Thursday (November 28)

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Game 1

Classic

November 28, Game 1, E2-0

In E2-0, Takizawa is the dealer in a 2nd place tie, 2,300 behind 1st place Kayamori.

Takizawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a bunch of sequence candidates and a connected red 5p. In the first row, Takizawa shifts his hand towards tanyao and gets rid of all offending tiles on turn 5. By the end of the row, he is 2-shanten with pinfu being likely as well.

On turn 7, Takizawa advances to a perfect iishanten. Two turns later, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins. Near the middle of the third row, Takizawa draws the 2m and wins the hand. Takizawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 4,000 all.

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Ippatsu

November 28, Game 1, E3-1

In E3-1, Kayamori is the dealer in 4th place, 200 behind 3rd place Futoshi, 3,400 behind 2nd place Matsugase and 16,200 behind 1st place Takizawa. A riichi stick and a honba are in the pot.

Kayamori starts out with a strong 3-shanten hand with two ryanmens, leaning towards a sequence-based hand. In the first row, Kayamori is only able to pair up the 8s, advancing to 2-shanten. With a 122m shape, she either has to fill in the 3m penchan or complete a sequence elsewhere to get pinfu.

On turn 7, Kayamori draws a 7s, giving her the potential to make the 2m her pair and the sequence in souzu. On turn 8, she actually fills in the 3m penchan, guaranteeing her pinfu and giving her a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. In the middle of the row, Kayamori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen.

On her very next draw, Kayamori draws the 9s and wins the hand. Hitting the uradora, Kayamori wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Ura 1 for 4,000+100 all plus a riichi stick, instantly bringing her into 1st place.

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Futoshi First

November 28, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2093

In E3-2, Futoshi is in 4th place, 3,200 behind 3rd place Matsugase. With the 2nd place Sega Sammy Phoenix approaching the 1st place Akasaka Drivens, Futoshi wants to make sure to not let the team standings flip.

Futoshi starts out the hand filling in a 7m penchan and advancing to iishanten. Despite being so close, Futoshi has no value other than a floating dora 8s. To try to gain more points, he breaks his iishanten on turn 2, hoping to either use the 8s dora or to get ittsuu. Unfortunately, he doesn’t make any other progress in the first row.

To his right, Matsugase is busy calling, adding some urgency to the hand. With a red dragon and a 9s pon, Matsugase gets to 2-shanten and has a pair of 8s for value.

In the middle of the second row, Futoshi draws a 6m, putting him just a 1m and 4m away from an ittsuu. He also has the choice to go for a 678 sanshoku, needing a 6s and 7s.

Approaching the end of the second row, Futoshi draws a 6m, a dangerous tile against Matsugase. To avoid it, he breaks his ittsuu chance and discards the safe 3m. On his very next turn, he draws the 4m. It hurts, but it does put him back into iishanten.

In the third row, Matsugase is the first to tenpai and waits on a 47p ryanmen.

On Futoshi’s next turn, he draws a 7s to get to tenpai. With the prospect of a big hand, Futoshi stays dama. Since all of the 9s are visible, only the ideal 6s is left, in line for a mangan on ron, a haneman on tsumo.

On Futoshi’s last draw, he gets the 6s and wins the hand. Futoshi wins the hand with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Sanshoku/Dora 1 for 3,000+200/6,000+200, actually moving Futoshi into 2nd place.

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In E4-0, Futoshi is now the dealer in 2nd place, just 200 away from 1st place Takizawa. Any win will put him on top.

Futoshi starts off the hand drawing the 2p dora, putting him 3-shanten with four ryanmens. The hand screams pinfu. Easily, Futoshi gets to iishanten by turn 5. However, everyone else is iishanten as well before the end of the first row.

At the start of the second row, Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen. Just two turns later, before any of his opponents have a chance to chase, Futoshig gets the 8m and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 2,600 all.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2094

In E4-1, Futoshi starts out at 4-shanten with a connected red 5s and a 9m dora. In his first few turns, he draws a second 9m, then a third one, making a triplet, getting him to 3-shanten with mangan basically guaranteed. Through the rest of the row, he draws a red 5p and builds around the pinzu. By the end of the row, he is iishanten for a haneman.

At the start of the second row, Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a cool 568p wait. A few turns later, Futoshi draws the 6p and wins the hand. Futoshi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 3/Aka 2 for a big 6,000+100 all dealer haneman, bringing Futoshi up to 54,600.

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Takki Time

November 28, Game 1

In E4-2, Takizawa is in 2nd place and wants to stop the driving Futoshi.

Takizawa starts out the hand 3-shanten with pairs of the west yakuhai and the south dora yakuhai. On turn 2, he draws a red 5m to create a 36m ryanmen. With a pon of the west soon after, Takizawa gets to iishanten.

At the start of the second row, Takizawa calls a 456m chii and gets to tenpai on an 8s/south shanpon. Kayamori also gets to tenpai, but has no yaku with her 7s kanchan wait. A turn later, Kayamori discards the 8s trying to take a 36s nobetan, but ends up dealing into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with West/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000.

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Jumping to S1-1, Takizawa is looking to close the gap even more and take the 1,300 in bonuses on the table.

Takizawa start out with a decent 3-shanten hand with three ryanmen shapes. He has a 1m dora, but it sits alone. In the first row he is able to pair up the 1m dora and give himself some decent value. Building another ryanmen, Takizawa gets to pinfu 2-shanten at the end of the first row.

As Takizawa for the wall to give him what he wants, Futoshi gets to tenpai first and waits on a 58p ryanmen.

In the middle of the row, Takizawa fills in two of the ryanmens and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen. Drawing a dora 1m during the ippatsu round, Futoshi is forced to fold. At the end of the row, 4th place dealer Matsugase draws and discards the 4m trying to keep his iishanten and deals into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 2 for 8,000+300 plus a riichi stick.

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Chiitoi Killer Kayamori

November 28, Game 1, S3-1

In S3-1, Kayamori is the dealer in 3rd place, quite a ways away from the top two. With the dealership, he has a chance to make progress.

Kayamori starts out the hand 3-shanten with a pair of souths for a potential yaku and a red 5p for possible value. In the first row, Kayamori calls pon on the south and draws a bunch of souzu, giving her a potential route to honitsu. With a 789s chii and discarding the red 5p, Kayamori gets to iishanten.

In the second row, Kayamori gets to tenpai and waits on an east tanki. However, Futoshi has a triplet of easts, making the easts dead…

…unless Futoshi goes for seven pairs. Two turns after Kayamori gets to tenpai, Futoshi draws a pair of 8s, his fifth pair. Futoshi discards the east trying to take the widest iishanten and ends up dealing into Kayamori.

Kayamori wins the hand with Honitsu/South for 7,700+300 (initially mistaken as 5,800+300).

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Fight Club Fight

November 28, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3597

In S4-0, Takizawa is in 2nd place and 8,900 behind 1st place Futoshi. To finish in 1st place, Takizawa needs a 3/40 direct hit, a 3/50 or 4/25 tsumo, or a haneman ron.

Takizawa starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a secured red 5m and tanyao likely. If he can add riichi and tsumo to it, he will have enough for 1st place. The first row fills in both a 7s kanchan and a 3s kanchan. By the end of the row, he is iishanten and waiting on 12 different tiles for tenpai.

At the start of the second row, Futoshi is actually the first to tenpai and waits on a 58p ryanmen.

Soon after, Takizawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 258s wait. With the 2s, he will have iipeikou. With the 8s, he will have pinfu. WIth the 5s, he will have both.

During ippatsu round, Futoshi draws the 5s. After taking some time to think, Futoshi ends up discarding it and deals into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 12,000, finishing the game in 1st place.

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Results

Game 85

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Game 2

Katsu

November 28, Game 2, E1-0

In E1-0, Katsumata is playing for the EX Furinkazan, hoping to recover the points lost by Matsugase in his tough loss the previous game.

Katsumat starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a route to tanyao. He does have a lone 9m dora, but it doesn’t combine with the yaku. In the first row, he fills in a 3p kanchan and draws an 8m as a potential dora route. On turn 5, he switches to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten, giving up on the dora for the better tanyao wait. On his net draw, he gets to tenpai and clals riichi on a 36m ryanmen.

Two turns later, Katsumata draws the 6m and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000.

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Wide Wait

November 28, Game 2, E4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4585

In E4-2, Takaki is the dealer and tied for 2nd place, 7,000 behind 1st place Katsumata. Two riichi sticks and two honba are in the pot.

Takaki starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a complex souzu shape. If he keeps it as-is, he will have a 3689s 4-sided wait waiting for him when he reaches tenpai. On turn 3, he fills in a manzu ryanmen, leaving a 2p kanchan and the souzu shape for his iishanten. On turn 4, he switches the kanchan for a 25m ryanmen, guaranteeing him a good wait however he gets to tenpai.

In the middle of the second row, Takaki finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on the 3689s wait. Eight remain in the wall.

During the ippatsu round, Hisato chases with an 8m kanchan.

Though Hisato is trying to challenge Takaki, nothing can match the speed of a 4-sided wait. On Takaki’s ippatsu draw, he gets the 6s and wins the hand. With the 6s also being the uradora, Takaki wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Ura 2 for 6,000+200 all plus three riichi, taking Takaki into 1st place with 45,100, almost what he started the hand with.

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Takaki vs. Taro

November 28, Game 2, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4586

In S3-0 Takaki is far in the lead in 1st place, while Taro is in 3rd place, 12,700 behind 2nd place dealer Katsumata.

From the start, Takaki already has a triplet of the 5p dora, including the red 5p. Though he does sit far away at 4-shanten with no easy path to tenpai, he will be guaranteed at least a mangan if he gets there.

Taro is also at 4-shanten, but his waits are much better. In the first row, he cleans up the shapes and gets to 2-shanten by turn 4, guaranteed a good wait however he gets to tenpai. For Takaki, he starts to form some simple sequences, but holds onto a few stray honours for safety. By the end of the first row, he is 3-shanten.

In the second row, Takaki starts to draw more simple tiles, shifting him towards tanyao. In the middle of the second row, Taro gets to tenpai. He calls riichi and discards the 5p dora, waiting on a 58s ryanmen.

With the 5p call, Takaki gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten for a guaranteed haneman. With a chii in the third row, he gets to tenpai and waits on a 47p ryanmen. Two turns later, Taro draws and discards the 7p and deals into Takaki. Takaki wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 4/Aka 1 for 12,000 plus Taro’s riichi stick, getting Takaki above 60,000.

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Results

Game 86

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