Tuesday (October 21)

---

Game 1

Setokuma

October 21, Game 1, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10012

In E2-1, Setokuma the dealer in a 3rd place tie, looking to take the 2,300 in bonuses and move into 1st place.

Setokuma starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a secured red 5m as part of a pair. The first row doesn’t do much of him, giving him an extra pair and advancing him to 3-shanten.

The second row, however, is a different story. From the middle of the second row onward, Setokuma keeps drawing pairs, including the south dora. On turn 11, Setokuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a red dragon tanki. Immediately after, Date discards the red dragon and deals into Setokuma. Setokuma wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chiitoi/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 18,000+300 plus two riichi sticks.

---

In E2-2, Setokuma starts out the hand at 2-shanten, leaning towards tanyao and holding a secured red 5m. Within the first four turns, Setokuma creates a 3334s shape and gets rid of his last terminal/honour. A turn later, he draws the red 5s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3p kanchan, guaranteed at least a mangan.

In the third row, the only challenger able to get to tenpai is Shiratori, who waits on a 2s/4m shanpon. Unfortunately, there are none left. And immediately after, Setokuma draws the 3p and wins the hand. Setokuma wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 2 for 4,000+100 all.

---

Shiratori

October 21, Game 1

In E4-1, Shiratori is in 2nd place and chasing 1st place Setokuma, 11,500 ahead of him.

Right off the block, Shiratori calls pon on the double east, looking like a quick hand. However, Setokuma is even quicker. On turn 2, he makes a triplet of 8p dora and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen.

Despite the big threat, Shiratori has the iishanten hand to fight against it. On turn 4, he gets to tenpai on a 1m/2p shanpon. In the second row, he improves the wait to a 36p ryanmen. Within the go-around, Setokuma discards the 3p and deals into Shiratori. Shiratori wins with Double East for 2,900+300 plus Setokuma’s riichi stick. With the direct hit off Setokuma, Shiratori cuts the lead down to 3,100.

---

Moving to E4-3, Shiratori is now 1,100 behind Setokuma with 2,900 in bonuses to be won.

Shiratori starts off at 3-shanten with two completed sequences. By turn 4, he ups it to three completed sequences, getting him to iishanten. Over the next few turns, he shifts it towards a potential tanyao and creates a 147p three-sided wait, but is still looking for a pair. On turn 8, he manages to pair up the 6s and calls riichi on the three-sided wait.

Two turns later, Setokuma gets to tenpai on a 58p ryanmen.

At the end of the row, Shiratori draws the 7p and wins the hand. Shiratori wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao for 2,600+300 all plus two riichi sticks, moving into 1st place.

---

Aki

October 21, Game 1

In S1-6, Aki is the dealer in 3rd place, 11,500 behind 2nd place Setokuma and 37,000 behind 1st place Shiratori. It’s quite far, but anything can happen with a dealership. And plus, the two riichi sticks and six honba can boost the hand a lot.

Aki starts out the hand at 3-shanten with not much value to speak of. The first row, though, gives her a 1p dora and creates some sequences and sequence candidates, giving her options to up the value and getting her to iishanten.

To her right, Setokuma is looking for a quick hand. Having already called a 123m sequence, he calls pon on the red dragon at the end of the first row. At the start of the second, he calls a 789m chii and waits on a north/green dragon shanpon, guaranteed a mangan.

Back to Aki, she has already rejected a 7m/8m shanpon to aim for a better and wider wait. Two turns later, Aki gets that improvement and calls riichi on a 369m wait. Near the end of Setokuma’s second row, he discards the 6m and deals into Aki. Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 12,000+1,800 plus two riichi sticks. With the direct hit, Aki moves up to 2nd place.

---

Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7513

In S1-7, Aki is now 21,200 behind 1st place Shiratori.

Aki starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a triplet of 4p and a pair of 6m. Aki moves forward to 2-shanten in the first row, but her only value is tanyao. In the second row, she advances to ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. With the 69p ryanmen, Aki wants the 6p for tanyao. With the 25s ryanmen, Aki wants the 2s for iipeikou.

At the start of the third row, Aki calls the 6p and gets to tenpai on a 25s ryanmen, only having a cheap 1-han hand (well, aside from the 7 honba).

A turn later, Aki draws a third 6m. Wanting to up the hand’s value, Aki sacrifices some acceptance to go for a 3s/4s shanpon. If she gets it with tsumo, she will have sanankou. Sure enough, Aki manages to draw the blessed 3s just two turns later and wins the hand. Aki wins with Tanyao/Sanankou for 2,600+700 all.

---

In S1-8, Aki is now just 8,000 from 1st place.

Aki starts out the hand at a standard 5-shanten (4-shanten for seven pairs). It looks Aki’s dealership might end here, but the east pair does give her a bit of hope. In the first row, Aki makes some sequence candidates and advances to 3-shanten by the end of the first row. At the start of the second, Aki calls pon on the east and starts to get it going. With a 5p kanchan fill in the middle of the second row, she gets to iishanten.

Two turns later, Shiratori calls an 8s pon and gets to tenpai on a 58m ryanmen, wanting the 8m for a mangan.

After a bunch of drawing and discarding, Aki is able to call pon on the 2p at the start of the third row and gets to tenpai on a 69m ryanmen. Within the go-around, Shiratori discards the 6m and deals into Aki. Aki wins the hand with East/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 5,800+2,400. With the direct hit, Aki moves up to 1st place.

In just three hands, Aki managed to move herself from solidly 3rd place to 1st place.

---

10 Honba

October 21, Game 1, S1-10

After a lot of draws and repeats, we are up to 10 honba, a feat that has only been achieved twice before: once on November 4, 2019 (across 3 players), and once on November 7, 2022 (completed by Kurosawa Saki alone). Whoever wins this hand will get a bonus 3,000 from the honba.

From the start, Shiratori is 3-shanten. But, with every draw, he moves forward. On turn 4, Shiratori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. In the middle of the second row, Setokuma discards the 9s trying to keep iishanten and deals into Shiratori. Though his hand is just Riichi for 1,300, the honba more than triples the hand for a final value of 4,300.

---

Results

Game 59

---

Game 2

4th to 1st

October 21, Game 2, E2-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10013

In E2-3, Hagiwara is in 4th place, but is only 10,200 behind 1st place dealer Ooi. A mangan tsumo would get him there.

Hagiwara starts out the hand at 2-shanten with two ryanmens and a pair of east doras, but the 3p penchan might prove to be difficult. In the first row, he gets rid of it to accept a ryanmen in manzu. By the end of the first row, Hagiwara is iishanten with a 4578m shape. If he draws the 6m, he will have a three-sided wait.

In the second row, Hagiwara is unable to get to tenpai. But, he gets a red 5s and a red 5p to up his han value by two. In the middle of the third row, he draws the 6m and calls riichi on the 369m three-sided wait, wanting the 3m for a 345 sanshoku and a haneman.

Within the go-around, Ooi calls riichi on an east tanki, but none remain in the wall. Two turns later, Ooi discards the 3m and deals into Hagiwara. Hagiwara wins with Riichi/Sanshoku/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 12,000+900 plus a riichi stick, moving Hagiwara up to 1st and Ooi down to 4th.

---

Ippatsu

October 21, Game 2, S1-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7514

In S1-3, Katsumata is in 3rd place, 20,700 behind 2nd place Hagiwara and only 1,700 ahead of 4th place Ooi.

Katsumata starts off the hand with three pairs, sitting 5-shanten from a standard hand and 3-shanten for chiitoi. Katsumata makes some decent advancement, getting to 3-shanten for standard.

Looking around the table, both Takizawa and Ooi are iishanten by the end of the first row. The first to get to tenpai is Takizawa, who waits dama on a white/9m shanpon in the middle of the second row, wanting the white dragon for mangan.

Two turns later, Ooi gets there and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen.

Back to Katsumata, he is iishanten with a ryanmen and two pairs. At the end of the second row, Katsumata makes his 4s into a triplet and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen, wanting the 4m for an extra han. On his very next turn, he gets the 4m and wins the hand. Witht he 4m also being the uradora, Katsumata wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Iipeikou/Ura 2 for 3,000+300/6,000+300 plus a riichi stick, putting Katsumata within 8,400 of 1st place.

---

Speed

October 21, Game 2, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8517

In S2-1, Takizawa is in 1st place and has a 4,900 lead over 2nd place. A riichi stick and a honba are in the pot.

Takizawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with two 1m dora and a red 5m. From the 2nd turn onward, every single draw for Takizawa advances him. On turn 4, Takizawa gets to tenpai, discards the extra 1m dora and calls riichi on a 5s kanchan. On his next draw, he gets the perfect red 5s and wins the hand. Takizawa wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus a riichi stick, widening the lead to 21,300.

---

Finish

October 21, Game 2, S4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9016

In S4-2, Ooi is in the negatives in 4th place and has no chance of moving up. But, he can at least end the game with a bang.

Ooi starts off at 5-shanten and only holding a stray non-yakuhai east for value. Not a good start. In the first row, Ooi makes some very good progress by pairing up the east and getting to 2-shanten. However, it’s clear that he will have a challenger, as Takizawa has already called twice to get to iishanten.

In the second row, Ooi draws an unseen south, causing him to break his hand to avoid discarding the danger. At the end of the row, he pairs up the south to have a yakuhai option and get to 2-shanten. A turn later, he draws a third south to get to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten.

As the wall whittles down, Takizawa dras a fourth 8p and calls an added kan, making the 6m into the new dora. With just the kan, it adds one han to Ooi’s hand and two for Takizawa’s hand. It takes quite a while, but with only a handful of tiles left in the wall, Takizawa makes a chii and gets to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen.

Immediately after, Ooi gets to tenpai. Despite having only one more draw for himself, Ooi calls riichi. On that very next draw, Ooi gets the 5m and wins the hand. With the south suddenly becoming the uradora, Ooi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 3/Ura 3 for 4,000+200/8,000+200, a respectable baiman to end the game.

---

Results

Game 60

---

Intro | Standings