Thursday (January 9)

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Game 1

Genta Going

January 9, Game 1, S1-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4592

In S1-2, Genta is in 3rd place, 8,500 behind 2nd place Yu and 17,000 behind 1st place Taro.

Genta starts out the hand at 3-shanten with quite a few sequence candidates and a secured dora 2p. To his left, Taro is also at 3-shanten, but has much worse shapes. As such, Taro starts to call quickly to speed up the hand. Within the first go-around he calls pon on the red dragon to secure a yaku. Over the next tew turns, he smooths out his hand and creates sequences and a pair. At the end of the row, Taro calls a 789m sequence and gets to a 4m kanchan tenpai.

Back to Genta, he sits at 2-shanten and tries to widen his acceptance as much as possible. At the end of his first row, he gets to iishanten and keeps the posibility of a 234 sanshoku by holding a floating 4s.

As Genta waits for tenpai, Yu calls pon on the 9p and gets to tenpai on a 7p kanchan.

Though it isn’t sanshoku, the 5s drawn by Genta gets him to a perfect iishanten, guaranteeing him a good wait however he gets to tenpai. At the end of the row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen. On his very next draw, he gets the 8p and wins the hand. Genta wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+200/6,000+200, putting him just 1,200 shy of 1st place.

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Takeuchi Damaten

January 9, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4593

In S3-0, Genta is the dealer and holding a narrow 800 lead over 2nd place Taro.

Though Genta has a pair of 2m dora at the start, he sits 3-shanten with no easy way to a quick tenpai. To his right, Katsumata is already iishanten with his first draw. In the first row, Genta draws a red 5p as part of a potential 567p iipeikou, pairs up the east and makes it into a triplet to get to iishanten.

On turn 6, 4th place Katsumata puts pressure on the table as he calls riichi and waits on a 36m ryanmen.

After Yu calls chii to break the ippatsu and shift the wall, Genta gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 58p ryanmen, guaranteed at least mangan if he wins. If he draws the 5p himself, it will be a haneman.

Soon after, Yu makes a call and waits on a 5s/6s shanpon.

Around the middle of the second row, Katsumata draws and discards the 5p and deals into Genta. Genta wins the hand with East/Iipeikou/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000+300, extending his lead and pushing Katsumata into the negative.

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Results

Game 125

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Game 2

Deadly Dama

January 9, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2600

In E2-0, Matsugase is the dealer and sitting in 1st place. After Katsumata’s big negative the previous game, Matsugase wants to raise the team back up into 7th place.

From the start, Matsugase is 2-shanten with a dora 6m and two red fives. In the first row, he fills in a 7m kanchan and shifts the hand towards tanyao to give him a calling option. Around the table, his opponents aregetting close, with Nakabayashi holding a very flexible 2-shanten and Futoshi at chiitoi iishanten

At the start of the second row, Matsugase draws another 6m dora for extra value. With a 7m draw on his very next turn, he has a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten, guaranteed at least a haneman if he can keep it closed.

As Matsugase waits, Futoshi calls a red dragon pon and gets to tenpai on a west/1p shanpon.

On Matsugase’s turn, he draws an 8m to complete a 678m iipeikou and stays dama on a 47p ryanmen. If he draws it himself, he will have a baiman.

In the third row, Daigo gets to tenpai on a 36m ryanmen, but his shuffling to avoid throwing dangerous tiles leads him to a 6s furiten kanchan.

Posing much more danger, though, is Nakabayashi. In the middle of the second row, Nakabayashi pairs up the 6m dora and stays dama on an 8s kanchan, guaranteed a mangan if he wins.

In the final go-around, Futoshi draws and discards the 4p and deals into Matsugase. Matsugase wins the hand with Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 2/Aka 2 for a big 18,000 win.

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Dora/Aka/Ura

January 9, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5604

In E3-0, Nakabayashi is the dealer in 3rd place, 5,200 behind 2nd place Daigo and 26,400 behind 1st place Matsugase.

Nakabayashi starts out the hand 3-shanten with a secured red 5m. To his right, Futoshi is 3-shanten with a pair of white dragons and a single east dora. In the first row, the wall provides Nakabayashi a bunch of sequence candidates while Futoshi pairs up the east. By the end of the row, both of them are 2-shanten.

In the second row, Futoshi is able to call pon on both the white dragon and gets to tenpai on a 36s ryanmen a few turns later. Soon after, he calls pon on the east and gets to tenpai on a 4s. With a 3p draw, Futoshi adds honitsu to his hand and improves to a 369p wait and upgrades to a guaranteed haneman.

Back to Nakabayashi, he sits iishanten with a good wait guaranteed. Near the end of his second row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen. If he wins on the 5m, he will have at least a mangan.

In the third row, Futoshi draws a fourth white dragon and calls an added kan. WIth the kandora flip, Nakabayashi now has one more han added to his hand and another chance at uradora.

On Nakabayashi’s second-last draw, he gets the 8m and wins the hand. Hitting an uradora, Nakabayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 6,000 all, putting him just 2,400 behind Matsugase.

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Ippatsu

January 9, Game 2, E4-1

In E4-1, Daigo is in 10,400 behind 2nd place Nakabayashi and 17,000 behind 1st place Matsugase. 1,300 in bonuses are up for grabs.

Though Daigo starts out at a distant 4-shanten, he does have a pair of green dragons for a yakuhai out. In the first row, Daigo forms potential sequences and adds a pair of white dragons to his hand to get to 2-shanten.

To his left, 4th place dealer Futoshi is hungry to make ground. Early in the second row, Futoshi is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7m/8m shanpon, hoping to scare away his opponents with his riichi only hand.

With an iishanten hand and two yakuhai, Daigo is able to keep pushing with some relatively safe tiles. In the middle of the row, he draws a third white dragon and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen. On his very next draw, Daigo gets the 5m and wins the hand. Daigo wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/White Dragon for 2,000+00/4,000+100 plus two riichi sticks, moving him into 2nd place.

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Separation

January 9, Game 2, S1-1

In S1-1, Matsugase is in 1st place but 2nd place dealer Daigo is encroaching on his territory.

With his very first draw, he gets to iishanten. With a red 5s and a dora 5p in his hand as well, he has the value to put some space between his rival. In just four turns, Matsugase is able to get to tenpai and call riichi on a 25p ryanmen. If he manages to get the dora 5p, he will also add iipeikou to his hand and have a haneman.

With such an early riichi and everyone else having such bad shapes, his opponents just stepped back and let the wall decide. Near the middle of the third row, Matsugase draws the 2p and wins the hand. Matsugase wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100.

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Daigo Dama

January 9, Game 2, S2-0

In S2-0, Daigo is in 2nd place and 13,100 behind 1st place dealer Matsugase.

From the very start, all eyes were on Matsugase. With his first 13 tiles already being iishanten, he has a chance to get a double riichi. Unfortunately, he got the south on his first draw and missed. He had a chance to call riichi on his second turn, but he rejected it to look for a better wait than a 2m kanchan. On turn 4, he creates a ryanmen and calls riichi on a the 25m wait.

Looking at Daigo, he has two red fives secured and is sitting at iishanten. Near the end of the row, he draws a dora 2p to create a ryanmen and upgrade his hand to a mangan. Two turns into the second row, Daigo gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 6p kanchan. Immediately after, Matsugase draws and discards the 6p and deals into Daigo. Daigo wins the hand with Iipeikou/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 8,000. With the direct hit off 1st place, Daigo moves into top spot.

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Atozuke Accomplished

January 9, Game 2, S3-1

In S3-0, Futoshi is deep in 4th place and in the negatives. Though almost no single hand will raise his rank, a win will put him in a better positiong going into his final dealership.

At the very start, Futoshi is iishanten with a pair of souths, two ryanmens, a dora 2m and a secured red 5s. His starting hand is very strong, but his draws in the first row are not. Nothing seems to get him closer. To make matters worse, Daigo to his right seems to have a quick hand, calling twice within the first row to get to iishanten.

At the start of the second row, Futoshi draws a second 2m dora and decides to make it a pair. With the danger from Daigo, Futoshi decides to call a 456m chii and wait on a south/2m shanpon, only allowed to win on the south. It’s risky, but Futoshi doesn’t have much of a choice with Daigo’s speed.

Sure enough, on Daigo’s next turn, he gets to tenpai on a 14m ryanmen.

On Daigo’s next turn, he draws and discards the south and deals into Futoshi. Futoshi wins the hand with Double South/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000+300.

With the win, he also brings Daigo down to 2nd place, making additional space between the top Akasaka Drivens and the 2nd Sega Sammy Phoenix in the overall standings.

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Results

Game 126

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Intro | Standings