Monday (November 25)

---

Game 1

Dora Dora Dora Aka Aka

November 25, Game 1, E1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4583

In E1-1, Genta is in a three-way tie for 1st place after being tenpai in the first hand.

Genta starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a dora 3p and a red 5p. In the first row, he scoops up more and more value, shifting to tanyao, drawing a red 5m and a second 3p dora. By the end of the first row, he is 2-shanten with mangan or even haneman in sight.

Early in the second row, both Mizuhara and Date start calling with their honitsu hands, Mizuhara with the manzu and Date with the souzu. As Date discards the 3p, Genta calls pon to advance to iishanten. In the middle of the second row, Date calls a second time and gets to tenpai on a 36s ryanmen.

Back to Genta, he is still iishanten and needing to make sure he doesn’t draw the wrong side of the 69p ryanmen. On his next draw, he makes a 55578p shape, giving him a route to force tanyao in pinzu. Filling in a souzu ryanmen near the end of the second row, Genta gets to tenpai and waits on a 67p wait, guaranteed a haneman if he wins.

Right after, Date switches her wait to a 5s/green dragon, hoping to upgrade to a mangan.

Soon after, Mizuhara discards the 6p trying to keep her manzu honitsu going and deals into Genta. Genta wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 3/Aka 2 for 12,000+300.

---

Genta Going

November 25, Game 1, E2-0

In E2-0, Genta is now the dealer and wants to keep the momentum going after the haneman win.

Genta starts the hand off at 4-shanten with a floating west dora. After starting with just pairs of 2p and 4p, Genta starts to pick up pairs. Through the first row, he pairs up both the 2m and the east to get to 2-shanten. At the start of the second row, he pairs up the 9p to get to iishanten. The west remains in his hand, hoping to bring even more value to the hand.

To his left, Rumi is also picking up pairs, getting to iishanten soon after Genta. In the middle of the second row, she is the first to tenpai and waits on a west tanki. One remains in the wall.

Only Rumi or Genta can get that final west from the wall. Near the end of the second row, Genta draws the last west to get to tenpai and waits dama on a 3m tanki.

In the middle of the third row, Genta draws the 3m and wins the hand. Genta wins with Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 2,000/4,000.

---

Major Mizuhara

November 25, Game 1, E3-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5595

In E3-2, Mizuhara is still trying to recover after dealing into a mangan early in the game. She sits 16,300 behind the 2nd place tie.

Mizuhara starts off the the hand at 3-shanten with multiple potential sequences, but most of them are bad shapes. For value, she does have a 9m dora connected to a 7m, as well as a secured red 5s. In the first row, Mizuhara’s only major progress is filling in a 3m penchan, getting her to 2-shanten. With the time to develop, her opponents have matched her at 2-shanten or beaten her at iishanten.

In the second row, Mizuhara fills in her ryanmen to get to iishanten, but is still left with bad shapes, A bit after, 1st place Genta calls pon on his yakuhai norths and gets to tenpai on a 36p ryanmen.

On Date’s turn, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen.

On one hand, Date is facing off against two players in tenpai. On the other, Date’s riichi stick makes it so that a haneman tsumo will get her into 2nd place. During the ippatsu round, she throws the 7m, leaving the 9m all alone. With the riichi, Genta makes some evasive maneuvers and switches to a 4p/east shanpon. On Mizuhara’s next turn, she pairs up the 9m, getting her back into the game.

At the start of the third row, Mizuhara draws a 3s to convert her 4s and 5s pairs into a 345s sequence and a 36s ryanmen. With her tenpai, she calls riichi, hoping for the 3s for iipeikou. With the riichi from Mizuhara, Genta folds. In the middle of the third row, Mizuhara draws the 6s and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 3,000+200/6,000+200 plus one riichi stick. In one hand, Mizuhra goes from dead last to 2nd place.

---

Furiten

November 25, Game 1, S2-0

In S2-0, Date is in 4th place, 7,400 behind 3rd place Rumi and 7,500 behind 2nd place Mizuhara.

Date starts out with a decent 4-shanten hand with a lot of flexibility to build sequences. By turn 5, she is already iishanten. On her next draw, she increases her hand’s tile acceptance to 9 types.

Despite being quick to develop, 1st place dealer Genta is equally as fast. On turn 7, Genta is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a wide 258p wait.

After drawing some safe tiles during the first few turns, Date goes a bit more safely after drawing a potentially dangerous 7m. She discards the 9p in her hand and reduces her iishanten down to 5 types. On her next draw, she draws an 8p and has no safe tiles. With the 12-type iishanten, Date discards the one-chance 7m. A turn later, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 369p wait. Though she is furiten after discarding the 9p two turns earlier, she has a chance at a 345 sanshoku if she gets the 3p, getting her to a haneman.

After avoiding the ippatsu round, Rumi manages to get to tenpai and waits on a 69p ryanmen.

Two turns after calling riichi, Date draws the 9p, the exact same tile that got her into furiten in the first place, and wins the hand. Date wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Ura 1 for 1,300/2,600. Adding Genta’s riichi stick, Date is now tied with Mizuhara for 2nd place.

---

Close Finale

November 25, Game 1

In S3-0, the scores are extremely tight at the very bottom. Both Date the dealer and Mizuhara are tied in 2nd place with 18,900, while 4th place Rumi is just 100 behind at 18,800. Sitting up top is Genta with a score of 43,400.

Date starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of easts, which she calls pon on before Genta even gets a turn. When we do see Genta’s hand, we see that he is already 2-shanten with a triplet of the south dora and two ryanmens.

With Genta’s first discard, Date makes a second call. On Genta’s next draw, he gets to iishanten and is waiting on 10 different tiles for tenpai. With his next discard, Date calls a third time to get herself to iishanten. The first of the two to get to tenpai is Date, who does so at the start of her second row on a 5p kanchan.

Right after (which happens to be in the middle of Genta’s first row), Genta gets to tenpai. He makes the souths his pair and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen wait.

When Date draws the red 5m, she declares it too dangerous to push and goes back to iishanten. Three turns after Genta calls riichi, he draws the 5s and wins the hand. Genta wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2 for 2,000/4,000. With Date getting hit with the dealer penalty, she moves down to 4th place, pushing Rumi up to 3rd and Mizuhara into sole 2nd.

---

In S4-0, Mizuhara is the final dealer in 2nd place, 100 ahead of 3rd place Rumi and 2,000 ahead of 4th place Date. With the scores so tight, even an exhaustive draw could be the difference between 2nd and 4th.

Mizuhara starts out the hand with a 4-shanten hand and lacks value, but has a bit of potential speed with two ryanmens. On turn 2, she makes a third one to advance to 3-shanten. Through the rest of the row, she ends up making pairs of 6m, 7m and 9m, as well as a triplet of 1m. Though a flush isn’t in the cards, she is set up to be guaranteed a good wait with her two pinzu ryanmens.

Around the table, everyone is looking out for themselves. With a pon on the green dragon and holding onto a 5m dora, Date looks to tie for 2nd at the very least. For Genta, His red dragon pon and two bonus han gives him the power to push Mizuhara into 4th with a direct hit. With Rumi, a pon on the souths gets her to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten.

The first player to get to tenpai is Genta, who calls a 456m chii and waits on a 47s ryanmen.

With a call near the end of the second row, Date calls a chii and gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten as well. Having made the 5m into a pair she has enough to beat Mizuhara.

On Mizuhara’s draw, she gets to tenpai. She has no yaku nor other han for value, but calling riichi would temporarily put her into 3rd place and would put her in an extremely vulnerable position. If she calls riichi, any deal-in would put her into 4th place, any tsumo by her opponents more than 3/30 would be enough to put her in 4th, and any win by Date would put her into 4th.

Still, the best defence is good offence. Taking the big risk, Mizuhara calls riichi and waits on a 47p ryanmen.

Avoiding the riichi, Genta switches to a 3p tanki with none left in the wall. At the start of the third row, Date calls a chii and gets to tenpai on a 36p ryanmen. Any win is enough for 2nd place.

It’s Date’s 2 vs. Mizuhara’s 2. The winner of the hand will take 2nd. Then, in the middle of the third row, Mizuhara draws the 4p and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Tsumo for 1,300 all. Though small, it puts her in a more comfortable 2nd place position.

---

In S4-1, Mizuhara continues to be the dealer, sitting 5,300 ahead of 3rd place Rumi and 7,200 ahead of 4th place Date. Genta remains in 1st place and wants to kill any chance of Mizuhara making a surprise comeback.

Genta starts the hand off at 4-shanten with no easy way to get a yaku. Though, he does have a red 5m double dora that he can use for extra value. In the first row, he hedges both yakuhai and tanyao options to give him a fast open hand, and gets a red 5p to his hand to set him up for mangan. By the end of the first row, he is 2-shanten for tanyao.

In the second row, Genta calls pon on the 2m to get to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten.

To his right, Date is trying her hardest to get to tenpai. With just a Riichi/Tsumo hand, she would escape 4th place. At the start of the second row, she draws a red 5s to get to iishanten. Making an 8p triplet on her very next turn, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s kanchan.

During the ippatsu round, Genta gets to tenpai and waits on a 36p ryanmen. Immediately after, Date draws and discards the 3p and deals into Genta. Genta wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 8,000+300 plus a riichi stick, securing his 1st place.

---

Results

Game 81

---

Game 2

Shortcut to Haneman

November 25, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4584

After a bunch of small hands, the scores are close between the four players, with 1st place and 4th place separated by only 4,000. Sitting in 2nd place is the dealer Takaki, 1,000 behind 1st place Aki.

Takaki starts the hand off at 2-shanten for both chiitoi and a standard hand, holding a pair of green dragon doras for value and a potential yaku. On turn 3, Takaki makes a pair of 6p to put him one-away from tenpai. At the end of the second row, Takaki makes his sixth pair and gets to tenpai on a 1m tanki.

In the meantime, Aki makes two calls, putting a bit of pressure on Takaki. Date gets to tenpai in the second row, though has no yaku. Soon after, Takaki switches his wait and calls riichi on a west tanki.

WIth a wait improvement, Date chases with a 36p ryanmen.

Pushing and trying to be safe against two riichi players, Aki discards the west during the ippatsu round and deals into Takaki. Takaki wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 18,000 plus a riichi stick.

---

Aki

November 25, Game 2, E4-1

In E4-1, Aki is in 4th place after being in 1st place and then dealing into a dealer haneman. The 13,000 gap from 3rd place is big, but any win will shrink it.

Aki starts out the hand at 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a connected dora 5p. In the first row, Aki fills in one of the ryanmens and fills in a kanchan to get to iishanten. In the middle of the second row, Aki makes a triplet of 6m and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen.

At the end of the second row, Aki draws a fourth 6m and calls a concealed kan. With the kandora flip, the 5s in her hand becomes dora. On Aki’s second-last draw, she gets the 6p and wins the hand. Hitting an uradora as well, Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100, shrinking the gap to just 2,600, only 4,600 from 2nd place.

---

Date Drive

November 25, Game 2

In S2-0, Date is in 3rd place, 8,000 behind 2nd place Nakabayashi and 22,000 behind 1st place Takaki. With her dealership gone, she only has three hands to get into 1st place.

Date starts out the hand at 3-shanten, drawing a west dora as her first pick. With all but three tiles being manzu or honours, she can go for a honitsu, just a bit further away at 4-shanten. From her first discard, she breaks the pinzu block, making her intentions clear. In the first row, she fills in a 2m kanchan and makes a triplet of easts to get to 2-shanten. Unfortunately, there is no other secured value in the hand right now.

In the second row, she fills in an 8m kanchan to get to iishanten, still keeping her hand closed. Im the middle of the second row, 4th place dealer Aki challenges the table with a 6m kanchan riichi.

During the ippatsu round, Date pairs up the green dragon to get to tenpai and waits dama on a green dragon/4m shanpon. If she wins with the green dragon, she will have a mangan. Soon after, Aki discards the green dragon and deals into Date. Date wins the hand with Honitsu/Green Dragon for 8,000 plus Aki’s riichi stick, moving her into 2nd place.

---

In S3-0, Date is now 13,000 behind 1st place Takaki. Date starts the hand out at 3-shanten with a pair of souths and draws the red 5m double dora as her first draw. On turn 4, she draws the red 5s to advance to 2-shanten. By the end of the row, she is iishanten and waiting on 7 different types.

With a 456m chii at the start of the second row, Date gets to tenpai on a 36p/south wait. With no yaku secured, she only has specific waits she can win on. With the 6p, she will have a 456 sanshoku. With the south, she will have the south yakuhai. With the 3p, she will have no yaku.

Later in the second row, Takaki calls a chii and discards the south to try to take tenpai, but ends up dealing into Date. Date wins the hand with South/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 8,000. With the direct hit off 1st place, Date moves into 1st place herself.

---

Kei Comeback

November 25, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5596

In S4-0, Nakabayashi is in 3rd place, 6,000 behind 2nd place dealer Takaki and 9,000 behind 1st place Date. To take top spot, Nakabayashi needs a 3/50 direct hit, a mangan tsumo or a haneman ron.

Nakabayashi starts out the hand making a triplet of wests and getting to 3-shanten. Though the west is not a yakuhai, Nakabayashi does have value with a secured red 5s and a dora 7m penchan. In the first row, Nakabayashi fills in his outher shapes, but is still left with the 7m dora penchan. By turn 4, he is iishanten. He switches the shape to a kanchan at the end of the row, but it makes no practical difference.

At the start of the second row, Takaki discards back-to-back 7m, making it harder for Nakabayashi. In the middle of the row, Nakabayashi makes a triplet of 5s and calls riichi on the 7m kanchan. During the ippatsu round, Date draws the 7m, leaving a single 7m in the wall. But Nakabayashi only needs one.

Not to be forgotten, though, is 4th place Aki. Sitting 18,600 behind 3rd place Nakabayashi and 24,600 behind 2nd place dealer Takaki. Keeping her hand closed and drawing only souzu and honours, she sets herself up for a big hand. At the end of the 2nd row, Aki gets to tenpai on an 89s wait. With an 8s tsumo she woudld have a Riichi/Tsumo/Honitsu/Ittsuu/Red Dragon, enough for 2nd place. With the 9s dead, only a single ideal 8s remains.

It’s 1 vs. 1. It’s either 1st or 4th for Nakabayashi. Then, at the start of the second row, Nakabayashi draws the 7m and wins the hand! Nakabayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus Aki’s riichi stick, winning the game.

---

Results

Game 82

---

Intro | Standings