Monday (September 29)

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Game 1

Ippatsu

September 29, Game 1, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10006

In S2-0, Honda is in 2nd place and just 400 behind 1st place Nakada.

Honda starts off the hand 3-shanten, only having four blocks and mostly bad shapes. In the first row, Honda discards exclusively stray honours and terminals, allowing him to draw connectors.

To his left, 4th place dealer Mizuhara is trying hard claw out of the hole she is in. She calls pon on the east early on and forces a manzu honitsu. At the start of her second row, she calls pon on the south and waits on a 3m/4m shanpon, guaranteed a mangan if she wins.

At this point, Honda is still at 2-shanten and his only danger tile would be a single 6m. Two turns in a row, Honda draws an 8p to create an iipeikou in pinzu and gets to tenpai. Honda calls riichi and waits on a 14s ryanmen. On his very next draw, he gets the 1s and wins the hand. Honda wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou for 2,000/4,000, taking the lead going into his dealership.

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Up and Out

September 29, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10510

In S3-0, Mizuhara is in 4th place, 5,600 behind 3rd place Kayamori and 15,000 behind 2nd place Nakada. She needs to move up in order to keep the Pirates’ 4th-avoidance streak alive.

Mizuhara starts off with a very good 3-shanten hand with a strongly secured red 5s. Four turns in, she is iishanten with a pair of the north yakuhai. Completing a sequence at the end of the first row, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a north/9p shanpon.

At this point, both Hiyoshi Tatsuya and Kouno Naoya are counting the chances of an ura 3 win, something that Miuhara has done for the past two games. With one of each tile left in the wall, Mizuhara still has a chance.

It takes a lot of waiting, but Mizuhara ends up drawing the north, the higher-value tile, and wins the hand. With the flip, the 9p pair becomes the uradora. Though it isn’t the big ura 3, it’s still a big upgrade. Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/North/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 3,000/6,000, enough to tie Nakada for 2nd place going into the final hand.

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Results

Game 21

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Game 2

Mangan Mangan

September 29, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9502

In E1-0, Genta is playing for the Sega Sammy Phoenix, trying to reverse the team’s atrocious record. He is the starting dealer and has the first chance at making big gains.

Genta starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a floating green dragon dora for value. In comparison, Yu is at 2-shanten with a pair of yakuhai wests and a connected red 5p. Within the first row, Yu is able to call pon on both the west and the 1p to get to tenpai. Yu waits on a 69m ryanmen for 2 han.

Back to Genta, his green dragon is now a pair and he is iishanten. All he needs to do is call pon on it for tenpai. When Yu discards it at the start of the second row, Genta makes the call and waits on a 7p kanchan.

The two players are in a battle of drawing and discarding. Yu has four in the wall, Genta has two in the wall. Daisuke also technically joins in, but his hand is yakuless and furiten on a 1s/6m shanpon.

At the end of the second row, Yu draws and discards the 7p and deals into Genta. Genta wins with Green Dragon/Dora 3 for 12,000.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s80_p2085

In E1-1, Genta at 3-shanten with a dora 5p, a red 5m and a strong chance at tanyao. After discarding honours in the first three turns, Genta has already added another 5p dora and is iishanten with tanyao guaranteed. On turn 8, he gets to tenpai on a 36p ryanmen. Immediately after, Daisuke discards the 3p and deals into Genta. Genta wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000+300.

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Straight Ahead

September 29, Game 2, E4-1

In E4-1, Yu is in 4th place and 3,300 behind 3rd place Daisuke. Mizuhara managed to get out of 4th last game to keep the Pirates’ streak alive. It’s Yu’s turn now.

Yu starts off the hand at 3-shanten and is a 5p and 8p away from a pinzu ittsuu. To his left, Daisuke is 2-shanten and is a 1m and 3m away from a 123 sanshoku. Daisuke advances to iishanten in the first row, but draws a 4m instead of a 1m. To Yu’s right, Setokuma moves towards a manzu ittsuu and only needs a 6m to secure it.

At the start of the second row, Daisuke gets to tenpai on a 3m kanchan, but chooses to stay dama and yakuless to fish for the greater value or better wait.

Right after, Yu draws a 5p for iishanten. A turn later, he draws a 1m dora to complete a 123m sequence. Yu calls riichi on the 8p kanchan and waits with mangan minimum.

Just two turns later, Setokuma joins in (with his full straight completed) and stays dama on a 5s tanki, looking to improve the wait.

All the while, Daisuke has been switching waits to stay a safe tenpai. After hopping to a 4m tanki (then drawing a 3m, which would have been his winning tile earlier), he switches to a south tanki and calls riichi.

At the start of the third row, Yu draws the 8p and wins the hand. Yu wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ittsuu/Dora 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus two riichi sticks.

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Speedy Finish

September 29, Game 2, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9503

In S4-1, Genta has a 15,200 lead and is looking to close out the game. A riichi stick and a honba are in the pot.

Within two turns, Genta is already iishanten with chanta and sanshoku guaranteed, only needing to fill in an 8s kanchan and a 7m penchan. On turn 3, he draws the 8s and stays dama on a 7m penchan. It’s a winning path for Genta, but could be danger for Yu. If Yu ends up discarding it, he will finish in 4th.

On turn 5, Setokuma draws a 7m, but avoids discarding it. Immediately after, Genta draws the 7m and wins the hand. Genta wins with Tsumo/Chanta/Sanshoku/Dora 1 for a big 3,000+100/6,000+100 finish, giving the Sega Sammy Phoenix their second win of the season.

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Results

Game 22

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