Thursday (January 16)

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Game 1

Daisuke

January 16, Game 1, E3-0

In E3-0, Daisuke is in 3rd place and just 3,900 behind 1st place Nakabayashi.

Daisuke starts out the hand already 2-shanten with a bunch of sequences and a secured red 5p. Within a few turns, Daisuke has some strong secured sequences and gets to iishanten. At the strt of the second row, Daisuke gets to tenpai while shifting to tanyao and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen. Guaranteed a mangan, he can upgrade to a haneman if he draws the 2m dora.

Two turns later, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen.

Unfortunately, Matsumoto keeps being unlucky. On his ippatsu draw, he gets the 5m and deals into Daisuke. Daisuke wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 8,000.

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Ippatsu

January 16, Game 1, E4-0

In E4-0, Uchikawa is in 3rd place and 7,000 behind 1st place Daisuke.

Uchikawa starts out the hand drawing the dora 1s to get to 3-shanten. Within the first four turns of the hand, Uchikawa makes the dora into a triplet and advances to iishanten. At the start of the second row, he gets to tenpai, throws the 5s and calls riichi on a 236s wait.

Within the first go-around, Matsumoto discards the 2s and deals in (for the fourth hand in a row). Uchikawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Dora 3 for 8,000, enough for 1st place.

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10

January 16, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2531

In S1-0, Uchikawa is in 1st place with a 1,000 lead, while Matsumoto the dealer is deep in 4th place after dealing in four hands in a row.

Matsumoto starts out the hand at 2-shanten while Uchikawa is at 3-shanten. The first row provides Matsumoto with a 1p triplet and some sequences, while Uchikawa shifts himself to tanyao. By turn 5, both players are iishanten.

On turn 6, Matsumoto is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen.

Within the ippatsu round, Uchikawa calls a 234s sequence and gets to tenpai on a huge 24578m wait. With the wide wait, Uchikawa has a whopping 10 winning tiles left in the wall. On Matsumoto’s next draw, he draws and discards the 5m and deals into Uchikawa (Matsumoto’s fifth deal-in in a row). Uchikawa wins the hand with Tanyao only for 1,000 plus one riichi stick, pushing Uchikawa up higher and Matsumoto down to just 100.

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Distance

January 16, Game 1, S2-2

In S2-2, Uchikawa is still in the lead, but 3rd place is just 4,300 behind him.

Uchikawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a connected red 5p and a red 5s. Within three turns, Uchikawa gets to iishanten and has a pair of the double souths. Also creating a 667m shape, Uchikawa has the option to call the south and get to tenpai.

At the start of the second row, Uchikawa calls pon on the south and gets to tenpai on a 2m dora kanchan. Near the end of the row, Uchikawa draws the 2m and wins the hand. Uchikawa wins with Double South/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 8,000+600.

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All Last

January 16, Gane 1, S4-0

In S4-0, Daisuke is the dealer in 2nd place, 14,600 behind 1st place Uchikawa. WIth a 3/50 or 4/25 direct hit, a mangan tsumo or a haneman ron, Daisuke can move into 1st place.

From the start, Daisuke is already 2-shanten with 45888p in pinzu. On turn 2, Daisuke draws and discards a 9p since it doesn’t quite fit into the hand. However, as the turns go by, Daisuke draws the 7p and the 6p, giving the hand a possibility for a furiten wait. On turn 8, Daisuke gets to tenpai. Though Daisuke is tenpai because of the 9p discard, Daisuke still has a wide wait and calls riichi on the furiten 34679p wait.

On his very next draw, Daisuke gets the 3p and wins the hand. Daisuke wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 4,000 all, pushing him into 1st place.

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Results

Game 133

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Game 2

Start the Sho

January 16, Game 2, E1-0

In E1-0, Shiratori is playing for the Shibuya Abemas, trying to recover the points lost by Matsumoto from his unlucky performance, while also trying to get his 10th win this season.

Shiratori starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of red dragons. To his left, Kobayashi is in a similar position but with a pair of easts. In the first row, both players nurture flushes, Kobayashi with pinzu and Shiratori with manzu. By the end of the row, both players are 2-shanten.

In the second row, Kobayashi gets rid of the rest of his off-suits to get to iishanten. WIth a 123p chii, Kobayashi gets to tenpai on a 5p kanchan.

Soon after, Shiratori gets to tenpai on an east tanki, still holding his hand closed. At the start of the third row, he switches to a much wider 258m wait. In the middle of the third row, Kobayashi draws and discards the 8m, dealing into Shiratori. Shiratori wins the hand with Honitsu/Red Dragon for 8,000.

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Ippatsu

January 16, Game 2, S1-1

In S1-1, Daisuke is in 3rd place, 1,200 behind 2nd place Uchikawa and 8,600 behind 1st place Shiratori. 1,300 in bonuses are in the pot.

Daisuke starts out the hand 2-shanten with tanyao almost guaranteed. With a bunch of middle waits in souzu, Daisuke gets rid of them to aim for better waits in other suits. On turn 8, Daisuke gets to iishanten and waits on 14 different tiles for tenpai. On his very next draw he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 369m wait.

Within the go-around, Uchikawa discards the 9m and deals into Daisuke. Daisuke wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu for 3,900+300 plus a riichi stick, moving into 2nd place.

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Approach

January 16, Game 2, S3-2

In S3-2, Uchikawa is in 3rd place, 4,200 behind 2nd place Daisuke and 5,800 behind 1st place Shiratori.

Uchikawa starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a pair of west yakuhai. From the very start, Uchikawa forces a honitsu to add more value. At the end of the first row, Uchikawa calls pon on the west, paving the way for a 3-han hand.

In the second row, Uchikawa pairs up the 9s and calls pon soon after to get to tenpai, waiting on a 25s ryanmen. WIthin the go-around, Kobayashi discards the 5s trying to call riichi and deals into Uchikawa. Uchikawa wins the hand with Honitsu/West for 3,900, moving up to 2nd place.

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Close Game

January 16, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6081

In S4-0, Uchikawa is in 2nd place with 27,200 while dealer Shiratori is in 1st place with 28,500. A 1/40 ron would tie Uchikawa for 1st place, but any direct hit or tsumo would put him into sole 1st place.

Uchikawa stars out the hand at 4-shanten with a lot of good shapes while Shiratori is 2-shanten with mediocre shapes. Within the first few turns, Uchikawa pairs up and calls pon on the red dragon to secure a yakuhai. Though the yaku is nice, he is set to have just a 1/30 hand, only letting him tsumo or direct hit unless he can get a red five. Sitting with an iishanten hand, a win is in sight.

For Shiratori, his shapes have improved slightly and he has a route to a pinzu ittsuu. Before the row is done, he is iishanten and just missing the 8p for the straight. .

In the middle of the second row, Uchikawa gets himself to tenpai and waits on a 25p ryanmen. Only a red 5p, a direct hit or a tsumo will do.

Sitting in Shiratori’s hand is a volatile 2p, a ticking time bomb. Within the go-around, Kobayashi discards the 8p. With a chii, Shiratori tries to take tenpai by throwing the 2p and deals into Uchikawa.

Uchikawa wins the hand with Red Dragon for 1,000, finishing in 1st place with 28,200, the sixth-lowest 1st place in M-League history.

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Results

Game 134

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