Thursday (September 18)

---

Game 1

Ura San!

September 18, Game 1, E4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11002

In E4-2, Tojo is the dealer in 1st place, but her score of 28,300 is far from secure. A riichi stick and two honba sit in the pot.

Tojo starts out with a strong 3-shanten hand with routes to pinfu, tanyao and sanshoku. With four ryanmens in hand and a dora 6m her prospects are looking good. The first few turns don’t really help her, but a red 5m to create a 5556m strengthens her hand a lot. Around this time, Hagiwara also gets to tenpai but sits yakuless on an 8m kanchan.

At the start of the second row, she completes a 678s sequence for iishanten. Drawing a red 5p to complete a 567p sequence, Tojo discards the dora 6m and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen.

During the ippatsu round, Haigwara draws a fourth west and calls a concealed kan. Neither the kandora nor the rinshan help him (or Tojo), but the potential for an extra uradora gives Hagiwara enough push to call a chasing riichi.

It takes quite a while, but on Tojo’s second-last draw, she gets the 9p and wins the hand. With a flip, Tojo’s 5m triplet suddenly becomes the uradora for a big upgrade! Tojo wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 2/Ura 3 for 6,000+200 all plus two riichi sticks, putting her more than double 2nd place.

---

Ura San!!

September 18, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10001

In S1-0, Hagiwara is the dealer and tied for last. 2nd place is 5,400 away while 1st place is 29,800 away.

Hagiwara’s starting hand is 4-shanten with a route to tanyao and a loosely-connected dora 4s, but is otherwise uninspiring. Hagiwara’s hand develops quick through making a 67888p shape and filling in a 7m kanchan. With the advancements in his hand, he gets to iishanten by the end of the first row. At the end of the second row, he pairs up the 4s to add extra value.

In the third row, he draws a third 4s to create a triplet. Being tenpai, Hagiwara calls riichi and waits on a 14m ryanmen.

When Hagiwara draws and discards the dora 5s on his ippatsu turn, Mizuhara calls chii and gets to tenpai on a 36m ryanmen.

Turns out, the call was just the shift that Hagiwara needed. On his very next turn, he picks up the tanyao-getting 4m and wins the hand. When he flips the uradora, the three 8p in his hand are now worth 1 han each, the second Ura 3 of the day. Hagiwara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 3/Ura 3 for a huge 8,000 all, catapulting him up to 1st place.

---

Ura San!!!

September 18, Game 1, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10503

In S3-1, Mizuhara is in 4th place, 4,400 behind 3rd place dealer Daigo and 25,200 behind 2nd place Tojo. A riichi stick and a honba will provide the next winner 1,300 in extra value.

Mizuhara starts out the hand at 3-shanten, but lacking in value. In the first row, Mizuhara pairs up the red dragons to provide what seems to be a potential yaku route, but Daigo unfortunately holds a pair of red dragons as well, leaving the two in a deadlock.

In the middle of the second row, Hagiwara gets to tenpai on a 3s wait, but stays dama with a very flexible hand to improve with. On Mizuhara’s turn, she makes a 9m triplet for iishanten. It switches back and forth between Hagiwara and Mizuhara, making slight changes to their hands. On Hagiwara’s turn, he gets to a 25m wait. On Mizuhara’s turn, she draws a red 5s to add value.

At the start of the 3rd row, Tojo gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen, wanting the latter for tanyao.

Facing a dangerous situation, Mizuhara decides to break her red dragon pair. She maintains iishanten, but a much weaker one.

On Daigo’s draw, he gets to tenpai for seven pairs and calls riichi on a west tanki.

Facing off agains the two riichi players, Hagiwara chooses to fold. However, Mizuhara keeps pushing to get out of last place. In the middle of the third row, she draws the 7p to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3p kanchan. Within the ippatsu round, Tojo draws and discards the 3p and deals into Mizuhara. With the flip, Mizuhara’s 9m become the new dora and the third Ura 3 for the night has been achieved. Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 3 for 12,000+300 plus three riichi sticks. With the direct hit off Tojo, Mizuhara jumps up to 2nd place.

---

Results

Game 5

---

Game 2

Dora Dora Aka Aka

September 18, Game 2, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s80_p2019

In E2-1, Daisuke is tied for 2nd place early on in the game and is 5,000 behind 1st place Honda. A riichi stick sits in the pot.

Daisuke’s starting hand is quite messy at 5-shanten and no good shapes, but he does have a red 5m and a 1s dora to use as potential value. Daisuke does very well in his first six draws, incorporating the red 5m as part of a ryanmen and pairing up both the 1s dora and the white dragon, laying the foundation for a mangan hand. By the end of the row, he is 2-shanten.

Drawing a red 5s, completing a 456m sequence and calling pon on the white dragon, Daisuke gets to tenpai in the middle of the second row and waits on a 36s ryanmen, wanting the 6s for a haneman. Within the go-around Kobayashi discards the 3s and deals in. Daisuke wins with White Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 8,000+300 plus one riichi stick, moving up to 1st.

---

Dora San

September 18, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11003

In S2-0, Daisuke is in 1st place and 16,300 ahead of 2nd place dealer Honda, on track to getting the team’s first win of the season.

Daisuke starts out with a solid starting hand at 3-shanten, holding a pair of red dragons and a pair of dora norths. When the red dragon comes out, Daisuke immediately calls it for 2-shanten. On his next turn, he makes a 9m triplet for iishanten.

Though things seem like a walk in the park for Daisuke, Kobayashi is actually the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5m kanchan in the middle of the first row.

Interestingly, Honda risks throwing the dora north during the ippatsu round to take iishanten. This allows Daisuke to call pon and get to tenpai on a 25p ryanmen. Soon after, Honda discards a 5p and deals into Daisuke. Daisuke wins the hand with Red Dragon/Dora 3 for 8,000 plus Kobayashi’s riichi stick.

---

Results

Game 6

---

Intro | Standings