Friday (February 7)

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Game 1

Honda

February 7, Game 1, E2-0

In E2-0, Honda is in a 2nd place tie and 3,000 behind 1st place dealer Hisato.

Hond starts out the hand 3-shanten with a bunch of potential sequences. Though Honda is only able to complete one sequence and advance to 2-shanten in the first row, he builds his hand in such a way that he is guaranteed a good wait when he does reach tenpai.

In the middle of the second row, he gets to a perfect iishanten and then gets to tenpai a turn later, calling riichi on a 25s ryanmen. on his ippatsu draw, Honda gets the 2s and win the hand. Getting an uradora, Honda wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000, taking the lead.

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Full Flush

February 7, Game 1, E4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4597

In E4-2, Genta is the dealer tied in 3rd place, 11,000 behind 1st place Honda. With four riichi sticks and two honba in the pot, the next winner will get 4,600 in bonuses.

Genta starts out the hand with 8 pinzu tiles. Though it’s not much, the hand doesn’t really have any other clear path forward. As Genta draws more and more pinzu in the first row, the flush route seems more clear. With a 1p pon in the middle of the row, Genta goes fulls tream ahead. With a red 5p draw, Genta gets to iishanten. In the second row, Genta calls a 789p chii to get to tenpai and waits on a 47p ryanmen.

To his left, 1st place Honda is trying to get all those bonus sticks as well. Having already called the yakuhai north, Honda calls pon off Genta’s discarded east and gets to tenpai on a 58s ryanmen.

However, Honda’s dreams end when he draws the 4p. Not wanting to take a tanki, Honda pushes the 4p and gives Genta the win. Genta wins the hand with Chinitsu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 18,000+600 plus four riichi sticks, moving Genta into 1st and Honda into 4th.

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Half Flush

February 7, Game 1, E4-3

In E4-3, Hori is in 2nd place, 21,600 behind 1st place Genta and just 1,000 ahead of 3rd place Hisato.

Horis starts out the hand with a standard 5-shanten hand, but does have pairs of east and white dragons to speed up the hand. In the first row, he calls both of the yakuhai and pairs up the south. As he does this, he also aims for a pinzu honitsu. By the end of the first row, he is iishanten.

To his right, Hisato is also going for a quick hand, having called a 123m sequence while having a hidden red dragon triplet. By the end of his first row, he is also iishanten. In the middle of the second row, Hisato calls a 456p chii (using the red 5p double dora) and waits on a 2s tanki.

Within the go-around, Hori gets to tenpai as well and waits on an 8p kanchan.

When Hisato draws the 5s, he improves his wait to a 58s nobetan. In the middle of the third row, Hori draws the 8p and wins the hand. Hori wins with Honitsu/East/White Dragon for 2,000+300/4,000+300, taking Hori above 30,000.

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5, 4, 3, 2, 1

February 7, Game 1, S1-0

In S1-0, Hisato is in 3rd place and 12,200 behind 2nd place Hori.

Hisato starts out the hand the furthest behind while Hori, Genta and Honda are 3, 2 and 1-shanten, respectively. The first action on the table comes from Honda who calls pon on his seven pairs iishanten to shift to a triplets iishanten. At the end of the row, Genta calls a 678s chii to be the first one to tenpai, waiting on a 5p kanchan.

Two turns into the second row, Genta switches to a wider 67p wait, wanting the 7p for the 678 sanshoku. 5 winning tiles remain in the wall.

Right after, Hori gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 69s ryanmen. If he can win on the 6s, he will have a big dealer haneman. 4 winning tiles remain in the wall.

Soon after, Honda calls a west and gets to tenpai on a 6m/7p shanpon. 3 winning tiles remain in the wall.

And now we get to Hisato. Having called pon on the green dragon, Hisato has a yaku and sits iishanten. With a 5s draw, he gets to tenpai on a 2s/5s shanpon. 2 winning tiles remain in the wall.

Though he started the furthest back and has the fewest winning tiles, the only thing that matters is who is the first to win. There can only be 1 winner.

On his very next draw, Hisato gets the 2s and wins the hand. Hisato wins with Green Dragon/Aka 1 for 700/1,300, beating out his opponents this hand.

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South 4

February 7, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3104

In S4-0, Hori is in 2nd place and 11,600 behind 1st place Genta. To finish the game in 1st place, Hori needs a 3/50 or 4/25 direct hit, a mangan tsumo or a haneman ron. Though it’s a bit far, he make his dream become a reality.

Hori starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a bunch of sequence candidates. Though he doesn’t have value quite yet, he can accept the 3m dora and has paths to both pinfu and tanyao. During the first row, he draws a 3m dora and works on building both potential yaku, though a 123s sequence gets in the way for tanyao. By the end of the first row, he is iishanten.

At the start of the second, he draws another 3m dora, continuing to build value. However, things start to get shaky when Genta calls a 789m chii and waits on a 14m ryanmen.

On turn 8, Hori has a choice to get to tenpai on a 36p ryanmen. However, taking that tenpai would mean throwing the 3m dora. Since calling riichi with it would only guarantee 3 han, Hori rejects it and looks for ways to improve. On turn 9, Shori shifts his 123s sequence to a 234s sequence, greatly improving his chances at tanyao. A turn later, Hori draws a 2m to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen. With the 4m, he will have tanyao, iipeikou and sanshoku, enough to win even on ron. With the 1m, he will need to either tsumo or get two additional han to get the win.

There is a snag, though. Since Genta and Hori are both waiting on the same tiles, Hori will end up being headbumped if either tile comes out.

However, Hori ends up getting his perfect 4m on his second-last draw! Hori wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Sanshoku/Iipeikou/Dora 2 for a huge 4,000/8,000 baiman, winning his second game in a row.

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Results

Game 159

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Game 2

Ippatsu

February 7, Game 2, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4598

In E1-0, Kayamori is playing for the Sega Sammy Phoenix and trying to keep the team in 2nd place.

Kayamroi starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a secured dora 5s. Despite starting so far behind, it seems like every single one of her draws pushes her forward. She forms a 2m triplet, a green dragon pair, then splits the 2m into a 123m sequence and a pair. By the end of the row, Kayamori is tenpai and she calls riichi on a 2m/green draogn shanpon.

On her very next turn, Kayamori draws the 2m and wins the hand. With her green dragon pair being the uradora, Kayamori incredible converts her 2-han hand to a haneman. Kayamori wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 1/Ura 2 for 3,000/6,000, taking the early lead.

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Ippatsu

February 7, Game 2, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2636

In S1-0, Setokuma is in 3rd place, 4,000 behind 2nd place Takizawa and 13,000 behind 1st place Kayamori.

Setokuma starts out the hand 3-shanten with a lot of sequence potential. To his left, 1st place Kayamori is at 2-shanten with three ryanmens, guaranteeing herself good wait if she gets to tenpai. In the first row, Setokuma manages to move ahead of Kayamori and gets to iishanten while Kayamori is still stuck with the same hand she started with.

The second row is more kind to Kayamori, though. Just two turns into the row, Kayamori is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen. If she draws the 4m herself, she will have yet another haneman.

On Setokuma’s turn, he gets himself to a very wide iishanten, waiting on 10 different tiles for tenpai. With the wide wait and an opportunity to move up, he pushes. At the end of the row, Setokuma finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen, wanting the 9p for iipeikou.

On his very next draw, Setokuma gets the 9p and wins the hand. Setokuma wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick, putting him just 1,000 short of 1st place.

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Closing In

February 7, Game 2, S3-0

In S3-0, Hori is in 4th place, 6,900 behind 3rd place Takizawa, 9,100 behind 2nd place dealer Kayamori and 12,000 behind 1st place Setokuma.

Hori starts out the hand at 3-shanten with only a lone white dragon for value. Though his hand can also gain value from pinfu or tanyao, Hori holds onto the white dragon in case he can pair it up or make something bigger with it. On turn 4, he pairs it up and gets to 2-shanten, paving a path for a potential mangan. All he has to do is make it a triplet. At the start of the second row, Hori make a triplet of 2s to get to iishanten.

Around him, his oppoentns are looking to make big hands as well. In the middle of the second row, dealer Kayamori is the first tenpai and calls riichi on a 2p kanchan.

Two turns later, Setokuma discards the white dragon and calls riichi, waiting on a wide 12457m wait. However, he is furiten after discarding the 1m at the end of the first row.

With that white dragon discard, Hori is able to call pon and get to tenpai on a 369p wait. After Takizawa makes a call to get himself to iishanten, Hori’s next draw ends up being the 3p and Hori gets the win. Hori wins with White Dragon/Dora 3 for 2,000/4,000. With the riichi calls by both Setokuma and Kayamori, Hori ends up getting 2,000 extra, just enough to move him into a narrow 1st place going into South 4.

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South 4

February 7, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5103

In S4-0, the score are very close. Only 5,900 separates 1st place Hori and 4th place Kayamori. Sitting in 2nd place is dealer Setokuma, 1,000 behind 1st place Hori.

Setokuma starts out with a rather annoying 5-shanten hand with no good shapes, but does have a floating 4p and a red 5m as potential value. The first row provides him with a 123m sequence and a 4s pair, but he still sits at 4-shanten at the end of the row.

The second row is much more kind, giving him ryanmens and fillin in a kanchan, getting him to iishanten by turn 11. The dora 4p is part of a ryanmen, but Setokuma still needs a 4m to connect the red 5m.

In the third row, Setokuma gets that 4m and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a dealer mangan if he wins. Two turns later, Setokuma gets the 6p and wins the hand. Setokuma wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 4,000 all, taking a sizeable lead.

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Results

Game 160

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