Friday (March 14)

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Game 1

Kurosawa

March 14, Game 1

In E2-0, Kurosawa is the dealer and tied for 3rd place, 900 behind 2nd place Genta and 7,500 behind 1st place Kobayashi.

Kurosawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a bunch of good shapes. There’s a single dora red dragon, but his other shapes are strong enough that she doesn’t require it. In the first row, Kurosawa makes sequences in souzu and gets herself to 2-shanten, having routes to pinfu and tanyao.

On turn 7, Kurosawa makes a pair of 7m for iishanten and a guaranteed pinfu. On turn 8, she forms a 456m sequence and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen, wanting the 6s for pinfu and iipeikou.

Just two turns later, Kurosawa draws the 6s and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou for 4,000 all, moving up to 1st.

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In E2-1, Kurosawa starts out 3-shanten for both a pairs and standard hand. With a pair of non-yakuhai souths, her options for opening are limited. In the first row, she starts to draw a bunch of middle tiles, leaning her towards tanyao. Before the end of the first row, she gets to iishanten and starts to cut the souths.

As she hopes for tenpai, Kobayashi and Hisato get to their own iishanten. In the middle of the second row, Kobayashi makes a pair of norths and gets to tenpai on a 5p kanchan.

Right after, Hisato gets to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8m kanchan.

After discarding a safe honour that she held onto during the ippatsu round, she gets to tenpai on her next turn and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen. Soon after, Hisato draws and discards the 1p and deals into Kurosawa. Hitting the uradora, Kurosawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 12,000+300 plus a riichi stick.

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Hisato

March 14, Game 1, E4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3617

In E4-1, Hisato is the dealer in 4th place 14,300 behind 3rd place Kobayashi.

Hisato starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a connected 2m dora and a floating red 5m. The first row gves him some great advancement, creating a 123m sequence, a 5m pair and a red 5s for value. By the end of the row, he is iishanten. If he can get an 8s or a 5s, he can be tenpai for a three-sided wait.

Near the end of the second row, Hisato draws the 8s and calls riichi on a 258s wait, wanting the 8s for the iipaikou. Two turns later, he gets the 8s and wins the hand. Hisato wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 6,000+100 all, moving up to 3rd place.

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Kurosawa Again

March 14, Game 1, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5111

In S2-0, Kurosawa is the dealer again in 1st place, holding a 14,200 lead over 2nd place Hisato.

Kurosawa starts out with a strong 4-shanten hand with four ryanmens, two red fives and a 3m dora. Within the first four turns, she fills in two of them and makes a pair of souths to get her to iishanten.

At the start of the second row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if she wins.

To her right, 4th place Kobayashi gets to iishanten with his draw and pushes a bit against the dealer riichi. After avoiding the ippatsu turn, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 4m kanchan, having enough value to move up to 2nd.

After a bit of back and forth, Kurosawa draws the 1s near the end of the second row and wins the hand. Getting an uradora, Kurosawa wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 6,000 all plus a riichi stick, taking her up to 56,100.

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Results

Game 199

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Game 2

Honda

March 14, Game 2, E1-1

In E1-1, Honda is the dealer in 1st place after winning a 3-han hand to start the game.

Honda starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a secured red 5s, a likely tanyao and a 3m away from a 234m iipeikou. Things move fairly quickly for Honda, getting a 7p pair on turn 2 and a 3m on turn 4 to get to iishanten. With a 7m draw to create a ryanmen, Hond gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 58m ryanmen, guaranteed a mangan.

On his very next draw, he gets the 5m and wins the hand. Honda wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 4,000+100 all.

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Dora Tanki

March 14, Game 2, E4-4

In E4-4, Nakabayashi is in 4th place and 9,600 behind 3rd place Takizawa.

Nakabayashi starts out the hand already iishanten with his first draw and holding a green dragon triplet. With a 246p shape, he has four different tiles within that shape that will get him to tenpai (2356p). Most of the first row is spent switching around his floating tile, wanting to seem busy. Then, at the end of the row, Nakabayashi draws the 5p. He stays dama and waits on a 2p dora tanki.

To his right, Takizawa is 2-shanten with two ryanmens by the end of the first row. In the second, he creates a 567s sequence to get to iishanten and then replaces the regular 5s with a red 5s. In the middle of the row, he completes a 345m sequence and calls riichi on a 2p kanchan.

Nakabayashi continues to stay dama, hoping that maybe someone would still throw the 2p if their hand was strong enough. However, Nakabayashi didn’t wait long as he draws the 2p at the end of the row and wins the hand. Nakabayashi wins with Tsumo/Green Dragon/Dora 2 for 2,000+400/4,000+400 plus a riichi stick, moving up a rank.

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Takizawa

March 14, Game 2

In S3-0, Takizawa is the dealer in 4th place, 1,100 behind 3rd place Kayamori and 6,000 behind 2nd place Nakabayashi.

Takizawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a red 5s. To secure the red 5s, he needs to draw a 4s to create a 345s sequence, or a 6s to create a 567s sequence. Early on, it’s clear that people are in a little bit of a rush to get to tenpai and stuff, with Nakabayashi calling the green dragon and Kayamori calling the 8s. Takizawa, though stays quiety and gets to iishanten by the end of the first row, still wanting the 4s or 6s.

In the second row, Kayamori and Nakabayashi continue their calling, with Kayamori on a 345p chii and Nakabayashi with a 5m pon. In the middle of the row, Nakabayashi is the first to tenpai and waits on a 69p ryanmen.

Immediately after, Takizawa draws a 6s to finally get to tenpai. He makes the bold move and calls riichi on a 3s tanki. A few turns later, Nakabayashi draws and discards the 2s and deals into Takizawa Takizawa wins with Riichi/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 7,700, moving up to 2nd.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3618

In S3-1, Takizawa is now 16,000 behind 1st place Honda. With a mangan direct hit or tsumo, or any haneman win, he can move into top spot.

Takizawa starts off the hand at 3-shanten with two ryanmens. If he gets rid of the 13s block in his hand, he has a better chance at pinfu and tanyao. The first row provides Takizawa with a red 5m to be part of a 345m sequence and some more ryanmens. By turn 5, Takizawa has a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten and breaks his 13s block.

To his right, Kayamori is 2-shanten with a pair of green dragons and a 4s kanchan needing to be filled. Since 4th place Nakabayashi is her team’s rival, she wants to win the hand sooner rather than later. On turn 8, she calls the 4s for the sequence and gets to iishanten. Within the go-around, she calls pon on the 9p and gets to tenpai on a green dragon/west shanpon, only allowed to win on the green dragon.

On Takizawa’s turn, hegets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen, wanting the 4m for tanyao and the mangan.

With the riichi from Takizawa, Kayamori folds when she draws the dangerous 4m.

However, right after, Honda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen.

Honda’s riichi stick ends up being a donation as Takizawa draws the ideal 4m and wins the hand. Getting an ura, Takizawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 6,000+100 all, enough to move into 1st place.

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To 1st

March 14, Game 2, S4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5112

In S4-2, the scores are in an interesting position. 1st place Takizawa and 2nd place Honda are separated by 7,000, while 3rd place dealer Kayamori and 4th place Nakabayashi are separated by 8,000. For all the players, a mangan win or a mangan deal-in can have major implications on their final standing.

Kayamori starts out with a messy 4-shanten, a difficult spot to start at as the dealer. Honda has a 2-shanten hand with a pair of double souths, a connected red 5m and a potential path to a manzu honitsu if he forces it. Nakabayashi is at 3-shanten and lacking the value for a mangan. Takizawa is 2-shanten for pairs and 3-shanten for a standard hand, holding pairs of 1s, green dragon, 6m and north. Both honours are Takizawa’s yakuhai.

In the first few turns, Takizawa is quick to rush the hand, calling a 789p chii and a 1s pon. Kayamori forms ryanmens and Honda pushes his honitsu by breaking the 2p pair from the very start. By the end of the first row, everyone but Kayamori is at iishanten, though she ends up getting there in the middle of the second row.

The first to tenpai is Honda, who calls a 789m chii and gets to tenpai on a 47m ryanmen. A 4m will give him haneman, a 7m will give him mangan. Either way, he has enough for 1st place.

On Takizawa’s turn, he forms a north triplet and gets to tenpai on a 58m ryanmen. Already in 1st place, he just needs to win it to secure it.

At the end of the second row, Kayamori is the third to tenpai on a 6m kanchan.

In the third row, she draws a 2m and gives her a choice between a 5m/8s shanpon and the 6m kanchan. However, to take the shanpon, she will have to discard the 7m. Kayamori ends up trying for the shanpon and deals into Honda.

Honda wins the hand with Honitsu/South/Aka 1 for 8,000+600.

With the hand, Honda jumps up to 1st place by 1,600. At the other end, Kayamori falls down to 4th place by just 600.

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Results

Game 200

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