Tuesday (April 29)

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Game 1

Ippatsu

April 29, Game 1, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2970

In E2-0, Futoshi is in a 2nd place tie and 3,600 behind 1st place Mizuhara.

Futoshis starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a pair of red dragons and a floating red 5m. The first row does make good progress in creating a pinzu ryanmen and making him just a 7s away from a 678s iipeikou, but the red 5m is still by itself.

By turn 8, Futoshi decides that the 5m is slowing his hand down too much and is too dangerous to hold on for too much longer, so he gets rid of it. At the end of the second row, he draws the 7s to complete the iipeikou and get to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. At the start of the third row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen.

Right after, Mizuhara fills in a 4p kanchan and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if she wins.

On Futoshi’s ippatsu turn, he draws the 6p and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Iipeikou/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick, taking the lead.

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Matsumoto

April 29, Game 1, E3-0

In E3-0, Matsumoto is in 3rd place, 600 behind 2nd place Mizuhara and 11,000 behind 1st place Futoshi.

Matsumoto starts out at 3-shanten with a lot of sequence flexibility. On turn 2, he puts himself just a 4m away from finishing a 456m iipeikou. At the end of the row, he fills in a 4p kanchan and gets himself to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten, guaranteed both pinfu and tanyao.

In the middle of the second row, Matsumoto calls riichi and waits on a 47p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan.

To his left, 4th place is at perfect iishanten and has a triplet of green dragons. During the ippatsu round, Date draws a fourth green dragon and calls a concealed kan, breaking the ippatsu round and making the north the new dora. Soon after, she calls pon on the 2s and gets to tenpai on a 58m ryanmen.

At the start of the third row, Mizuhara draws Date’s final 8m, leaving no winning tiles left for her. In the middle of the row, Matsumoto draws the 7p and wins the hand. Even though he doesn’t get any uradora, Matsumoto still wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Iipeikou for 2,000/4,000, coming within 1,000 of 1st place.

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Sanshoku

April 29, Game 1, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2133

In E4-0, Futoshi is in 1st place, but his lead has shrunk.

Futoshi starts off at a distant 5-shanten, but does have a pair of souths as potential yakuhai. Futoshi’s progress to 2-shanten in the first row is quite impressive, drawing a red 5s, making ryanmens and building the foundation for a 567 sanshoku, needing only a 7m and 5p to complete it.

On turn 8, Futoshi draws a third south to get to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. Near the start of the third row, he draws a fourth south and calls a concealed kan. Though the new 3m dora doesn’t help him, the rinshan 5p draw does and he calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen, wanting the latter for max value.

Very briefly, Date gets to tenpai on a 47m ryanmen as well, but has no yaku. She hopes to bring it to a draw while in tenpai, but is forced to fold when she draws a dangerous 7s.

Soon after, Futoshi draws the 7m and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Sanshoku/South/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000.

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Classic

April 29, Game 1, S1-0

In S1-0, Mizuhara is in 3rd place and 6,400 behind 2nd place Matsumoto.

Mizuhara starts out the hand drawing a red 5m to complete a 345m sequence and gets to 3-shanten. Mizuhara focuses on good waits and value, even going back a step and breaking an 89s block to do so. She does well, getting to iishanten by the end of the first row.

To her right, Date has a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten, though her green dragon pair breaks the pinfu. In the middle of the row, Date is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.

During the ippatsu round, Mizuhara keeps her iishanten as she shifts to tanyao. Completing a 678p sequence a turn later, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen.

At the start of the second row, Mizuhara draws the 1p and wins the hand. Hitting the uradora, Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick, moving up to 2nd.

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Ura Ura

April 29, Game 1, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4120

In S2-0, Matsumoto is down to 3rd place, sitting 4,600 below 2nd place dealer Mizuhara and 17,000 behind 1st place Futoshi.

Matsumoto starts out by drawing a 6s to connect to his red 5s, putting him 4-shanten. He also has a red dragon pair in his hand, allowing him to call if he wants to. By turn 4, he is already iishanten and is just a 4m away from a 456 sanshoku.

Across from him, Mizuhara gets to iishanten on turn 5. On turn 6, she fills in a kanchan and calls riichi on a 3p penchan.

At the start of the second row, Matsumoto shifts his hand to tanyao and pinfu, allowing him to discard his red dragons for safety and advance in terms of value. In the middle of the row, he breaks a 47m ryanmen in favour of a 147s three-sided wait. Near the end of the second row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 147s wait, wanting the 47s for tanyao and mangan minimum.

At the start of the third row, Matsumoto draws the ideal 7s and wins the hand. With the uradora flip, his 6p pair becomes the new dora and suddenly upgrades him to a haneman. Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 3,000/6,000 plus a riichi stick. With the riichi stick, Matsumoto is now just 1,000 away from 1st place.

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Shortcut to Haneman

April 29, Game 1, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3631

In S3-1, Date is in 4th place, 8,400 behind 3rd place Mizuhara, 16,000 behind 2nd place Matsumoto and 23,800 behind 1st place Futoshi.

Date starts out the hand with pairs of 5s, 1m and 6p, putting her 3-shanten for seven pairs. With a lone white dragon, she could pair it up and up her hand’s value by a good amount. Over the course of the first row, she pairs up the 4s and 8m, getting her to iishanten.

At the start of the second row, Date pairs up the 5p to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a white dragon tanki. If she draws it herself, she will have haneman minimum, enough for 1st place. One remains in the wall.

Across from her, 1st place Futoshi tries his best to fold, but good tiles keep on coming to him. Even as he has a chance to take tenpai and rejects it, tiles keep coming. In the third row, he finally accepts, calling a 6s pon and gets to tenpai on a 25s ryanmen.

However, the pon ends up shifting the wall perfectly in Date’s favour as she gets the white dragon on her next draw. Date wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 6,000+100 all.

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Escaping 4th

April 29, Game 1, S4-0

In S4-0, Mizuhara is in 4th place, 11,800 behind 3rd place dealer Matsumoto. To escape 4th place in this final hand, Mizuhara needs a 3/50 or 4/25 direct hit, a mangan tsumo or a haneman ron.

Mizuhara starts out with a good 2-shanten hand with a red 5p and tanyao almost guaranteed, but has two kanchans and no pair secured. On turn 3, she makes a 45667s shape. If she draws a 58s, she will create a sequences, while the 3467s will secure a pair for her. On turn 4, Mizuhara fills in a 6p kanchan, securing the red 5p as part of a 567p sequence. This leaves her souzu block and a 68m block in her hand.

In the middle of the second row, Mizuhara draws a 7s. With a pair now, she calls riichi and waits on a 7m kanchan. If she wins by tsumo, she will take 3rd. If she gets a direct hit off Matsumoto, she needs an uradora.

With a final dealership giving endless possibilities for scores, Matsumoto wants to win and aim for 1st place. In the third row, Matsumoto discards the 7m trying to take a perfect iishanten and deals into Mizuhara. However, Mizuhara still needs an uradora. With the flip…

…she hits one and gets the mangan she needs! Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 8,000, finishing the game in 3rd place.

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Results

Game 27

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Game 2

Ooi

April 29, Game 2, E3-1

In E3-1, Ooi is in 3rd place and just 1,700 behind 1st place Kobayashi. With a riichi stick and a honba in the pot, any win is enough to move into 1st place.

Ooi starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a loosely-connected 3s dora. Looking around the table, Hisato is ahead at 3-shanten with two connected red fives. In the first row, Ooi’s only real progress is pairing up the white dragons, giving him an option to open. At the same time, Hisato is 2-shanten with a triplet of 5s.

With some building and a pon on the white dragon, Ooi gets to iishanten near the end of the second row. Soon after, Hisato gets to tenpai and gets to tenpai on a 3p penchan.

Right after, Ooi calls a 789p chii and get sto tenpai on a 2s kanchan.

Between the two of them is Taro. When he draws a fourth 3m, he calls a concealed kan and and makes the 3s the double dora. With a pon on the east, he gets to iishanten. With a 4m pon, he gets to tenpai on a 3s double dora tanki, guaranteed a haneman if he wins.

On Ooi’s turn, he draws the 2s and wins the hand. Ooi wins with White Dragon/Dora 2 for 1,000+100/2000+100 plus a riichi stick, moving up to 1st.

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Ishinouenimosannen

April 29, Game 2, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2134

In S1-0, Taro is in 4th place, 3,800 behind 3rd place Hisato, 5,300 behind 2nd place Kobayashi and 12,500 behind 1st place Ooi.

With Taro’s first 13 tiles, he is already iishanten and needs to fill in a 3p penchan and a 2m kanchan for a double riichi. For value, he already has a red dragon pair and a secured red 5s, guaranteed at least a mangan.

On his very first draw, he gets that desired 3p and calls a double riichi on the 3m kanchan. A tsumo or a direct hit off Ooi would be enough for 1st place.

To his right, Ooi is doing his best to fold against Taro. As he discards his best safe tiles, he neds up getting closer to tenpai. He breaks pairs and other groups start coming up. In the middle of the third row, he gets to iishanten. A turn later, his second-last draw, he fills in a 3s kanchan and gets to tenpai on a yakuless 8p kanchan. If he can keep it and the hand goes to a draw, he can get some tenpai payments.

Then, on his last draw, the very last tile in the wall, Ooi draws the 3m. He does have a safe 9p, but the 3m might pass since it’s a suji against the safe 6m. Taking the risk, Ooi discards it and deals in.

Taro wins the hand with Double Riichi/Houtei/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000. With the direct hit, Taro moves up to 1st place.

This hand would also be eligible for the local yaku Ishinouenimosannen (石の上にも三年), a yakuman attained by calling double riichi and winning on the last tile (whether haitei or houtei).

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Sailing To Victory

April 29, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5630

In S4-0, Kobayashi is in 3rd place, 7,700 behind 2nd place dealer Hisato and 9,700 behind 1st place Taro. For 2nd place, Kobayashi needs a 3/30 direct hit, a 3/40 or 4/20 tsumo, or a mangan ron. For 1st place, Kobayashi needs a mangan direct hit or tsumo, or a haneman ron.

Kobayashi starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a secured dora 9m. There’s a path to a 789 sanshoku, but he needs both a 7s and a 9s. In the first row, Kobayashi makes a pair of 1m an a 14s ryanmen, giving the potential for a junchan. If he can get that plus the sanshoku, he can get to mangan. For now, he waits at iishanten with pinfu guaranteed.

At the start of the second row, Kobayashi draws a 7s to advance to iishanten. With a 1s and a 9s, everything will be perfect. However, Ooi has the last two 9s. Right after, Ooi discards the third 9s. Two turns after, that he discards the final 9s, killing both sanshoku and junchan.

On Kobayashi’s next draw, he gets the 1s, one turn too late. Still, he is iishanten and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. A single 6s remains in the wall. If he can draw the last 6s and get one more han he will win the game.

On his very next turn, he gets the 6s for a big win! Kobayashi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 2,000/4,000, going from 3rd place to finishing in 1st place.

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Results

Game 28

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Intro | Standings