba, Ooi’s is pursuit for 3rd is made easier. In order to move out of 4th place, he would need a 3/30 general ron, a 2/40 tsumo or a 1/40 direct hit off 3rd place Shibukawa.
Ooi starts out the hand 3-shanten with no value to be seen. He does have a potential ittsuu, but he would have to shift the 567m completed sequence to a 456m sequence. Having only four tiles that aren’t either manzu or honours, he also has the option to go for honitsu. With the need to find value, Ooi starts out by getting rid of his pinzu terminals. On turn 3, Ooi fills in an 8m kanchan for 3-shanten. As Ooi waits at 3-shanten, Shibukawa has an option to get to tenpai. Since his hand is only tanyao with a bad wait, he chooses to keep iishanten in pursuit of a pinfu to add to his hand.
In the second row, Ooi draws more manzu and makes a call, getting to iishanten by the end of the second row. At the start of the third row, Ooi pairs up the white dragon to get to tenpai on a 1m/white dragon shanpon. In order to get enough points to escape 4th, he would either need to tsumo the hand, get any direct hit or win off the white dragon. Looking around the table, Ooi’s two white dragons and on of his 1m were no where to be found. On Shibukawa’s last draw, he draws the white dragon, leaving one of each for Ooi. On Ooi’s last draw, he finds the last dragon! Ooi wins the hand with White Dragon/Haitei/Honitsu for 2,000+400/4,000+400, finishing the game in 3rd place.
Rumi’s Back in the Game
January 12, Game 1
In E4-1, Rumi is in 4th place, sitting 4,000 behind 3rd place Hori and 10,600 behind 2nd place Date. With 2,300 in bonus sticks available, Rumi has a good chance to move up in the rankings. She starts out the hand 3-shanten and lacking in value. In the first row, Rumi shifts her hand to tanyao and draws a 6s dora. By the end of the row, she is 2-shanten with two ryanmens. In the second row, she draws a second 6s dora, calls a chii and fills the correct side of a ryanmen to get to tenpai on a 25p ryanmen. Two turns later, Date draws and discards the red 5p (since she was already iishanten for mangan) and deals into Rumi. Rumi wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 8,000+300 plus two riichi sticks, moving into 2nd place
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-15_s90_p582
In S1-0, Rumi is in 2nd place and 15,500 behind 1st place. Across from her is Hori, 6,300 behind and trying to chase her down. Rumi starts out the hand 3-shanten with an ankou of souths and a 5p dora, while Hori is 2-shanten for chiitoi with a lot of manzu and honours. By turn 5, Hori is already tenpai on chiitoi, waiting on a white dragon tanki. On turn 6, Hori draws his winning white dragon. However, without hesitation, Hori discards his 9s pair to pursue a manzu honitsu, a gamble that could almost quadruple his hand’s score.
On Hori’s next draw, he finds the red dragon and waits dama, getting a haneman if he draws it himself.
Across the table is Rumi sitting at iishanten. On Rumi’s draw, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. With the red dragon being completely safe against Rumi, there’s a good chance that Kondo or Date might deal in while trying to defend against Rumi. However, on Rumi’s ippatsu turn, she finds the 6s and wins the hand. Rumi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Double South for 4,000 all to get within 5,500 of the lead.
Date’s Back in the Game
January 12, Game 1, S2-0
In S2-0, Date is in 4th place, sitting 3,700 behind 3rd place Hori and 30,000 behind 2nd place Rumi. She starts out the hand 2-shanten for chiitoi with a dora 4m. On turn 3, she makes a 5th pair to get to iishanten. Throughout the rest of the first row and into the second row, she just wasn’t able to find the last pair. Around her, players are progressing. Hori makes two call for iishanten, Rumi makes a closed kan for iishanten and Kondo sits iishanten for chiitoi. Near the end of the second row, Date draws a pair of dora white dragons, calls riichi and discards the 4m dora, waiting on a west tanki.
With the 4m discard, Hori calls pon to get to tenpai on a 14s ryanmen (though it is furiten and can only win on the 4s).
Soon after, Kondo draws a pair of wests to get to tenpai on a 5m tanki.
After, Rumi gets to tenpai on a 6s kanchan.
Drawing the 6s the very next turn, Kondo folds his hand. Right after, Hori draws a 6s and breaks his tenpai. A turn after, Hori gets back to tenpai and waits on a 5s kanchan.
Right after, Date draws the west and wins the hand. Date wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 3,000/6,000.
Hori’s Back in the Game
January 12, Game 1
In S4-1, Hori is the dealer in 4th place, 13,300 behind 3rd place Rumi and 14,300 behind 2nd place Date. Hori starts out 2-shanten with an ankou of 1m and a pair of green dragons. Hori hand doesn’t progress too much in the first row, but he does makes ankou of 3p and the end of the row to get to iishanten. The second row isn’t much help either with his hand still stall at iishanten. During this time, Date gets herself to tenpai on a 7s tanki (which she later switches to a red dragon tanki). At the end of the second row, Hori finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen. In the middle of the 3rd row, Hori draws the 8p and wins the hand. Hori wins with Riichi/Tsumo for 1,300+100 all plus one riichi stick.
In S4-2, Hori is now just a mangan tsumo away from 1st place. However, all three of his opponents are trying to end the game. Hori starts out the hand 3-shanten and lacking in value. His hand develops well in the first row, getting to iishanten on turn 5. However, he lacks good shapes and still lacks value. While Hori waits, Date pursues her pinzu chinitsu by making a call on the 2p. Rumi also pursues a flush, being close to a manzu honitsu. Near the end of the second row, Rumi is the first to tenpai, waiting dama on a 7m kanchan.
In the third row, Date makes a call and gets to tenpai on a 4p/8p shanpon.
Right after Date gets to tenpai with an obvious flush, Rumi draws a red 5p. Despite it being very dangerous, the pros of going from 3rd to 1st outweigh the cons of going from 3rd to 4th. Because of this, Rumi drops the red 5p, surviving. On Hori’s draw, he draws an ankou of 7m for tenpai. Hori has two choices: discard a souzu to wait on a 56m wait or discard the 5m to wait on a 134679s furiten wait. Despite it being furiten, Hori takes the wider wait and calls riichi. With the wait being so wide, and the visual only being able to fit five tiles, they had to add a sliding animation to show all six waits. Two turns later, Hori draws the 7s and wins the hand. Hori wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao for 2,000+200 all, moving into 2nd place.
Last Chance
January 12, Game 1, S4-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p726
In S4-3, the scores are close. With three honba and 1st and 4th being separated by only 8,500, it’s anybody’s game. At the start, 3rd place Date starts out 3-shanten with a dora 4p and 1st place Kondo starts out 2-shanten for chiitoi (3-shanten for a standard hand) with a 4p dora. On turn 2, Kondo draws an ankou of 4m, pushing his hand towards a standard hand. On turn 4, he fills a ryanmen to get to iishanten. At the end of the first row, Kondo fills in a kanchan and calls riichi on a 1s/west shanpon.
At this point, Date is still 3-shanten. However, she holds a dora 4p and a pair of souths. If she can either find one more han, win by tsumo or directly hit Kondo, she has a route to 1st place. With a call during the ippatsu round, Date gets to 2-shanten. In the middle of the second row, Date draws to iishanten. With a call of the north off of Kondo a few turns later, Date gets to tenpai on a 4s/south. With the 4s not giving her a yaku, she hopes that one of the two unseen souths can give her the win. On Kondo’s next draw, he picks the south and deals into Date. Date wins the hand with Double South/Dora 1 for 3,900+900 plus one riichi stick. She finishes the game with 28,900, enough to win the game.
Aki Up
January 12, Game 2
In E1-0, Aki is the first dealer and is trying to avenge Rumi after Rumi’s 4th the previous game. She starts out the hand by filling in a kanchan for 3-shanten with a dora west. By turn 3, Aki is already iishanten. With the west slowing her down, she discards it. At the start of the second row, Aki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen. At the end of the second row, Aki draws the 6s and wins the hand. Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu for 1,300 all.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p725
In E1-1, Aki starts out 2-shanten with a near perfect hand, almost guaranteed to have tanyao with a good chance at pinfu and sanshoku. On turn 2, Aki discards the north dora to get to iishanten. On turn 3, she draws a pair of 6p to give her a chance at a 345 sanshoku. At the start of the second row, Aki draws an 8m. Though this kills the 345 sanshoku, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen. On Aki’s very next draw, she finds the red 5p and wins the hand. Flipping one uradora, Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 6,000+100 all, putting her above 45,000.
In E1-2, Aki starts out 4-shanten for both a standard hand and chiitoi. Despite being so far from tenpai, Aki kept drawing good tiles. By turn 4, Aki is already iishanten. At the end of the first row, Aki gets to tenpai and waits on a 36m ryanmen. In the middle of the second row, Hisato discards the 3m and deals into Aki. Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu for 2,900+600, putting her above 50,000.
In E1-3, Aki starts out 3-shanten with a pair of green dragons. On turn 2, Aki makes the green dragon an ankou. On turn 3, Aki gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. Aki isn’t able to get to tenpai in the second row, but she is able to draw a red 5m and a dora 4m to widen her acceptance. Near the the middle of the third row, Aki pairs up the 4m dora and stays dama on a 47s ryanmen. Right after, Uchikawa discards the 7s and deals into Aki. Aki wins the hand with Green Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000+900, putting her above 60,000.
Yakuman Tenpai!?!
January 12, Game 2, E1-4
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-15_s90_p584
In E1-4, Hisato and Uchikawa are trying to escape from 3rd and 4th, respectively. Uchikawa starts out with a big iishanten hand with two ankous and two pairs. To his right is Hisato with a 3-shanten hand. While Uchikawa draws empty in the first row, Hisato draws to iishanten on turn 5. On turn 6, Uchikawa draws his third ankou and stays dama on an 8p kanchan. Though he is tenpai making the south an ankou or pairing up either the 7p or 9p will put him tenpai for a potential suuankou.
Right after Uchikawa gets to tenpai, Hisato gets to tenpai as well and calls riichi on a 2p kanchan.
On the ippatsu turn, Uchikawa pairs up the 7p and calls riichi on a south/7p shanpon. If Uchikawa can draw the one 7p or either of the souths still left in the wall, he would win suuankou.
With three of Uchikawa’s waits left and only two of Hisato’s being available, Uchikawa was favoured to win. The second row becomes filled with their waits still in the wall. Then, at the start of the third row, Hisato draws the 2p and wins the hand, killing the suuankou chance. Hisato wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1 for 1,000+400/2,000+400.
Double Riichi Reject!?
January 12, Game 2, E2-1
In E2-1, Aki is in 1st place with 60,200. With her starting hand she is already tenpai on a 3s penchan! If she calls riichi now, she would have a double riichi.
With the double riichi, it would be 2 han with a bad wait. However, if she waits, she may improve her wait at the cost of one han. She can also make her white dragon an ankou for sanankou or make a pair elsewhere to get a shanpon that involves the white dragon. Even ignoring hand value, a small and fast win will get the game going and prevent anyone from winning a big hand. For these reasons, she skips the double riichi and goes to iishanten.
When Hisato discards the white dragon, Aki calls pon and gets to tenpai on a 1s tanki. A turn later, she improves to a 356p wait.
Despite having a good wait, Aki is unable to draw her winning tile and Hisato is able to catch up. At the end of the first row, Hisato gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen, guaranteed to be at least a mangan. In the middle of the second row, Aki draws and discards the 8p and deals into Hisato. Hisato wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Sanshoku for 8,000+300 plus one riichi stick.
Beat the Riichi
January 12, Game 2, E3-0
In E3-0, Uchikawa is in 4th place and sitting 10,900 behind 3rd place Kayamori, who is 13,400 behind 2nd place Hisato. At the start, Hisato is 2-shanten with a red 5s, an isolated 1p and a pair of green dragons, Kayamori is 3-shanten with a red 5m and Uchikawa is 3-shanten with a pair of white dragons and a dora 1p. On turn 2, Hisato is already iishanten. On turn 3, Hisato gets to tenpai and sits with a yakuless 5m kanchan. At the same time, Kayamori fills in a kanchan and gets to iishanten. On turn 4, Kayamori fills in another kanchan and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen.
With the riichi and still being 2-shanten, Uchikawa advances carefully by discarding his white dragon pair. Initially, Hisato breaks his tenpai. But, at the start of the second row, Hisato gets back to tenpai and calls riichi on a 6p/green dragon shanpon.
During the ippatsu round, draws a third ryanmen. Holding a pair of 1p dora, his hand does have the potential for a comeback. However, he still maintains safety by breaking one of the ryanmens. As he tries to dodge the two riichi calls, he draws a pair of 7m, makes a ryanmen in souzu and fills it and gets to iishanten at the end of the second row. At the start of the third row, Uchikawa draws a third 1p to make an ankou and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen, guaranteed to be at least a mangan. On Uchikawa’s very next draw, he finds the 2p and wins the hand. Uchikawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 3 for 3,000/6,000 plus two riichi stick, putting him in 3rd place.
The Rise of Kayamori
January 12, Game 2
In E4-1, Kayamori is the dealer and in 4th place, sitting 5,100 behind 3rd place Uchikawa and 10,400 behind 2nd place Hisato. She starts out the hand 3-shanten for both a standard hand and chiitoi with a red 5s. Her hand moved naturally to a standard hand and got to iishanten on turn 3. At the start of the second row, she breaks up one of her kanchans to create a ryanmen. In the middle of the second row, she breaks up her other kanchan for a ryanmen. On turn 10, Kayamori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen. On the ippatsu draw, Kayamori finds the 6m and wins the hand. Kayamori wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 1 for 4,000+100 all plus two riichi sticks to put her in 2nd place.
Skipping to S2-4, Kayamori is in 2nd, 7,300 behind 4th place and 17,300 behind 1st. She starts out with a nice 3-shanten with all four souths, pairs of green dragon, 5p and 1p and a lone 3s. With the option for both a standard hand and chiitoi, Kayamori starts out by rejecting the kan outright, discarding one of the souths. With a decent chance at honitsu, Kayamori breaks up one of her manzu blocks to pursue it. Near the end of the first row, Kayamori calls chii to get to iishanten. With one more chii, Kayamori gets to tenpai on a 1p/green dragon shanpon.
Right after, Aki, who is pursuing chiitoi, draws a sixth pair and stays dama on a red dragon tanki.
Right after he, Hisato gets to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8m kanchan.
During the ippatsu turn, Aki draws a green dragon and switches to a green dragon tanki. On her next draw, she draws a dangerous 4m and decides to fold her hand. In the middle of the second row, Uchikawa, who is pursuing a manzu honitsu, gets to tenpai and waits on a 4m tanki. The very next turn, he decides to calls riichi.
Within the ippatsu turn, Kayamori draws the green dragon and wins the hand. Kayamori wins the hand with Honitsu/Green Dragon/South/Aka 1 for 2,000+400/4,000+400 plus four riichi sticks. With all those points, Kayamori sits just 1,700 behind 1st place, a big change from being 4th place only a few hands earlier.
Expensive Atozuke
January 13, Game 1, E2-1
In E2-1, Sonoda is the dealer and sitting 9,000 behind 1st. He starts out the hand 2-shanten with a pair of dora 5p (including the red 5p). However, his current hand forces him to wait for riichi. The first row doesn’t advance his hand, but the array of 2’s and 4’s in his hand does give the potential for a 234 sanshoku. At the start of the second row, Sonoda calls chii on a 3p to get to iishanten, still needing a 3s and a 2m for sanshoku. Alternatively, he can get the 6s to get rid of his last terminal for tanyao. In the middle of the row, Sonoda draws the 3s to get to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen. If he draws the 5m, his hand is worth nothing. If he draws the 2m, his hand is worth mangan. Looking around the table, two of his 2m are stuck in Matsumoto’s hand. Near the middle of the third row, Honda draws a 2m, leaving only a single 2m for Sonoda. With every draw, Sonoda kept missing. Then, on Sonoda’s last draw, the last tile in tthe wall, Sonoda finds the last 2m and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Haitei/Sanshoku/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 4,000+100 all plus one riichi stick.
Riichi Battle
January 13, Game 1, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p724
In S2-0, Honda is in 2nd place, 7,600 ahead of 4th place Matsumoto and 6,200 behind 1st place Yu. Going around the table, we see Yu and Honda starting at 2-shanten while Matsumoto starts 4-shanten with two red fives. In the first few turns, both Yu and Honda create ryanmens to ensure good waits. By turn 4, Honda has a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten, with Yu getting there on turn 5. At the end of the row, Yu is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen.
Immediately after, Honda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.
At this point, Matsumoto is already iishanten. Being in last place with two red doras, Matsumoto pushes. Two turns after Honda calls riichi, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5p/2m shanpon.
Three people in riichi, a tsumogiri batle has been waged. However, within Matsumoto’s ippatsu turn, Honda draws his winning 3m and wins the hand, ending the short battle. Honda wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Iipeikou/Tanyao for 2,000/4,000 plus two riichi stick, moving Honda into 1st place.
Pursuit
January 13, Game 1, S4-0
In S4-0, Sonoda is in 3rd, 4,000 ahead of 4th place Matsumoto and 10,700 behind 2nd place Yu. Sonoda would need a haneman tsumo or general ron or a direct hit of 6,400 (3/50 or 4/25) or more to move into 2nd.
Sonoda starts out the hand 3-shanten for both a standard hand and chiitoi. Holding no dora, his hand isn’t in a position for a comeback. However, a shortcut to haneman (Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi + 2 dora) is enough for 2nd place. The journey isn’t going to be smooth sailing, though. To his left is 4th place Matsumoto calling quickly trying to escape 4th. To Sonoda’s right is Yu with a pair of 5p dora which includes the red 5p, pursuing 1st place. Early on, Matsumoto calls pon on the red dragon and 3p to try to get a Red Dragon/Honitsu hand. On turn 4, Sonoda is iishanten, but only for a standard hand. At the end of the first row, Sonoda draws his fifth pair. Near the middle of the second row, Sonoda gets his sixth pair and calls riichi on a 9m tanki, hoping to draw it himself and find two uradora.
Being iishanten for a mangan and having a chance at 1st place, Yu throws the first north onto the board. The very next turn, Yu gets to tenpai and waits on a 3p/6p ryanmen. Yu knows that the 3p is dead, but he doesn’t see the pair of 6p in Matsumoto’s hand, leaving only one 6p left for Yu. A turn later, Yu draws a red 5s to add one more han, upgrading his hand to a haneman.
At the end of the second row, Matsumoto draws the last 6p and gets to tenpai. However, his wait is dead with the last 3p in Yu hand.
With both Yu and Matsumoto holding hands that can’t win, it was Sonoda’s chance to move up. At the start of the third row, Sonoda finds the 9m. Unfortunately, the ura come up empty. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi for 1,600/3,200, just missing 2nd place.
Kobayashi Going Up!
January 13, Game 2
In E3-0, Kobayashi is in 2nd place and 7,000 behind 1st place. Having won the previous hand, he has some positive momentum with him. He starts out the hand 2-shanten with a secured 6s dora, two ryanmens and a pair of green dragons. Kobayashi isn’t able to fill either of his ryanmens in the first row, but he does draw a loose 6s. In the second row, Kobayashi draws a 9s to create a 66789s shape, securing both doras. In the middle of the row, Kobayashi draws a red 5p to get to iishanten. A turn later, Kobayashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 6s/green dragon shanpon. If Kobayashi draws either of the waits himself he would have a haneman. Sure enough, in the third row, Kobayashi draws the green dragon and wins the hand. Kobayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Green Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000, moving into 1st place.
Though Kobayashi loses his dealership in E4-0, Kobayashi is still in the lead in S1-0. He starts out the hand 4-shanten with an isolated south dora. On turn 3, Kobayashi draws a second south, giving him a yakuhai option and pushing his hand towards mangan. On turn 4, Kobayashi calls pon on the south to get to iishanten. With a pon of the 1p in the second row, Kobayashi gets to tenpai and waits on a 36m ryanmen.
Sitting in 4th place as the dealer is Murakami, 4,900 behind 3rd place. Right after Kobayashi gets to tenpai, Murakami draws a 6m to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen.
It was a battle between 1st and 4th place, fighting for their teams. Two turns after Murakami’s riichi, Kobayashi draws the 6m and wins the hand. Kobayashi wins with South/Dora 3 for 2,000/4,000 plus Murakami’s riichi stick.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s80_p727
In S2-0, Kobayashi starts out the hand 2-shanten with two penchans and a kanchan. Not liking the bad shapes in his hand, Kobayashi starts out by going back a shanten to get rid of the shapes. On turn 2, Kobayashi draws a 3s to fill in a penchan. On turn 5, Kobayashi gets to iishanten, waiting on 6 different tiles to get to tenpai. On turn 7, Kobayashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1p/1m shanpon. His hand is cheap, only having riichi for value. We we look around the table, we see a 1p and a 1m in Murkami’s hand and one 1p already discarded. With only one 1m left in the wall, it looked like Kobayashi’s hand was dead. But, on the ippatsu turn Kobayashi finds that last 1m and wins the hand. With the perfect timing, Kobayashi goes from 1 han to 3 han. As if lcuk wasn’t enough, Kobayashi’s uradora flip make his three 1m dora, causing his hand to go from 1 han to 3 han to 6 han. With perfect luck, Kobayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Ura 3 for 3,000/6,000, bringing Kobayashi’s score up to 58,000.
Murakami Jump
January 13, Game 2
In S3-0, Murakami is in 4th place, 4,900 behind 3rd place Setokuma and 18,800 behind 2nd place Shiratori. Murakami starts out the hand 3-shanten with two red fives, enough to start a comeback. In the first row, Murakami drew simple tiles to push his hand towards tanyao. At the same time, 1st place Kobayashi tries to rush the hand with a quick call of the green dragon. By turn 4, Kobayashi is iishanten. Before the end of the row, Kobayashi gets to tenpai and waits on an 8s kanchan.
Being in 4th, Murakami has no choice but to push. With each draw, he tries to increase his tile acceptance, reduce pairs and creating ryanmens. At the start of the second row, Murakami gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m/3s wait, guaranteed to be at least a mangan.
The two of them aren’t the only ones with placement at stake. Shiratori is sitting in 2nd place and holding his dealership. With a call near the end of the second row, Shiratori gets to tenpai and waits on a 36s ryanmen. On Shiratori’s next draw, he gets Murakami’s winning 2m. With it being dangerous, Shiratori chooses to fold his hand.
On Kobayashi’s draw, he draws the 2m as well. For Kobayashi, dealing in isn’t actually a bad result. If he deals in, Shiratori’s dealership ends and Kobayashi is almost guaranteed 1st place. With the 2m discard, Murakami calls ron and wins the hand. Murakami wins the hand with Riichi/Tanyao/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 8,000, moving Murakami into 3rd place.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s10_p724
In S4-0, Murakami is in 3rd place and sitting 10,800 behind 2nd place Shiratori. He finds himself in a very similar situation that Sonoda had the previous game, looking for a haneman. Murakami starts out 3-shanten with a pair of north doras. With two doras and a hand that’s forced to be closed, he has a chance to gain points. On turn 4, Murakami draws a third north to get to 2-shanten. With two ryanmens, his chances of advancing are good. On turn 5, he completes a ryanmen to get to iishanten. As Murakami waits for tenpai, Shiratori gets to tenpai and waits with a yakuless 56s wait.
On Murakami draw at the start of the second row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi waiting on a 6m kanchan. With a tsumo and one uradora, Murakami will move into 2nd.
With the risk of dealing in, Shiratori folds his hand. As Shiratori folds, Kobayashi pushes, calling off Shiratori and getting to tenpai on a 36p ryanmen.
In the middle of the second row, Murakami draws the 6m he had been looking for and wins the hand. With a flip of the uradora, Murakami has done it. Murakami wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 3/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, finishing the game in 2nd.
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