Highlights
Ura Ura
November 6, Game 1, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6015
In S2-1, Daisuke is the dealer in 4th place, 5,000 behind 3rd place Shiratori, 16,000 behind 2nd place Uotani and 24,000 behind 1st place Matsugase. With the one riichi stick, one honba and a bit of luck, Daisuke can get a haneman tsumo to make it all the way to the top.
Daisuke starts out the hand 4-shanten with a pair of 8p dora. In the first row, Daisuke shifts his hand towards a pinfu, giving himself options for tanyao as well. On turn 6, he discards an 8p to secure a 678p sequence, getting to 2-shanten and guaranteed a good wait when it reaches tenpai. In the second row, he fills in one of the ryanmens to get to iishanten. At the start of the third row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. Near the end of the hand with only two tiles left in the wall, Daisuke draws the 9s and wins the hand. With the ura dora flip, his 2m pair becomes dora and upgrades his hand to a dealer haneman. Daisuke wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 2 for 6,000+100 plus one riichi stick, bringing him up to 1st place.
Consolation
November 6, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4017
In S4-0, Shiratori is deep in last place with -5,200, a lofty 37,600 behind 3rd place dealer Uotani. Since he would need a sanbaiman direct hit or a yakuman win to move up in rank, Shiratori will do the next best thing and just try to get as many points as he can for the team.
Shiratori starts out the hand 3-shanten with two 6m dora, a red 5s and a red 5p. The wall is very kind to Shiratori, giving him the shapes he needs. He fills in a ryanmen, draws a third 6m dora and fills in a kanchan, getting him to a very wide iishanten at the end of the row. On turn 8, he creates a 3-sided wait to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 258p, guaranteed at least a baiman no matter how he wins.
Shiratori is not the only player trying to win, though. To his right is 2nd place Daisuke, 7,200 behind 1st place Matsugase. With a very low chance of Shiratori overtaking him and the big bonus for finishing 1st, Daisuke pushes ahead. In the middle of the second row, Daisuke gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen. With Riichi/Pinfu guaranteed, Daisuke just needs just two more han to move into 1st. A tsumo plus one uradora is probably the easiest, but having his 8m pair or 5p overlap be uradora is also enough.
With each draw, we looked for the five different types of tiles that would win. But the wall kept teasing them. A 3m for Daisuke, a 5m for Shiratori, a 3s for Daisuke, and 8m for Shiratori, another 3m for Daisuke. Then, near the end of the third row, Daisuke draws and discards the 2p and deals into Shiratori. Shiratori wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 3/Aka 2 for 16,000 plus one riichi stick
Nice Start
November 6, Game 2 E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4509
Last week was rough for the Sega Sammy Phoenix, losing over -200pts in just four games. Uotani helped the team gain a bit of ground with a 2nd place the previous game. It’s Daigo’s turn to continue the upward trend.
In E1-0, Daigo starts out the hand 4-shanten with two red fives for value. In the first row, he makes some sequences, but neither of the red doras get secured. By the end of the first row, he is at 3-shanten. At the start of the second row, he creates a 345m sequence to secure the red 5m creates a 567p sequence a turn later to secure the red 5p. In the middle of the row, Daigo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen. During the ippatsu round, Sarukawa calls a chasing riichi on a 14m ryanmen, but is short lived as Daigo gets the 7p on his ippatsu draw. Daigo wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000 plus one riichi stick, taking the early lead.
Straight to the Top
November 6, Game 2, E3-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2516
In E3-2, there is one leftover riichi stick and Aki is in 2nd place, 17,900 behind 1st place Daigo. In order to switch spots with him, she needs a mangan direct hit, a baiman tsumo or a general sanbaiman ron.
Aki starts out the hand with a distant 5-shanten hand with a bunch of bad shapes. In the first row, things started to connect. She creates a 456s sequence (including the red 5s) to go along with her 12s and her 89s blocks, being two tiles away from an ittsuu. Also drawing a dora 5p, she gets to 2-shanten by the end of the row. In the second row, she draws the 3s and a 6p to get to tenpai on a 7s penchan, staying dama with mangan minimum.
Two turns later, 1st place Daigo also gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen, also guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.
With the riichi call by Daigo, the first place calculus has changed. Aki now only needs a mangan direct hit, a haneman tsumo or a baiman general ron for 1st place. With no change in the safety status of the 7s and a guaranteed haneman by calling riichi, Aki chases with a tsumogiri riichi. At the start of the third row, Aki draws the 7s and wins the hand. Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ittsuu/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 3,000+200/6,000+200 plus two riichi sticks, moving into 1st place by 900.
Quiz Question
November 6, Game 2, E4-1
In E4-1, Aki is the dealer in 1st place, hoping to extend the lead.
Aki starts out the hand with a cool 2-shanten hand, holding two completed groups, a secured red 5s, and pairs of the white dragon and green dragon. On turn 3, she creates a ryanmen to get to iishanten. At the start of the second row, Aki calls riichi and waits on a 25m ryanmen. Two turns later, Sarukawa throws the 2m and deals into Aki.
This shape of this hand is a classic quiz question for score calculating. With Riichi/White Dragon/Aka 1, the hand has 3 han. At first glance, it would seem like it the fu would be
- +20 for the win
- +10 for the closed ron
- +8 for the concealed honour triplet
- +2 for the honour pair
for exactly 40 fu. Because the hand is a 25m ryanmen, it is usually assumed that you will receive no fu from winning on the 2m.
However, the hand can also be interpreted as having a
- +2 for the kanchan (1_3m, filling it in with the 2m)
Since that is the more expensive interpretation, the hand has 42 fu and rounded up to 50. As dealer, the hand is worth 9,600+300.
No Yaku? No Problem!
November 7, Game 1, E3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3522
In E3-1, there are 2,300 in bonus sticks waiting for the next winner and Takizawa is in 1st place with a 9,000 lead over 2nd place.
Takizawa starts out the hand with a 2-shanten hand and a pair of 3s. With a wide acceptance, Takizawa easily moved to iishanten within the first few turns. On turn 6, Takizawa gets to tenpai. He has no yaku, but can easily shift to either tanyao or pinfu. With the potential safe improvement, he stays dama.
To Takizawa’s left is 4th place Honda, iishanten with a secured red dora and a pair of white dragons. Two turns after Takizawa gets to tenpai, Honda calls pon on the white dragon and waits on a 69p ryanmen.
Though it’s obvious that Honda is making progress, Takizawa still sits dama to have a safe improvement. While he waits, he ends up drawing his winning dora 3s and wins the hand. Takizawa wins with Tsumo/Dora 3 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus one riichi stick, putting him above 40,000.
Ippatsu
November 7, Game 1, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3523
In S1-1, Takizawa is in 1st place and the dealer Honda is in 2nd place. If Takizawa wins this hand, he can move the dealership away from Honda and will make his win more likely.
Takizawa starts out the hand 3-shanten with a secured red 5p for value. In the first row, he creates a bunch of ryanmens, being guaranteed pinfu with a 2-shanten hand by turn 4. On turn 6, he fills in one of them to get to iishanten. On turn 7, he fills in another, confirming tanyao and calling riichi on a 58p ryanmen, guaranteed to be at least a mangan. On his very next draw, he finds the 8p and wins the hand. Takizawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100, moving him above 50,000.
The Next Best Thing
November 7, Game 1, S4-0
In S4-0, Nakabayashi is in 3rd place, 7,100 behind 2nd place Honda and 35,600 behind 1st place Takizawa. Though 1st place is a bit a far, getting a mangan for 2nd place is the next best thing.
Nakabayashi starts out the hand 4-shanten with no value in sight. He can accept the 3m dora, but nothing else is obvious. As he started drawing tiles, his hand started to take shape. He creates some ryanmens and a sequence, pushing his hand to pinfu. Drawing a 3m dora and filling in a kanchan, Nakabayashi gets to iishanten on turn 6. On turn 7, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen. Whether won by tsumo or ron, he will need an extra han to move into 1st place. Two turns later, Nakabayshi draws the 6s. With the flip of the uradora, the 3m becomes double dora and Nakabayashi achieves 2nd place. Nakabayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000.
Hagi
November 7, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5020
In E3-0, Hagiwara is the dealer in 2nd place, 4,400 behind 1st place Kobayashi. With a 1st place this game, Hagiwara will also move himself into positive territory.
Hagiwara starts out with a decent 3-shanten, having wide acceptance and a secured red 5m. Though Hagiwara has a good hand, Okada’s is just a bit better. After two calls in the first three turns, Okada is already tenpai on a 3p penchan.
With Okada’s calls, it gives Hagiwara more draws and tells everyone to speed up. After making his pair an ankou and completing a 3-sided wait, Hagiwara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen.
Though sitting two-away, Kobayashi has two dora and a red 5s to push his hand forward. Calling on Hagiwara’s riichi tile, he gets to iishanten. A turn later he gets to tenpai on a 4s kanchan, later improving to a 47s ryanmen.
In the middle of the second row, Okada draws the 2s. Since it is dangerous against both pushing players, she chooses to fold. As Okada folds, Takamiya partially pushes her hand. By the end of the second row, Takamiya gets to iishanten. Two draws later, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p/5s shanpon.
Then, within the ippatsu round, Hagiwara draws the 5s and wins the hand. Hagiwara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000 all plus on riichi stick, putting him at exactly 40,000.
Gorilla Warfare
November 9, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5510
In S1-2, Mizuhara is the dealer in 1st place and holding a small 3,300 lead over 2nd place.
Mizuhara starts out with an extremely good iishanten hand, drawing the red 5m double dora on her first draw and guaranteed tanyao. On turn 2, she fills in a 6s kanchan and sits dama on a 56p wait. On turn 4, she switches her wait and calls riichi on a 258s wait. On the ippatsu turn, Mizuhara draws the 2s and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 6,000+200 all, putting her above 50,000.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5511
Mizuhara continues her dealership in S1-3 and starts out 2-shanten for chiitoi (3-shanten for a standard hand) with pairs of east, south, green dragon and 8m. In the first few turns, Mizuhara calls pon on the east to go for a standard hand. In the second row, she creates a 234m sequence and calls pon on the green dragon, getting to tenpai on a south/8m shanpon.
To her left is Taro in 3rd place with five pairs in his hand. In the middle of the second row, Taro gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a north dora tanki, guaranteed at least a haneman if he wins.
Though Taro has hope to catch up to Mizuhara, Mizuhara ends any thought of it by drawing the south just a few turns later. Mizuhara wins the hand with East/South/Green Dragon/Honitsu for 12,000+900 plus one riichi stick, bring her above 65,000.
Weaving
November 9, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5021
In E3-0, Kurosawa is in 2nd place and 8,100 behind 1st place dealer Futoshi.
Kurosawa starts out the hand 4-shanten with a pair of white dragons. Across the table is 4th place Yu, sitting at 2-shanten. In the first row, Kurosawa makes an ankou of 9s, pairs up the 2m and 3m and draws a single red 5m, getting to iishanten. At the same time, Yu is still stuck at 2-shanten, but has two ryanmens in hand. In the second row, Kurosawa declines the second pair of white dragons (in true Kurosawa fashion) then draws a fourth 9s. She calls a concealed kan, but it doesn’t move her forward. A few turns later, Yu puts pressure on the table by getting to tenpai and calling riichi on a 25m ryanmen.
At this point, Kurosawa is still iishanten with a floating red 5m. During the ippatsu round, she pairs up the 5m and discards her white dragon pair. After discarding her pair, she creates a three-sided wait in pinzu and has a 223355m shape in manzu. She throws the 3m, sitting in a dangerous position of potentially throwing Yu’s winning tile.
Luckily for her, she is able to draw the very last 5m to get to tenpai safely on a 369p wait. In the middle of the second row, Yu draws and discards the 3p, dealing into Kurosawa. Kurosawa wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 8,000 plus Yu’s riichi stick, moving her into 1st place.
Yu-Turn
November 9, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5512
In S2-0, Yu is the dealer in 4th place, 6,100 behind 3rd place Tojo, 16,700 behind 2nd place Kurosawa and 20,400 behind 1st place Futoshi. One’s dealership is the best time to make a comeback.
Yu starts out the hand 2-shanten with a secured red 5p and a loosely connected red 5m. In the first row, Yu shifts his hand towards tanyao, gives himself a 567p iipeikou chance and gets to iishanten. In the second row, he makes an 8m ankou to give him more flexibility. At the end of the second row, he secures the 567p iipeikou to get to tenpai. He chooses to call riichi and throw the red 5m to take the wider 134m wait instead of the more expensive 4m kanchan. In the third row, Yu draws the 4m and wins the hand. Yu wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 4,000 all, moving into 3rd place.
In S2-1, Yu continues his dealership and starts out with a chiitoi 4-shanten hand (5-shanten for a standard hand) with a connected red 5s for value. Across from him is Kurosawa at 4-shanten with a secured red 5p. Between the two of them, Kurosawa’s hand advances much faster, getting to tenpai on a yakuless 2m kanchan 2m before the end of the row. After getting rid of her kanchan, she improves her wait and calls riichi on a 147s wait. Unfortunately, she is furiten, so she has to draw her winning tile herself is she wants to win.
At this point, Yu is iishanten with a semi-safe route to advance, so he pushes. Near the end of the second row, Yu gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3m penchan, a tile that is safe against Kurosawa. Soon after, Tojo discards the 3m and deals into Yu. Yu wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 7,700+300 plus one riichi stick, bring him up to 1st place.
Full Meal
November 10, Game 1, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4019
In E1-0, Matsumoto is sitting in the south seat and Uchikawa is sitting in the east seat. The Shibuya Abemas are trying to get back into 3rd place and the Kadokawa Sakura Knights are trying to get into the positives.
Matsumoto starts out the hand 3-shanten with a red 5s and a red 5p double dora while Uchikawa starts out 4-shanten. In the first row, Uchikawa makes calls pon on the east and on a 678s sequence to get to iishanten while Matsumoto connects the red 5p and secures the red 5s to get to 2-shanten. In the second row, Matsumoto pairs up the 5p, Uchikawa calls a kan and both sit iishanten by the middle of the second row. Soon after, Matsumoto draws a third 5p to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1m/9s shanpon, guaranteed at least a haneman if he wins.
Within the ippatsu round, Uchikawa draws the red 5m to get to tenpai on a 7p kanchan.
On Matsumoto’s ippatsu draw, he gets the fourth 5p and calls kan. With the kan call, he activates the curry contest. With the kandora flip, he gives Uchikawa one more dora.
In the third row, Uchikawa draws the 1m. On one hand, Uchikawa is tenpai, the dealer and has no completely safe tiles. On the other, Matsumoto is guaranteed at least a haneman if he wins, with three uradora indicators likely bringing it to at least a baiman.
With the 1m being very risky and a relatively cheap hand, Uchikawa folds by throwing the suji 8s.
None of this matters to Matsumoto, though, as he draws his winning 9s. Getting the sanankou and two uradora, Matsumoto wins with a Riichi/Tsumo/Sanankou/Dora 4/Aka 2/Ura 2 sanbaiman for 6,000/12,000, an explosive start to the game.
Double Mangan
November 10, Game 1
In E4-3, Uchikawa is in 3rd place and 5,000 behind 2nd place Sarukawa. With three honba and three riichi sticks, almost any hand will put him one rank higher.
Uchikawa starts out the hand 4-shanten with only one completed sequence and some bad waits. In the first row, Uchikawa fills in a bad wait, draws a 4s dora to get a good wait and gets to iishanten. Near the end of the second row, Uchikawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s. During the ippatsu round, Hisato (who discarded the 3s just a turn earlier) throws another one to get to tenpai and deals into Uchikawa. Uchikawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 8,000+900 plus three riichi sticks, moving him into 2nd place.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3012
In S1-0, Uchikawa is now the dealer and 23,100 behind 1st place Matsumoto.
Uchikawa starts out with a 3-shanten hand with a floating red 5p. Through his first few draws, he makes a 5m ankou, loosely connects the red 5p with a 3p and draws a red 5m, getting to iishanten. On turn 8, he pairs up the 3p, discards the red 5p and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen. In the third row, he draws the 4m and wins the hand. Uchikawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 4,000 all.
Uchikawa would go on to win 5 of the next 6 hands to win the game.
Aikonic
November 10, Game 2, E2-0
In E2-0, Hinata is in 4th place after Uchikawa tsumo’d a mangan during her dealership. Time to get revenge.
Hinata starts out her hand 3-shanten with a secured red 5s and the ability to accept two 5p dora. In the first row, she makes a few sequences, pairs up the 2s and gets to iishanten, hoping to get the 5p for the best tenpai. On turn 7, she draw the 5p and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen. If she does get the 5p, she will add iipeikou and be guaranteed at least a haneman.
To her right is Uchikawa the dealer with few safe tiles. He is able to throw safely in his first few draws while still advancing his hand. Near the end of the second row, he draws the red 5m and gets to iishanten. In the third row, he makes an ankou of 7s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 6p kanchan. Unfortunately, he draws the 5p on the ippatsu round and deals into Hinata.
Hinata wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000, switching places and scores with Uchikawa.
Double Riichi
November 10, Game 2, E3-4
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4020
In E3-4, Hinata is in 2nd place after Sugawara won three hands in a row.
With Hinata’s first thirteen tiles she is already iishanten and needs a 5p dora or a 7s to get to tenpai. On her very first draw, she gets a 7s and calls a double riichi on a 5p kanchan.
The other players tried to advance their hands, but there was no way they could match the speed of Hinata. By the end of the first row, the next closest player was Date at 2-shanten. Near the end of the second row, Hinata draws the 5p and wins the hand. Hinata wins the hand with Double Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1 for 8,000
Kotaro
November 10, Game 2, E4-0
In E4-0, Uchikawa is in 4th place, 2,000 behind 3rd place Date. If he wants to keep his team in the positives, he has to escape last place.
Uchikawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of west yakuhai and a pair of 2s dora. On turn 2, he calls pon on the 2s to secure a yaku. A few turns later, he calls pon on the 2s dora to get to iishanten, waiting on 6 different tiles for tenpai.
At the start of the second row, Uchikawa pairs up the 9s and gets to tenpai on a 3m penchan. On his next draw, he picks up the 2s and calls kan. With the dora kan call, the curry contest is activated for the second time today. With the rinshan draw, Uchikawa picks up the…
…3m and wins the hand! Uchikawa wins with Rinshan/West/Dora 4 for 3,000/6,000, moving into 3rd place.
Yakuman Tenpai?!!
November 10, Game 2, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4021
In S3-1, Hinata is in 3rd place and 7,200 behind 2nd place Uchikawa.
Before she even gets her first draw, she calls pon on the white dragon. When we see her hand, we see that she also has a pair of red dragons and a single green dragon, giving her hope for a possible daisangen yakuman (or at least a honitsu). Soon after, she calls pon on the red dragon to get to 2-shanten. At the end of the row, she gets to iishanten, still waiting to build with the green dragon. In the middle of the second row, she pairs up the green dragon to get to tenpai on a green dragon/6p shanpon. Winning on the 6p will give her a haneman. Winning on the green dragon will give her a yakuman.
With no green dragons visible, everyone is on edge. However, the best way to end a threat is to win first. At the end of the second row, Uchikawa makes a second call to get to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen.
Draw and discard. Draw and discard. Two green dragons are still left in the wall. In the third row, Date draws a green dragon, bringing the count down to one. In the middle of the third row, Hinata draws a white dragon and calls an added kan. The draw doesn’t help, leaving her with one last chance. On her very last draw, she gets the 4s. The dream of yakuman is dead.
The hand ends in a draw with Hinata and Uchikawa in tenpai.
Rinshan Prince
November 10, Game 2, S4-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s60_p2253
In S4-3, Uchikawa is in 2nd place and is being challenged by 3rd place dealer Date. A win now would secure a positive result for him and the team.
Uchikawa starts out the hand 3-shanten with all four 8p in his hand. With a 6p in his hand, he keeps them all in his hand in case he draws the 7p. In the first row, he makes his lone west into a pair, then later calls pon on it to get to tenpai on a 7p kanchan.
Uchikawa isn’t the only player on the table, however. At this point, Sugawara is iishanten with a call north yakuhai pon and Date is iishanten with a pair of easts and two red doras. In the middle of the second row, Date makes a call to get to tenpai on an east/5m shanpon, though only the east will give her a yaku.
After a pon of the white dragon, Sugawara is the third to tenpai and waits on a 36p ryanmen.
Right after her, Hinata gets to tenpai on a 36p, staying dama.
All four players are now in tenpai. Within the first go-around, Uchikawa draws the 5p. Creating a 47p ryanmen, the 8p stands alone. With the extra 8p not part of the potential sequence, Uchikawa secures it by calling a concealed kan. With his rinshan draw, he gets…
…the 4p! His second rinshan of the night (with a west yakuhai, no less)! Uchikawa wins the hand with Rinshan/West. After taking a bit of time to calculate it, he determines the hand to be worth 800+300/1,600+300 to secure his 2nd place.
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