Tuesday (February 18)

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Game 1

Ura Ura

February 18, Game 1, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3106

In E1-0, Shibukawa is playing for the Kadokawa Sakura Knights, hoping to separate themselves from the EX Furinkazan and make up some ground on the Shibuya Abemas.

Shibukawa starts out the hand making a pair of the yakuhai souths, getting him to 4-shanten. In the first row, he makes a 456p sequence and the souths into a triplet, getting him to 2-shanten. On turn 4, he connects the red 5m in his hand in a 567m sequence and gets to iishanten.

In the middle of the second row, Shibukawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 147m wait. Though seemingly wide, only two winning tiles remain in the wall.

Immediately after, Hagiwara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2s tanki. Though narrow, Hagiwara also has two winning tile left in the wall.

Then, on the ippatsu turn, Shibukawa draws the 1m and wins the hand. With the 7m pair being the uradora, Shibukawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/South/Aka 1/Ura 2 for an unexpected 3,000/6,000 plus a riichi stick.

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Aki

February 18, Game 1, E3-1

In E3-1, Aki in 2nd place and 16,800 behind 1st place Shibukawa. A riichi stick and a honba sit in the pot.

Aki starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a secured dora 8p. Stuck with a pair of 9p dora, Aki just has to see what the wall will give her. As she gets rid of her honours, the wall gives her ryanmens and sequences. By turn 5, she is already iishanten.

In the middle of the second row, Aki gets to tenpai and has a choice between a 47p ryanmen and a 3p/9p shanpon. Though a ryanmen is usually better, she can already see two 7p and two 4p being used up. That along with the fact that 4p and 7p are easy for her opponents to use, Aki decides to call riichi and wait on the 3p/9p shanpon.

None remain in the wall, but someone could still discard it.

During the ippatsu round, Hagiwara gets to tenpai and chases with a 25s ryanmen.

With the 5p being relatively safe to both players, the 5p start coming out. By the end of the row, all the 5p have been discarded.

With this 5p wall, the 3p seems to be hard to use in a sequence, especially with three 2p visibile. At the start of the third row, Takaki tries to use this fact as a defence tactic, discarding his 3p pair but ending up dealing into Aki.

With the uradora flip, Aki’s 9p pair becomes valuable and double’s her hand’s han value. Aki wins with Riichi/Dora 1/Ura 2 for 8,000+300 plus two riichi sticks.

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Give And Take

February 18, Game 1

In E4-0, Takaki is the dealer in 4th place, 5,300 behind 3rd place Hagiwara.

Takaki starts off the hand at 4-shanten with a connected 8m dora. To secure the dora, he will need to get a 7m to make a 789m sequence. In the first row, he builds his other shapes, making a 345p sequence, forming a 6p triplet and drawing the red 5m to make a pair. As Takaki waits at iishanten, Aki calls pon on the white dragon to get to tenpai and waits on a 25p ryanmen.

On Takaki’s turn, he completes a 567s sequence and gets to tenpai. He calls riichi and waits on a 7m penchan.

Aki tries to push for a few turns, but ends up folding when she draws the 8m dora. However, a new threat pops up on the board as Hagiwara calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen.

Unfortunately, on Hagiwara’s ippatsu turn, he draws and discards the 7m and deals into Takaki. Takaki wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 7,700 plus a riichi stick.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2683

E4-1, Hagiwara is in 4th place after dealing into Takaki the previous hand, now sitting 12,100 behind 3rd place Takaki.

Hagiwara starts off the hand drawing a red 5s to get to 2-shanten. With a pair of red dragons in hand as well, he has the potential for a faster hand. In the first row, Hagiwara makes some gains with a 3p and red 5p drawforming a potential sequence. However, he must contend with the speedy Shibukawa, who calls a 678m chii and a south pon to get to iishanten, holding an obvious manzu honitsu hand.

When the red dragon comes out from Shibukawa, Hagiwara decides not to call with his relatively weak shapes. But, when the 7s dora comes out, Hagiwara calls a 678s chii and forces a tanyao, holding the structure for a mangan.

Working silently in the background is 2nd place Aki, wanting to overtake Shibukawa. At the end of her first row, Aki draws a 7s to form a 567s iipeikou and get to tenpai. Aki waits dama, sitting with a west/2m shanpon.

On Hagiwara’s turn, he gets to tenpai and waits on a 58m ryanmen.

In the middle of the row, Shibukawa joins in and waits on a north/1m shanpon.

Not to be forgotten, Takaki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.

However, like Hagiwara the previous hand, the riichi only spells trouble. At the start of the third row, Takaki draws and discards the 8m and deals into Hagiwara. Hagiwara wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 8,000+300 plus a riichi stick, successfully getting revenge on Takaki and moving back in 3rd place.

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Spread

February 18, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4600

In S4-0, Takaki is the final dealer and only holds a 3,400 lead over 4th place Hagiwara.

Takaki starts off the hand with pairs of west, 9s, 9m and 6p. With the pairs near the edge, Takaki has the option to call for triplets or to wait for pairs. On turn 3, Takaki calls pon on the 9s and forces the triplets. A few turns later, he calls pon on the west to get to 2-shanten.

In the second row, Takaki calls pon on the 9m and gets to iishanten, still missing his fifth block. After a few turns of waiting, Takaki finally pairs up the east near the end of the second row and waits on an east/6p shanpon.

Around the start of the third row, Shibukawa discards the east and deals into Takaki. Takaki wins the hand with Toitoi/East for 7,700.

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Furinkazan First

February 18, Game 1, S4-2

In S4-2, Aki is in 2nd place and just 1,100 behind 1st place Shibukawa. With a riichi stick and a honba in the pot, any win is a 1st place.

Aki starts out the hand with pairs of east, north and 8p. With neither of the honours being yakuhai, the most likely route for the hand is either pairs or triplets. When the north comes out, Aki rejects it to see if she can get more pairs first. On turn 2, she pairs up the 4s and on turn 4, she pairs up the 3s. With five pairs, she is now just one-away from tenpai.

At the end of the first row, Aki pairs up the 6m dora and waits on a 2m tanki. A turn later, she switches up the 2m tanki for a white dragon tanki. At first, ther was pain as Shibukawa draws and discards the 2m, a potential. Immediately after, pain turned into joy as Hagiwara discards the white dragon and deals into Aki. Aki wins the hand with Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 6,400+600 plus a riichi stick, taking the game.

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Results

Game 171

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Game 2

Phoenix Rise

February 18, Game 2

In E2-0, Kayamori is the dealer and holding a small lead over the rest of the group.. She is still looking for her first win since October 28.

Kayamori starts out with a very strong 3-shanten hand with pairs of white dragon and south. In the first few turns, her shapes lean towards a pinzu honitsu. On turn 5, she makes a pair of 9p and breaks her souzu ryanmen. Soon after, she calls pon on the white dragon and gets to 2-shanten.

At the start of the second row, Kayamori forms a 678p sequence and get sto iishanten. With a south pon in the middle of the row, Kayamori gets to tenpai on a 25p ryanmen, guaranteed a mangan if she wins.

In the third row, Kayamori draws the 2p and wins the hand. Kayamori wins with Honitsu/White Dragon/Dora 1 for 4,000 all.

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In E2-1, Kayamori starts out 3-shanten with not much value to work with. Katsumata, on the other hand, starts iishanten with his first 13 tiles. Though he isn’t able to get the double riichi, he manages to adjust his hand and get to tenpai on turn 4, calling riichi on a 47s ryanmen.

With the early riichi and a 2-shanten hand, Kayamori doesn’t have much to work with. At first, she folds with the safest tiles that she has. However, as the turns go by, Kayamori ends up forming a 5p triplet and a 678p sequence, getting her to iishanten. In the middle of the third row, she somehow manages to get to tenpai. Taking the risk, she discards the red 5m and calls riichi, waiting on a 36s ryanmen. Two turns later, she gets the 6s and wins the hand. Kayamori wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000+100 all plus Katsumata’s riichi stick.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4601

With Kayamori’s first draw in E2-2, she is already iishanten, has pinfu and a dora guaranteed, as well as a chance for tanyao. On turn 4, she draws the red 5p to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen, guarnateed at least a mangan. If she draws the 4m herself , she will have a haneman.

Sure enough, in the middle of the second row, Kayamori draws the 4m and wins the hand. Kayamori wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 6,000+200 all.

In just three hands, Kayamori went from 30,100 to 74,000. And the game isn’t even a quarter of the way finished.

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Shibukawa Separates

February 18, Game 2, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3107

In S1-0, Shibukawa is the dealer in 4th place, languishing near the bottom with his other opponents. Though Kayamori has more or less ruined his chances at 1st place, it does mean that he is close to taking 2nd, sitting only 4,400 behind Honda.

Shibukawa starts out the hand technically at 4-shanten, but all the prospective shapes are bad. Within the first few turns, Shibukawa makes a 4m triplet, makes a pair with the a red 5s and adds a 6m draw, getting to 2-shanten with a route to tanyao. At the end of the row, he draws the red 5m to make the red five trifecta.

In the second row, Shibukawa calls a 456m chii for iishanten. A turn later, he calls a 234m chii and gets to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen, guaranteed a a mangan if he wins. Seven winning tiles remain in the wall.

During the first go-around, Katsumata gets to tenpai and chases on the exact same wait: a 47p ryanmen.

If Kayamori discards it, Katsumata will win. If Honda discards it, Shibukawa will win. Both players draw and discard, hoping to draw it themselves. Then, at the end of the second row, Shibukawa get sthe 7p and wins the hand. Shibukawa wins with Tanyao/Aka 3 for 4,000 all plus a riichi stick, easily moving into 2nd.

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Phoenix Finish

February 18, Game 2, S4-0

In S4-0, Kayamori has 77,700 and wants to finish the game with another win.

WIth her first draw, she completes a sequence and gets to 2-shanten. With another sequence, a ryanmen and a pair in her hand, she just needs to find that fifth block. On turn 2, she fills in the ryanmen for iishanten, now waiting on 13 different tiles for tenpai. On turn 4, she has a chance to take a 4p/north shanpon, bur rejects it, remaining patient.

While Kayamori waits, Shibukawa speeds up his hand by calling pon on the white dragon. With a 7p pon soon after, he gets to tenpai on a 258m wait.

Near the end of the row, Kayamori finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a wide 258p wait. Immediately after, Katsumata discards the 8p trying to maintain his good shapes and deals into Kayamori. Kayamori wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Ura 1 for 8,000, finishing the game with 85,700.

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Results

Game 172

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