Tuesday (March 18)

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Game 1

Kuma Kuma Time

March 18, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5113

In E3-1, Setokuma is in 1st place with an 8,400 lead over 2nd place Hori. 2,300 in bonuses will go to the next winner.

Setokuma starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a secured dora 7m as part of a 789m sequence, as well as a pair of red dragons. In the first row, Setokuma draws another 7m and makes it part of a 678m sequence. Creating a 36p ryanmen as well, Setokuma gets to iishanten at the end of the first row.

To his right, Hisato is speeding through the hand. With a white dragon and west pon, both of them being his yakuhai, Hisato gets to tenpai at the start of the second row on a 6p/8m shanpon.

Back to Setokuma, he creates a pair of green dragons to give him another option to open up. Even if he calls chii on the 36p ryanmen first, he will have a yaku.

In the middle of the second row, Hisato switches his wait to a 58p ryanmen.

When Setokuma draws another dora 7m, he holds onto it even when it doesn’t immediately fit in, planning to throw it only when there’s no chance of using it. In the third row, Setokuma draws a third green dragon and risks the 7m dora so late. It passes and Setokuma waits dama on a 36p ryanmen.

Two turns later, Setokuma draws a red 5p and switches to a red dragon/5p shanpon, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins. Immediately after, Hisato draws an discards the red dragon and deals into Setokuma. Setokuma wins the hand with Green Dragon/Red Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000+300 plus two riichi sticks.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2810

In E4-0, Setokuma is now the dealer and looking to go even further.

With Setokuma’s very first draw, he gets to iishanten and has a 36m ryanmen as a potential good wait. However, despite the good start, the first row desn’t want to give him anything. He spends much of the first row discarding honurs and terminals, still remaining at iishanten. Though, his tile acceptance increases just slightly.

On turn 8, he creates a 14p ryanmen, guaranteeing him a good wait hwever he gets to tenpai. On his very next turn, he draws the red 5m to create a pair and calls riichi on the 14p ryanmen, wanting the 4p for tanyao.

At the start of the third row, Setokuma draws the 4p and wins the hand. Setokuma wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000 all, pushing Setokuma to 55,900.

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Rise

March 18, Game 1

In S1-0, Hisato is the dealer in 3rd place and 6,100 behind 2nd place Hori.

Hisato starts out the hand with a decent 4-shanten hand with a secured red 5s and a dora 7s as part of a 789s sequence. In the first row, Hisato creates a 79m and a 79p shape, giving him the option to open and go for sanshoku. By the end of the row, he is 2-shanten.

At the start of the second row, Hisato calls pon on the 2p, confirming his pursuit for an open sanshoku. A turn later, he calls chii on the 8m and waits on an 8p kanchan.

Near the end of the second row, Mizuhara challenges Hisato by calling riichi on a wide 457p wait. Despite the width, only one winning tile remains in the wall.

A few turns later, Hori joins in and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen.

The 456789p are all winning tiles. Then, near the end of the hand, Mizuhara draws and discards the final 8p and deals into Hisato. Hisato wins the hand with Sanshoku/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 5,800 plus two riichi sticks, moving up to 2nd.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3619

In S1-1, Hisato has an chiitoi 4-shanten (5-shanten for a standard hand) with no value at all. Much of the first row is spent purging lone honours and terminals, save for an 8p discard on turn 5. With some decent draws, Hisato manages to get to 2-shanten by the end of the row. Looking around the table, everyone is at 2-shanten as well.

In the second row, Hisato starts to make ryanmens and good shapes while Setokuma makes a triplet of souths. With a 6m pon near the end of the row, Setokuma is the first to tenpai and waits on a 58s ryanmen.

Back to Hisato, he forms a 334567p shape for a potential good wait (along with his 25s ryanmen), but there is a chance to be furiten because of the first-row 8p. At the end of his second row, Hisato draws the 2s dora. Instead of taking the non-furiten 1p/3p shanpon wait, Hisato decides to call riichi and wait on the 258p furiten wait.

His choice pays off immensely, as he dras the 2p on his ippatsu turn and wins the hand. Hitting an uradora, Hisato wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 6,000+100 all.

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Unsunk Hero

March 18, Game 1

In S2-0, Mizuhara is in the negatives with -3,000, sitting 24,600 behind 3rd place Hori.

Mizuhara starts out the hand 2-shanten and leaning very heavily towards a manzu honitsu with a potential seven pairs. She spends the entire first row, getting rid of souzu and pinzu tiles, but is still stuck at 2-shanten with no more manzu tiles than she started with.

In the second row, it’s more of the same, drawing and discarding while looking for the manzu improvement. Toward the end of the row, she pairs up the red dragon to finally get to iishanten. With five pairs, she cuts the 8m and kills any chance of shifting to a standard hand.

When things started looking up for Mizuhara, Hori the dealer gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen.

During the ippatsu round, Mizuhara draws a dangerous 4s. However, with seven pairs, Mizuhara is able to shift her potential tanki waits while still remaining safe. In the middle of the third row, Mizuhara manages to pair up the 4s for tenpai and calls riichi on an east tanki.

On the third-last tile in the wall, Hori draws and discards the east and deals into Mizuhara. Hitting the uradora, Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Chiitoi/Ura 2 for 8,000 plus a riichi stick. With a direct hit off Hori, the gap between her and 3rd place is now just 6,600.

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After losing her dealership in S3-0, Mizuhara has one last chace to move up a rank. Sitting 7,900 behind 3rd place Hori, a mangan will put her just 100 above Hori for 3rd place.

Mizuhara starts out the hand at 2-shanten with three ryanmens and a secured 2p dora. Though she has an honour pair, it is the non-yakuhai east and is compatible with the apparent pinfu.

All she has to do is fill in the other ryanmens.

On turn 3, she creates a 123s sequence for iishanten. Two turns later, she finishes a 678m sequence to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen.

Though the hand is good, she is only confirmed 3 han. Whether by direct hit, tsumo, or ron, she will need one additional han to take 3rd.

In 2nd place, Hisato is just 3,100 behind 1st place Setokuma and has no chance of falling lower than 2nd. As he keeps building his hand, he forms a pair of 2m. Though the pair is good for him, it also doesn’t help him much since he already has a pair of 2p dora. At the end of the second row, Hisato breaks his extra pair and deals into Mizuhara.

Mizuhara still needs an uradora. With the uradora…

…Mizuhara’s east pair becomes the new dora and Mizuhara gets to a mangan! With Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 2 for 8,000, Mizuhara has just enough to move above Hori and finish in 3rd place!

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Results

Game 203

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Game 2

Kei Start

March 18, Game 2, E1-0

In E1-0, Nakabayashi is playing for the U-Next Pirates and trying to recover the points lost by Mizuhara the preivous game.

Nakabayashi starts out the hand filling in a 3s penchan, getting to 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a connected dora 3m. While Nakabayashi watches Honda call the double east early on, he can’t do anything but sit and wait for his probable pinfu to form. In the first row, he forms enough ryanmens to get to 2-shanten and guarantee himself pinfu.

In the second row, he forms a 234s sequence and gets to iishanten. Two turns later, he forms a 456p sequence and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen. On his ippatsu draw, he gets the 4m and wins the hand. With the 3m being the uradora as well, Nakabayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000.

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Half Flush

March 18, Game 2, E2-0

In E2-0, Takizawa is tied for 2nd place and 10,000 behind 1st place Nakabayashi.

Though Takizawa has pairs of red dragon and green dragon in histarting hand, he is 5-shanten for a standard hand, leaving him some work to do. Within a few turns, Takizawa makes the red dragons into a triplet and calls pon on the green dragon, securing him two han.

Hist first four discards a manzu and pinzu, aiming for at least a honitsu. He does have a single white dragon in hand, but his chances of shousangen or daisangen are slim. After making a pair of souths and creating a strong 223s shape, Takizawa discards the white dragon.

In the second row, Takizawa calls a 678s chii and gets to tenpai on a 14s ryanmen. Soon after, Hori gets to tenpai on a 1s tanki, but has no yaku and waits for a better wait. In the middle of the row, Hori tries to call riichi on a 147p wait by throwing the 1s, but deals into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with Honitsu/Green Dragon/Red Dragon for 8,000.

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Takame

March 18, Game 2, E4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5618

In E4-2, Nakabayashi has just been passed by Takizawa and sits 10,500 behind him.

Nakabayashi starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a secured red 5p. The first row provides him with some sequences and a red 5m to connect his with 6m pair. Around the end of the row, he gets rid of his 89p block since he has an excess of blocks.

In the second row, he gets rid of the extra 6m to make the 47m as a definite ryanmen, then completes a sequence in souzu to get to iishanten, guaranteeing him tanyao. If he can get the 7m, he will also add a 567 sanshoku to his hand, which could get him to a haneman.

As Nakabayashi looks for that 7m, Takizawa gets to tenpai first and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen.

After drawing a safe north during the ippatsu round, Nakabayashi gets the perfect 7m to get to tenpai on a 36p ryanmen, waiting dama with a haneman. With so much value, Nakabayashi keeps pushing.

At the start of the third row, he draws another 7m. The 7m is dangerous, but keeping it means that sanshoku is not guaranteed. After weighing the risks and benefits, Nakabayashi decides to call riichi and wait on a 47m ryanmen, with the 7m giving sanshoku.

Only one of his winning tiles remains in the wall, but that final winning tile happens to be the perfect 7m. Just two turns later, Nakabayashi gets that 7m and wins the hand. Nakabayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Sanshoku/Aka 2/Ura 1 for a big 4,000+200/8,000+200 plus a riichi stick, easily moving up to 1st place while hitting Takizawa with the dealer penalty.

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Escaping 4th

March 18, Game 2, S3-2

In S3-2, Honda is in 4th place and 5,600 behind 3rd place Hori.

Honda starts out the hand with pairs of 1s, 6s and 7s. Though all his pairs are souzu, his hand is not quite of flush quality, hodling a 68m block and a floating flexible 5p. Tee first row gives Honda with a pair of souths and a dora 5s to connect to his 6s and 7s. By the end of the first row, he is 2-shanten, though not for a flush.

In the second row, he forms a pair of wests. With an excess of standard blocks, he breaks the final manzu block and goes for a honitsu. With a 1s pon, Honda gets to iishanten. Soon after, he calls pon on the south and gets to tenpai on a 58s ryanmen, guaranteed a mangan if he wins.

Near the end of 2nd place Takizawa’s second row, he gets to tenpai on an 8m tanki. A few turns later, he switches to a 25m ryanmen.

As the turns go on, Takizawa ends up drawing a dangerous 4s. Not wanting to deal into an obvious souzu honitsu, Takizawa switches his hand to a furiten 147s three-sided wait.

On Honda’s turn, he gets the final 8s in the wall and wins the hand. Honda wins with Honitsu/South/Dora 1 for 2,000+200/4,000+200, moving up to 3rd going into the final hand.

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Results

Game 204

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