Thursday (May 1)

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Game 1

Sticks

May 1, Game 1, E3-2

In E3-2, Yu is in 3rd place and 5,900 behind 1st place. With three riichi sticks and two honba in the pot, even a relatively small hand could put him into 1st place.

Yu starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a pair of red dragons and the red 5p double dora secured. The first row lets him fill in an 8m kanchan and create a 258p three-sided wait for iishanten, but the red dragon remains to be called. Around the table, everyone else is iishanten as well.

On turn 8, Genta calls a concealed kan of 5s, making the south the new dora. Creating a 789p sequence with the rinshan, Genta gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s penchan.

Within the go-around, Kurosawa gets to tenpai as well and calls riichi on a 7m penchan.

Seeing that he needs to speed up, Yu calls a 678p chii with Kurosawa’s riichi tile and waits on a west/red dragon shanpon, only allowed to win on the red dragon. Immediately after, Genta discards the red dragon and deals into Yu. Yu wins the hand with Red Dragon/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 3,900+600. With all the sticks in the pot, the five riichi sticks that Yu wins is worth more than the hand itself. With all these gains, Yu moves into 1st place.

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Double Mangan

May 1, Game 1

In E4-0, Genta is in 3rd place, 8,400 behind 2nd place Futoshi and 12,000 behind 1st place dealer Yu.

Genta starts out with a very strong 3-shanten hand with multiple ryanmens and a connected red 5p. Genta ends up being a 5m magnet in the first row, going from one to four in just a few turns. With all four 5m, Genta calls a concealed kan. Though the kandora doesn’t help, he still sits iishanten with two ryanmens.

Looking to his left, Yu is making good progress. Near the middle of the second row, Yu has a choice between a 34s wait or a 2578p wait. Yu chooses the the pinzu group and calls riichi.

Immediately after, Genta gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.

Unfortunately for Yu, he ends up drawing the 4s, a winning tile if he took the other choice. On his very next turn, he ends up drawing the 4m and deals in to Genta. Genta wins the hand with Riichi/Tanyao/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 8,000 plus one riichi stick. With the direct hit off 1st place plus the riichi stick, Genta moves into 1st place.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2979

In S1-0, Genta is now the dealer and starts out 2-shanten with a secured red 5p. On turn 2, Genta advances to iishanten. At the start of the second row, Genta adds value to his hand by creating a 456p iipeikou. It takes a bit more time, but Genta eventually gets to tenpai at the end of the row and calls riichi on a 2s kanchan.

Futoshi briefly gets to tenpai on an 8p tanki, but he folds when he draws the dangerous south. A few turns later, Genta draws the 2s and wins the hand. With the 2s also being the uradora, Genta wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000 all.

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Baiman

May 1, Game 1, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5631

In S1-1, Yu is in 3rd place and 5,400 behind 2nd place Futoshi and 22,000 behind 1st place dealer Genta.

Yu starts out the hand 5-shanten for a standard hand, putting him behind in the count. The first row is focused almost completely on discarding terminals and honours. By the end of the first row, he is only able to get to 3-shanten. Around the table, Genta is iishanten while Kurosawa and Futoshi are 2-shanten.

In the second row, Futoshi advances well and is the first to tenpai, calling riichi in the middle of the second row on a 7s dora kanchan.

Back to Yu, he is iishanten. Filling in a dora 7s penchan immediately after, Yu gets to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8p/4m kanchan, wanting to draw either of them for mangan minimum. On his very next turn, he draws the 8p and wins the hand. As a big bonus, the uradora flip makes his 6m triplet into dora and upgrades his hand to a big baiman. Yu wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Sanankou/Dora 1/Ura 3 for 4,000+100/8,000+100 plus one riichi stick. With this huge win, Yu suddenly finds himself in 1st place.

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Kurosawa Completes

May 1, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5124

In S3-0, Kurosawa is the dealer in 4th place, 6,800 behind 3rd place Futoshi, 23,800 behind 2nd place Yu and 27,400 behind 1st place Genta. With Team Raiden being so close to 5th place in the standings, they must escape 4th place.

Kurosawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a secured red 5s, a connected red 5m and a loose 4p dora. The first row gives Kurosawa a bunch of souzu tiles and ryanmens, advanceing to iishanten on turn 5. With so many strong groups, Kurosawa discards the loose 4p at the end of the first row.

In the middle of the second row, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 147s wait for mangan minimum. To his right, Futoshi is tenpai on a 3s kanchan, but none remain in the wall. He folds a for a bit, but he gets back to tenpai later on a 4s tanki, but there are no 4s left in the wall.

In the middle of the third row, Kurosawa draws the 7s and wins the hand. WIth a big uradora hit, Kurosawa wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 6,000 all, instantly moving her up to 2nd place.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p2980

Moving to S4-0, Kurosawa is in 3rd place going into the last hand. Sitting just 600 behind 2nd place Yu, she could win anything to move up. WIth a 4,000 gap between her and 1st place Genta, she needs a 2/40 direct hit, a 3/30 tsumo or a 3/40 ron to beat him.

Kurosawa starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a connected dora 7s. Within the first row, Kurosawa pairs up the white dragon and calls pon on it. He does get to iishanten at the end of the first row, but he only has two han guaranteed.

Soon after, Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2p tanki.

With the riichi stick from Futoshi, Kurosawa can now win a 3/30 ron and take 1st place.

In the middle of the second row, Yu gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 9m/8s shanpon.

On Kurosawa’s turn, she gets to tenpai. Instead of throwing the 4m to take a wider 25m ryanmen, she discards the safe 3m to take a 4p/4m shanpon. On her next turn, she draws a red 5p, switching to a 5p/4m shanpon and giving her enough value for 1st place. On her next draw, she manages to get the 4m and wins the hand. With Kurosawa’s White Dragon/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 1,000/2,000 plus a riichi stick, she finishes the game in 1st place and essentially secures their spot in the finals.

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Results

Game 29

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Game 2

Daigo

May 1, Game 2, E2-0

In E2-0, Daigo is the dealer in 4th place, but is just 5,400 behind 1st place Nakabayashi.

Daigo starts out the hand at 4-shanten and with no easy way forward. To his right, Nakabayashi is already iishanten with his first 13 tiles. In the first row, Daigo forms an 8s triplet and a 369m three-sided wait to get to iishanten.

The first player to get to tenpai is Nakabayashi who gets to tenpai at the start of the second row and calls riichi on an 8m kanchan.

Having already gotten rid of the 1s dora and holding tanyao and good waits, Daigo cautiously keeps his hand. Near the end of the second row, Daigo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen.

Two turns after that, Daigo gets to tenpai and stays dama on a red dragon tanki, guaranteed a mangan on ron and a haneman on tsumo.

Rounding it out, Honda calls a 234m chii and gets to tenpai on a 5p kanchan.

Four players in tenpai, but only one can win. Near the middle of the third row, Nakabayashi draws and discards the red 5s and deals into Daigo. Daigo wins the hand with Riichi/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 7,700 plus one riichi stick, moving up to 1st place.

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Sonoda

May 1, Game 2, E3-0

In E3-0, Sonoda is in 2nd place and 3,300 behind 1st place Daigo.

Sonoda starts ut the hand pairing up the green dragon to get to 3-shanten. While waiting for a green dragon pon opportunity to come, Sonoda builds his other shapes. Though he does end up discarding 987m in a row, he is at a perfect iishanten at the end of the first row.

At the start of the second row, Sonoda creates a 258p three-sided wait and calls riichi. Near the end of the row, he draws the red 5p and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1 for 1,000/2,000, moving up to 1st place.

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Daigo Dora

May 1, Game 2, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4617

In S1-0, Daigo is in 3rd place, 200 behind 2nd place dealer Honda and 12,500 behind 1st place Sonoda.

Daigo starts out the hand at 3-shanten with three ryanmens and a connected dora 2m. In the first row, Daigo doesn’t make much progress, getting to 2-shanten and isn’t even guaranteed a good wait. Towards the end of the second row, Daigo draws a second 2m for potential additional value.

At the start of the third row, Daigo makes the 2m dora into a triplet, guaranteeing him mangan if he wins. As he waits, Honda gets to tenpai first for tanyao and waits on a 58s ryanmen.

Honda’s call for tenpai ended up shifting the red 5m to Daigo, getting him to tenpai. Daigo calls riichi and waits on a 6s kanchan. On his next turn, he draws the 6s and wins the hand. Hitting an uradora as well, Daigo wins with a huge Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 3/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000/8,000, jumping up to 1st place.

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Honda

May 1, Game 2, S3-0

In S3-0, Honda is in 3rd place, 6,500 ahead of 4th place dealer Nakabayashi and 17,700 behind 2nd Sonoda. At the very least, Honda wants to win this hand to end Nakabayashi’s dealership and avoid 4th place.

Honda starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a secured dora 6s. Honda puts his focus during the first row to shift towards tanyao, looking to speed up the hand for calling even when he goes back a step. He remains 2-shanten at the end of the first row, but has more opportunities to call.

In the second row, Honda makes a 47p ryanmen and a 2s triplet to get to tenpai. He calls riichi and waits on the 47p ryanmen wait.

Across from him, Nakabayashi has already called a 456p chii (with the red 5p) and a red dragon triplet. Being move ahead while being safe, he also adds value by making a pair of 6s dora. In the third row, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai on a 7m kanchan, guaranteed a mangan if he wins.

Within the go-around, Honda draws the 7p and wins the hand. Honda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 1 for 2,000/4,000, moving into a solid 2nd place going into the final hand.

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The Final Semifinal Hand

May 1, Game 1, S4-0

In S4-0, all four of the players want to gain points to give their teams a little boost as the go into the finals. Even for Nakabayashi, who has no chance to move out of 4th place.

Nakabayashi starts out the hand at 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a pair of white dragons. On turn 5, he gets to iishanten and still has to fill in a 7p penchan. At the end of the first row, he fills in the penchan for tenpai. Instead of taking a white dragon/3p shanpon, he takes the 25p ryanmen, wanting the 2p for sanshoku.

Despite being a ryanmen, nothing seems to come for Nakabayashi. Instead, his opponents are advancing. In the third row, Honda discards the 2p trying to call riichi and deals into Nakabayashi. Nakabayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Sanshoku for 5,200.

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Results

Game 30

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