Friday (October 17)

Table A

Table B

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Table A, Game 1

Ippatsu

October 17, Table A, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8516

In S1-0, Takizawa is in 1st place with a 5,400 lead over 2nd place dealer Futoshi.

Takizawa starts out the hand 3-shanten with a slight leaning towards tanyao. Takizawa is only able to get 2-shanten before Futoshi comes in and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen.

With not much in terms of guaranteed safety, Takizawa pushes a bit. Even at the end of the first row, he chooses to drop a live white dragon dora to get to iishanten.

However, it takes him quite a while to get to tenpai. long the way, he adjusts some shapes and creates some ryanmens. It takes until the third row for him to get get to tenpai, only three tiles left in the wall. Even still, Takizawa chooses to call riichi in hopes of hitting the helpless Futoshi. The gamble works as Futoshi draws and discards the 5m, dealing into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 8,000.

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Influential

October 17, Table A, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7010

In S4-0, the fight for 1st place is tight, with 1st place dealer Nakabayashi just 1,800 ahead of 2nd place Takizawa. Depending on who wins or who deals in, the person in 1st place can change. Even the dealer penalty or tenpai payments can decide who will be the victor.

Looking around the table, dealer Nakabayashi is 3-shanten with a pair of red dragons, Futoshi is 3-shanten with a large cluster of pinzu tiles, and Takizawa is at 2-shanten. The first row is kind to both Futoshi and Takizawa, getting both of them to iishanten.

However, Nakabayashi has the advantage of calling. In the second row, Nakabayashi calls both the red dragon and the 2m triplet to get to tenpai on a 6m/east shanpon.

Looking around at his competitors, Futoshi has added two 7s dora to his hand and Takizawa has three completed blocks and a pair. In the third row, Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. If he gets the 6s by tsumo, he will have a haneman.

Within the go-around, Takizawa chases with a 5s/9s shanpon.

This riichi does change the dynamic a little bit. If Futoshi ends up winning with the 9s with no boosters, his mangan tsumo will keep Nakabayashi in 1st. But, he Futoshi gets the 6s tsumo, then Takizawa will move up to 1st place instead.

And just two turns later, Futoshi ends up drawing the 6s. With Futoshi’s Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 2 for 3,000/6,000 plus two riichi sticks, Nakabayashi falls down to 2nd place with the dealer penalty, giving Takizawa the win for the Konami Mahjong Fight Club’s third win in a row.

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Results

Game 53

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Table B, Game 1

Geki Goes Ahead

October 17, Table B, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11009

In S3-0. Shimoishi is in a very tight race for 1st place, trailing 1st place Hagiwara by only 300.

Shimoishi starts out the hand already iishanten with his first draw, leaving only a 58m ryanmen, a pair of 4m and a pair of wests. On turn 3, he draws an 8m to get to tenpai. Though he has no yaku, the wait is okay and he calls riichi.

At the end of the first row, Hagiwara discards the west and deals into Shimoishi. Though it seemed like it would be a small shift, the uradora turns the wests into dora, boosting Shimoishi’s hand to a mangan! Shimoishi wins with Riichi/Ura 3 for 8,000, giving Shimoishi a 15,700 lead going into the final hand.

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Results

Game 54

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Table A, Game 2

Straightforward

October 17, Table A, Game 2, S2-0

In S2-0, Taro is in 3rd place, 3,200 behind 2nd place Yu and 10,200 behind 1st place Ooi.

Taro starts out the hand the hand with quite a nice 2-shanten hand with a pair of 9p dora. However, despite this closeness, Hisato is closer with five pairs, including pairs of red dragon and green dragon. In the first row, Hisato calls pon on the green dragon to confirm his toitoi pursuit. For Taro, he pushes his hand towards ittsuu. By the end of the first row, he is iishanten and just needs a 4m to confirm the straight.

In the middle of the second row, Hisato calls pon on the 2m to get to tenpai on a 5s/7s shanpon, guaranteed a dealer mangan.

Soon after, Taro calls a 456m chii to confirm the straight and get to tenpai on a 9p/3s shanpon. At the start of the third row, Taro gets that 9p dora and wins the hand. Taro wins with Ittsuu/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 to put him within 200 of 1st.

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South 4 Surprise

October 17, Table A, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9014

In S4-0, Ooi is the dealer in 2nd place 2,200 behind 1st place Taro. As long as Ooi gets at least 2 han, he will move into the lead.

Ooi starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a dora 4p in hand. From the outset, Ooi looks to go for speed. Within the first row, Ooi calls a 678p sequence and a 6m triplet. Even though he had the 1s pair in his hand, he still made the calls to aim for tanyao. After discarding the pair, he gets to iishanten.

Following his lead, Both Taro and Yu make calls. After an east and 9m pon, Taro is the the first to tenpai and waits on a 25m ryanmen.

Looking back at Ooi, he is iishanten and still looking to scure the 4p dora. In the middle of the second row, Ooi pairs up the 4p and gets to tenpai on a 2p/4p shanpon.

With the value in Ooi’s hand, all Ooi has to do is wait. Taro, on the other hand, has to be a bit more careful, especially with no dora visible. When he draws a dangerous 4s, he breaks his hand. Later on, he gets back to tenpai, but with a 5s kanchan.

It’s down to the wire, but Ooi manages to draw the dora 4p on his final draw and wins the hand. Ooi wins with Tanyao/Dora 3 for 4,000 all, taking the lead

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Results

Game 55

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Table B, Game 2

4th to 1st

October 17, Table B, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7511

In E4-0, Nagai is in 4th place, but is within range of 1st place, being 13,500 behind the lead.

Nagai starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a west triplet and a pair of souths. Also having pairs of 6p and 6s, he does have the flexibility to go standard or pairs. On turn 4, he make the 6s into a triplet getting him to iishanten.

When Nagai draws the red 5p at the end of the first row, he decides to secure the 47p ryanmen and going for the stronger wide wait instead of hedging the possibility of sanankou. In the middle of the second row, Nagai draws the 7m dora to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen. At the end of the row, he draws the 4p and wins the hand. WIth the 7m also being the uradora, Nagai wins with Riichi/Tsumo/West/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, moving intot he lead by 1,500.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7512

In S1-0, Nagai starts out a bit further than last time, being 5-shanten with only an isolated red 5p for value. The first row does okay to advance Nagai to 2-shanten, but he hasn’t added any value and the red 5p is still isolated.

At the start of the second row, Nagai draws a 4p, creating a ryanmen with the red 5p. A turn later, he draws a dora 6m to get to iishanten. Drawing an east triple right aftre that, Nagai gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen.

In a similar fashion as the last hand, Nagai draws his winning tile at the end of the second row. Nagai wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000, pushing Nagai up to 41,000.

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Results

Game 56

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