Friday (November 1)

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Game 1

The Real Saki

November 1, Game 1, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3588

In E4-0, Date is the game leader, maintaining a 6,400 lead over 2nd place dealer Matsugase.

Date starts out with a good 3-shanten hand with a three ryanmens and a connected red 5s. In the first row, Date draws a red 5m to make a triplet of 5m and fills in a ryanmen to get to 2-shanten. With her current hand, she is guaranteed to have a good wait however she gets to tenpai.

In the second row, she pairs up the 2m to get to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. A turn later, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen, wanting the 6p for the mangan minimum.

Through the rest of the row she watches as some of her opponents make progress. In Nakabayashi’s third row, he gets to tenpai on an 8m kanchan, but has no yaku.

With two calls by Matsugase, he gets to tenpai on a 6s kanchan.

With Nakabayashi holding nothing to fight with, he chooses to fold.

In the third row, Date draws the fourth 5m and calls a concealed kan. With the rinshan draw, she gets…

…the winning 6p! Date wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Rinshan/Tanyao/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, moving her above 45,000.

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Hinata Higher

November 1, Game 1, S1-0

In S1-0, Hinata is the dealer in 3rd plae, 5,800 behind 2nd place Matsugase.

With Hinata’s first draw, she is already iishanten for pinfu and also holding a secured red 5m. WIth such a fast hand, it’s no surprise that she gets to tenpai on turn 3 and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. If she gets the 6s, she will have mangan minimum.

Though Date tries her best with her hopeful 2-shanten hand, Hinata’s speed is unmatched. On turn 8, Hinata gets the perfect 6s draw and wins the hand. Hinata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 4,000 all, moving into 2nd.

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Date Up

November 1, Game 1

In S2-1, Date looking to extend her lead and maybe help the team pass the U-Next Pirates in the standings.

Date starts off with a 2-shanten hand, but has an annoying souzu penchan. Wanting some better future efficiency and the ability to hedge ittsuu, Date discards the souzu shape in favour of a lone 9m. After drawing a third 5p on turn 2, Date exchanges her lone 9m for a 6s on turn 3. Drawing and 8s on turn 5 and making a 2m triplet on turn 6, Date has a chance to be tenpai. However, she rejects it and discards her west pair to pursue tanyao.

In the second row, she draws a 5s to create a ryanmen and on turn 9, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen. Six remain in the wall.

On her very nextc draw, Date gets the 4s and wins the hand. Getting an uradora, Date wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100, taking her above 50,000.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3589

In S3-0, Date is now the dealer and starts out with a very strong 2-iishanten hand. WIth pinfu guaranteed at two secured red 5p, she has a mangan in the bag. On turn 2, she gets the 4p to guarantee tanyao, get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen. With a tsumo, she would have a dealer haneman.

At the end of the second row, she gets that tsumo with a 2s draw and wins big. Date wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 6,000 all, bringing her score all the way to 72,600.

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Houtei

November 1, Game 1, S3-1

In S3-1, Matsugase is in 4th place with just 500. With one honba and a 10,300 gap between him and 3rd place Nakabayashi, a mangan tsumo would be enough to move him into 3rd place by 100.

Matsugase starts out the hand with pairs of north, 7m, 7p and 5p (including the red 5p), putting him 2-shanten from seven pairs. On turn 4, he draws a pair of 6m to get to one-away and on turn 7, he pairs up the easts to get to tenpai. He calls riichi and waits on a 9p tanki. Two remain in the wall.

Though all the players seem to fold to a certain degree, all of thyem seem to teeter the line between a hopeless hand and one that could possibly get to tenpai. As Hinata draws the 9, Matsugase’s waits are down to just one.

As the hand goes down to its last few draws, both Nakabayashi and Date are iishanten. With Nakabayashi’s last draw, he manages to get to a furiten 3m kanchan and discards the 2s.

With the 2s discard, Date calls pon and waits on a 369s wait, only allowed to wait on the former two.

As Matsugase misses with his final draw, it is Hinata’s turn with the haitei. Drawing nothing safe, she has to choose her final discard. With Matsugase throwing two 8s and souths before his riichi and the 6p becoming safe later, the hand seems unlikely to be waiting on a 9p shanpon or chiitoi tanki. Hinata discards the 9p and ends up dealing into the houtei.

Matsugase wins the hand with Riichi/Chiitoi/Houtei/Aka 1 for 8,0000+300. With the hit on second place, he is now in 3rd place and just 2,000 away from moving into 2nd.

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Results

Game 55

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Game 2

Ippatsu

November 1, Game 2, E2-1

In E2-1, Takizawa is in a three-way tie for 2nd place after Ooi called riichi and took the hand to a draw.

Takizawa starts out with a chiitoi 3-shanten hand (4-shanten for a standard hand) with a pair of green dragons. With his flexible shapes, a standard hand seems to be faster despite being a bit farther away. In the first row, he makes a pair of 8s and a triplet of green dragons. By turn 6, he is iishanten and is guaranteed at least an addition han if he stays closed.

Through much of the second row, Takizawa is simply drawing and discarding. In this time, dealer Aki is able to call pon on the 2m and get to tenpai on a 58s ryanmen.

On Takizawa’s draw, he draws the dora 8m to finally get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3m/8s shanpon. On his ippatsu draw, he gets the 8s and wins the hand. Takizawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Green Dragon/Dora 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus one riichi stick, taking the lead.

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Ooi Overwhelms

November 1, Game 2

In E4-1, Ooi is in 2nd place and 11,400 behind 1st place Takizawa. With one riichi stick and a honba on the table, a mangan tsumo would tie him for 1st.

Ooi starts out the hand by drawing the red 5s and getting to 3-shanten. With the pair of easts, he has the ability to call for an open hand if he so chooses. In the first row, Ooi creates a 3p penchan and makes a 678s sequence to get to iishanten. At the start of the second row, he fills in that 3p penchan and calls riichi on an east/5s shanpon. Two turns later, Kobayashi discards the east and deals into Ooi. Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/East/Aka 1 for 5,200+300 plus one riichi stick.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4081

In S1-0, Ooi is now just 4,900 behind the dealer and leader Takizawa.

Ooi starts out with a good 2-shanten hand with a 147s three-sided wait in souzu (with the 4s being the dora) and a disconnected red 5p in pinzu. Drawing a pair of 9s and some stronger shapes elsewhere, Ooi decides on turn 5 that the 5p is more trouble than it’s worth and discards it. By the end of the row, he is at iishanten with the three-sided wait still intact.

At the start of the second row, Ooi shifts his 123p sequence to a 234p sequence, giving him a chance at a 234 sanshoku. On turn 8, he draws the 3m and calls riichi on a 147s ryanmen.

• Winning on the 1s will give him the lowest amount with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1
• Winning on the 7s will give him the medium amount with Riichi/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Dora 1 for mangan minimum
• Winning on the 4s will give him the highest amount with Riichi/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Dora 2 for haneman minimum

Across from him, Takizawa manages to get to one-away on his ippatsu turn, coaxing him to push a little.

At the start of the third row, Takizawa gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 5s/9s shanpon, guaranteed at least 7,700 (plus a riichi stick) if he wins it.

Going into the third row, Ooi still has six of his winning tiles left in the wall. In the middle of the row, Ooi draws the max value 4s and wins it big. Hitting the uradora, Ooi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Dora 2/Ura 1 for a whopping 4,000/8,000 baiman, pushing Ooi above 45,000.

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Aki-Takki Tiebreak

November 1, Game 2, S3-0

In S3-0, Aki and Takizawa are tied for 2nd place, both holding a score of 24,200. Whichever of the wins this hand will have the slight advantage going into all-last.

Aki starts out the hand by discarding the west dora to accept a nice 2-shanten hand with a high chance of waiting on a good wait. For the entire first row, though, Aki is stuck drawing and discarding, stuck with exact same hand as she started with.

On turn 7, she finally makes progress. Drawing a 4s to connect her red 5s, she gets herself to a perfect iishanten. A few draws later, she draws a 3s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen.

Soon after, Kobayashi gets to tenpai as well and calls riichi on a 6p kanchan.

At the end of the second row, Aki draws the 4p and wins the hand. Hitting the uradora, Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000, moving into sole 2nd.

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Results

Game 56

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