Monday (November 4)

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Game 1

Ippatsu

November 4, Game 1, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2084

In E2-0, Asami is the dealer in 1st place, looking to extend her 5,000 lead.

WIth Asami’s first draw, she is already 2-shanten with a secured red 5m. With her second draw, she pairs up the easts and gets to iishanten.

Things are looking good for Asami, but the same can be said about Mizuhara’s hand. By turn 2, she iishanten as well. At the end of the first row, she is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen.

Holding a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten and being the dealer, Asami simply keeps going. In the middle of the second row, she completes a 567s iipeikou and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen. On her very next draw, she gets the 8s and wins the hand. Asami wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 4,000 all plus Mizuhara’s riichi stick, moving Asami above 40,000.

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Mizuhara

November 4, Game 1, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5589

In E2-1, Mizuhara is tied for 4th place after she failed to end Asami’s dealership.

Mizuhara’s starts out with a strong 2-shanten with two ryanmens, including a dora 4s connected to a red 5s. On turn 2, she draws a 6s to create a 369s three-sided wait and get to iishanten. On turn 5, she draws the red 5p and calls riichi on the three sided wait. With a win off the 3s or 6s, she will have a haneman.

Just two turns later, Mizuhara draws the 6s and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 3,000+100/6,000+100, bringing her up to 2nd place and just 4,600 from 1st.

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Aka-San

November 4, Game 1, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5590

In S3-1, Mizuhara is in 2nd place and has cut down 1st place Asami’s lead to just 700. Any win will be enough to move into 1st, with the riichi stick and a honba on the table giving a little extra.

Mizuhara starts out the hand at 3-shanten with the red 5m and the red 5p. Though she does have the dora 9m, the hand is leaning more towards tanyao. After completing a pinzu sequence and a 5s pair, Mizuhara gets to iishanten, still holding the floating red 5m. On turn 5, she draw a 6m to connect the red 5m and gets rid of the 9m to go for tanyao.

For the second, row, Mizuhara isn’t given much to work with. Instead, Asami is given tiles to call and gets herself to iishanten.

At the start of the third row, Mizuhara is able to call pon on the red 5s from Asami and get to tenpai on a 47m ryanmen. A few turns later, Mizuhara draws the 4m and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with Tanyao/Aka 3 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus a riichi stick, going into the last hand with a 10,700 lead.

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Looking To Advance

November 4, Game 1, S4-0

In S4-0, 2nd place Asami is 10,700 behind 1st place dealer Mizuhara. WIth a 3/50 direct hit, a mangan tsumo or a haneman ron, she can take 1st place.

At the bottom, only 500 separates 3rd place Honda and 4th place Okada. Whichever of the two wins this hand will take 3rd place. Even tenpai payments can make the difference.

From the start, Okada is 2-shanten for seven pairs (3-shanten for a standard hand) with pairs of east, west, 7p and 9p. With the honours and pinzu, she could also go for a honitsu. Indeed, Okada calls pon on the east as quickly as it comes out to pursue it.

Looking at the other competitors, Asami is 3-shanten with a triplet of green dragons and Honda is 4-shanten.

Okada keeps going with her quick hand, calling pon the west and a 234 chii as well. Before the row is even done, she is tenpai on a 7p/9p shanpon for mangan minimum.

With Mizuhara far enough ahead, she tries to feed Okada her winning tiles, but none of them match. For Asami and Honda, they have to tread carefully, This is especially true for Honda, who has a 7899p shape in his hand and can’t afford to be noten. With every pinzu draw Honda gets, he takes the time to analyze the possibilities and determine what is likely to be safest. At the start of the second row, he takes a slightly narrower iishanten so that he doesn’t discard the 9p.

For Asami, she is still 2-shanten, but has a yaku in hand and a few ryanmens. WIth a chii on the red 5s for a 567s sequence, she gears herself up for a 567 sanshoku. Calling a 567m chii involving the red 5m soon after, Asami gets to tenpai and waits on a 58p ryanmen. In order for her to get the mangan tsumo, she needs to draw the 5p herself. WIth the 8p stuck in hands and discards, only the three 5p remain in the wall. If she can get one, she will win.

In the third row, Honda is left with a tough decision. With the six different tiles that he can discard to maintain iishanten, four of them are winning tiles. After taking almost two minutes to decide how to go about the hand, he discards the 5p, Asami’s winning tile.

But Asami doesn’t call ron! There is no victory in 2nd place. With no way to fall out of 2nd and a big bonus if she can get into 1st, she takes the big risk and passes.

With Honda being spared, he now has a chance to be tenpai. When Asami discards the 6p with only six tiles left in the wall, Honda calls chii, discards the green dragon and gets to a yakuless 4p/9p shanpon.

With the green dragon discard, Asami calls an open kan. If she can win on the rinshan, whether the 5p or the 8p, she will win.

Unfortunately, she draws the 5m instead and is left without.

On Asami’s last draw, she gets the west and her pursuit for 1st is over. The hand ends in a draw with everyone but dealer Mizuhara in tenpai. With both Honda and Okada both tenpai, 3rd place Honda is able to maintain his position and finish just ahead of Okada.

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Results

Game 57

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Game 2

Ippatsu

November 4, Game 2, E1-0

In E1-0, Hori is playing for the Kadokawa Sakura Knights and trying to recover some points after Okada’s loss the previous game.

Hori starts out the hand with three completed blocks to put him 2-shanten. In the first row, he shifts his hand towards tanyao. Across from him, the dealer Sonoda also goes for tanyao and gets to iishanten.

In the second row, it is Hagiwara’s turn to make progress. With a pon on the red dragon and making a triplet of easts, Hagiwara is the first to tenpai and waits on a 36p ryanmen.

A few turns later, Sonoda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen.

By this point, Hori is iishanten and waiting on eight different tiles for tenpai. At the end of the second row, Hori pairs up the 9m and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen. On his very next draw, he gets the 4p and wins the hand. Hori wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus Sonoda’s riichi stick.

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Ippatsu

November 4, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3087

In E2-0, Hori looks to extend his lead. He starts with pairs of 2m, 1s, 9p and the dora easts, putting him 2-shanten from chiitoi. On turn 3, he pairs up the white dragon to get to one away. On his next draw, he pairs up the 4m and gets to tenpai on a 5p tanki (holding the red 5p).

On turn 5, he draws an 8p and has the perfect trap in mind. He calls riichi and discards the red 5p waiting on the 8p. From an outsider’s point of view, having Hori wait on the 8p after discarding both the 7p and red 5p seems inconceivable, making it the perfect trap.

During the ippatsu round, Sonoda discards the 8p and deals into Hori. Hori wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 12,000, bringing Hori up to 46,000.

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Yu Ura

November 4, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5591

In E3-0, Yu is tied with Hagiwara for 2nd place with 23,000. In order to catch up to 1st place dealer Hori, he would need to double his score.

Yu’s starting hand is nothing to write home about, sitting at 5-shanten with only a connected red 5m for value. Through the first row, however, Yu makes a lot of progress. Drawing the red 5p and making it part of a triplet, creating a pair of 2s and forming a souzu sequence, Yu gets to iishanten on his sixth discard.

On Yu’s next draw, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1p/2s shanpon. Discarding the 4p as his riichi tile, he has the suji trap set up. A few turns later, 1st place Hori discards the 1p and deals into Yu. With the uradora flip, Yu’s 5p triplet becomes the uradora and doubles his hand’s han value. Yu wins with Riichi/Aka 2/Ura 3 for 12,000, letting Yu overtake Hori by 1,000.

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Ippatsu

November 4, Game 2, S1-1

In S1-1, Yu is still in 1st place, but Hori remains within striking distance. A riichi stick and a honba are on the table.

Yu starts out the hand at 4-shanten, holding secured red 5p for value. Quickly, Hori challenges and gets to work on taking the points. With a 123m and 123p chii, Hori gets to tenpai in the middle of the first row on a white dragon/8m shanpon. With no other yaku, Hori is only allowed to win with the white.

Back to Yu, he is starting to build better shapes. By his next draw, he is 2-shanten with a guaranteed good wait. At the end of his first row, he advances to iishanten with a chance at a 345 sanshoku (needing both a 3m and a 3s).

As play continues, Yu starts to become a bit more wary. Wanting to hold a safe tile, Yu discards the 3p, choosing not to hedge both the 345 and 456 sanshoku to instead be more efficient and have a safe tile. On his next draw, Yu draws the 3s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen. On his ippatsu draw, Yu gets the 3m and wins the hand. Yu wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 2,000+1004,000+100 plus the riichi stick.

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Ippatsu

November 4, Game 2, S2-0

In S2-0, Hagiwara is in 3rd place and 11,000 behind 2nd place Hori.

Hagiwara starts out the hand 4-shanten with two ryanmens. Through the first row, he leans towards both tanyao and pinfu and gets to a perfect iishanten on turn 4.

As Hagiwara waits, Hori continues his pursuit to reclaim 1st place. On turn 8, Hori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a green dragon/7s shanpon.

After avoiding the ippatsu round, Hagiwara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen. On Hagiwara’s ippatsu round, Hori draws and discards the 2p and deals into Hagiwara. Hagiwara wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Tanyao for 8,000 plus Hori’s riichi stick, moving into 2nd place.

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Ippatsu

November 4, Game 2, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5080

After going to a draw in S3-0, Hagiwara continues his advancement in S3-1, needing to close a 17,400 gap between him and Yu. A riichi stick and a honba sit on the table.

Hagiwara starts off with a 3-shanten hand with a floating red 5s and a dora 8p. The first four draws get Hagiwara to iishanten, but they don’t give him anything to connect the valule tiles. As a result, he chooses to discard the dora 8p for efficiency.

As Hagiwara looks for the final piece for tenpai, Sonoda makes some advancements. In the first row, he fills in a penchan and pairs up the 4p. At the start of the second row, he draws the dora 8p and calls riichi on a 7p penchan.

On Hagiwara’s draw, he gets a 6s to connect to the red 5s and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen. On his next draw, he gets the 4s and wins the hand. With the 4s also being the uradora, Hagiwara wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus two riichi sticks.

With that, Hagiwara now has 40,700, the exact same score as Yu.

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Tie

November 4, Game 2, S4-0

In S4-0, both Yu and dealer Hagiwara have a score of 40,700, meaning that they are tied for 1st place. If Sonoda hits Hori with a ron, or vice versa, the game will finish with the two of them tied. If Sonoda or Hori win by tsumo, Hagiwara will be hit with the dealer penalty and fall below Yu.

From the start, Hori is the closes to tenpai at 2-shanten. Holding a pair of green dragons, he also has a route for a quick open (though it is his only pair). On turn 2, he fills in a kanchan to get to iishanten. Across the table, Sonoda has two calls and gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. Back to Hori, a pon of the green dragon gets Hori to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten as well.

At the end of the first row, Hori is the first to tenpai and waits on a 14m ryanmen. On Sonoda’s turn, he draws and discards the 1m and deals into Hori for Green Dragon/Dora 2 for 2,000.

With that, Yu and Hagiwara tie for 1st place, the first 1st place tie since May 3, 2023 when Date and Okada tied for 1st. The lights in the back ground start out blue, then change to yellow. In the post-game interview, both players get their time in the spotlight (along with 4th place Sonoda).

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Results

Game 58

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Intro | Standings