Highlights
Shortcut to Haneman
April 10, Game 1, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p746
In E1-0, Hisato is the first dealer, trying to keep his team in 1st place against the EX Furinkazan. Hisato starts out the hand 3-shanten for chiitoi (4-shanten for a standard hand) with a red 5p for value. On turn 2, he makes a pair of 6m to advance him to 2-shanten. On his next draw, he makes a pair of 3m to get to iishanten. Two turns later, he makes his 6th pair and he calls riichi on a west tanki. On turn 11, Hisato draws the west and wins the hand. Flipping two uradora, Hisato wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 6,000 all, taking the early lead.
All Riichi
April 10 Game 1, E1-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p737
In E1-2, Aki is tied for 2nd place, 24,000 behind 1st place Hisato. Aki starts out the hand 3-shanten with a red 5m. Looking around the table, Hisato and Matsumoto are 2-shanten and Mizuhara is 3-shanten. On turn 2, both Hisato and Matsumoto get to iishanten. On turn 5, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 6p kanchan, holding an ankou of south doras. At the start of the second row, Hisato gets to tenpai as well and calls riichi on a 3s kanchan.
At this point, Mizuhara and Aki are both iishanten, so they push along with tenpai Matsumoto. On turn 9, Matsumoto improves his hand to a 2s/5p shanpon and Mizuhara calls riichi on a 25p nobetan.
With two players calling riichi, Matsumoto decides to call the third one, guaranteed a haneman if he wins.
Right on the ippatsu round, Aki gets to tenpai and calls the fourth one, waiting on a 69p ryanmen.
With four players in in riichi, someone is bound to win. Three turns later, Aki finds the 6p and wins the hand. Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 2,600+200 all plus four riichi stick to put her within a haneman of Hisato.
Chasing Riichi Always Wins
April 10, Game 1, S2-2
In S2-2, Hisato is in 1st place and ahead of 2nd place Aki by 15,500. To keep their lead over the EX Furinkazan, Hisato wants to widen the gap.
Hisato starts out the hand with an annoying 5-shanten hand with a red 5m for a little bit of value. Around the table, both Matsumoto are Aki are much closer to tenpai, both sitting 2-shanten. In the first row, Hisato manages to shift himself to tanyao and get to 4-shanten, but Matsumoto and Aki are still far ahead. At the start of the second row, Matsumoto (after calling pon on the easts and drawing a red five) gets to tenpai on a 2p/6m shanpon.
In the middle of the second row, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen.
With a few lucky draws, got to a nice 369m tenpai and calls riichi, guaranteed a mangan if he wins. In the third row, Mizuhara draws and discards the 6m and deals into Hisato. With the 6m becoming the uradora, Hisato wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 12,000+600 plus a riichi stick to get very close to 58,900.
Dama Haneman
April 10, Game 1, S3-0
In S3-0, Aki is in 2nd place, chasing Hisato for 1st and trying to keep Matsumoto away.
Aki starts out the hand by drawing the red 5s to join her two 3p dora and red 5m. With multiple ryanmen options and being 3-shanten for tanyao, it seems like a straightforward path to an expensive hand. However, despite having such a good hand, Matsumoto is much closer at iishanten with his starting hand. On turn 3, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8m kanchan.
At this point, Aki is still 2-shanten. However, with all the value and good shapes, Aki pushes. On turn 7, Aki draws a 3s to secure the red 5s and get to iishanten. A turn later, she gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 4p kanchan, guaranteed a haneman if she wins. At the end of the row, she draws the 4p and wins the hand. Aki wins with Tsumo/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 3,000/6,000 plus one riichi stick, getting her closer to Hisato.
Chasing Riichi Always Wins
April 10, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Ooi starts in the north seat and hoping to recover the points that Matsumoto lost the previous game.
Ooi starts out the hand by pairing up the north dora and getting to 2-shanten. On turn 2, she fills in a kanchan to get to iishanten. As Ooi waits to improve or get to tenpai, Yu advances his own hand. In the middle of the second row, Yu gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2s/2m shanpon.
Being iishanten with a good chance at a mangan, Ooi pushes against the dealer riichi. Just two turns later, Ooi fills in a kanchan and calls riichi on a 69p/north wait. Two turns later, oi draws the dora north and calls tsumo. Ooi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/North/Dora 3 for 3,000/6,000.
Ippatsu
April 10, Game 2, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p747
In S1-0, Takamiya is in 2nd place, holding only a 1,200 lead over 4th place. With Ooi 20,200 ahead of her, she needs to win a limit hand to get within striking range.
Takamiya starts out the hand with a pair of 6s dora, 3-shanten for both chiitoi and a standard hand. In the first row, Takamiya shifted her hand towards a standard hand and gets to iishanten on turn 5. Around her, Yu advances his Red Dragon only hand to iishanten. With a call in the middle of the second row, Yu is the first to tenpai and waits on a 47p ryanmen.
Two turns later, Takamiya makes a 6s dora ankou and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen. On Takamiya’s very next draw, she finds the 3m and wins the hand. Takamiya wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 3 for 3,000/6,000.
No More Ura 4
April 10, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p737
In S4-0, Ooi is the dealer in 1st and holding a 2,200 lead over 2nd place. If Ooi wants to secure his win, he needs to start by winning the next hand.
Ooi starts out the hand 3-shanten with an isolated 7s for value. With a pair of useless norths, he will have to either get rid of it to aim for tanyao or bet on riichi to win. In the first row, Ooi makes a ryanmen, creates sequences and gets to iishanten by the end of the row. Soon after, Ooi makes an ankou of 7p to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen. On Ooi’s very next draw, he draw a fourth 7p and calls a closed kan. The kandora and rinshan were both useless, but the kan gives him a chance at an extra uradora. Near the end of the second row, Ooi draws the 3p and wins the hand. With a flip of the uradora, Ooi’s 7p became dora to upgrade his riichi only hand to haneman. Ooi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 4 for 6,000 all. He would finish the game in 1st place, bringing the team back into the positives.
Dora San
April 11, Game 1, E1-1
In E1-1, Nakabayashi is tied for 2nd place and 3,000 behind Honda, hoping to get the 1,300 in bonuses and kick Honda off his dealership.
Nakabayashi starts out the hand with a very expensive start, holding an ankou of 7s dora and a red 5s at 4-shanten. In the first row, he makes two ryanmens, shifts to tanyao and gets to iishanten by turn 4. At the start of the second row, Nakabayshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen, with the 4p giving tanyao for haneman. At the start of the third row, Nakabayshi draws the 1p and wins the hand. Nakabayshi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 3/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus one honba to take the lead.
Junchan
April 11, Game 1, E2-0
In E2-0, Honda is in a 3-way tie for 2nd after suffering the dealer penalty from Nakabayshi’s tsumo. With a mangan direct hit, he would get very close to Nakabayashi.
Honda starts out the hand. 2-shanten with an ankou of 1m. His hand lacks any sort of value, but getting rid of the 46m would give him a small chance at junchan or chanta. As Honda drew more terminals shapes, the chances of junchan became greater and greater. At the start of the second row, Honda completes a 123s sequence and has a chance to take tenpai. However, since this 3m kanchan tenpai would give no value, he chooses to stay iishanten to aim for junchan. In the middle of the second row, Honda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 23m wait. With the 3m, he would have junchan in his hand. With the 2m, it would only be riichi.
Looking around the table, the biggest danger to Honda is the dealer Nakabayashi at iishanten for 3 han. At the end of the second row, Honda draws and discards the 6m. With a call, Nakabayshi tries to get to tenpai by discarding the 3m, but ends up dealing into Honda.
Honda wins the hand with Riichi/Junchan for 8,000, Putting Honda just 400 away from Nakabayshi.
Haitei or Houtei?
April 11, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s30_p736
In S3-0, Okada is the dealer in 1st place, holding a 5,500 lead over 2nd place Nakabayshi. With the Kadokawa Sakura Knights being half a point away from falling into 5th, Okada wants to make her lead over the 5th place Team Raiden and 6th place U-Next Pirates as big as possible.
Okada starts out the hand 2-shanten with a ryanmen and a red 5m. On turn 2, Okada fills in the ryanmen to get to iishanten. On her very next turn, Okada creates another ryanmen and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.
Being the dealer with an early riichi, nobody dared to fight against it. However, even as Takaizawa folded, he got closer and closer to tenpai. With 8 tiles left in the wall, Takizawa manages to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5p tanki. With the red 5p still alive, Takizawa hoped for the red 5p, the haitei or both. On the ippatsu turn, Takizawa misses, but he still has a chance with the last draw. On Takizawa’s very last draw, he tragically draws Okada 6m and deals in.
Okada wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Houtei/Aka 1 for 12,000 plus one riichi stick to more than double her lead over Nakabayshi.
Ippatsu
April 11, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Kurosawa is sitting in the south seat with the team sitting in 5th place. If the team wants to get back into a playoff position, Kurosawa will need to win this game.
Kurosawa starts out the hand by creating a ryanmen to get to 2-shanten and likely to have pinfu. After two draws, Kurosawa gets to iishanten on a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. As Kurosawa waits for tenpai, Kobayashi advances his own hand. On turn 6, Kobayashi draws the 4p tenpai to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s penchan despite two already discarded.
During the ippatsu turn, Kurosawa draws a dangerous red 5s. She holds onto it, hoping to throw it when it becomes safe or when she gets to tenpai. In the middle of the second row, Kurosawa gets to tenpai, throws the dangerous red 5s and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen. On her very next draw, she finds the 6p and wins the hand. Flipping one uradora, Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000 plus one riichi stick to take the early lead.
No More Ura San
April 11, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p741
In S2-0, Kurosawa is the dealer in 1st place and hopes to extend her lead.
Kurosawa starts the hand 4-shanten with a red 5s and a ryanmen. In the first row, Kurosawa makes a single 9m into a triplet to get her to iishanten. At the start of the second row, Kurosawa gets her hand to a perfect iishanten. After converting her 47s ryanmen into a 5s triplet, Kurosawa gets to tenpai at the end of the second and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen (with the 5p giving iipeikou). In the middle fo the second row, Kurosawa draws the 8p and wins the hand. With a flip of the uradora, Kurosawa’s 5s triplet becomes dora and upgrades her hand to a haneman. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 3 for 6,000 all, putting her above 50,000.
Gyakuten
April 11, Game 2, S4-5
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s30_p737
In S4-5, Hori is in 4th place and 15,900 behind the dealer Kobayashi. With three riichi sticks and five honba up for grabs, Hori needs to win a mangan tsumo, a 3/40 direct hit or a haneman ron off someone else to move into 3rd.
Hori starts out the hand by drawing the dora 9p and sits at 3-shanten. With only the 9p as the only source of value, Hori needs to build yaku or draw more dora. In the few first turns, he fills in his kanchan and gets to iishanten on turn 4. With the 9p still unconnected, Hori hopes for an 8p or another 9p to utilize it. As Hori tries to get good draws, Kobayashi calls a 789s chii and a 456s chii. With a 123s in his hand, Kobayashi is set with ittsuu and sits tenpai on a 36m ryanmen.
In the 2nd row, Hori finds the 8p he was looking for to secure the 9p and pinfu. With tenpai in hand, Hori calls riichi and waits on a 58m ryanmen. With only three han in hand, Hori needs to find an uradora and win by tsumo or a direct hit.
With no safe tiles and a good wait, Kobayashi pushes his hand. Unfortunately, at the end of the second row, Kobayashi draws an 8m. Kobayashi discards it and deals into Hori.
With a direct hit, all Hori needs is one uradora. With a flip of the uradora, Hori’s 6m becomes dora and he completes the comeback. Hori wins with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 8,000+1,500 plus three riichi sticks to finish the game in 3rd.
Houtei
April 13, Game 1, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p742
In S4-1, Setokuma is in 3rd place and 9,500 behind 2nd place Matsugase. With 1,300 in bonuses available, Setokuma needs a mangan tsumo, a 3/40 direct hit or a haneman from someone else to move up.
Setokuma starts out the hand with a pair of 9s dora, but is far away from tenpai at chiitoi 4-shanten (5-shanten for a standard hand). With a single south in his hand, it seems likely that Setokuma will need to rely on a closed hand. In the first row, Setokuma is able to connect some isolated tiles, but is still holding mostly bad kanchans. To his left, 2nd place Matsugase is already iishanten with his hand, looking for an opportunity to take 1st. At the start of the second row, Matsugase gets to tenpai and waits on a yakuless 3m kanchan wait. As Matsugase waits, Setokuma converts his kanchans into ryanmens, improving the chances of getting pinfu. At the start of the third row, Matsugase creates a 456s iipeikou and calls riichi on a 3m kanchan.
At this point, Setokuma is 2-shanten and looking at the possibility of a 789s iipeikou (missing just a 7s to make it happen). Each of Setokuma’s draws after the riichi are safe, allowing him to keep his hand. In the middle of the third row, Setokuma draws a third 9s. Though it adds value, it means that drawing the 7s will likely force him to throw the 9s dora, a dangerous move considering that Matsugase threw the 7s as the riichi tile.
On his very next draw, he gets a 7s. He gets to iishanten and delays throwing the dora until he really has to. On his next draw, he gets to tenpai. With no draw for himself, his only chance of winning is off Matsugase. With great risk, Setokuma takes the plunge and throws the 9s, surviving and waiting on a 14p ryanmen.
On the very last tile, Matsugase draws and discards the 1p, Setokuma’s winning tile!
Setokuma wins the hand with Pinfu/Haitei/Iipeikou/Dora 2 for 8,000+300 plus two riichi sticks. With the win, Setokuma finished the game in 2nd place.
Trap
April 13, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p738
In E3-0, Shiratori is the dealer in 1st place, holding a 2,500 lead over 2nd place. After Ooi lost the previous game, Shiratori is looking to recover those points.
From the very beginning, Shiratori has a beatufiul 2-shanten with an ankou of 1s and white dragons, as well as a red 5s as part of a ryanmen and a connected 8p dora. On turn 2, he fills in the ryanmen to get to iishanten. On turn 3, he creates a 69m ryanmen. Two turns later, he draws a 6m. At this point, Shiratori has three normal choices for tenpai
- Throw the 1s for a 7p penchan
- Throw the 9p for an 8p dora tanki
- Throw the 8p for a 9p tanki
Having throw the 6p previously, Shiratori tries for the trap and throws the dora, calling riichi and waiting on the 9p tanki. A few turns later, Kurosawa discards the 9p and deals into Shiratori. When Shiratori flips the uradora, his 1s ankou becomes dora and he upgrades his hand to a haneman. Shiratori wins with Riichi/White Dragon/Aka 1/Ura 3 for 18,000, sending one of their rivals into last.
Lots of Yaku
April 13, Game 2, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p743
In S3-0, Kurosawa is in 4th place, 600 behind 3rd place Rumi and 13,900 behind 2nd place Uchikawa. After making their way to 4th place in the overall standings the previous game. Kurosawa wants to make sure that Setokuma’s work isn’t erased.
Kurosawa starts out the hand 3-shanten with no value in hand. With four tiles that aren’t manzu or honours, the prospect of honitsu isn’t out of the question. On turn 3, Kurosawa pairs up the souths to get to 2-shanten. At the end of the first row, Kurosawa draws a third south to get to iishanten. At the start of the second row, Kurosawa has a chance to take a 58s ryanmen for at least 5,200 with riichi. However, Kurosawa looks to win bigger and gets rid of the souzu.
As Kurosawa waits for a usable manzu, he opponents are able to catch up. In the middle of the second row, Uchikawa gets to a yakuless tenpai on a 6s kanchan.
Soon after, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and waits on a 36m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a haneman if it wins.
Right after, Rumi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 9m tanki.
During the ippatsu round, Shiratori gets to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen.
With four players tenpai, someone was bound to win. With the action around the table, Kurosawa chooses to call riichi, giving her the chance at baiman with a tsumo. As the turns went on, Shiratori shifts to a 6p tanki. At the end of the second row, Uchikawa has a chance to be tenpai on a 6s kanchan for a likely mangan. However, doing so would mean throwing the dangerous 6m or 9m, both tiles dealing in. Despite the temptation to take this tenpai, Uchikawa holds himself back and throws the 3s.
The very next turn, Uchikawa draws a 6s to get to tenpai and he calls riichi on a 369m wait, with the 6m giving haneman.
With the three riichi calls, Shiratori decides not to take part and folds. With the 3m, 6m and 9m all being winning tiles for two players, there was the exciting chance of headbump. As the wall wound down, the tiles seemed to be stuck. However, on the very last tile, Kurosawa finds the 3m and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Haitei/Iipeikou/Double South/Honitsu for 4,000/8,000 plus two riichi stick, catapulting her up from 4th to within 2,300 of 1st.
Headbump
April 13, Game 2, S4-0
In S4-0, Shiratori is in 1st place and holding a 2,300 lead over Kurosawa. With Kurosawa being the last dealer and one of the team’s rivals, Shiratori wants to win the hand to end the game right away.
Shiratori starts out the hand 4-shanten with two ryanemsn and two penchans. Across from him is Kurosawa at 2-shanten with a pair of easts and a red 5s. In the first row, Shiratori is only able to make it to 2-shanten while Kurosawa is already tenpai (though yakuless).
In the middle of the second row, Uchikawa also gets to a yakuless tenpai and waits on a 6p kanchan.
With a call, Shiratori gets to tenpai and waits on a 58p ryanmen, guaranteed to be mangan if he wins.
With both Shiratori and Kurosawa both waiting on the 5p, headbump is possible. Since Shiratori is earlier in turn order, he would win on ron. With the action on the table, Kurosawa decides to call riichi. As Uchikawa draws a manzu during the ippatsu, he discards a 7p to aim for a honitsu haneman hoping to get 1st place. A turn later, he draws another manzu for a chance at tenpai. However, taking tenpai would mean throwing the red 5p. Since 1st place is possible, Uchikawa takes the chance and calls riichi, dealing in as he throws the red 5p.
At the same time, Shiratori and Kurosawa call ron, but only Shiratori is allowed to reveal his hand. Shiratori wins with Tanyao/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 8,000 plus one riichi stick, securing his win.
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