Monday (October 20)

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Game 1

Dora Aka Ura

October 20. Game 1, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8011

In E2-1, Okada is in 3rd place, 1,000 behind 2nd place Sonoda and 11,200 behind 1st place dealer Genta.

Okada starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a secured red 5s. She makes some shape improvements in the first row, but only gets to 2-shanten. In the second row, she completes a sequence and makes a ryanmen to get to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten with pinfu guaranteed.

As she waits, Sonoda builds his tanyao hand. With a 345s chii, Sonoda is the first to tenpai and waits on a 3p kanchan.

Around the end fo the 2nd row, Kazuma (who already has two yakuhai calls) gets to tenpai on a green dragon/south shanpon (both being yakuhai as well), ready for a guaranteed mangan.

Within the go-around, Okada draws the 8m dora to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen. On her very next draw, Okada draws the 6p and wins the hand. Okada wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3000+100/6,000+100, taking the lead.

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Rhino Rise

October 20, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7011

In S2-0, Sonoda is in 4th place and 24,400 behind 3rd place. He does have a chance to make some major comebacks during his dealership in South 4, but any progress now would be a good start.

Sonoda starts out with a promising 3-shanten hand with a connected red 5m and a pair of 6s dora. With a lot of simple tiles, tanyao is in the works. The first row only gets Sonoda one step closer, but he does confirm tanyao in the process.

On turn 8, Sonoda fills in a 7p kanchan, leaving only a 36m ryanmen and a 3p kanchan left to be resolved. At the start of the third row, Sonoda draws a 6m and calls riichi on the 3p kanchan. While Sonoda waits, Genta manages to get to tenpai on a 2s kanchan, but he ends up folding a turn later. On Sonoda’s second-last draw, he gets the 3p and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000, cutting the gap down to 9,400.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7012

In S3-0, Sonoda has another tanyao-leaning hand, this time at 2-shanten with a secured red 5s. Filling in a 5m kanchan on turn 4, he gets to iishanten.

At the same time, though, Kazuma is quickly progressing as well. On turn 5, Kazuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58s ryanmen.

Immediately after, Sonoda gets to tenpai and chases with a 147s three-sided wait. Two turns later, Sonoda gets the 4s and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000, actually moving up to 1st place with 25,900 going into the final dealership.

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Close Game

October 20, Game 1, S4-0

In S4-0, the scores are very close. 1st place dealer Sonoda leads 4th place Okada by only 1,600. A small 2-han hand can be the difference between rising up to 1st place or falling down to 4th place. Even the dealer penalty or tenpai payments can decide who will get big win and who will suffer.

In the middle in 3rd place is Kazuma, just 1,200 behind 1st place.

Kazuma starts out the hand at 4-shanten, lacking any value or clear yaku. This forced patience, however, also forces Kazuma to be efficient and aim for riichi, which would be enough value for him to win. In the first row, he forms two ryanmens and advances to 2-shanten.

Just two turns into the second row, Kazuma is already tenpai and decides to call riichi on a 47m nobetan. Within the go-around, Genta discards his excess 7m pair and deals into Kazuma. Hitting the uradora, Kazuma wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Ura 1 for 5,200, winning the game.

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Results

Game 57

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Game 2

Triplets

October 20, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7013

In E3-0, Futoshi is the dealer in 2nd place, 4,500 behind 1st place Shibukawa.

Despite startng out 5-shanten for a standard hand, he has a pair of east doras, guaranteeing him at least 5 han if he manages to call it. Futoshi picks up a number of pairs in the first row, adding the south, 6s and 6p as pairs in his hand. On turn 4, he pairs up the 1p to get to chiitoi iishanten.

On turn 5, Futoshi draws a third 1p, giving him the potential to shift to all triplets, which would be very useful to accept a third east. At the end of the row, Futoshi confirms this pursuit by calling pon on the south. Two turns later, he draws a 6s and waits on an east/6p shanpon.

If he calls ron on the 6p, he will have a mangan. If he draws the 6p himself or calls ron on the east, he will have a haneman. If he draws the east himself, he will have a big dealer baiman.

To Futoshi left, 1st place Shibukawa wants to defend his lead. In the middle of the 2nd row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen.

If the 6p is discarded, then Shibukawa will win the headbump.

However, Futoshi has no worries about it as he draws the 6p immediately after and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Toitoi/Sanankou/Dora 2 for 6,000 all plus Shibukawa’s riichi stick, lifting Futoshi up to 45,400.

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Ura Ura

October 20, Game 2, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7014

In S1-0, Futoshi still up in 1st place and wanting to push the game forward.

Futoshi starts off the hand at an underwhelming 4-shanten hand with two ryanmens and two kanchans. His first four turns go pretty standardly to get to 3-shanten, but a dora 3m and a red 5m draw on turns 5 and 6 boost his hand’s value and gets him to 2-shanten.

Every single draw after that, he moves forward a step. On turn 8, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan. On his very next draw, he gets the 6p and wins the hand. With his 3s pair being the uradora, Futoshi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 4,000/8,000, taking Futoshi up to 57,300.

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Fever Mode

October 20, Game 2

In S2-0, Shibukawa is in 2nd place and is a ways away from 1st place Futoshi, sitting 17,500 behind. However, with his final dealership starting, he has a chance to quickly overcome the deficit.

Futoshi starts off the hand at 4-shanten with a small cluster of manzu, including a red 5m. Very quickly, Shibukawa starts drawing more and more manzu, pushing him towards some sort of flush. At the end of the row, Shibukawa calls a 345m chii and gets to honitsu iishanten. With a green dragon pon in the second row, Shibukawa gets to tenpai on a 1m/8m shanpon, guaranteed a mangan if he wins.

Within the go-around, Kazuma gets to tenpai on a 9p tanki.

In the middle of the row, Takaki joins in with a 47p ryanmen riichi, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.

Two turns later, Shibukawa draws the 1m and wins the hand. Shibukawa wins with Honitsu/Green Dragon/Aka 1 for 4,000 all plus one riichi stick, cutting the lead down to 20,500.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8012

In S2-1, Shibukawa starts out at 3-shanten with a slightly leaning towards tanyao. On turn 4, Shibukawa confirms a 234s iipeikou at iishanten, though he is missing a pair. On turn 5, he fills in a 7s kanchan and gets to tenpai. Though a tanki is usually a bad wait, the discarded 6m on turn 3 makes a 3m tanki a good wait. Laying the trap, Shibukawa calls riichi on the 3m tanki. Within the ippatsu turn, Takaki discards the 3m and deals into Shibukawa. Shibukawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 12,000+300.

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In S2-2, Shibukawa is now just 8,200 behind 1st place Futoshi.

Shibukawa starts off the hand at 3-shanten with a secured red 5p as part of a pair. Shibukawa tries to shift the hand towards tanyao in the first row, getting it to 2-shanten by turn 6. On turn 7, he creates a 345p sequence to get to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. However, he might be furiten because of a discarded 9p early in the hand.

As Shibukawa waits, Futoshi gets to tenpai first and calls riichi on a 7s kanchan. Though he has no other value, he does put pressure on Shibukawa.

At the start of the third row, Shibukawa fills in his souzu sequence and gets to tenpai on a 69p ryanmen. On one hand, he is furiten. On the other, a 6p draw would give him a dealer haneman. Two turns later, he draws a 7p. In order to get out of furiten, he decides to switch to a 7p/4s shanpon, calling riichi in the process. On his last draw, Shibukawa gets the 4s and wins the hand. Shibukawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 4,000+200 all plus a riichi stick, lifting Shibukawa into 1st place.

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Results

Game 58

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