Highlights
Furiten Riichi
October 16, Game 1, E1-0
In E1-0, Daisuke is sitting in the west seat and hoping to get the Beast out of last place. Going 4th-1st-4th in his last three games, he hopes that he gets a 1st this time.
Daisuke starts out his hand by discarding an isolated 1s to get to 2-shanten. On turn 2, he fills in a 6s kanchan to get to iishanten. On turn 5, he has a chance at a yakuless 5m kanchan, but rejects it to shift to tanyao. In the second row, Daisuke creates a 14s ryanmen and calls riichi. With the 1s discarded on his very first turn, his only hope of winning is by tsumo. At the start of the third row, Daisuke draws the 1s and wins the hand. Daisuke wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Ura 1 for 1,300/2,600.
Takizawa
October 16, Game 1, E3-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3511
In E3-3, Takizawa is in 2nd place and 14,700 behind 1st place dealer Daisuke. In order to move into 1st place, Takizawa will need a baiman ron, a haneman tsumo or a mangan direct hit.
Takizawa starts out the hand 3-shanten with a bunch of ryanmens and other good shapes, giving possibilities for pinfu or sanshoku. In the first few turns, he creates a 123s sequence and a 234p sequence, getting him to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. At the end of the row, he shifts to a 123p sequence to be a 1m away from sanshoku. On turn 11, Takizawa draws that 1m and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.
Immediately after, Daisuke gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 369m wait, also guaranteed at least a mangan upon winning.
As with a lot of mahjong, the wider wait doesn’t always win. Near the middle of the third row, Takizawa draws the 8p and wins the hand. Flipping one uradora, Takaizawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Ura 1 for 3,000+300/6,000+300 plus two riichi sticks, moving into 1st place.
Daisuke
October 16, Game 1, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6010
In S2-0, Daisuke is in 2nd place and 12,000 behind 1st place dealer Takizawa. To tie him, Daisuke would need a mangan tsumo or a general haneman ron.
Daisuke starts out the hand 2-shanten for both chiitoi and a standard hand, holding pairs of the east dora, the north and the 6p, as well as an ankou of 4m. Within the first go-around, Daisuke calls pon on the north, aiming for either a manzu honitsu or toitoi. Through his next few draws, he discards the 6p pair, securing honitsu. Near the end of the third row, Daisuke calls pon on the east dora to get to iishanten.
Later on, Daisuke draws the fourth east dora and calls kan, activating the curry contest. The kan makes the 3m into dora, giving the potential for Daisuke’s hand to be more expensive. In the middle of the row, he pairs up the 3m and gets to tenpai on a 7m kanchan. In the third row, he adds toitoi to his hand and shifts to a 3m/6m shanpon. A 3m would give him a sanbaiman, but both 3m are stuck in Takizawa’s hand. In the middle of the row, Daisuke draws the 6m and wins the hand. Daisuke wins with Toitoi/Honitsu/Dora 6 for 4,000/8,000, easily moving into 1st place.
Hadaka Tanki
October 16, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3512
In E4-0, Hisato is in 4th place, 3,000 behind 3rd place dealer Daisuke and 18,600 behind 2nd place Kayamori. To catch up, Hisato will need to fight hard.
Hisato starts out the hand 3-shanten with pairs of white dragon and north, as well as a loosely connected red 5p. In the first few turns, Hisato calls a 123s chii and firmly pursues a souzu honitsu. In the second row, he calls pon on the white dragon to get to 2-shanten.
Right after Hisato’s pon, dealer Daisuke gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 6s kanchan.
After Daisuke, Kayamori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen.
Hisato can’t let the gap between him and Daisuke get wider, so Hisato calls chii during the ippatsu round to get to iishanten. On Kayamori’s next draw, she draws and discards the north, giving Hisato a fourth call and waiting to pair up the east, the only tile in his hand. On Daisuke’s draw, he draws and discards the east and deals into Hisato. Hisato wins the hand with Honitsu/White Dragon/North/Chanta for 8,000 plus two riichi sticks, moving into 3rd place.
Direct Hit
October 17, Game 1, S2-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3007
In S2-2, Shibukawa is in 2nd place, 6,600 behind 2nd place Katsumata and 13,000 behind 1st place dealer Shiratori. With a haneman tsumo or a mangan direct hit, Shibukawa can move ahead.
Shibukawa starts out the hand 3-shanten for chiitoi (4-shanten for a standard hand), holding pairs of the 2p dora, 4p and east. To his right is Asami at 2-shanten with two ryanmens and across from him is Shiratori at 3-shanten. In the first half of the first row, Shibukawa pairs up the white dragon to get to 2-shanten and Asami advances to iishanten. On turn 5, Asami draws the red 5p to create a pair and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen.
During the ippatsu round, both Shiratori and Shibukawa get to iishanten, coaxing them to push. At the start of the second row, Shiratori reaches tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s/6s wait.
During the ippatsu round, Shibukawa pairs up the 1m for a chance at tenpai. Having a guaranteed mangan in his hand, Shibukawa takes the tenpai and waits dama on a 2m tanki. On Shiratori’s ippatsu draw, he picks up the 2m and deals into Shibukawa. Shibukawa wins the hand with Chiitoi/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000. With the direct hit off the right person, Shibukawa moves into top spot.
Shortcut to Haneman
October 17, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2508
In E4-0, Matsugase is in 4th place, 9,000 behind 3rd place Hori, 14,800 behind 2nd place Sonoda and 20,200 behind 1st place Hinata. He will need a limit hand in order to make any significant progress.
Matsugase starts out the hand with a very frustrating hand, 5-shanten with chanta as the only conceivable value not a pair in sight.
As if taking pity on Matsugase, the wall started giving pairs to him. By the end of the first row, Matsugase already has pairs of 1p, 2p 7m and 4s, putting him 2-shanten. On turn 7, he pairs up the 9m to get to iishanten. On turn 10, he pairs up the 3s and calls riichi on a 3p suji. On his very next draw, he gets the 3p and wins the hand. With the uradora flip, his 1p becomes dora and upgrades his hand to a haneman. Matsugase wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 3,000/6,000, bringing him up to 2nd place and with a stone’s throw of 1st place.
Sonoda Time Attack
October 17, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2008
In S4-3, Sonoda is in 4th place and has this final dealership to decide his fate. At present, he is 5,300 behind 3rd place Hori, 15,600 behind 2nd place Hinata and 19,700 behind 1st place Matsugase. With three riichi sticks and three honba on the table, any win will put him at least 3rd.
Sonoda starts out the hand 3-shanten with two ryanmens and one connected red 5p. In the first row, Sonoda pairs up the 9p and the 6s for flexibility and advances to iishanten with one of the ryanmens still intact. At the same time, Hori makes sequences in his own hand to get to iishanten as well. At the start of the second row, he fills in an 8m kanchan and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen.
With nowhere to go but up, Sonoda keeps pushing his hand. During the ippatsu round, Sonoda gets to a perfect iishanten with a chance at a 456 sanshoku. Near the end of the second row, Sonoda makes a 456s sequence to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen, hoping for the 6p for sanshoku. In the third row, Sonoda draws the takame 6p and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Aka 1 for 6,000+300 all plus four riichi sticks, going from 4th to 1st in one fell swoop.
In S4-4, Sonoda starts out 2-shanten with two completed sequences. In the first row, he draws the red 5p, creates a third sequence and a pair and tries to fish for one more block for tenpai. At the start of the second row, Sonoda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3p kanchan. Near the end of the row, Sonoda draws the 3p and wins the hand. Sonoda wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000+400 all.
In just two hands, Sonoda was able to go from 4th place with 14,100 to 1st place with 50,200.
Sho Time
October 19, Game 1, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4006
In E2-1, Shiratori is the dealer in 1st place, trying to extend his narrow 400 lead and hoping to get the team out of the triple-digit negatives.
Shiratori starts out the hand 4-shanten with pairs of green dragon and rend dragon, as well as a lone white dragon and a 345s sequence. In the first row, he calls pon on the green dragon and shifts to a souzu honitsu, getting to 2-shanten by the end of the row. In the second row, he draws the red 5s, pairs up the 1s and calls a chii on a 567s sequence, getting to tenpai on a 1s/red dragon shanpon at the end of the row.
During the third row, Shiratori draws a fourth green dragon and calls an added kan. The new dora and draw miss and the game continues. The wall shrinks and the hand looks like it will go to a draw. Then, on the very last tile in the wall, Shiratori gets the red dragon and wins the hand. Shiratori wins with Haitei/Honitsu/Green Dragon/Red Dragon/Aka 1 for 6,000+100 all, putting him just shy of 45,000.
Tojo Time
October 19, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4506
In E3-1, Tojo is the dealer in 2nd place and 19,800 behind 1st place Shiratori after coming off of a cool 2/60 hand. With a haneman tsumo, she can move into the lead.
Tojo starts out the hand 3-shanten from the start with a pair of 9s, a 234s sequence and a secured red 5m as part of a 567m sequence. On turns 2 and 3, she draws a 7p and 6p to create a 5678p shape, allowing her to build off that or give the chance at a 567 sanshoku. On turn 8, she draws the 7s and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen, hoping for the 5s for sanshoku. Two turns later, she gets the 5s and wins the hand. Tojo wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Aka 1 for 6,000+100 all, moving into 1st place.
In E3-2, Tojo starts out 3-shanten with possible connections with the 9m dora and the red 5s. In her first six draws, she secures a red 5m (sacrificing the 9m dora), pairs up the easts and gets to 2-shanten, holding the option to go for a 123 sanshoku. In the second row, she advances to iishanten by creating a 123p sequence and discards the red 5s, hoping to trap someone and fill in a 2s kanchan. On turn 14, she makes the easts into an ankou and calls riichi on the 2s kanchan.
After Honda breaks the ippatsu, Taro gets to tenpai right after and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen.
Breaking Taro’s ippatsu, 2nd place Shiratori makes a calls to get himself to tenpai on a 58m ryanmen.
Despite their efforts to stop the dealer, all the calls ended up in Tojo’s favour. In the middle of the third row, Shiratori draws and discards the suji 2s and deals into Tojo. Tojo wins the hand with Riichi/Double East/Aka 1 for 12,000+600 plus one riichi stick, putting her above 50,000. With a direct hit off 2nd place, her lead has been widened to 30,800.
Honda Time
October 19, Game 1, E3-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s60_p2147
In E3-3, Honda is in 3rd place, 7,400 behind 2nd place Shiratori and feeling left out of the haneman party.
Honda starts out by drawing an ankou of 3p to put him 3-shanten with a hand destined for tanyao. In the first row, he slowly but surely moves forward, completing a 567p sequence and getting to 2-shanten. At the same time, Shiratori gets himself to iishanten and Tojo gets 2-shanten. In the middle of the second row, Shiratori is the first to tenpai and waits on a 258s wait.
Immediately after, Tojo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen, guaranteed at least a haneman on the 7s and at least a baiman on the 4s.
During the ippatsu round, Honda draws the red 5m and throws a safe tile, safely advancing to iishanten with a wide acceptance. With the dealer riichi, Shiratori folds his hand, giving Tojo and Honda more time to win. With only nine tiles left in the wall, Honda finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen. Two turns later, Tojo draws and discards the 4p and deals into Honda. With a flip of the uradora, the 3p ankou from the beginning of the hand becomes dora and upgrades his hand to a haneman. Honda wins with Riichi/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 3 for 12,000+900 plus one riichi stick, moving into 2nd place.
Encore Again
October 19, Game 1, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4007
After the big dealer haneman in E2-1, Shiratori is down to 2nd place in S2-1, only 100 ahead of 3rd place Honda and 4,500 behind 1st place Tojo.
In Shiratori’s start hand, he has a pair of 9p dora, but is 5-shanten from a standard hand (4-shanten for chiitoi). The first row is quite generous to Shiratori, giving him two whole sequences and a ryanmen, getting him to iishanten by the end of the row. However, Honda across from him is a bit faster, calling pon on the green dragon waiting on a 4m tanki in the same amount of time. A turn later, he shifts his wait to a 1m tanki.
In the second row, Taro is put in the spotlight as he gets to tenpai with his closed souzu honitsu and waits on a 3s wait.
Honda further improves his hand by adding chanta to his hand, giving him more value. At the end of the second row, Shiratori finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen. Within the ippatsu round, Taro switches to a north/4s shanpon and calls riichi, hoping that the north yakuhai will boost him up. In the middle of the third row, Shiratori comes out victorious as he gets the red 5p and wins the hand. Shiratori wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 6,000+100 all plus one riichi stick, moving back into 1st place.
Futoshi
October 19, Game 2,
In E2-0, Futoshi is the dealer in 4th place after dealing into Ooi during the ippatsu round. Still looking for his first M-League win, he hopes that today will be that day.
Futoshi starts out the hand 3-shanten with a connected dora 1s as its only value. The first row is a bit slow for Futoshi, putting him only to 2-shanten with the 1s still not secured. Ooi, on the other hand, moves his hand quickly and is the first to tenpai, doing so on turn 8 and waiting on a 47p/2s wait.
Later in the second row, Uotani gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 1s dora tanki.
After much waiting, Futoshi finally secures the 123s sequence and creates another sequence, getting to tenpai at the start of the third row and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen. With the dealer riichi, Ooi folds. On Uotani’s draw, she gets a third 1p. Being incompatible with her chiitoi, Uotani discards it and deals into Futoshi. Futoshi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 12,000, moving into 2nd place.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s60_p2150
Jumping to E4-2, Futoshi is falling behind Ooi, sitting 14,300 behind the 1st place veteran. With two riichi sticks and two honba, a general haneman ron will put him ahead.
Futoshi starts out the hand 3-shanten with three ryanmens. To his left is Hagiwara with a hand with 10 manzu tiles. Quickly, Hagiwara draws an 11th manzu tile, calls a 789m sequence and then a 567m sequence, getting him to tenpai in the middle of the first row on a 36m nobetan.
By this point, Futoshi is 2-shanten. By the end of the row, he has a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. At around the same time, dealer Uotani calls pon on the easts and waits on a 36s ryanmen.
Being iishanten now and having very few clues on folding (besides the fact that Hagiwara is going for manzu), Futoshi keeps pushing. At the end of the second row, Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen, hoping for the 6s for both tanyao and iipeikou. In the middle of the third row, Hagiwara draws and discards the 6s. At the same time, Futoshi and Uotani call ron. However, because Futoshi is closer in turn order, Futoshi gets the win and Uotani gets nothing. Futoshi wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 2 for 12,000+600 plus two riichi sticks, jumping up to 1st place.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2009
In S1-1, Futoshi’s lead over Ooi has been cut down to just 300 and Ooi does not look like he is letting up.
Futoshi starts out the hand with a lot of potential, sitting 2-shanten with a pair of 6p dora and a secured red 5s. In his first five draws, he isolates the 6p pair (to make sure both are used) and creates some sequences, getting him to a perfect iishanten. Right after, unrelenting Ooi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen.
At the start of the second row, Futoshi secures tanyao and pinfu and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a haneman if he wins.
Turn after turn, Hagiwara and Uotani pick up Ooi’s winning tiles, shifting the hand in favour of Futoshi. Though there are threats all around, Hagiwara still moves forward. With only nine tiles left in the wall, Hagiwara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s penchan.
Three player in riichi and only one person can be the winner. On Futoshi’s second-last draw, he gets the 2p and wins the hand. Futoshi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus two riichi stick, putting him above 50,000.
The Fastest Mermaid
October 19, Game 2
In S3-4, Uotani is in 3rd place with -700. With only 11 games in the history of M-League having two players finish in the negatives, Uotani does not want to add to the statistic. She has a long way to go, though, with 2nd place Futoshi being 51,900 ahead of her.
Uotani starts out the hand with a pair of 5m (including the red 5m) and 10 pinzu tiles. In her first four draw, Uotani gets up to 12 pinzu tiles and starts to break up her 5m pair. In the second row, she calls pon on the 1p and gets to tenpai on a 2457p wait. A few turns later, Ooi draws and discards the 2p and deals into Uotani. Uotani wins the hand with Chinitsu for 8,000+1,200, getting her out of the negatives.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4507
In S4-0, Uotani is now the dealer, 37,500 behind 2nd place Ooi and 42,700 behind 1st place Futoshi. All she needs is a single dealership to turn the game around.
Uotani starts out with a promising starting hand, 4-shanten with an ankou of souths and pairs of the 1p and dora 5s. In her first few draws, she makes the 1p an ankou, pairs up the norths and gets to iishanten on turn 5. At the same time, 1st place Futoshi tries to rush the hand by calling a quick tanyao hand, doing so twice in the first row. At the start of the second row, Uotani fills in a penchan to get to tenpai. She has a choice between throwing the 5s dora for the wider 47s ryanmen, or to throw the 6s for the 5s/north shanpon. With the chance at sanankou and accepting another dora (including the red 5s), Uotani takes the shanpon and calls riichi, hoping for a red 5s draw for baiman minimum.
With safe tiles in reserve, Futoshi pushes his hand to try to end the game. In the middle of the second row, Futoshi gets to tenpai and waits on a 7s kanchan.
One comeback hand and one spoiler hand. Either one will result in a big win for someone. At the end of the second row, the wall gifts Uotani with the takame red 5s and gets the big baiman win. Uotani wins with Riichi/Tsumo/South/Sanankou/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 8,000 all. In an instant, Uotani now has 32,500 and is less than a dealer mangan away from 1st place.
Though Uotani would not be able to convert it to a win, she would cement herself in history as the 5th-highest 3rd place in M-League history, a far cry from the negative 3rd place she had at the start of S3-4.
Katsumata
October 20, Game 1, S4-2
In S4-2, Katsumata is the final dealer and in 3rd place, 4,200 behind 2nd place Sugawara and 12,900 behind 1st place Mizuhara. With a mangan tsumo or better, he will move into 1st place.
Katsumata starts out the hand 4-shanten with a red 5p connected to a 36p ryanmen and a pair of norths. In the first row, he fills in the ryanmen and extends it and makes the north pair a triplet, putting him iishanten. In the middle of the second row, Katsumata secures a pair and calls riichi on a 7s penchan. With the red 5s discarded, the 7s is a slight Ishibashi trap (with Ishibashi coincidentally being one of the commentators of the day). On his very next draw, Katsumata finds the 7s and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000+200 all, moving him into 1st place.
Never Too Late
October 20, Game 2, S1-0
In S1-0, the competition is fierce. 1st place Sarukawa, 2nd place dealer Shibukawa and 3rd place Yu are all a 3/40 hand away from ranking up, while 4th place Matsugase has a chance to surprise the competition by making a comeback.
Looking around the table at the start of the hand, Both Yu and Sarukawa are closest to tenpai at 3-shanten, while Shibukawa and Matsugase are at 4-shanten. The first row is the building phase for all four players, creating potential blocks and improving others, getting closer to tenpai with some idea of yaku. By the end of the row, Shibukawa and Yu both head for sequences, while Matsugase and Sarukawa go for tanyao. Near the end of the second row, Yu is the first to tenpai with four sequences looking for a pair. He stays dama and spends the next few turns switching pair candidates. In the middle of the third row with 10 tiles left in the wall, Shibukawa is the first to confirm his tenpai and waits on a 58p ryanmen.
With 8 tiles left in the wall, Sarukawa draws the red 5p to fill in his kanchan and calls riichi on a 147m wait, furiten because of the 1m he threw on turn 2.
With Sarukawa stuck to draw and discard and a chance to secure the suji trap, Yu decides (with 7 tiles left in the live wall) to call riichi and wait on the 9s tanki.
Still within the ippatsu turn of the two riichi players and with five tiles left in the wall, Matsugase draws a sixth pair to get to tenpai. With nobody able to defend and three 2p left unseen, Matsugase takes the 2p tanki wait and calls riichi. On Sarukawa’s ippatsu draw, he draws and discards the 2p and deals into Matsugase. Matsugase wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tanyao/Chiitoi for 8,000 plus two riichi sticks, making progress upwards and pulling Sarukawa down to 2nd place.
M-League Watch 