Monday (November 11)

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Game 1

Tanyao Time

November 11, Game 1, E2-2

In E2-2, Hisato is the dealer tied for 3rd place, 4,000 behind the 1st place tie.

Hisato starts off with a 3-shanten hand with two connected red fives. In the first row, he connects his simple shapes and eventually gets to iishanten at the end of the row. With a pair of 9p, though, he isn’t able to make the hand much faster.

In the second row, Hisato calls a concealed kan of the 3s to make his single 8p into dora. As Hisato keeps waiting, Daisuke gets himself to tenpai and waits on a 3m penchan.

On Hisato’s draw, he pairs up the 8p dora and shifts to a tanyao. With a 456s chii, Hisato gets to tenpai and waits on a 2p/8p shanpon. The former will give him a mangan, the later will give him a haneman.

At the end of the second row, Daisuke draws the 7p dora, a tile yet to be seen. Because of the danger, he folds. Uchikawa, on the other hand, gets to tenpai right after and calls riichi on a 36p nobetan.

With so much value in hand, Hisato keeps pushing. To avoid the riichi, he does a bit of switching. With a 5p draw, he switches to a 5p/8p shanpon. With a 3p draw, he then switches to a 4p kanchan, a tile already safe against Uchikawa. On Uchikawa’s next turn, he draws and discards the 4p and deals into Hisato. HIsato wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 12,000+600, moving into 1st

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Silent Actor

November 11, Game 1, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2258

In E3-0, Hagiwara is the dealer in 3rd place, 8,100 behind 2nd place Daisuke and 10,300 behind 1st place Hisato.

Hagiwara starts off with a cools 2-shanten hand with a pair of white dragon dora and connected red 5p. The hand a trajectory for an easy mangan and a potenial for a haneman. In the span of four turns, he gets himself to iishanten, still needing to resolve the white dragon dora. On turn 5, he fills in a 5s kanchan and gets to tenpai on a white dragon/5p shanpon, only allowed to win on the white dragon. By not calling riichi, he avoids putting the spotlight on him and makes the white dragon more likely to come out.

At the start of the second row, Daisuke drops the white dragon and deals into Hagiwara. Hagiwara wins with White Dragon/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 12,000, moving him into 1st place.

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Rise of the Demon King

November 11, Game 1, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3591

In S2-0, Hisato is the dealer in 2nd place, 9,000 behind 1st place Hagiwara. The game thus far has flipped between the two of them, but Hisato wants to be on top in the end.

Hisato starts off with a 2-shanten hand with two ryanmens and a connected red 5m. Though Hisato’s hand is nice, Daisuke is also at 2-shanten and has a ryanmen and a pair of souths. By turn 3, Daisuke is already tenpai and waits dama on a 2m tanki. On turn 4, he swithces to a west tanki and calls riichi.

During the ippatsu round, Hisato fills in one of the ryanmen and gets to iishanten. Though he does have a pair of safe 8p, he decides to push a little and discard the green dragon. A turn later, he draws the dora 7p and pushes a dangerous 5s. At the start of the second row, Hisato gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen.

At the end of the second row, Hisato draws the 7m and wins the hand. Hisato wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 4,000 all plus one riichi stick, bringing Hisato above 45,000.

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In S2-1, Hisato has a 3-shanten starting hand, able to go for either pairs or standard. In the first row, Daisuke yet again presents a challenge. With a pon on the 7p and 3m, Daisuke gets to tenpai first and waits on a 9s/green dragon shanpon.

At this point, Hisato has four pairs. To stay a bit safe, he discards a safe 6p. Right after, he is present with another danger as Uchikawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a white dragon/9s shanpon.

Having held onto a few safe tiles, Hisato is able to wait and see where the hand takes him. During the second row, he manages to form an east triplet and get to tenpai on a 3s/4m shanpon. Soon after, Daisuke draws and discards the 3s and deals into Hisato. Hisato wins the hand with East/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 7,700+300 plus two riichi sticks, bringing Hisato up to 56,800.

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Hisato’s starting hand in S2-2 is decent at 3-shanten with a secured dora 3p. With a pair of 1m and no clear way of getting out of it, Hisato just has to see what the wall gives him. The first row makes the 1m into a triplet and fills in a kanchan to get him to iishanten. By the end of the row, he is guaranteed a good wait.

In the middle of the second row, Hisato gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen.

RIght after, Hagiwara gets to tenpai as well and waits dama on a 3s tanki.

After him, Daisuke calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen.

On Daisuke’s ippatsu turn, he ends up drawing and discarding the 9s and deals into Hisato. Hisato wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 5,800+600 plus a riichi stick, pushing HIsato to 64,200.

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Underdog Uchikawa

November 11, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3088

After dealing in three times over the course of the game, Uchikawa finds himself going into S4-0 with a score of -7,400. With 3rd place dealer Daisuke sitting 11,800 ahead of him, Uchikawa needs to win a 3/50 or 4/25 direct hit, a mangan tsumo or a haneman ron to move up in placement.

Uchikawa starts off with a decent starting hand, sitting at 3-shanten for chiitoi (4-shanten for standard) and holding pairs of the green dragon and dora 6s. Over his next two turns, he draws a red 5s and a 4s, giving him a path to mangan. With mangan in sight, Uchikawa leaps at the opportunity to call pon on the green dragon and get to 2-shanten.

In the second row, he calls a 345s chii and breaks an almost-dead penchan. After creating a 1123p shape and calling pon on the 1p, Uchikawa gets to tenpai on a 14p ryanmen. He just needs to draw his winning tile for the comeback. Four remain in the wall.

The wall shortens. With Daisuke still a bit far from thenpai, the game looks like it will end this hand. Somehow, with just four tiles left in the wall, Hagiwara gets to tenpai and waits on a 2s/2p shanpon.

Then, on Uchikawa’s last draw, his last chance at a comeback, he draws the 1p! Uchikawa wins with Green Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000, taking Uchikawa just 200 above Daisuke to get 3rd place.

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Results

Game 65

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Game 2

Shibukawa Start

November 11, Game 2, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3089

In E1-0, Shibukawa is playing in the west seat for the Kadokawa Sakura Knights and is hoping that Uchikawa’s positive momentum from the previous game will rub off on him.

Shibukawa starts out at 3-shanten with a green dragon triplet, a south pair and a loosely connected 6p in hand. In the first few turns, Shibukawa makes a 678s sequence and a 58m ryanmen, getting him to iishanten and setting him up for a 678 sanshoku. To make it happen, he needs to get the 8m and the 7p.

At the start of the second row, Shibukawa gets the 8m to secure sanshoku and waits dama on a 7p kanchan, guaranteed a mangan if he wins. A few turns later, Honda discards the 7p and deals into Shibukawa. Shibukawa wins the hand with Sanshoku/Green Dragon/Dora 1 for 8,000.

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Kana Can

November 11, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2261

In E3-0, Nakada is tied for 2nd place and sit 10,300 behind 1st place dealer Shibukawa.

Nakada has an excellent starting hand at 3-shanten with four ryanmens and a floating east dora. In the first row, she converts one of the ryanmens into a pair and fills in one ryanmen to get to iishanten. On turn 6, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen.

In the third row, Honda discards the 6s trying to take a seven pairs tenpai and deals into Nakada. With the ura flip, Nakada’s 3m pair becomes the uradora to add two more han to her hand. Nakada wins with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 2 for 8,000.

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Atozuke Acquired

November 11, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2262

In S2-0, Honda is the dealer in 4th place, 16,300 behind 3rd place Takamiya. Honda must maintain his dealership to have the best chance at moving up a rank.

Honda starts out with an annoying 5-shanten hand with no clear shape or direction to go in. After getting rid of his stray terminals and honours, he somehow manages to get to iishanten with a 7m penchan and a 69p ryanmen.

To his left 2nd place Nakada is looking to win this hand and move into 1st place. On turn 8, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen. If she wins off the 7s, she will have a mangan.

During the ippatsu round, Honda draws a 9s to give him a chance at a 789s sequence. Sitting at iishanten, he has the possibility of a 789 sanshoku, an opening to open the hand. With the dealership important in moving up, Honda pushes dangerous live tiles. Near the end of the row, Honda calls the 789m chii and waits on a 69p ryanmen, only allowed to win with the 9p.

On Nakada’s next draw, she draws and discards the 9p and deals into Honda. Honda wins the hand with Sanshoku only for 1,500 plus one riichi stick, maintaining the critical dealership.

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Small But Mighty

November 11, Game 2, S4-1

In S4-1, Nakada is in 3rd place and 1,800 behind 2nd place dealer Takamiya. With a honba on the table, Nakada needs any direct hit or tsumo, or a 1/50 or 2/25 ron for 2nd place.

Nakada starts off with a very strong 2-shanten hand with pairs of the double south and red dragon, as well as a west triplet and the ability to accept the 6m dora. In the first row, she calls a 678p and gets to iishanten. In the second row, she calls pon on the red dragon and gets to tenpai on a 69m ryanmen. With the 6m, she can win any way she wants. With the 9m, only a direct hit or tsumo would be enough.

On Nakada’s very next turn, she draws the 9m and wins the hand. Nakada wins the hand with Red Dragon only for 400+100/700+100, letting Nakada get 2nd place by just 800.

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Results

Game 66

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