Tuesday (March 4)

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Game 1

Mizuhara

March 4, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5615

In E2-0, Mizuhara is in 4th place early, but is only just 2,200 behing 1st place dealer Sarukawa.

Sarukawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of north and 1m dora. When the north comes out on turn 4, she calls pon to secure a yaku. At the end of the first row, she draws the red 5p to create a pair and be iishanten.

As she waits to get to tenpai, Asami gets there at the start of the second row and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen.

With good value in her hand, Mizuhara keeps pushing. When Asami draws and discards the 1m at the start of the third row, Mizuhara calls pon to get to tenpai and waits on a 69m ryanmen. On her very next turn, Mizuhara draws the 9m and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with North/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 8,000 plus a riichi stick.

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In E3-0, Mizuhara now has a 10,700 lead over 2nd place.

Mizuhara starts out the hand at 4-shanten, but the four blocks she has can lean towards tanyao. In the first row, she discards exclusively terminals and honours. With a red 5m draw at the end of the row, she gets to 2-shanten.

At the start of the second row, she fills in a kanchan and gets to a perfect iishanten. Around the end of the row, she completes a sequence for tenpai and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen. Immediately after, Sarukawa discards the 8s trying to call riichi and deals into Mizuhara. Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for another 8,000 hand.

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Sarukawa

March 4, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6091

In S1-0, Sarukawa is in 4th place and 7,100 behind the 2nd place tie.

Sarukawa starts the hand out with pairs of 2m, 8m and 1s, putting him 3-shanten for seven pairs and 4-shanten for a standard hand. In his first few turns, he starts to form sequences and a triplet of 8m. With the hand leaning towards tanyao, he decides to break his 1s pair to give it a chance.

At the start of the second row, Aki makes the first move by drawing the red 5m and calling riichi on a 69p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if she wins.

Sitting iishanten with two ryanmens, Sarukawa is comfortably able to push because he keeps drawing safe tiles. Finally, at the end of the second row, Sarukawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen, hoping for the 6s dora for tanyao and extra value.

Two turns later, Mizuhara calls a 567m chii and gets to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen.

Both Mizuhara and Aki have 3 winning tiles left each, Sarukawa has just 1. Then, in the middle of the third row, Sarukawa draws that last dora 6s and wins the hand. Sarukawa wins with Riichi/Tanyao/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick, moving up to 2nd.

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Aki Tanki

March 4, Game 1, S3-0

In S3-0, Aki is in 4th place, 3,000 behind 3rd place dealer Asami and 5,900 behind 2nd place Sarukawa.

Aki starts out the hand at 4-shanten with only a red 5s for value. In contrast, Sarukawa is 3-shanten with a hand leaning towards a manzu honitsu, and Asami is chiitoi 2-shanten with pairs of green dragon, 1p, 5p and 8p. In the first row, Aki ends up picking up a bunch of pair and gets to five of them by turn 5. For Sarukawa, he is iishanten and well for his honitsu, wanting to make his norths into a triplet for tenpai.

On turn 8, just as Asami draws a red 5p to get to iishanten with suuankou potential, Sarukawa calls pon on the north and gets to tenpai on a 147m three-sided wait. Five winning tiles remain in the wall.

With Sarukawa’s discarded green dragon, Asami calls pon and gets to tenpai on an 8p/8s shanpon. The hand is worth mangan on ron and a haneman by tsumo.

However, Aki should not be forgotten. On her next draw, she pairs up the 9s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5s tanki. Just two turns later, Aki draws the 5s and wins the hand. Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000, moving up to 2nd.

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Sarukawa Final

March 4, Game 1, S4-0

In S4-0, Sarukawa is in 3rd place and 4,100 behind 2nd place Aki. To finish the game with a positive score, Sarukawa needs a 2/40 direct hit, a 2/50 or 3/25 tsumo, or a 3/40 ron.

Sarukawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of easts. Though the easts are not yakuhai, they could potentially be useful in a pinzu honitsu hand. The first few turns lean him towards that direction, but the 45m block is proving to be difficult to throw. Then, on the final two turns of the first row, Sarukawa draws back-to-back red dragon doras, giving him the shape and the value to aim for honitsu.

As Sarukawa aims, 1st place Mizuhara gets to tenpai on turn 8 and waits dama on a 58p ryanmen.

In the middle of the second row, Sarukawa makes a 9p triplet and gets to iishanten. Remaining in his hand are pairs of 8p, red dragon and east. Around the end of the row, Sarukawa is able to call pon on the east and get to tenpai on an 8p/red dragon shanpon. If he manages to get the red dragon, he will upgrade his mangan-mimum hand to a haneman.

Soon after, 4th place Asami joins in on the fight and calls riichi on an 8p kanchan. With only two han guaranteed and sitting 4,900 behind Sarukawa, she needs to tsumo or get an uradora for 3rd.

Three players are waiting on the 8p. Though Mizuhara has the advantage in turn order, she ends up folding against Asami’s riichi.

Then, on Sarukawa’s turn, he draws the 8p and wins the hand. Sarukawa wins with Honitsu/Dora 2 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick, finishing the game in 2nd place.

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Results

Game 187

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Game 2

Sonoda (Part 1)

March 4, Game 2

In E1-0, Sonoda is playing for the Akasaka Drivens, trying to recover Asami’s loss the previous game and get the team back above +1000.0pts.

With his very first draw, Sonoda incredibly gets to iishanten, having pairs of the green dragon the dora 5s (including the red 5s), 2m, 4m and 2s. On turn 3, he draws a third 5s and gets to iishanten for a standard hand as well. Within the go-around, he calls pon on the green dragon and gets to tenpai on a 3m kanchan.

With the kanchan not being ideal, Sonoda looks to improve. As he waits, Katsumata calls a concealed hand of the 9m, but the kandora doesn’t help either of them. Im the middle of the second row, Sonoda calls pon on the 2s and switches to a 14m ryanmen.

At the end of the row, Nakada challenges and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.

In the third row, Sonoda draws the 1m and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Green Dragon/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick.

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In E2-0, Sonoda starts out the hand drawing the red 5m and gets to 4-shanten. However, we are immediately taken aback as Nakada gets to tenpai on her first draw and calls riichi on a 2p dora kanchan.

Having a bunch of stray honours and terminals anyways, Sonoda starts by throwing them first and seeing where his hand takes him. By turn 8, he is 2-shanten awith some good shapes. As he draws the dora on turn 10, he gets to iishanten with mangan minimum, getting him to push a little.

At round the end of the row, Yu throws his hand into the ring by calling a 678s chii and waits on a 69m ryanmen, only allowed to win on the 6m. However, if he does manage to get it, he will have a mangan.

Then, on Sonoda’s next draw, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3p kanchan, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins. In the middle of the third row, Nakada unluckily draws and discards the 3p and deals into Sonoda. Nakada wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 8,000 plus a riichi stick.

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Kana

March 4, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2749

In E3-0, Nakada is in 4th place, 12,000 behind the 2nd place tie (which includes the dealer Yu).

Nakada starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of red dragons and a floating 5s dora. In the first row, sequences begin to form, connecting the red 5s and filling in a kanchan. By the end of the row, she has a perfect iishanten.

In the middle of the second row, Nakada gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen.

Across from her, Yu is sitting at iishanten and has two ryanmens. Improving to a perfect iishanten at the end of the row, he pushes more. In the middle of the third row, Yu makes a white dragon triplet and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen.

However, his riichi is simply a donation. On Nakada’s turn, she draws the 9m and wins the hand. Nakada wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick, moving her up to 3rd place.

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Yu

March 4, Game 2, S1-1

In S1-1, Yu is in 4th place, 5,900 behind 3rd place Katsumata and 10,800 behind 2nd place dealer Nakada. 1,300 in bonuses are up for grabs.

Yu starts out the hand 3-shanten with not much value to go on. However, each of his draws seems to get him closer to a nice hand. He makes a 345p sequence, a 778s block, a 445s block, each draw seems to give him a potential for sequences or even seven pairs. By turn 5, he is iishanten for both. At the end of the row, Yu completes a 234p iipeikou and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen.

Wanting to reduce Yu’s hand value, Sonoda deicdes to call chii and break the ippatsu. However, this ends up shifting the wall perfectly for Katsumata, who draws the red 5m and gets to tenpai on a 3s wait.

Just two turns later, Yu draws the 9s and wins the hand. Hitting the uradora, Yu wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Iipeikou/Dora 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus a riichi stick, moving up to 2nd.

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Katsumata

March 4, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2606

In S2-0, Katusmata is the dealer in 4th place, 2,900 behind 3rd place Nakada and 5,500 behind 2nd place Yu.

Though Katsumata has a triplet of 3m to start, the rest of his hand is bad at 5-shanten and clear path to any hand or yaku. Katsumata spends the entire first row discarding terminals and honours. Though, as he does this, he picks up pairs of 8p, 8s and 6s, leaning him towards toitoi or tanyao.

With triplets in mind, he calls pon on both the 8s and 8p and gets himself to iishanten. With Katsumata’s discarded 3s, Yu calls pon and is the first to tenpai, waiting on a 47m ryanmen.

With Yu’s discarded 6s, Katsumata makes a third pon and waits on a 45m. On his very next turn, he gets the red 5m and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Toitoi/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 4,000 all, jumping up to 2nd.

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Sonoda (Part 2)

March 4, Game 2

In S3-1, Sonoda still has a decent lead, but the possibility of Yu and Katsumata making a comeback is still there.

Sitting at 2-shanten with a pair of double souths and two red fives, Sonoda has the makings of a quick and valuable hand. Within the first go-around, he calls pon on the south and gets to iishanten. A few turns later, a 789m chii gets him to tenpai on a 36p ryanmen. Two turns after that, Nakada discards the 6p and deals into Sonoda. Sonoda wins the hand with Double South/Aka 2 for 8,000+300, making his lead stronger going into South 4.

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In S4-0, Sonoda has a decent 3-shanten hand with pairs of 1s, 9m and white dragon. With the lead, Sonoda is confident that he can put pressure on the table. Within the first go-around, he calls pon on the 1s and taking his bets on either a honitsu or the white dragon being called. Around the end of the row, he calls pon on the white dragon. Being even more bold, he breaks his 89s block, actually taking him back a step despite only have two blocks remaining.

In the second row, he calls pon on the 9m and gets to iishanten, looking to pair up the east or west (or make his 5s pair into a triplet) to get to tenpai. At the end of the second row, he gets the west pair and waits with his 5s/west shanpon.

A few turns later, Nakada gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3m kanchan, guarnateed at least a mangan. With two more han, she can upgrade to a haneman.

Within the ippatsu round, Sonoda ends up getting the west and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Toitoi/White Dragon for 3,200 all plus a riichi stick, pushing him above 55,000.

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In S4-1, Sonoda is 4-shanten with some tanyao potential. Within the first row, he makes a 567s sequence from scratch and makes his 8s pair into a triplet getting him to iishanten.

Across from him, Katsumata is trying to make a fast hand and secure his 2nd place. Right after another, Katsumata calls a 678s sequence and a 2s pon, getting to iishanten. With a 234p chii at the start of the second row, Katsumata gets to tenpai and waits on a 58m ryanmen.

Though Sonoda draws a 5m which doesn’t help his 14m ryanmen, he keeps it to stay a bit safe. On his very next turn, he draws a 4m, creating a 345m sequence, and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen. Two turns later, he draws the 2p and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao for 2,000+100 all, pushing him above 60,000.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2117

In S4-2, Sonoda starts out with a 3-shanten hand, holding the potential to be tanyao if he draws the right side of a 14s ryanmen. Within the first three turns, he creates a three-sided wait in manzu and draws a red 5s, giving him good shapes and value. On turn 4, he fills in that three-sided wait and gets to iishanten. At the end of the row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen, wanting the 4s for mangan.

Two turns later, Katsumata drops a 1s pair trying to shift himself to tanyao and ends up dealing into Sonoda. Hitting two uradora, Sonoda wins the hand with Riichi/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 12,000+600, moving up to 75,100.

Results

Game 188

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