Monday (January 13)

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Game 1

Mighty Mizuhara

January 13, Game 1, E1-0

In E1-0, Mizuhara is the starting dealer and starts out 4-shanten with pairs of green dragon and east. As soon as the east comes out, Mizuhara calls pon to secure two han. A few turns later, Mizuhara calls the green dragon to go up to 3 han.

In the second row, Mizuhara works on finding a pair and completing her sequences. With a 345m chii, she gets to iishanten. In the middle of the row, she draws a red 5s to creat a pair and waits tenpai on an 8p kanchan.

Right after, Daigo gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 7s kanchan.

Two turns after that, Nakada gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5m kanchan.

Three players, two winning tiles each, only one can take the hand. At the start of Mizuhara’s third row, she draws the 8p and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with Double East/Green Dragon/Aka 1 for 4,000 all plus a riichi stick, taking the early lead.

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Straightforward

January 13, Game 1 E1-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3101

In E1-3, Okada is in a 2nd place nd 20,600 behind 1st place dealer Mizuhara. She continues to search for her first 1st of the season.

Okada start out the hand at 2-shanten with sequences as the base. On turn 5, she advances to iishanten with a 36m ryanmen and a 7p penchan. A turn later, Okada turns the manzu block into a 4m pair to aim for a potential pinzu ittsuu.

At the start of the second row, Okada draws a red 5p for additional value. A few turns later, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p penchan, guaranteed at least a mangan.

To her right, Nakada is pushing her pinzu honitsu. At the start of the third row, she gets to tenpai and waits on an 8p wait.

Two turns after that, Mizuhara gets to tenpai for seven pairs and calls riichi on a 3s tanki.

However, the riichi is merely a donation. On Okada’s next draw, she gets the 7p and wins the hand. Okada wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ittsuu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 3,000+300/6,000+300 plus one riichi stick, pushing Okada up to 1st place by 600.

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Daigo

January 13, Game 1

In S2-0, Daigo is the dealer in 3rd place, 10,300 behind 2nd place Mizuhara and 19,300 behind 1st place Okada.

Daigo starts out the hand already 3-shanten with a triplet of easts for a guaranteed yaku. Filling in a 7s penchan and creating a 14m ryanmen in his first few turns, Daigo’s hand starts to look like a potential chanta. On turn 5, he calls chii on the dora 1m to create a 123m sequence and get to iishanten.

At the start of the second row, Daigo pairs up the 1p to get to tenpai on a 69p ryanmen, wanting the 9p for the extra value. Two turns later, Nakada discards the 9p and deals into Daigo. Daigo wins the hand with East/Chanta/Dora 1 for 5,800.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4594

In S2-1, Daigo is now 4,500 behind 2nd place Mizuhara and 13,500 behind 1st place Okada.

Daigo starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a bunch of possible sequences and leaning towards a potential tanyao. On turn 4, Daigo fills in a 7p kanchan and rids his hand of the last terminal. After a good amount of waiting and shifting, Daigo gets to tenpai on turn 8 and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen.

During the ippatsu round, Okada gets to tenpai and waits on a 47p ryanmen.

Unfortunately, the tenpai would be Okada’s downfall. Near the end of the row, Okada draws and discards the 5p and deals into Daigo. Hitting the uradora, Daigo wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Ura 1 for 12,000+300, enough to move into 1st place.

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Results

Game 129

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Game 2

Pairs

January 13, Game 2, E1-0

In E1-0, Takaki is playing for the Sega Sammy Phoenix and is riding the high of Daigo’s win the previous game.

Takaki starts out the hand with pairs of 7s, 9s dora and 4m. With the rest of his hand being a mess, seven pairs seems to be the best route to go. In the first row, Takaki only draws a 6m pair.

In the meantime, Daisuke gets to 2-shanten with sequences in hand. In the middle of the second row, Daisuke gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 69m ryanmen.

Back to Takaki, he now has a pair of 2p in his hand to get to iishanten. Near the end of the row, Takaki pairs up the white dragons and calls riichi on an east tanki. With two already discarded, he waits with a strong hell wait. Within two turns, Hori draws and discards the east and deals into Takaki. Takaki wins the hand with Riichi/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 8,000.

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Oops

January 13, Game 2, E2-0 (1)
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2518

In E2-0, Daisuke is the dealer and chasing down 1st place Takaki who is 8,000 ahead.

Daisuke starts out the hand at 4-shanten with no clear route to value or a winning hand. In the first row, he is only able to get to 3-shanten, but the hand seems to be more clearly either pinfu or tanyao.

To his right, Yu has a much faster hand and gets to iishanten at the end of the first row. At the start of the second, Yu gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen.

As Daisuke weaves and evades, his hand slowly gets closer to a workable tanyao and draws a red 5s double dora for even more value. At the end of the second row, Daisuke calls a 678m chii to get to iishanten.

In the middle of the third row, Daisuke gets to tenpai and waits on a 69p ryanmen. With tanyao as his only yaku option, only the 6p will give him a win.

On Takaki’s turn, he discards the 9p. Though it would give Daisuke a completed winning shape, it doesn’t give him a yaku.

RIght after, Hori discards the 6p.

Unexpectedly, Daisuke calls ron!

After taking a bit of time, Daisuke realizes that he is in temporary furiten because the 9p was discarded within the same go-around.

Because of the furiten ron, Daisuke was given a chombo penalty worth -20.0pts from his individual score. The riichi stick from Yu is returned to him and the hand is reset, remaining at E2-0.

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Recovery

January 13, Game 2, E3-0

After losing his dealership in the second iteration of E2-0, Daisuke is looking for some redemption in E3-0.

Daisuke starts out the hand with a strong 3-shanten with two dora 5m already secured. Within a few turns, Daisuke creates a sequence in souzu and draws the red 5m double dora for iishanten. At the start of the second row, Daisuke gets to tenpai and waits on a 258m wait, guaranteed at least a haneman if he wins.

On his very next draw, Daisuke gets the 2m and wins the hand. Daisuke wins with Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000, moving him into 1st place.

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Like A Beast

January 13, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6079

In E4-0, Daisuke is in 1st place with 37,000. With the chombo from earlier, the 1st place isn’t as big as he would like it to be.

From the start, Daisuke is 2-shanten with a green dragon triplet, a white dragon pair and a single red dragon. As with most hands with all three of the dragons, there is always a yakuman dream.

Within the first go-around, Daisuke calls pon on the white dragon to start his hand going. On turn 3, he pairs up the 7m to get to iishanten. A turn later, he pairs up the red dragon. If he makes the red dragon into a triplet, he will be ready for daisangen.

Within the go-around, Daisuke calls pon on the 9p and gets to tenpai on a 7m/red dragon shanpon. If Daisuke wins on the red dragon, he will have yakuman.

Immediately after, Yu draws the red dragon. However, Yu is able to avoid it by discarding the 8s. A turn later, Yu continues to avoid it with a 5p discard.

On Takaki’s turn, he draws the red dragon. Sitting 2-shanten with some good value and shapes, Takaki discard it.

With a ron, Daisuke does it! With his Daisangen for 32,000, Daisuke wins the Beast’s first yakuman ever. With the win, Daisuke’s score skyrockets to a nice 69,000.

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It’s Over 90,000!

January 13, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6080

In S2-0, Daisuke is the dealer with 74,500. With his dealership, he has a chance of beating Taro’s 86,300 for the highest hanchan this season, or he could aim even higher for the best score of all time of 112,800.

Daisuke starts out the hand with pairs of east and north, as well as a route to honitsu. In the first row he creates a triplet of 7s and a pair of 4s. With an east pon at the end of the row, Daisuke has a yaku secured. Though honitsu is nice, he isn’t going all-out on it, holding a 25m ryanmen for backup.

In the second row, Daisuke pairs up the white dragons and breaks the manzu block. With a north pon in the middle of the row, Daisuke gets to tenpai and waits on a white dragon/4s shanpon. If Daisuke wins on the white dragon, he will have a dealer haneman.

In Hori’s hand, a white dragon sits precariously, but he doesn’t discard it quite yet.

With a pon of the 8p at the end of Yu’s second row, he is the next to tenpai and waits on a 47p ryanmen.

Right after, Takaki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 34 wait.

The riichi ends up spelling death for negative Takaki as he draws the white dragon at the end of his second row and deals into Daisuke. Daisuke wins the hand with Toitoi/Honitsu/East/White Dragon for 18,000, moving Daisuke to 93,500 and Takaki down to -28,600.

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Takaki Tries

January 13, Game 2

In S3-4, Takaki is deep in the negatives with -32,100. If the game were to end right now, he would have the seventh-worst score of all time. Though moving up even a single rank seems impossible, he has a dealership coming up and will try his hardest to take advantage of it. For now, he will try to get the three riichi sticks and four honba in the pot of a 4,200 boost.

Takaki’s starting hand is at an annoying 4-shanten state with no clear route. In his first four turns, he hand starts to clear up and leans a bit towards tanyao. By the end of the first row, he is 2-shanten.

At the start of the second row, he completes a 345p sequence to get to iishanten. With a 7m pon right after, Takaki gets to tenpai and waits on a 36m ryanmen. Two turns after that, Hori draws and discards the 6m and deals into Takaki. Takaki wins the hand with Tanyao/Aka 1 for 2,000+1,200 plus three riichi sticks, moving Takaki up to -25,900.

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After being the only one tenpai in S4-0, Takaki continues his climb in S4-1.

Takaki starts out with a strong 3-shanten with a lot of potential for a good wait. To his right, Hori has a quick hand with pairs of south and red dragon. Between the two of them, it’s a battle of calling good shapes vs. drawing good shapes. By turn 5, Takaki is iishanten with two ryanmens in hand.

For Hori, he keeps building potential shapes to call. On his turn 5, he pairs up the north for 2-shanten. In the second row, he calls the north and the south consecutively to get to tenpai on a 1s/7s shanpon, guaranteed a haneman if he wins. If he hits Yu directly or draws it himself, he will move into 2nd place.

On Takaki’s turn, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen.

As if his value wasn’t enough, 1st place Daisuke manages to get to tenpai right after and waits on a 25s ryanmen, the same wait as Takaki. If Hori discards either of them, Daisuke will win. If Yu discards either of them, then Takaki will win.

However, with the big lead, Daisuke is not commited and decides to fold when he gets the dangerous 2p.

At the start of the third row, Takaki draws the perfect red 5s and wins the hand. Takaki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 2,600+100 all, moving Takaki to -14,800.

He is unfortunately unable to make it much further than that, but his final score of -15,800 is certainly much better than the -32,100 (or worse) that he could have gotten.

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Results

Game 130

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