Highlights
Purity
April 20, Game 1, E4-1
In E4-1, Honda is in 4th place, 3,900 behind 3rd place and 16,900 1st place. With a 1st place or a good 2nd place this game, Team Raiden may be able to move up above +100.0pts.
Honda starts out the hand with 9 manzu tiles, including the red 5m, sitting 3-shanten for a honitsu and 4-shanten for a chinitsu. In the first row, Honda is only able to draw one manzu, but he does get to iishanten holding a 35p block (with the 5p being the red 5p). In the second row, Honda gets rid of his pinzu block by throwing the red 5p first, confirming his pursuit of a flush. In the middle of the second row, Honda calls pon on the 1m to get to iishanten. Around the same time, Ooi makes to calls to get to tenpai on a 369m wait.
After turns of waiting, Honda finally gets to tenpai in the middle of the third row witha 7m kanchan. Even with the danger of a potential flush from Honda, Ooi pushes manzu to keep his good wait. Near the end of the hand, Ooi draws and discards the 7m and deals into Honda. Honda wins the hand with Chinitsu/Aka 1 for 12,000+300 plus a riichi stick to move into 2nd place.
Furiten
April 20, Game 1, S3-2
In S3-2, Kobayashi is in 4th place, 800 behind 3rd place dealer Ooi and 2,300 behind 2nd place Katsumata. With the team in last place, getting to at least 2nd this game is important to make good gains.
Kobayashi starts out the hand 3-shanten with a red 5m double dora and a likely tanyao hand. On turn 3, Kobayashi gets rid of a 2s from his 244567s group to give him options to call pon on the 8p, 8m or 4s. On his very next draw, he gets the 3s. Though the previous discard immediately backfired, he still keeps the strong 258s wait even with the chance of being furiten later. After Kobayashi calls pon on the 8m and fills in a ryanmen, Kobayashi is tenpai on a furiten 258s wait in the middle of the second row. As Kobayashi waits, Ooi the dealer builds his hand to keep his dealership. In the middle of the third row, Ooi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2s/8s shanpon. Immediately after, Kobayashi draws his winning 8s and wins the hand. Kobayashi wins with Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 1,000+200/2,000+200 plus Ooi’s riichi stick to move into 2nd.
Gains
April 20, Game 2, E4-4
In E4-4, Setokuma is the dealer in 1st place, holding a narrow 1,300 lead. With the previous four hands all going to an exhaustive draw, there is now 3,200 in bonus sticks available for the next winner.
Setokuma starts out with a haipai, filling in a kanchan and getting to iishanten with his very first draw. With such a good starting hand, it was no surprise that Setokuma was able to get to tenpai three turns later and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen. Some of his opponents had strong starting hands as well, but none of them were able to counter the speed and good wait of Setokuma. At the start of the second row, Shiratori gets to tenpai, but only on a 7p tanki. At the end of the second row, Setokuma draws the 4s and wins the hand. Setokuma wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Ura 1 for 2,600+400 all plus two riichi sticks to move him above 40,000.
No More Ura San
April 20, Game 2, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s80_p745
In S3-1, Nakabayashi is in 4th place and 15,200 behind 3rd place Matsugase. With his team at the bottom of the rankings, he needs a win.
Nakabayshi starts out the hand 4-shanten with a dora 6s for value. In the first row, Nakabayashi draws useful tiles and quickly has a chance to get to tenpai on turn 5. However, he rejects the 3m kanchan tenpai to fish for a better shape or more value through red fives. With each of his turns, he couldn’t find any helpful tiles. Every draw he got was immediately discarded. As Nakabayashi did this, Matsugase made some calls and got to tenpai on a 58p ryanmen. After a few turns, Matsugase draws a fourth green dragon and calls kan. With his rinshan tile, he switches his wait to a 36m ryanmen.
Right after Matsugase gets to tenpai, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen. Having drawn the 6s dora a few turns earlier, Nakabayashi’s hand is now worth at least 6,400+300 if it wins with two chances at uradora. As Matsugase avoids the riichi, he switches to a 47p ryanmen. Near the middle of the third row, Nakabayashi draws the 6p and wins the hand. With the flip of the uradora, his 5s ankou becomes dora and instantly upgrade his hand to a haneman. Nakabayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2/Ura 3 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 to move him into 3rd place.
Gyakuten
April 20, Game 2, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p741
In S4-1, Shiratori is in 2nd place and just 400 behind Setokuma. With any hand, he will move into 1st place. To Shiratori’s left is Nakabayashi, sitting in last place and 11,000 behind Setokuma and 10,600 behind 2nd place Shiratori. With a haneman, Nakabayashi will move into 1st.
From the start, Nakabayashi is 2-shanten with a chance at a 789 sanshoku and Shiratori is 4-shanten. The first row was a pursuit of value for Nakabayashi while it was a pursuit of efficiency for Shiratori. By the end of the first row, Nakabayashi has shifted to a 678 sanshoku with tanyao (sitting at 2-shanten for it) and Shiratori is 3-shanten. In the second row, Nakabayashi fills in a kanchan and draws the correct side of a three-sided wait to get to tenpai. Nakabayashi calls riichi and waits on a 69s wait. If Nakabayashi draws the 6s himself, he would have enough for a haneman to win. With all the 9s visible, any winning tile that he draws will be for 1st place.
Right after Nakabayashi gets to tenpai, Shiratori draws the red 5p to get to tenpai staying dama on a 36m wait.
After him, Setokuma gets to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen with a pon of the red dragon for a yaku.
After a few turns of hope for our three tenpai players, the win was fulfilled for one player in the middle of the third row. With Nakabayashi’s draw, he draws and discards the 3m and deals into Shiratori. Shiratori wins the hand with Pinfu/Aka 1 for 2,000+300 plus a riichi stick to win the game.
K
April 21, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s80_p746
In S2-0, Nakabayashi is the dealer in 2nd place, 8,000 behind 1st place Shibukawa. The game has been fairly quiet, the biggest win being a two han hand.
Nakabayashi start the hand 3-shanten with 3 ryanmens and a penchan. With his first few turns, he fills in his ryanmens and creates a pair. With his draws being perfect, he ws able to get rid of the penchan and create a sequence somewhere else. On turn 6, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen (with the 5m being dora). On his very next draw, Nakabayashi draws the dora 5m and wins the hand. With a flip of the uradora, Nakabayashi gets one more han and upgrades his hand to a haneman. Nakabayashi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 6,000 all, giving him the clear lead.
In S2-1, Nakabayashi starts out 3-shanten with a red 5s, a 6s dora and a pair of souths. Though his hand looks impressive, Hisato to his right starts out with a faster 2-shanten hand. By turn 3, Hisato is already tenpai and calls riichi on a 5m/69m wait.
However, Nakabayashi is almost just as fast. Through the past three turns, Nakabayashi was able to make the souths and the 9s an ankou to advance to iishanten. During the ippatsu turn, Nakabayashi fills in a kanchan, calls riichi and throws the 6s dora to wait on a 69m ryanmen. With the 6m and 9m overlapping between the two players, there is a chance that Nakabayashi will headbump Hisato if Aki or Shibukawa discard them. Turns went by and it looked like neither Shibukawa nor Aki were going to deal in, forcing both Nakabayashi and Hisato to draw their winning tiles themselves. The first row turn into the second row. The second turned into the third row. By the middle, it looked like neither of them was going to win. In fact, with a call, Shibukawa looked like he was going to win when he got to tenpai on an 8m/3s shanpon. But, near the end of the hand, Nakabayashi manages to draw the 6m and win the hand. Nakabayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/South/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000+100 all plus a riichi stick to rise above 55,000.
Win Again
April 21, Game 2
In E2-0, Katsumata is in 4th place, 4,200 behind 3rd place Yu, 5,200 behind 2nd place Uchikawa and 11,400 behind 1st place Date.
Katsumata starts out the hand 3-shanten with a dora 3p and a red 5p both secured in his hand. In the first row, Katsumata was only able to advance to 2-shanten. In contrast, Date across from him was able to get to iishanten with a likely good wait. On turn 9, Date gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s nobetan. If Date draws the 2s herself, she would have sanshoku and a haneman.
During the ippatsu turn, Katsumata advances to iishanten and is able to safely throw the 1s. A few turns later, draws the dora and gets to tenpai. With mangan minimum, Katsumata calls riichi and waits on a 6p kanchan. In the third row, Date draws and discards the 6p and deals in. Katsumata wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000 plus one riichi stick. With a direct hit on the leader, Katsumata move up to 1st place.
In E3-0, Katsumata won a cheap Pinfu only hand to move the dealership along.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p739
In E4-0, Katsumata is now the dealer and starts out 4-shanten with a pair of easts. In the first row, Katsumata creates a ryanmen and two sequences to get to iishanten. Sitting across from Katsumata is Date, holding the other two easts. At the start of the second row, Yu gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 7m kanchan. A turn later, he draws the dora 5m and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen.
Right after, Katsumata gets to tenpai and waits on a 4p kanchan for iipeikou with the easts as his pair. With the riichi by Yu, Date starts to fold by throwing one of her easts. Within the go-around, Katsumata switches to a 5p/east shanpon, with the easts being the only tile to give a yaku. On Date’s turn, she discards her other east and deals into Katsumata. Katsumata wins the hand with East/Dora 1 for 7,700 plus Yu’s riichi stick.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p740
In E4-1, Katsumata starts out 4-shanten with a connected 8m dora and an isolated red 5s. With almost every single one of his draws, it looked like Katsumata was moving forward. He fills in a ryanmen, he connects the red 5s, fills in a kanchan and creates a pair, getting him to iishanten and all in the first row. On turn 7, Katsumata gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen. On his very next draw, he gets the 5p and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 6,000+100 all, bring him to 54,800.
Furiten
April 24, Game 1, E2-1
In E2-1, Hinata is in 4th place, 3,000 behind 3rd place Hisato, 5,000 behind 2nd place Hagiwara and 8,000 behind 1st place Okada. With the team sitting in 4th place, the Shibuya Abemas want to widen their gap over 5th and 6th.
Hinata starts out the hand 3-shanten for chiitoi (4-shanten for a standard hand) with pairs of 3m, 7m and 4p. In the first row, Hinata draws a pair of wests to get to chiitoi 2-shanten. ON turn 8, she pairs up the 1m and gets to iishanten. As Hinata waits, Hagiwara advances himself to tenpai and calls riichi on a 4p kanchan.
During the ippatsu round, Hinata also gets to tenpai and waits dama on a north tanki. Two turns later, she draws a 2p. Since the 2p is live against Hagiwara, she holds onto it and discards the north. Even though she is still in tenpai, she is furiten. Moreover, only one 2p is left in the wall (one in her hand, one discarded by her and one in Hagiwara’s hand). Even with the odds being so small, Hinata manages to draw the last 2p on her very next turn to win the hand. Hinata wins with Tsumo/Chiitoi for 800+300/1,600+300 plus three riichi sticks to move into 2nd place.
Oh Manzu
April 24, Game 1, S1-1
In S1-1, Hisato is in 3rd place, 3,200 behind 2nd place Hagiwara and 14,400 behind 1st place Hinata. The team is in 1st place right now, but can easily fall into 3rd with a last this game.
Hisato starts out the hand with 10 manzu tiles and three completed sequences, also forcing him to go for a flush. On turn 3, he gets up to 11 manzu tiles to be 2-shanten. On turn 7, he is iishanten and waiting on any of the 23568m for chinitsu tenpai. After spending the rest of the second row, drawing empty, Hisato decides to call the 33m to get to tenpai on a 369m wait. Two turns later, last place Okada draws and discards the 3m and deals into Hisato. Hisato wins with hand with Chinitsu for 8,000+300 plus one riichi stick to move into 2nd place.
Shortcut to Haneman
April 24, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p748
In E4-0, Kurosawa is tied for 2nd place and 3,600 behind 1st place. If she gets 1st place this game, Team Raiden will move into 1st place in the standings for the first time in a while.
Kurosawa starts out the hand with an ankou of 6m and pairs of 2m, 8s and north. With her current hand, she is 2-shanten for chiitoi and 3-shanten for toitoi or even a suuankou tanki. On turn 4, Kurosawa draws an isolated 8p and holds onto it, giving her the chance at a dora tanki if she does go for chiitoi. On he next draw, she pairs up the 2p to get to chiitoi iishanten. At the start of the second row, she pairs up the 7s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8p tanki. With one in Shiratori’s hand and one in Hori’s hand, there is only one left in the wall for her. In the middle of the third row, she finds that last 8p and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 3,000/6,000 to move into 1st place.
Red Five
April 24, Game 2, S1-0
In S1-0, Shiratori is in 2nd place after being overtaken by Kurosawa the previous hand. To get back into 1st place, Shiratori needs to overcome a 14,400 difference.
Shiratori starts out the hand 3-shanten with a pair of norths for some potential value. Every draw Shiratori made seemed to make his hand more and more valuable. On turn 2, he draws a red 5s to get to 2-shanten. On turn 3, he makes the norths an ankou to get to iishanten. On turn 4, he fills in a 3s kanchan to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen. If he wins off the 5p, he will have at least a mangan.
Though he is in riichi, his hand still has the opportunity to improve. On the ippatsu turn, Shiratori draws the fourth north and calls kan. Though the rinshan misses, the kan makes Shiratori’s 5s dora. Near the middle of the second row, Shiratori draws the ultimate winning tile, the red 5p, to complete his hand. Shiratori wins with Riichi/Tsumo/North/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 3,000/6,000 to retake 1st place.
Decisions
April 24, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s30_p740
In S4-0, Hori is in 4th place, 900 behind 3rd place Date, 13,100 behind 2nd place Shiratori and 16,000 behind 1st place Kurosawa. With a baiman, Hori can win the game.
Hori starts out the hand 2-shanten with four white dragons in his starting hand. Needing points, he calls the closed kan on turn 1. With the kandora, Hori makes the 7s in his hand into kandora. With his rinshan draw, Hori is now iishanten.
As Hori draws and discards, Date builds her hand and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen.
During the ippatsu round, Hori fills in a 5s kanchan and has a chance to take a 9s/3p shanpon for guaranteed mangan. He stays dama, giving him the chance to improve his wait.
On Hori’s very next draw, he draws the winning 9s. But, he doesn’t immediately call tsumo! Hori sits there, thinking about what to do. If he calls tsumo, he will be accepting 3rd place and allowing Team Raiden and Shibuya Abemas to extend their lead. With the Kadokawa Sakura Knights in 6th place, this would be a bad scenario. However, if he doesn’t call tsumo, he has the chance to build his hand and get a game-winning result. With Date’s riichi stick, a haneman tsumo would be enough to tie for 1st place. If the plan backfires and Date wins, though, Hori will fall into 4th.
After spending over a minute thinking, Hori decides to aim for greater heights and discards the 3p pair, waiting on any souzu besides the 1s to get to tenpai on honitsu.
A turn later, Hori draws a 4p and rejects the 25p ryanmen chance.
After multiple turns of waiting, Hori draws the dora 7s. Finally tenpai for honitsu, Hori would have a good 4578s wait. However, does Hori call riichi or not? If Hori stays dama, he can draw any tile and tie for 1st place. However, calling ron off Date would leave him 100 short of 2nd place. If he calls riichi, he can win off Date and hope for just one to move into 1st place. If he draws it himself, he will have at least a baiman and gain even more points. But, if the hand goes to a draw, Hori will finish the game in 4th place (as opposed to 3rd place if he stays dama and it goes to a draw). With only 10 tiles left in the wall and only two draws for himself, it’s a hard decision.
Again, with the team in 6th place and needing to stop their direct rivals, Hori aims high and calls riichi.
Date’s draw is an honour. Hori’s ippatsu draw is an 8m. Only one draw remains for each of them. With Date’s last draw, she gets the 8m, achieving safety. With one more draw for Hori, one more chance at 1st place, will he get the win he is looking for? As Hori removes his thumb from the tile, he reveals the 2p, not the tile he was hoping for. With Kurosawa and Shiratori discarding safely, the hand goes to a draw with Date and Hori tenpai. A bold attempt by Hori, but it unfortunately didn’t pan out.
M-League Watch 