Tuesday (December 24)

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Game 1

Iipeikou

December 24, Game 1, E2-0

In E2-0, Matsugase is the dealer in 2nd plce, 4,100 behind 1st place Mizuhara.

Matsugase starts out the hand at 2-shanten with two 9p dora as part if a 7899p shape. On turn 2, he draws another 8p to puth him iishanten and just a 7p away from a 789p iipeikou. Over the next two turns, Matsugase pairs up the 3s and draws the 7p to put him in tenpai. He calls riichi and waits on a 47s ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan.

In the middle of the second row, Matsugase draws the 4s and wins the hand. Matsugase wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Iipeikou/Dora 2 for 4,000 all.

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Futoshi Fire

December 24, Game 1, E4-0

In E4-0, Futoshi is the dealer in 3rd place, 1,700 behind 2nd place Matsugase and 13,600 behind 1st place Matsugase.

Futoshi starts off the hand at 3-shanten with two 4s doras. Futoshi improves the hand a bit in the first few turns, giving options for pairs or a standard hand. However, Futoshi is faced with danger when Mizuhara calls riichi on turn 5 and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen.

By this point, Futoshi is 2-shanten and has no options for safe tiles. He starts off by discarding his pair of 1p since terminals are his best choice for safe for now. With the terminals gone, Futoshi now has the option to go for tanyao as well. On turn 8, Futoshi calls chii and advances to iishanten. Near the end of the row, he gets to tenpai and waits on a 36s ryanmen.

At the start of the third row, Futoshi calls pon on the dora 4s and switches to a 2s/5s shanpon, guaranteed a mangan if he wins. Soon after, Kurosawa discards the 2s and deals into Futoshi. Futoshi wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 3 for 12,000 plus a riichi stick, putting him just 600 from top spot.

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Mizuhara In The Mix

December 24, Game 1, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5601

In S2-0, Mizuhara is in 3rd place, 9,300 from 2nd place Futoshi and 9,900 from 1st place dealer Matsugase.

Mizuhara starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a red 5p secured. The first row only gets Mizuhara one step forward, still having some bad shapes that need to be filled.

In the second row, Mizuhara draws the 4s dora to get to iishanten. At the same time, Futoshi draws a red 5s and gets to a perfect iishanten by the end of the row.

Two turns into the third row, Futoshi is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen.

Right after, Mizuhara makes a 9s triplet and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen.

In the middle of the row, Mizuhara draws the 9p and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000, pushing her into 1st.

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Escaping Negatives

December 24, Game 1, S4-0

In S4-0, Kurosawa is deep in 4th place and has almost no chance to making it into the positives. Having already had a -15,500 game this month, she doesn’t want to add another negative game into the mix.

Kurosawa starts out the hand by drawing the red 5p to get to 2-shanten. On turn 2, she completes a sequences to get to iishanten. On her next draw, she has a chance to be tenpai on a 5m kanchan, but rejects it to try and add more value. Over the next few turns, Kurosawa discards her 9m pair, draws a dora 9p and connects it for iishanten. At the end of the row, Kurosawa pairs up the 6m to secure pinfu and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen, guaranteed at least mangan if she wins.

Sitting in a precarious position is the dealer Futoshi, within striking distance of 1st place but very close to 3rd as well. As he goes through the hand, his hand looks more and more like chinitsu. At the start of the third row, he calls a 567p chii and advances on the plan.

In the third row, Futoshi calls pon on the 4p and gets to tenpai on a furiten 7m tanki. A turn later, he gets a 7p to get to chinitsu tenpai and waits on a 7p tanki.

A few turns later, Matsugase discards the 6p trying to take an iishanten and deals into Kurosawa. Kurosawa wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 8,000 and escapes the negatives.

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Results

Game 115

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Game 2

Dora 3 For Me

December 24, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5602

In E2-0, Futoshi is the dealer in 1st place, but is just 3,400 ahead of 4th place.

From the start, Nakabayashi is 3-shanten with a pair of 7p dora. On turn 2, he draws a third 7p dora for a good chance at mangan. To speed up the hand, Nakabayashi drops his 9p pair and aims for tanyao. By the end of the row, he is 2-shanten and still holds a closed hand.

After creating a sequence and filling in a kanchan in the second row, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 14s ryanmen. In the middle of the row, Hagiwara discards the 4s and deals into Nakabayashi. Nakabayashi wins the hand with Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 3 for 12,000.

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Sanshoku

December 24, Game 2, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5093

In E2-1, Hagiwar is in 4th place, 11,000 behind 3rd place Katsumata and 11,800 behind 2nd place Sonoda.

On Hagiwara’s first draw, he pairs up the red 5p and advances to 4-shanten. Through the first row, he starts to form sequences and leans towards a potential 123 sanshoku despite having none of those sequences from the start. By the end of the row, he is 2-shanten and needs a 3s, 1p and 1m to make the sanshoku happen.

On turn 7, Hagiwara draws a 1m to advance to iishanten. Two turns later, he draws the 3s and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen, wanting the 1p for maximum value. Within the ippatus round, Sonoda draws and discards the 1p (seeing two 2p discarded early by Hagiwara) and deals in. Hagiwara wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Aka 1 for 12,000+300, returning Hagiwara back to 25,000.

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Dealer With It

December 24, Game 2, S2-0

In S2-0, Nakabayashi is the dealer yet again and holds a 17,100 lead over 2nd place Katsumata.

Nakabayashi starts out with a very strong 2-shanten hand with a south triplet and a connected red 5p. On turn 3, Nakabayashi fills in an 8p kanchan and has 7 different tiles to get to tenpai. While Nakabayashi waits, Sonoda gets to tenpai on an 8s kanchan, but drops it to go for a full flush. Soon after, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai, cuts the south and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen.

At the end of the second row, Nakabayashi draws the 3p and wins the hand. Getting the uradora, Nakabayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000 all, pushing Nakabayashi up to 57,000.

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Hagi

December 24, Game 2, S2-1

In S2-1, Hagiwara is in 3rd place and 5,100 behind 2nd place Katsumata.

Hagiwara starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a sequence-based hand. In the first row, Hagiwara remains at 3-shanten, but now has four ryanmens to guarantee pinfu. Sonoda, on the other hand, is at 2-shanten quite a wide tile acceptance.

Just two turns into the second row, Sonoda is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5m kanchan. However, none remain in the wall.

During the ippatsu round, Hagiwara gets to iishanten and tosses the safe green dragon he kept to avoid ippatsu. At the start of the third row, Hagiwara draws the red 5m, gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen. Near the end of the row, he draws the 1s and wins the hand. Hagiwara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus Sonoda’s riichi stick, moving into 2nd place.

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Results

Game 116

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