Thursday (March 6)

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Game 1

Aka

March 6, Game 1, S2-1

In S2-1, the scores are close with 4th place Genta sitting just 7,500 behind 1st place Hinata. Up in 2nd place is Kobayashi, just 2,800 behind top spot. A riichi stick and a honba sit in the middle.

Kobayashi starts out the hand 3-shanten , but doesn’t have much in terms of value except for a floating south. In his usual Kobayashi fashion, he stays closed and efficient, trying to get to a good-wait tenpai. When he gets to a good wait guaranteed iishanten on turn 5, he gets rid of the south.

To his left, 4th place dealer Honda is doing the same, staying efficient and getting rid of the stray honours and terminals. On turn 6, he gets himself to iishanten. A turn later, he creates a ryanmen to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.

During the ippatsu round, Kobayashi draws the dora south, but he decides to push it. On his next draw, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m/5s wait.

Honda has 3 winning tiles, Kobayashi has 2. As the turns go along, both players have their waits reduced by 1. Then, nearing the end of the hand, on the second-last tile in the wall, Honda draws and discards the red 5s and deals into Kobayashi. Kobayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Aka 1 for 2,600+300 plus two riichi stick, moving up to 1st.

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Comeback

March 6, Game 1, S3-0

In S3-0, Honda is in 4th place with no dealership left. However, the game is still relatively close, with 2nd place Hinata 9,800 away and 1st place dealer Kobayashi 11,900 away. With a simple mangan tsumo, he could move up to top spot.

Honda starts out the hand with a decent 2-shanten hand with a red 5p and a secured red 5s. On turn 2, he breaks up his non-yakuhai east pair to aim for seqeunces and potentially tanyao. Throughout the rest of the row, he draws a 4p to connect the red 5p and get to a perfect iishanten.

At the start of the second row, Honda draws a 1p to complete a 123p sequence, getting to tenpai. He calls riichi and waits on a 69m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan. Just two turns later, he draws the 9m and wins the hand. Hitting the uradora for the upgrade, Honda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, easily moving up to 1st going into the final hand.

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Closing It Out

March 6, Game 1, S4-1

In S4-1, Honda is in 1st place with exactly 30,000. The rest of his opponents are relatively close and eager to take the win away from him. 1,300 in bonuses are in the pot.

Honda starts out with a strong 3-shanten hand with both the red 5p and red 5m secured. The hand has the potential to be an open tanyao, but the 69s ryanmen could be a pain point. In the first row he ends up making a pair of 9p. Though it does impede with an open hand, he does advance his hand to iishanten around the end of the first row.

Across from him, 4th place dealer Genta is iishanten as well, but he has the ability to call. With a 7p pon, Genta is the first to tenpai and waits on a 3p kanchan.

On Honda’s turn, he forms a 789s sequence and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen.

Calling Honda’s 4p for a 234p sequence, Kobayashi gets to iishanten, contingent on getting a white dragon to get anything done. On his very next draw, he draws the white dragon and gets to tenpai on a 7p kanchan.

Around the middle of the second row, Genta chooses to switch his wait to a 5p kanchan. However, the turn right after he switches, he draws the 3p.

With Kobayashi not wanting to deal into the tenpai players, he tries his best to avoid all of them. However, as he draws more and more dangerous tiles, he ends up folding, cutting the white dragon four turns in a row.

Not to be forgotten in this hand is 2nd place Hinata. At the start of the third row, she gets to tenpai on a 36s ryanmen with five still remaining in the wall. But, when she draws the 3m on her next turn, her appetite to keep pushing is ruined.

The wall shrinks and it looks like the hand will go to a draw. Then, on the third-last tile in the wall, Honda draws the 7m and wins the hand! Honda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 2 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus a riichi stick, securing the game.

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Results

Game 189

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Game 2

Shaa Tanki

March 6, Game 2, E2-1

In E2-1, Nakabayashi is in 1st place with a narrow 2,500 lead over 2nd. Two riichi sticks and a honba sit in the middle.

Nakabayashi starts out the hand by making a pair of white dragons and getting to 2-shanten. Within the first row, Nakabayashi is able to call pon on the white dragons and get to iishanten. In the second row, he draws a red 5p and gets to tenpai on a 7m tanki.

On his next turn, he neds up drawing the dora west and decides to switch his wait, guaranteeing himself a mangan. As Nakabayashi draws and discards, Kurosawa and Daigo both advance their own hands, both players holding a single west in their hand. Then, at the start of the third row, Kurosawa tries to call riichi by throwing the west and deals into Nakabayashi. Nakabayashi wins the hand with White Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 12,000+300 plus two riichi sticks.

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Kurosawa Speed

March 6, Game 2, E3-3

In E3-3, Kurosawa is the dealer in 4th place, 9,800 behind 3rd place Daigo and 13,300 behind 2nd place Shiratori.

With her very first draw, Kurosawa gets to iishanten and holds a 3-sided wait ready to be launched. Missing a pair for tenpai, she holds a single 4p dora and some hope. On her very next turn, she manages to pair up that 4p dora and calls riichi on a 369m three-sided wait, wanting the 9m for ittsuu.

Two turns later, Kurosawa gets 3m and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 2 for 4,000+300 all plus a riichi stick, moving up to 2nd place before the table is finished shuffling.

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Yakuman Tenpai??!

March 6, Game 2, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2756

In S3-0, Kurosawa is the dealer in 2nd place and sitting 19,800 behind 1st place Nakabayashi.

Kurosawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with nothing remarkable. Shiratori, on the other hand, is 2-shanten with pairs of red dragon, green dragon, 4s and 3p. With a single white dragon in the hand as well, there’s a chance to have a shousangen or even a daisangen.

In the first row, Kurosawa starts making pairs and triplets, incredibly getting to suuankou iishanten. For Shiratori, he is only able to get one more pair, but it does bring him to iishanten.

On turn 8, Shiratori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a white dragon tanki. He has all three dragon, but he gets no bonus for having them.

During the ippatsu round, Kurosawa gets a triplet of 5s. With three triplets and a two pairs, Kurosawa is now tenpai for a potential suuankou. She calls riichi and waits on a 6p/6s shanpon, wanting to tsumo for a yakuman.

Two winning tiles remain in the wall.

With every draw, there is a chance for a yakuman to happen. Fans sit at the edge of their seats, wanting the big win.

Sitting in 1st place is Nakabayashi, not wanting to deal into 2nd place Kurosawa. Sitting in Kurosawa’s discard pile is a white dragon. Around the end of the second row, Nakabayashi discards the white dragon. Just as Kurosawa reaches for the next tile, Shiratori calls ron and kills the yakuman. Shiratori wins the hand with Riichi/Chiitoi for 3,200 plus a riichi stick.

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Results

Game 190

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