Friday (November 15)

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Game 1

Super Shingo

November 15, Game 1, E2-4
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3090

In E2-4, Hori is the dealer in 1st place after a series of small wins and hands going to a draw. Four honba and a riichi stick are in the pot.

Hori starts out the hand with a very strong 2-shanten hand with two 2m dora and a pair of easts. When the east comes out, Hori instantly calls pon to get to a mangan iishanten.

Out to challenge the wrath of Hori is 3rd place Shiratori. With a green dragon pon and completing a sequence in the first row, Shiratori is the first to tenpai and waits on a 47p ryanmen.

With Shiratori’s discard, Hori calls a 234m chii and waits on a 69p ryanmen.

The two of them exchange draws and discards, hoping to hit but continuing to miss. When Shiratori draws the fourth green dragon, he calls kan and makes the 6m the new dora. It boosts Shiratori’s hand by a han, but Hori’s hand by two.

Then, In the second row, Shiratori draws and discards the 6p and deals into Hori. Hori wins the hand with Double East/Dora 4 for 18,000+1,200 plus a riichi stick, taking Hori’s score up to 59,100 and Shiratori into the negatives.

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Genta Get

November 15, Game 1, S3-0

In S3-0, Genta is in 3rd place and 8,700 behind 2nd place dealer Yu.

Genta starts out the hand with a very good 2-shanten with a triplet of green dragons. On turn 2, he gets himself to a perfect iishanten, needing a 25689s9m to get to tenpai. At the start of the second row, Genta draws an 8s and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen.

Across from him, 1st place Hori (who has very little chance of falling out of 1st place) is iishanten with a secured red 5p and a pair of souths. After avoiding the ippatsu with a safe 3m draw, Hori draws a third south on his next turn and gets to tenpai on an 8s kanchan. On his next turn, he improves the wait to a 58s ryanmen.

With the 5s wait overlapping, the discarder will determine who will win. If Yu discards it, then Genta will win. If Shiratori discards it, Hori will win.

Near the end of the second row, Yu calls pon on the east and discards the 5s trying to gake tenpai.

At the same time, Hori and Genta call pon but Genta is the only one allowed to win. Genta wins with Riichi/Green Dragon for 3,200.

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Results

Game 71

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Game 2

Hot Dama

November 15, Game 2, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5593

In E1-0, Nakabayashi is playing for the U-Next Pirates is trying end the week on a high note.

Nakabayshi starts out the hand 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a secured dora 7p. With only a few honours and terminals, Nakabayashi easily shifts his hand towards tanyao in the first row. At the end of the row, he secures a red 5p and gets to iishanten.

At the start of the second row, Matsumoto calls a concealed kan on the 3s to try to get his wide iishanten to tenpai, but ends up making the 3p the new dora and giving Nakabayashi two more han. Right after, Hori completes an iipeikou and waits dama on a 2p kanchan. Unfortunately, none remain in the wall.

Over the next two turns, Nakabayashi draws a pair of 8p to get himself to iishanten. A turn after that, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai and stays dama on a very wide 2345p wait, the ideal draw being the 5p since it gives both pinfu and iipeikou. Sure enough, near the start of the third row, Nakabayashi draws the 5p himself and wins the hand. Nakabayashi wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 3/Aka 1 for a big 4,000/8,000 baiman.

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Kei Continues

November 15, Game 2

In E2-0, Nakabayashi is in 1st place after the big baiman and is looking to go even further with his dealership.

Nakabayashi starts out with a with a 2-shanten hand and a dora 1s already secured. On turn 2, he fills in a 7s kanchan to get to iishanten. With a 7m kanchan fill on turn 3, Nakabayashi is already tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen.

On turn 8, Nakabayashi draws the 4m and wins the hand. Nakabayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 2,600 all, bringing him up to 48,800.

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In E2-1, Nakabayashi starts off by filling in an 8s kanchan to get to 4-shanten. The tiles come cleanly for Nakabayashi in the first row, from the manzu sequences to the red 5s connecting to the dora 3s. By the end of the first row, he is iishanten.

Unfortunately, the second row mainly keeps Nakabayashi in place. In the meantime, Takaki advances his tanyao hand with good progress. WIth a 234s chii in the middle of the second row, he is the first to tenpai and waits on a 47p ryanmen.

After much waiting, Nakabayashi finally gets to tenpai at the end of the second row and calls riichi on a 3p kanchan. One remains in the wall.

With Nakabayashi’s riichi tile, Matsumoto calls chii and gets to tenpai on a 58m ryanmen.

At the start of the second row, Matsumoto exchanges his 3p for a 6p and ends up dealing into Nakabayashi. Hitting the uradora, Nakabayashi wins with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 12,000+300. With the win, Nakabayashi is now at 61,100 within the first quarter of the game.

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Ura Bomb

November 15, Game 2, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4083

In S1-0, Matsumoto is in 4th place and 11,100 behind 3rd place Hori.

At the start, Matsumoto is 3-shanten, but lacking in value besides a dora 7p acceptance. To his right, Hori has a clear souzu honitsu hand is is aggressively pursuing it. Within the first few turns, Hori calls both the yakuhai north and green dragon to get to iishanten. With an 8s draw before the row ends, Hori gets to tenpai and waits on a 2s kanchan.

Back with Matsumoto, he has successfully draw and secured the 7p and gotten himself to iishanten. Still, he doesn’t have any good shapes in his hand. In an attempt to improve the wait and value of the hand, Matsumoto chooses to go back a step and try to regroup. In that time, he builds around manzu, but still lacks value as he re-enters iishanten.

In the third row, Matsumoto shifts his 789p sequence to a 678p sequence, giving him tanyao. Right after, Hori draws a fourth north and calls a concealed kan. Though the kandora helps neither him nor Matsumoto immediately, it gives another chance at uradora if Matsumoto calls riichi. On Matsumoto’s next turn, he does exactly that as he makes a 2s triplet and waits on a 3m kanchan.

With Matsumoto’s riichi tile, Hori calls chii to improve his wait to a 58s ryanmen. But, on Hori’s next turn, he draws and discards the 3m and deals into Matsumoto. With the uradora flip, both his 2s triplet and the 4m in his hand become uradora, more than doubling his hand’s value. Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Tanyao/Dora 1/Ura 4 for 12,000, a big direct hit off his rival.

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Kei Takame

November 15, Game 2, S2-0

In S2-0, Nakabayashi is the dealer again. 58,300 is a good score, but when there’s a chance to get more, it’s never enough.

Nakabayashi starts out the hand at a distant 5-shanten with a mess of stray honours and terminals. After dedicating the first row to getting rid of most of them, he miraculously gets to iishanten with a secured red 5m. Much of the progress is in manzu with a 123m sequence, a 456m sequence and a pair of 7m.

At the start of the second row, Nakabayashi fills in a ryanmen and gets to a yakuless 7m/3p shanpon tenpai. His hand has many ways to improve, including the potential for a manzu ittsuu. On turn 8, he draws an 8m and calls riichi on a wide 369m wait. If he wins on the 9m, he will have ittsuu.

Just a few turns later, Takaki discards the ideal 9m and deals into Nakabayashi. Nakabayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Ittsuu/Aka 1 for 12,000, taking Nakabayashi above 70,000.

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Skip And Hit

November 15, Game 2, S3-0

In S3-0, Hori is in 4th place and 2,600 behind 1st place.

Hori starts out the hand with pairs of 4s, north, west and 4m, putting him 2-shanten for seven pairs. If he wants to go for the standard route. Through the first row, Hori passes on the west even as he makes a triplet of 4m. On turn 5, he pairs up the 2p, putting him 1-away from seven pairs. He passes on the north right after to continue his pursuit for pairs. But, on Hori’s next draw, he makes his wests into a triplet, putting him just one away from toitoi and a potential suuankou.

At the start of the second row, the final north comes out. With suuankou unlikely with a dead pair, Hori decides to call pon and get to tenpai on a 4s/2p shanpon. There is still hope for more value, though. If he manages to draw either of them himself, he will add sanankou and get a mangan.

As the turns keep going, everyone keeps pushing their hand. In the middle of the second row, Matsumoto discards the 2p, trying to avoid what looks like a souzu honitsu from Hori.

But, Hori does not call ron! With just the toitoi, it would only be worth 2,600, tying him with Takaki. With Hori having the last dealership, he would be at a disadvantage because any tsumo by his opponents would put him in 4th place. With still some time left, Hori can afford to wait. If he draws a winning tile, he would move into 2nd. If the hand goes to a draw and Takaki is noten, the would actually gain more points and end up sole 3rd.

Right after Hori discards (and cancelling the furiten), Takaki draws and discards the 2p. Because it’s the last 2p and a direct hit off a rival, Hori calls ron and wins the hand.

Hori wins with Toitoi only for 2,600, moving into 3rd place.

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Results

Game 72

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