Monday (October 21)

---

Game 1

Riichi Battle

October 21, Game 1, E3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2164

In E3-1, Mizuhara is in 2nd place and 5,500 behind 1st place dealer Hinata. Two riichi sticks and a honba are in the pot.

Mizuhara starts out with an okay starting hand, holding being 3-shanten with sequences on deck. She does have a 1s dora, but it sits alone. After getting her necessary five blocks, she discards the 1s, but annoyingly ends up getting another one on her very next turn.

Through the rest of the first row, Mizuhara starts to build a 678m sanshoku from a floating 6m. After drawing the 7m and 8m, she gets to tenpai at the end of the first row and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if she wins.

Breaking the ippatsu turn and advancing his hand to iishanten, Daisuke calls pon on the 1m. With Mizuhara’s next discard, Daisuke calls chii on a 456m sequence and gets to tenpai on an 2p/green dragon shanpon, only allowed to win off the green dragon.

Within the go-around, Hinata joins the tenpai team with a 14s ryanmen, However, she stays dama since the 1s is safe against Mizuhara.

To make everything complete, Setokuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.

With everyone pushing, Hinata decides that it’s time to call the third riichi. It’s 1 vs. 3 vs. 1 vs. 4, Mizuhara holding the advantage.

On Daisuke’s turn, he draws the 5s. Having already gone this far, he discards the 5s and deals into Mizuhara. Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Sanshoku for 8,000+300 plus four riichi sticks, easily moving into the lead.

---

50 Fu

October 21, Game 1, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4078

In S1-1, Hinata is in 2nd place, chasing after 1st place Mizuhara who is 7,800 ahead.

With her starting hand, she has six pinzu tiles and five honours (including a triplet of souths), pointing her in the direction of honitsu. On turn 3, confirms her honitsu pursuit by discarding her souzu ryanmen and taking herself back a step. On turn 4, she draws another pinzu and gets to iishanten.

Though Hinata’s hand has hope, Mizuhara might make get in the way. With a pon of the white dragon and a 567s chii, Mizuhara gets to tenpai first and waits on a 58m ryanmen.

Seeing Mizuhara’s advancement, Hinata needs to speed up her own hand. Calling pon on the 1p, Hinata gets to tenpai and waits on an 8p/east shanpon.

The odds are heavily in Mizuhara’s favour, with Mizuhara waiting on 8 total tiles compared to Hinata’s single east. However, a small chance is still a chance. Two turns after getting to tenpai, Hinata gets the final east and wins the hand.

With Honitsu/South, she has 3 han. For fu:

• Winning: 20 fu
• East closed: 8 fu
• South closed: 8 fu
• 1p open triplet: 4 fu
• Tsumo: 2 fu

With 42 fu, she has just enough to round up to 50 fu, garnering her a 1,600+100/3,200+100 plus one riichi stick win, moving her into top spot.

---

Hinata Highlight

October 21, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4079

In S4-0, the scores are very close at the top. Only 1,000 separates 1st place dealer Mizuhara from 2nd place Hinata. With a 1/30 win by Hinata off Setokuma or Daisuke, she would tie Mizuhara. With any other win, she would move into 1st. Even with a 3/30 tsumo by Setokuma or Daisuke would create the tie, with anything more going in Hinata’s favour.

Hinata’s starting hand looks good at 3-shanten with a pair of 1s dora. However, because of this terminal pair, she will more or less be forced to stay closed.

Hinata sits there and stays patient, playing efficiently. By the end of the first row, she is at 2-shanten. On turn 8, she gets herself to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. On turn 10, she gets to tenpai and waits on a 69s ryanmen. With iipeikou already in hand, she chooses to stay dama.

In the third row, Mizuhara (having called the east in the first row) makes a second call to get to tenpai on a 36s ryanmen.

Soon after, Daisuke joins the tenpai crew with a 3s kanchan dama.

Daisuke is waiting on two tiles while Hinata and Mizuhara are both waiting on six. Since Hinata and Mizuhara are waiting on the 6s, there is a chance for headbump. If Daisuke or Setokuma discards the 6s, Hinata will have port priority and win.

On Hinata’s next draw, she gets the 6s and wins the hand. Hinata wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Dora 2 for 2,000/4,000, getting her first win of the season.

---

Results

Game 41

---

Game 2

Speed

October 21, Game 2, E1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5075

In E1-1, Honda is the dealer and has a small lead after being the only one tenpai

With Honda’s very first draw, he is already iishanten and waiting on the 8m, 9s or the green dragon to get to tenpai. On his very next draw, he gets the 9s and calls riichi on an 8m/green dragon shanpon. If he draws either of them himself, Honda would get sanankou as well.

Immediately after, Sarukawa discards the green dragon and deals into Honda. Honda wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Green Dragon for 9,600+300, extending his lead.

In six discards, the hand was done. The hand finished so quickly that the players had to wait for the automatic table to finish shuffling the first set of tiles before they could continue.

---

Sarukawa Step Up

October 21, Game 2, S1-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6071

In S1-2, Sarukawa is in 2nd place and 14,800 behind 1st place dealer Honda. He has been slowly moving up after the big sudden deal-in near the start of the game.

Sarukawa starts out with a good 2-shanten hand with a 369m three-sided wait. However, he lacks value. The first row gives him a 9m to complete the three-sided wait and put him iishanten, but is still missing one more block.

On turn 5, Sarukawa draws the 2s dora. With the 2s, he can build with dora value. With the 8s he has been holding since the start of the hand, he has the potential for a 789 sanshoku. At the end of the row, he integrates a red 5m for extra value.

On turn 7, Sarukawa draws the 3s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins. Six remain in the wall.

Though his opponents started relatively far from tenpai when the riichi happened, they all managed to advance quite well. At the end of the second row, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen.

During the ippatsu round, Honda gets to tenpai as well and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen.

In the third row, Sarukawa is the victor in the riichi battle as he draws the 1s. Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 2,000+200/4,000+200 plus two riichi sticks. With the riichi sticks, Sarukawa has just enough to take the lead by 1,000.

---

Sarukawa Success

October 21, Game 2, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6072

In S4-1, Sarukawa is in 2nd place and 5,000 behind 1st place Honda going into the last hand. With one honba, Sarukawa just needs a 2/40 direct hit, a 3/30 tsumo or a 3/40 ron for 1st place.

Before Sarukawa has a chance to get his first draw, Honda calls pon on the south, trying to end the hand as quickly as possible. When we do see Sarukawa’s hand, we see him 3-shanten with a floating red 5p. Sarukawa is only able to get one step closer before Honda makes a second call and gets to tenpai on a 6m/7m shanpon.

Though Sarukawa sees the action to his left, he can’t do much until he can secure value, whether that be completing his west triplet or connecting the red 5p. Near the end of the first row, Sarukawa draws a 4p to create a ryanmen, but he’s still stuck at 2-shanten.

At the start of the second row, he draws a 6p to complete the pinzu sequence and get to iishanten. At the end of the row, he finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen. With only two han secured, he needs to either draw it himself or get a riichi bonus.

On Sarukawa’s very next draw, he manages to get the 2m and wins the hand. Sarukawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100, taking the game.

---

Results

Game 42

---

Intro | Standings