Monday (March 17)

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Game 1

Dama

March 17, Game 1, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2608

In E2-0, Katsumata is in 2nd place early in the game and 800 behind 1st place Daisuke.

Katsumata starts out the hand at 3-shanten with three ryanmens. The hand has a good chance at tanyao, but he needs to shift his 8p or 8m pair into a ryanmen to make it pinfu. In the first row, Katsumata makes a 14s ryanmen to create just a 4s kanchan, guaranteeing him both tanyao and a 345s sanshoku. By the end of the row, he gets to iishanten.

As Katsumata waits, Asami gets to tenpai on turn 9. However, her 5p tanki is weak, so she waits yakuless and looks for a better wait.

On turn 10, Daigo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 6m kanchan.

Ok Asami’s draw, she improves the wait and calls riichi on a 25s nobetan.

Back to Katsumata, he has created a chance at pinfu, needing to fill in the 4s kanchan to make it happen. As luck would have it, Katsumata draws the 4s on the ippatsu round and stays dama on 69p ryanmen. The 9p is safe against Daigo and the 6p is safe against Asami. With the 6p, Katsumata will have mangan.

At the start of the third row, Katsumata draws the 6p and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Sanshoku for 2,000/4,000 plus two riichi sticks, taking the lead.

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Dora Dora Dora Aka

March 17, Game 1, S1-0

In S1-0, Katsumata is the dealer and remains in the lead, but this lead has shrunk to just 1,800.

Katsumata starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a loosely-connected 4p dora. The first row provides him with a route to tanyao and pairs up the 4p dora, giving him a chance at a quicker and more expensive hand. By the end of the row, he is 2-shanten.

As Katsumata waits to advance, Daisuke makes a splash on the table by calling a concealed kan of souths, something that he has held onto since the first row. With the kan, the 5p becomes the next dora. To take iishanten, Daisuke discards the 4p and allows Katsumata to call pon and get to iishanten himself.

At the end of the second row, Asami is the first to tenpai and stays dama on a 6p kanchan, waiting with a mangan.

Right after, Daisuke gets to tenpai, discards the red 5m and calls riichi on a 69m nobetan.

With the red 5m discard, Katsumata calls chii and waits on a 3m/6p shanpon. On his very nextc draw, he gets the 6p and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Tanyao/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 4,000 all plus a riichi stick.

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Dora 5

March 17, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2121

In S3-0, Asami is the dealer in 3rd place 2,200 behind 2nd place Daisuke and 15,300 behind 1st place Katsumata.

Asa starts out the hadn at 4-shanten with a pair of easts for a potential yakuhai. Within the first few turns, Daigo is the the first one to show his speed, calling pon on the red dragon and a 345s sequence, already showing three han.

Around the end of the row, Asami calls a pon on the easts and gets the ball rolling for her. Soon after, Daigo upgrades the red dragons to a quad and makes the 2m the new dora and giving Asami an extra han.

Despite these two with their open efforts, Katsumata is the first to tenpai, who has been quietly building his hand and waits dama on a 25p ryanmen.

Despite having five winning tiles left in the wall, none of them seem to want to come. Even as the hand goes into the third row, his tile count remains at five.

Approaching the middle of her third row, Asami finally gets to tenpai and waits on a 5p kanchan.

As Katsumata draws an 8p. he notices that very few pinzu tiles have been discarded. Not wanting to take too much risk, 1st place Katsumata chooses to fold.

On Asami’s turn, she draws a fourth east and calls kan. With the kandora flip, the easts suddenly become the new dora and her hand is upgraded to a haneman!

On her very next turn, Asami draws the 5p and wins the hand! Asami wins with East/Dora 5 for 6,000 all, instantly moving her from 3rd to 1s.

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Honitsu

March 17, Game 1, S3-1

In S3-1, Daigo is in 4th place and 3,300 behind 3rd place Daisuke.

Daigo starts out the hand with a verey strong 4-shanten hand with pairs of red dragon, green dragon and west. Within the first row, Daigo calls pon on both the dragons, shifts to honitsu and gets to iishanten, lining him up for a mangan.

The second row is a bust, but at the start of the third row, Daigo completes a 456s sequence and waits on a 3s/west shanpon. A few turns later, Daisuke discards the 3s trying to call riichi and deals into Daigo. Daigo wins the hand with Honitsu/Green Dragon/Red Dragon for 8,000+300.

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Results

Game 201

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Game 2

Magician

March 17, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2122

In E3-0, Sonoda is in 4th place, 7,400 behind 3rd place Sugawara and 8,700 behind 2nd place dealer Takaki.

With Sonoda’s first draw, he gets to 2-shanten with a secured dora 5p. On turn 2, he draws and 9p to get to iishanten and is just a 2p and a 7p away from a full straight. On his very next turn, he gets the 2p and calls riichi on the 7p penchan, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.

Though a penchan is generally a weak wait, the fact that there are still four left makes it much stronger. WIth the 4p discard on turn 5, it becomes the suji and makes the win even more likely.

On turn 8, Sugawara discards the 7p and deals into Sonoda. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Ittsuu/Dora 1 for 8,000, moving up to 3rd.

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Jumping to E4-1, Sonoda is 700 behind 2nd place Takaki and 6,700 behind 1st place Aki.

With Sonoda’s first draw, he gets a 4s to connect to the red 5s double dora and advances to 3-shanten. On his next turn, he draws a 3s to complete the sequence. At the end of the first row, Sonoda has a chance to be iishanten with two kanchans, but he rejects it in search of better waits. On turn 7, he gets to iishanten with a guaranteed good wait.

Across from him, Aki is still looking to continue her dealership. On turn 8, she is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen.

During the ippatsu round, Sonoda chases and waits on a 47p ryanmen. At the end of the row, he gets the 4p and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus a riichi stick, getting up to the top.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2805

In S1-0, Sonoda starts off at 2-shanten with a pair of red dragons. If Sonoda can build around the floating 4s or the north, he can break the 6m pair and go for a souzu honitsu.

On turn 4, Sonoda calls pon on the red dragon. Being bold, he breaks his 6m pair, going back a shanten to aim for a honitsu.

At the start of the second row, he calls pon and gets to iishanten. In the middle of the row, he gets to tenpai and waits on a north tanki.

Seeing a probably souzu flush in Sonoda’s discards, his opponents feel relatively safe so long as they don’t recklessly discard souzu tiles. With a 234p chii at the start of the third row, Aki gets to tenpai and waits on a 258m wait.

Within the go-around, Takaki calls riichi and waits on a 69s ryanmen.

Not to be forgotten, Sugawara calls riichi in the ippatsu round and waits on a 69s ryanmen.

However, all these riichi and tenpai calls are all for naught as Sonoda draws the north right after and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Honitsu/Chanta/Red Dragon for 2,000/4,000 plus two riichi sticks, taking Sonoda to 44,600.

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Aki

March 17, Game 2, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2806

In S3-0, Aki is in 2nd place with just a narrow 800 lead over 3rd place dealer Takaki.

Aki starts out the hand at 4-shanten, not really holding any good shapes or value. The first row is able to ameliorate some of that, however, as she forms a few sequences and draws a red 5m to get to iishanten. Though she does have two ryanmens, she is still missing a pair.

In the second row, Aki creates a 789m sequence and has a chance to get to tenpai. However, taking such a tenpai would mean waiting on something like a 5m tanki. With a 5m already discarded already, she instead breaks her 345p sequence. Two turns later, Aki pairs up the 5p with a red 5p and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if she wins.

Immeidately after, Sugawara draws the 7s dora to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen, also guaranteed at least a mangan.

Then, on Sugawara’s ippatsu turn, she draws and discards the 3m and deals into Aki. Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 8,000 plus a riichi stick, increasing Aki’s grip on 2nd place and pushing Sugawara into the negatives.

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Results

Game 202

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