Thursday (March 13)

---

Game 1

Sarukawa

March 13, Game 1, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6095

In E2-1, Sarukawa is the dealer in 2nd place and 2,200 behind 1st place Ooi. With 1,300 in bonuses in the middle, Sarukawa can win anything and move up to 1st.

Sarukawa starts off with a 4-shanten hand, but does have three ryanmens for potential good shapes. The first row goes decently well as he forms more ryanmens and strengthens some shapes, but he doesn’t have any completed groups. In fact, the first row has provided him with three pairs and puts him closer to a pairs hand.

At the start of the second row, he gets his fourth pair. As he discards the 2m, Taro calls pon and gets to tenpai on a 58s ryanmen.

Though Sarukawa considers calling a chii with Taro’s discarded 4s dora, he skips it and is rewarded with a fifth pair. Near the end of the row, he gets his sixth and calls riichi on a 5s tanki, guaranteed at least 4 han if he wins.

With the riichi from Sarukawa, Taro decides to fold when he draws a dangerous 8p.

As one player folds, another one pushes. In the third row, Aki calls a 345m chii and gets to tenpai on an east/4s shanpon, only allowed to win on the east but will be rewarded with a mangan if she gets it.

Soon after, Sarukawa gets the 5s and wins the hand. Sarukawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Chiitoi for 4,000+100 all plus a riichi stick.

---

Aki

March 13, Game 1, E3-0

In E3-0, Aki is the dealer in 3rd place, 8,100 behind 2nd place Ooi and 13,300 behind 1st place Aki.

Aki starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a pair of red dragons and leaning towards a souzu honitsu. Within the first few turns, she calls pon on the red dragon to secure a yaku. She doesn’t go too forcefully on the honitsu, discarding some of her stray honours and seeing where the rest of the hand goes. As she fills in a 7s kanchan at the end of the row, she gets to 2-shanten with the honitsu looking more and more possible.

At the start of the second row, she calls pon on the 9s to get to iishanten. However, soon after, Sarukawa calls riichi and waits on a 69m ryanmen.

During the ippatsu round, Aki makes the easts into a pair and gets to tenpai on an east/3s shanpon. With a dealer mangan in sight, Aki just pushes and pushes.

It’s Sarukawa’s 3 winning tiles vs. Aki’s 2 winning tiles. Then, on Aki’s last draw, she gets the east and wins the hand. Aki wins with Honitsu/Double East/Red Dragon for 4,000 all.

---

Ooi

March 13, Game 1, S2-0

In S2-0, Ooi is in 4th place, 1,800 behind 3rd place Taro and 8,200 behind 2nd place dealer Sarukawa.

Ooi starts out the hand at 3-shanten with two ryanmens. On his second turn, he forms a third ryanmen, guaranteeing him pinfu if he stays closed. Over the next few turns, he fills them and gets closer to tenpai. On turn 5, he is ready and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen.

Despite the positive tenpai, his opponents are looking to ruin his day. Across from him, Sarukawa has a wide mangan iishanten and waiting on 8 different tiles for tenpai. Against the dangerous riichi, Sarukawa just keeps pushing. Near the end of the row, Sarukawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen.

The battle is intense, but it takes just two turns before Ooi draws the red 5p and wins the hand. Ooi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 1,300/2,600 plus a riichi stick. With Sarukawa calling riichi and being the dealer, Ooi makes just enough ground to move ahead of Sarukawa and into 2nd place.

---

Monkey Magic

March 13, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6095

In S4-0, Sarukawa is in 3rd place, 2,600 behind 2nd place Ooi and 13,700 behind 1st place Aki. With any 3-han hand, Sarukawa can take 2nd. However, if Sarukawa sets his sights further with a mangan direct hit off Aki, a haneman tsumo or a baiman ron, he will have enough to take 1st place.

Sarukawa starts out the hand with pairs of 3p, 6s and 1s, as well as a single south dora. If he aims for pairs, he cound get to a haneman. In most haneman scenarios, though, he needs to make use of the south dora.

On turn 4, Sarukawa pairs up the souths to get the ball rolling, giving him some of the value that he needs. Around the end of the row, he draws a third 3p, putting him 2-shanten for a standard hand as well.

At the start of the second row, Aki gets to tenpai on a 25s ryanmen, but she stays dama with no yaku, not wanting to risk dealing in in the future. For Sarukawa, he forms an 8s triplet to get to iishanten. If he can draw one more triplet, he will have sanankou. At the end of the row, Sarukawa calls a 456m chii and gets to tenpai on a south/1s shanpon, only allowed to win by tsumo or on the south. Only a south tsumo will give him 1st place.

At the start of the third row, Sarukawa draws a fourth 3p and calls a concealed kan. With the kandora flip, Sarukawa’s 8s becomes the new dora! Now if he tsumos on the south, he will have a baiman! Just a turn later, Sarukawa gets the south and wins the hand. Sarukawa wins the hand with South/Sanankou/Dora 6 for a big 4,000/8,000 baiman, getting the big come from behind win!

---

Results

Game 197

---

Game 2

Katsumata

March 13, Game 2, E1-1

In E1-1, Katsumata has a narrow 2,000 lead after winning the first hand as the dealer.

Katsumata starts out the hand at 3-shanten, though has three middle waits and a single ryanmen. In the first row, he fills in one of the those middle waits, makes one of them into a pair and leaves one of them. He also creates a triplet of 6p and gets himself to iishanten.

On turn 8, gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2m kanchan, having no value except for being dealer.

To his right, Futoshi has five pairs. With chiitoi being the perfect hand against a riichi, he is able to push a bit. Near the end of the row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a south tanki.

It’s 3 vs. 3. Standard vs. Chiitoi. Riichi nomi vs. mangan minimum.

Then, in the middle of the third row, Katsumata draws the 2m and wins the hand. With the uradora flip, Katsumata’s 6p triplet suddenly becomes dora and upgrades him to an unexpected mangan! Katsumata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 3 for 4,000+100 plus a riichi stick, taking Katsumata above 40,000.

---

Yakuman Tenpai?!?

March, 13, Game 2, E1-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4112

In E1-3, Matsumoto is in 3rd place, 2,000 behind 2nd place Nakada and 28,800 behind 1st place Katsumata.

Matsumoto starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of dora west and 7s. With two ryanmens and sitting in the west seat, has a good chance at a good mangan. Though he doesn’t complete the wests in the first row, he does create pairs of 8s and 5p.

At the start of the second row, he draws a third west and gets to 2-shanten. A turn later, he draws a third 5p. A turn after that, he pairs up the 3s. All of a sudden, he is iishanten for a potential suuankou! He just needs to make one of his pairs into a triplet and he will be ready.

Near the end of the row, he gets it. He gets a third 8s. With that, he discards the 2s and sits dama on a 3s/7s shanpon. If he wins by ron, he will have a baiman. If he wins by tsumo, he will have a yakuman.

Immediately after, Nakada (who has three red fives in hand) gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen. Unfortunately, she has already discarded a 3s, making her furiten. However, if she does end up winning, she will have at least a haneman.

Seeing the 3s in Nakada’s discards, Katsumata tries to fold with the 3s. However, he simply ends up dealing into Matsumoto. It’s not a yakuman, but Matsumoto still wins with a big Toitoi/Sanankou/West/Dora 3 baiman for 16,000+300. With the direct hit, it’s enough to spring Matsumoto up to 1st place.

---

Futoshi

March 13, Game 2, E3-0

In E3-0, Futoshi is in 4th place and 15,200 behind 3rd place Nakada.

Futoshi starts out the hand at 4-shanten with some scattered shapes, but nothing in terms of good value. The biggest way that Futoshi can get value is to fill in the dora 6m kanchan in his hand. WIthin his first four turns, he creates both a 234m and a 567m sequence and gets himself to pinfu iishanten.

At the end of the row, Matsumoto is the first to tenpai and waits dama on a 2s/2m shanpon, ready for at least 7,700.

Two turns later, Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen.

Two turns after that, Katsumata joins in and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen.

The two riichi calls are too rich for Matsumoto’s blood, so he decides to fold when drawing a dangerous 8p (the perfect fold).

Near the end of the second row, Futoshi draws the 2p and wins the hand. Hitting the uradora, Futoshi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick.

---

Kenji

March 13, Game 2, E4-0

In E4-0, Katsumata is in 2nd place and 5,000 behind 1st place Matsumoto.

Katsumata starts out with a very good 2-shanten hand with pairs of red dragon and green dragon. Without even giving Matsumoto a chance to get his first draw, Katsumata calls pon on the red dragon to get to iishanten. Right after, he draws a 1s to get to tenpai.

However, the hand is cheap, worth only 3,200 at most, and that’s with a perfect green dragon draw. When Katsumata draws a 3m, he breaks his existing 123m sequence and aims for toitoi, giving him a potential mangan.

However, there may be trouble. Soon after, still within the first row, Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.

Getting some safe tiles and suji, Katsumata is able to keep his hand intact. In the second row, he calls pon on the green dragon and gets to tenpai on a 3m/2p shanpon, guaranteed a mangan if he wins. On his very next draw, he gets the 3m and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Toitoi/Red Dragon/Green Dragon for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick, moving him up to 1st place.

---

Matsumoto

March 13, Game 2, S1-0

In S1-0, Matsumoto is back in 2nd place and 6,000 behind 1st place Katsumata.

Matsumoto starts out the hand at 4-shanten with three ryanmens. In order to secure the red 5p in his hand, he ideally wants a 4p dora to create a 345p sequence. In the first row, he creates two sequences for 2-shanten, but is still lacking a pair and unable to secure the red 5p. Across from him, Katsumata is cooking up a juicy hand, holding a pair of those 4p dora and has the other two red fives as well.

In the second row, Matsumoto makes the 3s into a pair and draws a 6p to connect to the red 5p, getting to a pinfu iishanten.

Between the two big players, Katsumata is the first to tenpai and stays dama on a 58p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a haneman if he wins. Unfortunately, the 58p is a dead wait.

Immediately after, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan.

On one hand, Katsumata is in big danger. On the other, the 8p is a safe tile against Matsumoto and someone could very well deal into Katsumata. Nakada draws an 8p during Matsumoto’s ippatsu round, but stays safe by discarding an 8s instead.

Then, on Katsumata’s turn, he draws and discards the 7s and deals into Matsumoto. Hitting the uradora, Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 12,000, retaking the lead.

---

Yakuman Tenpai!!!

March 13, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2607

In S2-0, Katsumata is back in 2nd place and 18,000 behind 1st place Matsumoto after dealing into his haneman.

From the very start, Katsumata has ten unique terminals and honours, putting him 2-shanten from thirteen orphans.

All he needs is a north, a 9s and a green dragon.

On his very next turn, he gets the green dragon.

Only the 9s and north remain.

Fans start counting tiles. Though the norths are still relatively plentiful with 3 left, the 9s is running out. By turn 4, one has already been discarded and Futoshi has a pair. Only one 9s remains in the wall.

All Katsumata can do is wait.

On turn 7, Nakada gives a challenge to the table by calling riichi. It’s wide, waiting three-sided with a 458m wait. Six remain in the wall.

On Katsumata’s next draw, he gets the north.

Tenpai.

Katsumata waits on a 9s.

One remains in the wall.

Looking at the discards, Futoshi is in a dangerous position. The 9s is safe against Nakada and though Katsumata’s discards look like kokushi, it’s quite early in the hand.

On the ippatsu turn, he discards the 1m.

On his next turn, he still looks to keep his shapes intact. Being in 4th place and wanting a chance to win, Futoshi discards the 9s.

And with that, Katsumata calls ron.

Kokushi Musou. 32,000. (plus a riichi stick)

With the big yakuman win, Katsumata gets the third yakuman of the season, following Rumi’s Suuankou on December 5, 2024 and Daisuke’s Daisangen on January 13, 2025.

---

Takame

March 13, Game 2, S3-0

In S3-0, Nakada is in 3rd place and 23,400 behind 2nd place dealer Matsumoto. She does have the last dealership, but she might as well start now.

Nakada starts out the hand at 3-shanten, but doesn’t really have much for value.

Katsumata, on the other hand, is already iishanten for seven pairs with his first draw. On his very next turn, he gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 9s tanki, the same tile that won him the thirteen orphans the previous hand.

Back to Nakada, she starts to get closer to a potential 567 sanshoku. After drawing a 6m and a 7s, she gets to iishanten, needing a 6s and a 7m to make it happen.

At the start of the second row, Nakada gets the 6s and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen, wanting that 7m for value.

With the riichi, Katsumata switches to a green dragon tanki. During the ippatsu round, Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s kanchan.

On Matsumoto’s turn, he has a chance to be tenpai, but will need to discard the 7m to take it. Matsumoto chooses to discard the 7m and ends up dealing into Nakada.

Nakada wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Sanshoku for 8,000 plus a riichi stick, getting to within 4,400 of 2nd place going into the final hand.

---

Results

Game 198

---

Intro | Standings