Highlights
Deja Vu
February 26, Game 1, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4055
In E1-0, Shiratori starts out the game in the south seat, trying to help his team approach the dominant top three. The south seat has historically been the worst seat in the league, but it has been extremely lucky this season with most wins (and a staff chiihou) coming from there.
When we get a glimpse of Shiratori’s first 13 tiles, he is incredibly already tenpai, waiting on a 4 sou tanki! We are reminded of the events of January 19 when a staff member sitting in Matsumoto’s south seat won a chiihou during their pre-broadcast equipment test. Could it happen for real this time? Shiratori reaches for the wall and draws…
… a 9m. Though it isn’t the chiihou he wanted, he is still tenpai an calls a double riichi on a 69m wait.
On turn 4, Shiratori draws the 9m and wins the hand. Shiratori wins with Double Riichi/Tsumo for 1,000/2,000.
Sonoda
February 26, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2043
In S1-0, Sonoda is in 2nd place, 5,700 behind 1st place Shiratori.
Sonoda starts out the hand 3-shanten with two red fives and a distant chance at a 567 sanshoku. In the first row, he draws a dora 2p and connects it with a 3p, and he forms a 567s sequence to get to iishanten. As Sonoda waits and hopes for a 6m to complete his 567 sanshoku, Daigo gets to tenpai at the end of the row on a 3p kanchan. He sits yakuless, hoping to either improve his wait or form something with his red dragon pair.
A few turns later, Shiratori makes a second call (having called the south in the first row) and waits on a 2p dora kanchan for mangan minimum.
Right after, Sonoda draws the 4 to secure tanyao and get to tenpai. He calls riichi on a 56m wait, guaranteed at least a mangan on the 5m and at least a haneman on the 6m.
The riichi causes Sonoda to fold, but that tenpai player is replaced with Mizuhara calling riichi on a 5m kanchan. Since both Sonoda and Mizuhara are waiting on the 5m, there is a chance at a headbump. In this case, Sonoda has the upper hand since he sits just before Mizuhara.
Having to push against two riichi calls is too much for Shiratori, so he folds. Still during Mizuhara’s ippatsu round, Sonoda draws the 5m and wins the hand. Though not the 6m, the act of drawing it himself is enough to get him to haneman. Sonoda wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 3,000/6,000 plus one riichi stick, taking him above 40,000.
Gorilla Akina
February 26, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5547
In S3-0, Mizuhara is in 4th place, 6,400 behind 3rd place dealer Daigo. She has no more dealership, so she has effectively two hands to make the comeback.
Mizuhara starts out by filling a kanchan to secure the red 5m and get to 2-shanten. Also in her hand is a pair of dora souths, setting her up for at least a mangan. On turn 5, she gets to iishanten, creating a pair of 2m so she can give the souths a chance to turn into a triplet later on. On turn 6, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2m/south shanpon. On her very next draw, she gets the 2m and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000. With just that one hand, Mizuhara goes from deep in 4th place to just 5,700 away from 2nd place going into the last hand.
Taro Time
February 26, Game 2
In S1-0, Taro is 3rd place, 7,900 behind 2nd place Nakabayashi and 10,000 behind 1st place dealer Tojo. He sits in this season’s lucky south seat and carries the momentum of Sonoda’s win the previous game.
Taro starts out 2-shanten for chiitoi (3-shanten for a standard hand) and a likely tanyao. With most of his tanyao tiles being near the edge, shifting to an open toitoi is not a bad idea. On turn 2, he makes his 3s pair into a triplet and then makes a 6m pair a turn later to get to chiitoi iishanten (toitoi 2-shanten). On turn 5, he has the opportunity to call pon on the 2m, but passes on the chance. His patience is rewarded immediately after as his 6m becomes a triplet, putting him iishanten for a potential suuankou.
On turn 6, he calls pon on the 8p to get him to tenpai on a 2m/8s shanpon. If he can draw it himself, he would add sanankou into the mix to get him to mangan.
Just as Taro gets to ready, Ooi does as well and calls riichi on a 3s kanchan.
With not much to go on, Taro has no choice but to push. Just two turns after Ooi calls riichi, Taro picks up the 8s and wins the hand. Taro wins with Tanyao/Toitoi/Sanankou for 2,000/4,000 plus one riichi stick, bringing his score up to 32,400.
Little did we know that that score would grow larger than we ever thought.
In S2-0, Taro starts his dealership. With his first fourteen tiles, he is already iishanten with a red 5p and the ability to accept the 7s dora. It takes him five turns to draw the dora 7s and get him to tenpai. He calls riichi, waiting on a 4p kanchan. Within just second of calling riichi, Taro had a nakasuji trap with a 1p in his discards and Nakabayashi discarding the 7p. It doesn’t take long for someone to fall victim as Ooi discards the 4p before the end of the row and deals in. Taro wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 7,700, taking Taro up to 40,100
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2044
In S2-1, Taro has another good hand, this time 2-shanten with a 6m dora and a pair of easts In the first row, Taro firmly connects the 6m dora and draws the red 5s. Though he hasn’t advanced in shanten by the end of the row, he almost guarantees himself a good wait. At the start of the second row, Taro’s dealership is put in jeopardy as Nakabayashi calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen.
During the ippatsu round, Taro gets to iishanten and is able to advance safely by throwing his east pair. In the middle of the second row, Tojo challenges Taro’s dealership as well as she calls riichi on a 7p kanchan.
Even with the two riichi calls, Taro keeps pushing with his lack of safe tiles. At the end of the row, he fills in his last kanchan and gets to tenpai on a 36p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan. At the start of the third row, Nakabayashi discards the 6p and deals into Taro. Taro wins the hand with Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 12,000+300 plus two riichi stick, taking Taro up to 54,400.
In S2-2, Taro starts out with another 2-shanten with two red 5m. At the end of the first row, Taro makes a 5s triplet to get to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten, guaranteed a good wait. A few turns later, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen, hoping for the dora 3m. At the start of the third row, he draws the 3m and wins the hand. Taro wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 6,000+200 all, putting him up to 73,000, the second-highest score so far this season and his dealership still going.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2045
In S2-3, Taro is 3-shanten with two ryanmens with a floating red 5s. After four turns, Taro gets to iishanten and a 6s away from securing the red 5s. At the start of the second row, Taro draws a 4s to connect the red 5s, then creates a pinzu ryanmen to guarantee pinfu. While Taro looks for tenpai, Nakabayashi gets there first and waits dama on a 6s kanchan, guaranteed at least a mangan.
Eventually, Taro gets to tenpai at the start of the third row and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen.
During the ippatsu round, Tojo joins in and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.
Though Nakabayashi has good value, he doesn’t want to throw either the dangerous 4m or 7m. With no way to stay tenpai safely, he folds. Seeing an opportunity to make a comeback now, Ooi, jumps at the opportunity to get to tenpai and waits on a 14s ryanmen, guaranteed a mangan if he wins.
Right after, Taro draws the 5p and wins the hand. With a flip of the uradora, Taro’s 8s pair becomes dora and upgrades his hand to a haneman. Taro wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 6,000+300 all plus a riichi stick, getting him to 92,900. With his current score, he now has this season’s highest score yet.
In S2-4, Taro has yet another 2-shanten hand, but he has two penchans and a kanchan. In the first row, Taro picks up a pair of white dragons to replace a penchan and fills in the kanchan to get to iishanten. On turn 6, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p penchan. Near the end of the second row, Taro draws the 7p and wins the hand. With a flip of the uradora, Taro’s white dragon pair becomes dora to upgrade his hand to a mangan. Taro wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 2 for 4,000+400 all.
With that, Taro is at 106,100. He becomes just the fifth person to break the 100,000 barrier after
- February 18, 2021: Sasaki Hisato gets to 100,400 by E2-3, finishes the game at 94,000
- November 18 2021: Date Arisa gets to 108,500 at S3-5, finishes the game with 105,500
- December 2, 2021: Asakura Koushin gets to 104,900 at S4-1, Finishes the game with 102,400
- November 7, 2022: Kurosawa Saki gets to 113,700 in S4-9, finishes the game with 112,700
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2046
In S2-5, Taro has a messier hand this time, being 3-shanten for chiitoi. However, with the winds of luck flowing in his direction, we wouldn’t be surprised if he can make the shortcut to haneman happen. On turns 2 and 6, he pairs up the 1p and 4m, respectively, to get to iishanten. Pairing the east in the middle of the second row, Taro gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p tanki, waiting with a suji trap. At the end of the row, he plucks the 7p from the wall and wins the hand. With luck continuing to flow through his veins, he flips the uradora to, for the third hand in row, get two uradora and upgrade his hand to a haneman. Taro wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Ura 2 for 6,000+500.
With that, Taro was now at 125,600, the highest any player has gotten in M-League history, beating out Kurosawa’s former record of 113,700 for a mid-game score.
This is kaze.
In S2-6, Taro pushed hard against a mid-game riichi from Nakabayashi to be tenpai at the exhaustive draw, bringing his score up to 127,100.
Unfortunately, he would lose his dealership in the next hand after a Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Ura 1 by Tojo for 1,300+700/2,600+700, slipping him a bit further down from his peak.
Ooi
February 26, Game 2
In S3-0, Ooi has been slaughtered by Taro’s rampage, sitting in last place with -25,700, behind Nakabayashi who is the dealer and also negative with -8,900.
Ooi starts out the hand 3-shanten with two completed sequences and a floating dora west. In the first row, his only progress is making a 14m ryanmen to get to 2-shanten. On turn 8, Ooi pairs up the west dora to get to iishanten. Filling in a kanchan a turn later, Ooi secures pinfu and calls riichi on the 14m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.
Though it looks like an easy path for Ooi, there are no brakes on the Taro Train. Near the end of the second row, Taro gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 4m kanchan. With 4m headbump possible, Taro will win on a Tojo discard and Ooi will win on a Nakabayashi discard.
To add more chaos to the mix, Tojo gets to tenpai in the middle of the third row and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen.
On Taro’s draw, he picks up and puts down the 1m and deals into Ooi. Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 2/Ura 1 for 8,000 plus two riichi sticks going into his last dealership.
In S4-0, Ooi is starting his last dealership and is 5,800 behind 3rd place Nakabayashi. A 3/30 ron or a 2/30 direct hit would be enough to tie, a 2/50 tsumo would be enough to pass him.
Ooi starts out with another 3-shanten hand with two sequences. Ooi’s first row is productive in getting him to iishanten, but he lacks value or good shapes in his hand. Around the table, other players are productive as well. In fact, everyone at the table is iishanten. In most of the second row, none of them are able to get to tenpai, leading Hiyoshi to dub it “tsumogiri season”. With a call at the very end of the row, Tojo is the first to tenpai and waits on a 3s/7p shanpon.
Right after, Taro gets to tenpai on a weak 5p kanchan. Now sitting only 2,000 ahead of Kurosawa’s record, he waits for a better wait to come. In the third row, he improves to a 58p ryanmen and stays dama with pinfu in hand.
In the third row, Nakabayashi is the third to tenpai and waits on a 14p ryanmen for mangan.
Joining in as the last to tenpai is Ooi, calling riichi on a 3p kanchan with only one more draw for himself. On his very next draw, he gets the 3p and wins the hand. Ooi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo for 2,000 all, moving him ahead of Nakabayashi by 1,200.
New Record
February 26, Game 2, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s60_p2709
In S4-1, Taro sits at 112,800, just 100 points ahead of Kurosawa’s final score record of 112,700. The only way he can avoid missing the record is to avoid dealing in or win the hand himself. A tsumo from someone else or a deal-in will spell disaster (well, relatively).
Taro starts out the hand 4-shanten, Ooi across from him is 3-shanten and Tojo to his left is 2-shanten. With Taro’s first discard of the red dragon, Tojo calls pon to get herself to iishanten. On her next draw, she fills in a kanchan to get to tenpai on a 58m ryanmen. With both tiles being useful to Taro, fans were relieved that he has little chance of dealing in. In the middle of the first row, Nakabayashi discards the 8m and deals into Tojo. Tojo wins with Red Dragon/Dora 1 for 2,000+300.
With that, the game was over. By just 100 points, Taro now holds the title for the highest final score ever in an M-League game with 112,800.
In total, many records were broken in the game.
- Highest hanchan score: 112,800 (+132.8) by Taro, beating out Kurosawa’s record of 112,700 (+132.7) from November 7, 2022
- Highest mid-game score: 127,100 by Taro, beating out Kurosawa’s record of 113,700 from November 7, 2022
- Lowest 3rd place: -9,700 (-49.7) by Ooi, beating out Okada’s record of -6,300 from January 14, 2020
- Highest single-day team score: +194.2 (+61.4 + 132.8) by Sonoda and Taro, beating Hinata and Matsumoto’s record of +183.9 (70.2 + 113.7) from April 29, 2021
In his 1st place interview, it was revealed that Taro didn’t know that he beat the record by 100. It was only after interviewer Matsumoto Kayo told him that he found out that he beat Kurosawa’s record by that small of a margin. In fact, he thought about calling riichi one hand and chose not to, saving him the record he didn’t know about.
That day, February 26, 2024, was significant. In that second game alone, the Akasaka Drivens had a 206.0pts swing against the U-Next Pirates. Between the two games, it was a 285.9pts swing. The 3rd place Drivens went into the day 223.6pts behind, they ended the day 62.3pts ahead in 1st place.
Double Riichi
February 27, Game 1, E2-0
In E2-0, Nakada is in 4th place early after dealing in while in riichi during her dealership.
With Nakada’s first 13 tiles, she is already iishanten, needing a 4m, 5m, 7m, 8m or 2s to get to tenpai. On her very first draw, she picks up the 7m and calls double riichi on a 14m nobetan.
At the end of the first row, Takizawa discards the 1m while trying to be efficient and deals into Nakada. Nakada wins the hand with Double Riichi only for 2,600, moving into 3rd place.
No Yaku? No Problem!
February 27, Game 2, E3-1
In E3-1, the scores are close with 4th place Daisuke and 1st place dealer Takamiya separated by only 3,500. With two riichi sticks and a honba on the table, the next winner will almost certainly move into 1st place.
From the start, Takamiya is 2-shanten, Aki is 3-shanten, Daisuke is 4-shanten and Hori is 5-shanten. In the first row, Aki makes the most progress, getting to iishanten with two red fives and a dora 8m. The next closest is Takamiya, making a to aim for tanyao. In the middle of the second row, she is the first to tenpai on a 7p/8s shanpon.
Soon after, Aki gets to tenpai but chooses to wait with a yakuless 7m penchan. With a pon on the 5p soon after, she gets to tanyao tenpai on an 8m dora tanki.
By this point, Daisuke is iishanten with dora acceptance ability and Hori is 2-shanten with a pair of them and a red 5s. After drawing a third 8m and completing a sequence, Hori gets to tenpai in the third row and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen, hoping for one extra han for haneman.
Sitting across from him is Daisuke, sitting yakuless on an 8m dora kanchan. He draws a dangerous 7m dora during the ippatsu turn, so he discards the safe 9m and switches to a 7m/6p shanpon, sitting dama and furiten because of the 7m he threw in the first row. Despite all the odds being against him, Daisuke manages to get the 6p on his very last draw and wins the hand. Daisuke wins with Tsumo only for 400+100/700+100 plus three riichi sticks, bringing him up to 1st.
No More Ura San
February 27, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2543
In E4-0, Aki is in 4th place after Daisuke made that surprise tsumo the previous hand. The scores are still close with only 4,800 separating her and the top spot.
Aki starts out the hand 3-shanten with no value or any solid good shapes. In the first row, she fills in the bad shapes and, by turn 5, manages to be iishanten with a ryanmen in hand. After drawing some overlapping manzu shapes, Aki gets to tenpai in the middle of the second row on a very wide 1346m wait. At the start of the third row, she gets the 4m and wins the hand. With the uradora flip, Aki’s three 2m become dora, instantly upgrading a hand that only has riichi into a mangan. Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 3 for 2,000/4,000, taking the lead.
Ippatsu
February 29, Game 1, E1-0
In E1-0, Kayamori is playing for the Sega Sammy Phoenix, trying to get the team further above the border.
Kayamori starts out 3-shanten with a triplet of white dragons already in her hand. With almost every single one of her draws, she gets herself closer to tenpai. In the middle of the second row, Kayamori gets to tenpai and aclls riichi on a 2p kanchan. On her very next draw, Kayamori picks up the 2p and wins the hand. Kayamori wins with Riichi/Tsumo/White Dragon/Iipeikou for 2,000/4,000.
Shortcut to Haneman
February 29, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2048
In S1-0, Futoshi is the dealer in 1st place, sitting just 100 above Kayamori.
Futoshi’s starting hand is uninspiring, sitting 4-shanten for chiitoi (5-shanten for a standard hand) with no value to speak of. The first row hardly helps Futoshi at all, giving him a single pair and only advancing to 3-shanten on both hand compositions. In the middle of the second row, some hope comes for Futoshi as he pairs up the 5s with a red one. After drawing two more pairs, Futoshi manages to be the first to tenpai and calls riichi at the start of the third row on a 5p tanki, hoping to get the red one.
Killing two birds with one stone, Honda call pon on Futoshi’s riichi tile to break ippatsu and gets to tenpai on a yakuless 5m kanchan, having the ability to shift to a toitoi.
On Sugawara’s turn two turns later, she gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 3m kanchan, a tile safe against Futoshi.
Two turns after that, Futoshi gets the exact tile he wants, the red 5p and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Aka 2 for 6,000 all, bringing him above 50,000.
Rinshan
February 29, Game 1, S2-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s60_p2723
In S2-2, Honda is the dealer in 3rd place, 13,700 behind 2nd place Kayamori and 17,500 behind 1st place Futoshi.
Honda starts out the hand 2-shanten with tanyao likely in the tiles. By turn 3, he is already iishanten. With a simple pon early in the second row, Honda gets to tenpai on a 36s ryanmen for just tanyao, a cheap hand that can continue his dealership.
As Honda waits, 1st place Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s kanchan.
Taking careful steps, Honda maintains his tenpai in the face of the riichi. At the end of the row, he switches his 3m triplet for an 8p triplet to stay safe. In the middle of the third row, Futoshi discards the 8p. Holding a good wait, Honda decides to take his chances and call kan, wanting to flip dora to upgrade his hand.
With the kandora flip, the 4s becomes dora, adding one han to his hand. With the rinshan draw, Honda snags the 6s and wins the hand. Honda wins the hand with Tanyao/Rinshan/Dora 1 for 2,600 all. From a simple 1,500 point hand, a single kan was able to make the hand be worth 5 times that amount.
Enough
February 29, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4552
In S4-0, Kayamori is in 2nd place, just 900 behind 1st place Futoshi. With any win, Kayamori will win the game. Even being tenpai at a draw while Futoshi is noten is enough to take 1st place.
From the start, Kayamori is 4-shanten but does have a path to tanyao to speed up her hand. Also wanting fast hands, her opponents also call. First, Honda calls the west, then the red dragon from Kayamori. Then, Sugawara calls pon on the 8p dora. With Sugawara’s 8m discard, Kayamori calls pon. Near the end of the first row, Kayamori puts an end to the pon paradise by calling a chii for a wide iishanten. A few turns later, she gets to tenpai on a 36m ryanmen. In the middle of the third row, Kayamori draws the 3m and wins the hand. Kayamori wins with Tanyao/Aka 1 for 500/1,000 to take the game, her team now almost 100pts ahead of 7th place.
Straightforward
February 29, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2049
In S4-0, Sonoda is in 4th place, 2,200 behind 3rd place Tojo and 8,600 behind 2nd place Kurosawa. To move into 2nd place, Sonoda needs a 3/40 direct hit, a mangan tsumo or a haneman ron.
Sonoda starts out the hand 4-shanten, having only a red 5m for value and a 47m ryanmen for a good wait. Seeing where his hand goes in the first row, he maintains flexibility to go for sanshoku, ittsuu or tanyao. On turn 4, Sonoda draws an 8p to get to 2-shanten and put him just a 3p and 5p away from the full straight. With the two additional han from the yaku itself and the need to use the dora 5p (not to mention the red one), Sonoda’s path to haneman is laid. After drawing the 7m to complete his ryanmen and then getting the very valuable red 5p, Sonoda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3p penchan, guaranteed the haneman he is looking for. In the third row, 4th place Tojo throws the 3p trying to call riichi with her own haneman chance and deals into Sonoda. Sonoda wins the hand with Riichi/Ittsuu/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 3,000/6,000, finishing the game in 2nd place.
Leading the Pack
March 1, Game 1, S1-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5548
In S1-3, Yu is the dealer in 1st place, holding a slight 400 lead over 2nd place Shibukawa.
Yu starts out the hand 3-shanten with a connected red 5s and an 8s dora. Across from him, Shibukawa is 2-shanten with a pair of white dragons. Quickly, Shibukawa is able to draw the tiles he needs. On turn 5, Shibukawa is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p kanchan.
Sitting at 2-shanten and now with a pair of 8s, Yu throws out his loose safe tiles and sees where the hand takes him. At the start of the second row, he manages to get to iishanten. A turn later, Yu gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen. A few turns later, Shibukawa draws and discards the 6s and deals into Yu. Yu wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000+900 plus two riichi sticks to put him above 40,000.
Takame
March 1, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2545
In E4-0, Matsugase is in 3rd place, 13,000 behind 2nd place Matsumoto and 13,400 behind 1st place dealer Kobayashi.
Matsugase starts out the hand by filling in a penchan to get to 3-shanten. In the first row, he makes two ryanmens to get to iishanten, needing a 9p to complete a 789 sanshoku. After the second row was bust, Matsugase draws the dora 4m in the third row and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen, wanting the latter for mangan minimum. Two turns later, he draws the 9p and wins the hand. Matsugase wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Dora 1 for 3,000/6,000, enough to move him into 1st place.
Straight Ahead
March 1, Game 2, S2-0
In S2-0, Matsugase is back in 3rd place after his riichi failed and he suffered the dealer penalty during Kobayashi’s tsumo. He is still close to the top, just 1,400 separating him and Kobayashi.
Matsugase starts the hand with a nice 2-shanten hand, needing only a 3s and a 7s for a souzu ittsuu. On turn 2, he fills in a manzu ryanmen. A turn later, he draws the 7s and calls riichi on a 3s penchan, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins. To his right, 4th place Hori is trying to take advantage of his last dealership. As Hori tries to gake a very good iishanten with two dora 6s, he discards the 3s and deals into Matsugase. Matsugase wins the hand with Riichi/Ittsuu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 8,000, moving back into 1st place.
Long Overdue
March 1, Game 2, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2546
In S4-1, Matsugase is in 2nd place, 1,300 behind 1st place dealer Kobayashi. In order for Matsugase to get his first win since November 6, 2023, he just has to win any hand.
At the start, Matsugase is already 2-shanten with three completed blocks. During the first turn, both 4th place Hori and 3rd place Matsumoto are calling to win the hand, with Matsumoto making a second call a turn later. By the middle of the first row, Matsugase is tenpai on a yakuless 69m nobetan. Soon after, Matsumoto makes a third call, making his manzu honitsu obvious. Needing to win the hand, Matsugase calls riichi before the end of the first row onn a 45s wait.
After Matsugase gets to tenpai, Hori gets to tenpai on a 58m ryanmen.
Both players draw and discard, trying to win. Not out of the race is Matsumoto, trying to win the game himself. In the second row, Matsumoto draws the 4s. Since it doesn’t match his manzu honitsu, he discards it and deals into Matsugase. Matsugase wins the hand with Riichi only for 1,300+300. With this win, he takes is first 1st place in almost 4 months.
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