Game #5
U-Next Pirates
Sega Sammy
Phoenix
Akasaka
Drivens
Team Raiden
Honda Survives
May 8, Game 1, E3-1
In E3-1, Honda is in 4th place, 11,500 behind 3rd place Takaki and 12,300 behind 2nd place dealer Futoshi. Two riichi sticks and a honba are in the pot.
Honda starts the hand with a red 5m and a red 5s. Despite the value, neither of them are secured. After getting to iishanten on turn 2, Honda discards the red 5m on turn 3 for the widest.
At the start of the second row, Honda discards the red 5s to get to an even wider iishanten. Two turns after that, Honda draws a fourth 9p and calls a concealed kan. Making a 5p pair with the rinshan, Honda calls riichi and waits on a 14s ryanmen.
To his left, Futoshi is iishanten with a pair of white dragon doras. Being the dealer with decent value, Futoshi pushes as best as he can. In the third row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen.
However, immediately after, Honda draws the 4s and wins the hand. Honda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 2 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus three riichi sticks.
Mangan Mangan
May 8, Game 1
In E4-0, Takaki is in 3rd place and just 3,500 behind 1st place Mizuhara. Takaki starts out the hand at 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a connected red 5s. In the first four turns, Takaki does well to form shapes and add value. With a red 5p as part of a triplet and three ryanmens, he has a good wait guaranteed.
However, on turn 5, Honda becomes the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5s kanchan.
During the ippatsu round, Takaki fills in a ryanmen for iishanten. With the value and good waits, Takaki just pushes. On his very next turn, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen.
In the middle of the second row, Takaki draws the 6s and wins the hand. Takaki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 2 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick, moving up to 1st.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4620
In S1-0, Takaki starts out drawing a red 5p, filling in a kanchan and getting to iishanten. Unsurprisingly, it take only until turn 3 for Takaki to get to tenpai. He calls riichi and waits on a 47m nobetan.
Two turns later, Takaki draws the 7m and wins the hand. Takaki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000.
Honda Thrives
May 8, Game 1
In S2-0, Honda is in 3rd place and 2,600 behind 2nd place Mizuhara and 22,100 behind 1st place dealer Takaki.
Honda starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a pair of red dragons, a dora 3p and a red 5s. On turn 2, Honda pairs up the 3p dora to add value.
On turn 3, eyes were turned to Futoshi as he gets t tenpai on a 5m/8m shanpon, though lacking a yaku. On turn 4, Honda calls pon on the red dragon and gets to 2-shanten. Within the go-around, Honda calls pon on the 8p for iishanten. Seeing the action on the table, Futoshi decides to call a tsumogiri riichi.
With Futoshi’s discarded 4s, Honda gets to tenpai and waits on a 3p/3s shanpon. On his next turn, Honda switches to a 14s ryanmen. Right after, Takaki discards the 4s (which was safe against Futoshi and had passed just a turn earlier) and deals into Honda. Honda wins the hand with Red Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000+100, moving up to 2nd place and cutting Takaki’s lead to just 5,100.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5127
In S4-1, Honda is now the dealer with the 5,100 deficit on Takaki. A riichi stick and a honba are in the pot.
Honda starts out the hand at 3-shanten, but doesn’t really have a path for value. In the first few turns, Honda makes ryanmens for a potential route to pinfu. By the end of the first row, Honda has three ryanmens and a 789s sequence, getting to 2-shanten.
At the start of the second row, Honda gets to a perfect iishanten. A turn later, Honda creates a 234p sequence and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen, wanting the 9m dora. On his ippatsu draw, he gets the dora 9m and wins the hand. Getting the uradora as well, Honda wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 6,000+100 all plus a riichi stick, taking a 20,300 lead over 2nd place.
Final Scores
Standings
In this round, the Sega Sammy Phoenix move back up to 1st place for the third time in the finals. With Futoshi’s 4th place, they have their biggest deficit so far in the semifinals. The U-Next Pirates continue to drop further from the top spot. Honda’s 1st place brings the team to their highest score so far these finals.
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