Friday (December 13)

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Game 1

Takizawa Top

December 13, Game 1, E1-1

In E1-0, Takizawa is in 2nd place and sitting 1,000 behind 1st place dealer Genta. 1,300 in bonuses are in the pot.

Takizawa starts out the hand with four pairs in hand, including a pair of 7p dora. To his right, Genta is 2-shanten with relatively flexible shapes. Very quickly, Genta moves his hand forward. On turn 3, Genta is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2p kanchan.

SInce it is still early in the hand, Takizawa still has Decent folding fodder. As the first row turns into the second row, Takizawa draws a third 7p and puts him iishanten. With a bit of pushing and patience, Takizawa gets to tenpai at the end of the second row and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen.

During the ippatsu round, Genta draws and discards the 8s and deals into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Dora 3 for 8,000+300 plus two riichi stick.

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Genta Revenge

December 13, Game 1, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4588

In E2-0, Genta is in 4th place after dealing into a mangan and losing his dealership. 2nd place sits 6,300 ahead of him.

Genta starts off with a fairly messy 4-shanten hand with a pair of wests and a 7p penchan slowing him down. To his left and right, his opponents seem to have much better hands. During the first row, Genta is only able to take one step forward while both Takizawa and Nakabayashi get to iishanten.

At the start of the second row, Takizawa is the first to tenpai and waits dama on a 2s/6p shanpon. None remain in the wall, but he does have multiple upgrade options.

A few turns later, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen, guaranteed at least a dealer mangan if he wins.

During the ippatsu round, Takizawa gets his ideal upgrade and calls riichi on a 258p three-sided wait.

Trying to stay safe against the riichi players, Genta starts to break his west pair. As he does this, his hand shifts to tanyao and he manages to get to tenpai at the end of the second row, waiting on an 8m/2s shanpon. With a bit more shifting, Genta moves from the shanpon to a 7m kanchan to a 147m three-sided wait. With the good wait, Genta calls riichi.

On Genta’s very next draw, he gets the 7m and wins the hand. Hitting the uradora, Genta wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000 plus two riichi sticks, putting Genta just 600 from the top.

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Nakabayashi Next

December 13, Game 1, E3-1

In E3-1, Nakabayashi is in 4th place and 5,500 behind 3rd place dealer Matsumoto. If Nakabayashi can get a mangan direct hit off Genta or Takizawa, it would move him into 2nd place.

Nakabayashi starts out the hand at 4-shanten, but has two ryanmens for speed and a connected red 5p for value. Nakabayashi does decently to advance in his first few turns, making a 123p sequence and creating a 556p shape, but his opponents are faster. Before the first row is done, 1st place Takizawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p kanchan.

During Takizawa’s ippatsu round, Nakabayashi advances to iishanten and waits on 10 different tiles for tenpai. In the middle of the second row, Nakabayashi finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen. With Takizawa out of winning tiles, there are no more worries for Pirates fans.

During Nakabayashi’s ippatsu round, Takizawa draws and discards the 4s and deals into Nakabayashi. Nakabayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 8,000+300 plus a riichi stick, moving Nakabayashi into 2nd place.

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Matsumoto Motion

December 13, Game 1, E4-0

In E4-0, Matsumoto is in 4th place, but the entire table is very close. With a simple mangan, Matsumoto can move into 1st place.

With Matsumoto’s very first draw, he gets to iishanten and waits on 7 different tiles for tenpai. On turns 2 and 3, Matsumoto draws green dragons to form a pair. Sitting tenpai, he calls riichi and waits on a 9/green dragon shanpon. Immediately after, Takizawa discards the green dragon and deals into Matsumoto. Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Green Dragon/Aka 1 for 8,000. The hand happened so fast that the table just finished shuffling by the time Matsumoto won.

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Genta Goes

December 13, Game 1, S1-0

In S1-0, Genta is the dealer and just 300 behind 1s place Matsumoto.

Genta starts out the hand at 3-shanten with at least one 2m dora secured. The first row gives Genta a few block options, but most of them lead to a closed hand. On turn 5, Genta gets to iishanten with the potential for a 369m three-sided wait (though it would require sacrificing the extra 2m). At the end of the row, Genta draws the 6m and calls riichi on a 2p/8p shanpon.

During the ippatsu round, 1st place Matsumoto discards the 8p and deals into Genta. Genta wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Dora 1 for 7,700, moving into the lead.

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Suuankou Tanki, West Tanki

December 13, Game 1, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4589

In S1-1, Genta is in the lead and has a chance to make it even greater with his dealership.

Genta starts out the hand at 4-shanten with four 9p, but chooses to immediately discard one to maintain efficiency. In the first row, he makes a triplet of 5p (including the red 5p), as well as pairs of 8m and 6p. If he makes one of them into a triplet, then he will be tenpai with the ability to upgrade to a potential suuankou tanki.

On turn 10, Genta draws a third 8m to get sanankou and stays dama on a 58s ryanmen. If he can get the 6p, he will be tenpai for a yakuman.

Looking around the table, both Takizawa and Nakabayashi are at iishanten. After making some shifts to connect the lone red 5m, Takizawa gets to tenpai at the end of the row and calls riichi on a 4m kanchan.

After drawing the unseen green dragon during the ippatsu round, Genta takes a step back and breaks his ryanmen.

Within a few turns, Nakabayashi gets to seven pairs tenpai and waits on a 9m tanki.

Not to be forgotten, Matsumoto gets to tenpai with an expensive honitsu hand and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.

With the green dragon being Matsumoto’s riichi tile, Genta now has the freedom to discard it. On Genta’s very last draw, he draws a third 6p. Discarding the 7p, Genta gets to a suuankou tanki tenpai on the west (à la Kurosawa), though no wests remain in the wall.

With Nakabayashi drawing and discarding the 7p on the last turn, the hand goes to a draw with all players in tenpai.

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Yes Yoshihiro

December 13, Game 1, S1-2

In S1-2, Matsumoto is in 3rd place and 4,500 behind 2nd place Nakabayashi. 2 riichi sticks and 2 honba are in the pot.

From the start, Matsumoto is 3-shanten from seven pairs (4-shanten from a standard hand) with a pair of green dragon doras. Though the first row doesn’t give him a third green dragon, he develops his other shapes and gets to iishanten on turn 4.

Through the rest of the first row and into the second he makes adjustments to imptove the shape. After draws a red 5s and creating a 567s sequence, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a green dragon/9s shanpon. At the end of the second row, Nakabayashi discards the 9s trying to improve his shape and value and deals into Matsumoto. Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 2/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 8,000+600 plus two riichi sticks,

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Results

Game 103

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Game 2

Takaki Time

December 13, Game 2, E1-2

In E1-2, Takaki is tied for 3rd place and 3,500 behind 1st place Shiratori. With 2,600 in bonuses in the pot, any win will put him on top.

Takaki starts out the hand at 3-shanten, but doesn’t have anything too compelling in his hand. Hisato and Yu, on the other hand, have much better shapes at 3-shanten. In the first row, Takaki cleans up his hand quite a bit and gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten on turn 5, but the red dragon pair ruins pinfu. For Hisato and Yu, they are both iishanten as well.

With a kan by Shiratori, he makes the 8p the new dora. On Yu’s turn, he draws the 8p dora and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen.

With the good wait and sticks in the pot, Hisato and Takaki keep pushing. In the middle of the second row, Hisato is the next to tenpai and stays dama on a 2m/8m shanpon.

Right after, Takaki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen. During the ippatsu round, Shiratori discards the 7m and deals into Takaki. Hitting an uradora, Takaki wins the hand Riichi/Ippatsu/Ura 1 for 5,200+600 plus three riichi sticks.

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Stick-Stealing Sasaki

December 13, Game 2, E4-4

In E4-4, there are five riichi sticks and four honba in the pot. With 6,200 in bonus points up for grabs, the next winner is sure to have a big payday. Wanting it the most is 4th place Hisato, sitting 6,800 behind 3rd place Yu and 9,000 behind 1st place Shiratori.

From the start, Hisato is 3-shanten with no easy route, while Shiratori is 2-shanten with pairs of white dragon and east. Very quickly, Shiratori calls pon on the east and gets to tenpai on an 8s kanchan. From there, Shiratori jumps from wait to wait, wanting to get something good. After switching to a 6s kanchan, Shiratori calls pon on the white dragon and switches to a 36p nobetan. In the second row, Shiratori switches to a red dragon tanki and then settles on the 8s dora tanki.

With all this movement, it gives Shiratori’s opponents a chance to catch up. At this point, everyone is at iishanten or better. After calling pon on the 3p and getting a good draw, Hisato is the next to tenpai and waits on a 3m/7m shanpon.

Soon after, Takaki gets to tenpai for seven pairs, calls riichi with the red 5p and waits on an 8p tanki, hoping to hit people with the trap.

With the riichi, Shiratori chooses to fold, leaving it to be a battle between Takaki and Hisato. At the start of the third row, Hisato draws the 7m and wins the hand. Hisato wins with Tanyao only for 300+400/500+400, plus six riichi sticks. A hand normally worth 1,100 gets instantly upgraded to 8,300, basically a mangan.

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Today For Yu

December 13, Game 2, S3-0

In S3-0, Yu is the dealer in 2nd place, just 6,200 behind 1st place Takaki.

Yu starts out with an annoying 5-shanten hand, but has a few middle tiles to give him flexibility. As he starts the process of discarding his honours, Hisato is quick to go for a fast hand. AIming for a honitsu, Hisato calls pon on the south, then the 1m, then the 8m. By the end of the first row, Hisato is tenpai on a 58m ryanmen.

With each call by Hisato, however, Yu gets his next draw faster. With Hisato’s help, Yu gets to iishanten by the end of his first row. Two turns later, Yu gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins. WIthin the go-around, Takaki discards the 7p trying to take tenpai and deals into Yu. Yu wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 12,000, moving Yu into 1st place and dropping Takaki all the way down into 4th.

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Shiratori

December 13, Game 2, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4091

In S3-1, Shiratori is in 3rd place, 600 behind 2nd place HIsato and 12,600 behind 1st place Yu. With a haneman tsumo, he could be on top going into the final hand.

Shiratori start out the hand heavily leaning towards a honitsu. Sitting 2-shanten, all he needs to do is call pon on the green and red dragon in his hand to get to tenpai. Within the first row, he calls pon on both of them and gets to tenpai on a 7m kanchan. At the start of the second row, Shiratori adds toitoi to his hand to upgrade to a haneman, waiting on a 3m/8m shanpon.

However, Shiratori will not go unchallenged. Soon after, Takaki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen.

With big value, Shiratori draws and discards.

2 vs. 2 becomes 2 vs 1.

2 vs. 1 becomes 1 vs. 1.

Only one can win.

In the third row, Shiratori manages to get that last 3m and wins the hand. Shiratori wins with Toitoi/Honitsu/Green Dragon/Red Dragon for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus Takaki’s riichi stick, rocketing Shiratori up to 1st place.

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Results

Game 104

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