Friday (October 24)

Table A

Table B

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Table A, Game 1

Aka Aka Ura

October 24, Table A, Game 1, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11010

In E2-1, the scores are close, with Nakada and Takaki both in 3rd and Uchikawa and Asami in 1st. Only 2,000 separates the two pairs. Two riichi sticks and a honba sit in the pot.

Nakada starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a secured red 5m. Within the first few turns, Nakada guarantees herself a good wait. However, as Nakada draws a red 5s, she breaks a good wait to try to incorporate it. On turn 8, Nakada gets to iishanten.

As Nakada looks to fill in a 4s kanchan, Asami gets to tenpai first and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen.

Through a little bit of danger, Nakada pushes a bit. In the middle of the third row, Nakada fills in that 4s kanchan and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. Two turns later, Asami discards the 6s and deals into Nakada. Nakada wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus two riichi sticks, moving into the lead.

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Recovery

October 24, Table A, Game 1, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7017

In S1-1, Asami is in 4th place, 4,900 behind 3rd place Takaki and 14,300 behind 2nd place dealer Uchikawa.

Asami starts out the hand at a standard 4-shanten (3-shanten for seven pairs) with just a single red dragon dora for value. Early on, it was clear that Uchikawa was going to compete, quickly calling pon on the east with Asami’s first discard. Within the first row, Uchikawa calls a 789m chii and fills in a 3s kanchan to get to tenpai on a 58p ryanmen.

Back to Asami, she is 2-shanten and is still holding onto the hope of using the red dragon. Soon after, he pairs up the red dragon to get to iishanten. In the second row, Asami calls pon on the red dragon to get to tenpai on a 3m/6p shanpon. With a 456p chii a bit later, Asami improves his wait to a 25p ryanmen.

When Uchikawa draws a 6m, he chooses to break his tenpai.

Right after, Takaki has a chance to get to a nice 58m ryanmen, but that would require discarding the dangerous 8p. Not wanting to do that (especially with a dora pon by Asami), Takaki breaks his 9s pair and aimf for tanyao. With a 567 chii witht he red 5m, Takaki gets to tenpai on an 8p tanki.

On Uchikawa’s next turn, he gets to tenpai and waits on a 58m ryanmen. However, he is furiten.

And rounding it all out is Nakada, throwing the red 5s and calls riichi on a 369p wait.

With all the danger around, Uchikawa chooses to fold.

Near the end of the second row, Asami draws a fourth 6s. With a big chance to upgrade, Asami decides to call a concealed kan. With the kandora flip, Asami’s 3m pair becomes the new dora. And with Asami’s rinshan, she draws…

…the winning 2p! Asami wins the hand with Rinshan/Red Dragon/Dora 5 for 3,000+100/6,000+100, moving Asami into 2nd place and just 3,800 behind 1st place Nakada.

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Results

Game 65

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Table B, Game 1

Takame

October 24, Table B, Game 1, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10014

In E2-0, Honda is the dealer in a 2nd place tie, sitting 5,000 behind 1st place Aikawa. Honda starts out the hand already 2-shanten with two completed sequences and a ryanmen in tow. On turn 3, he advances to iishanten. Though he has five blocks already, Honda holds a floating 7m for a chance to create a 567 sanshoku. On turn 4, he draws a 6m. With that draw, he guarantees himself pinfu, tanyao and a possible sanshoku.

After a lot of waiting, Honda completes a 567s sequence to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen. Within the go-around Mizuhara discards the 5m and deals into Honda. Honda wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Tanyao/Sanshoku for 18,000, pushing him into 1st place.

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Chinitsu

October 24, Table B, Game 1, S2-4
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s80_p2266

In S2-4, Shibukawa is in 3rd place and is 400 behind 2nd place Aikawa.

Shibukawa starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a secured red 5p, but the nine pinzu tiles gives the spark for a potential flush. By the end of the first row, Shibukawa gets to ten pinzu tiles and sits iishanten for a standard hand.

In the middle of the second row, Shibukawa draws another pinzu, shifting him closer to a flush. When Shibukawa has an opportunity to call a 1p, he passes on the 123p chii for a 69s tenpai and instead calls pon and forces a flush. Two turns later, he calls pon on the 2p and gets to tenpai on a 369p wait, guaranteed a haneman.

Only a single 6p remains in the wall.

All the other players avoid discarding pinzu with the obvious flush, but they are still able to advance their hands. On Honda’s second-last turn, he gets to tenpai and makes the bold move of calling riichi, waiting on a 36m ryanmen.

With the danger of Honda getting another big dealer gain, Mizuhara tries to reduce the damage by making a call and breaking the ippatsu. However, it ends up shifting the wall in Shibukawa’s favour. On the next draw, Shibukawa draws the 6p, his very last winning tile in the wall, and wins the hand. Shibukawa wins with Chinitsu/Aka 1 for 3,000+400/6,000+400, nearly doubling Shibukawa’s score and easily moving him into 2nd place.

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Table A, Game 2

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Results

Game 67

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Table B, Game 2

Sanankou

October 24, Table B, Game 2, E2-0

In E2-0, Hori is in 4th place, but the game is still early and he is just 5,300 behind 1st place Nakabayashi.

Hori starts out with an incredible 2-shanten hand with triplets of 3m and 9m, a pair of easts and a connected dora 2p. On turn 3, he draws a red 5p to create a pair and get to iishanten. If he manages to make both of his pairs into concealed triplets, he would be in yakuman territory.

At the end of the row, Hori draws a third east, getting him to tenpai on a 3p penchan. He stays dama, hoping for a possible yakuman upgrade. On turn 7, Nakabayashi discards the 3p trying to call riichi and ends up dealing into Hori. Hori wins the hand with Sanankou/East/Dora 1/Red Dora 1 for 8,000. This win moves 4th place Hori into 1st place and 1st place Nakabayashi into 4th place.

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Ippatsu

October 24, Table B, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10016

In E4-0, Kurosawa is the dealer in 1st place and has a 6,700 lead over 2nd place.

Kurosawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with three ryanmens, essentially guaranteeing her a good wait. In the first row, she makes a cool 556677888p shape, going along with a 34s34m blocks. With the shape, is guaranteed tanyao and a decent chance at pinfu. In the second row, she replaces an 8p with a 5p.

As Kurosawa waits, Kazuma makes a call and discards the 4p, getting him to tenpai on a 2p/4m shanpon.

Within the go-around, Kurosawa draws a red 5m. Because Kazuma discarded the 4p after his call, the tiles around the 4p become a bit more dangerous. As a result, Kurosawa decides to let go of the iipeikou cand discards the 8p, calling riichi and waiting on a 25s ryanmen. Immediately after, Nakabayashi discards the 5s trying to take tenpai and deals into Kurosawa. Kurosawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 12,000.

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Ippatsu

October 24, Table B, Game 2, S1-0

In S1-0, Hori is in 3rd place and is 4,400 behind 2nd place Kazuma.

Hori starts the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of green dragons. Within the first row, Hori makes a triplet of 2s and creates some ryanmens. By the end of the first row, Hori is at a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten and is a 1p away from an iipeikou.

Also sitting at iishanten is Kazuma, waiting on 12 different tiles for tenpai. At the start of the second row, Kazuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 4m kanchan.

Two turns later, Hori draws the 1p and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen. Kurosawa gets to tenpai right after, but she isn’t much a threat with no yaku. On Hori’s very next turn, he gets the 6m and wins the hand. Hori wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Iipeikou/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick.

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Dama

October 24, Table B, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10017

In S4-0, Kurosawa is the final dealer and is looking to extend her 11,700 lead.

Kurosawa starts out the hand at a cool 2-shanten with two red fives and the ability to call for tanyao. Within the first three turns, she gets to tenpai on a 5s kanchan, but has a 1s in her hand. Not wanting to take the bad wait and put herself at risk, she stays dama without a yaku. When Kurosawa draws a 2m to create a flexible 2345m shape, she breaks her tenpai and waits iishanten, waiting on 13 different tiles to get back to tenpai.

As she waits, Kazuma calls riichi at the end of the first row on a 7s penchan. With his Riichi/Junchan/Sanshoku/Dora 1 hand, he just needs to draw it himself or get a direct hit off Kurosawa to end the game in 1st place.

Within the go-around, Kurosawa pushes the 6s from her 677s shape and gets to tenpai on a 369p wait. Two turns later, she draws the 6p and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 2 for 4,000 all plus a riichi stick, lifting her to 55,200.

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Speed

October 24, Table B, Game 2, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11510

In S4-1, Kazuma is in 3rd place and is 9,300 behind 2nd place Hori. To finish the game in 2nd place, Kazuma needs a 3/40 direct hit, a mangan tsumo or a haneman ron.

With Kazuma’s first 13 tiles, he is already iishanten for seven pairs, looking for a sixth pair to call double riichi. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get it. But, on turn 2, he pairs up the white dragon and calls riichi on a west tanki. He has three han guaranteed, and would need to get a booster if he wins by tsumo or a direct hit to take 2nd place. A turn later, he gets that booster in the form of ippatsu, drawing the west and winning the hand. Kazuma wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Chiitoi for 2,000+100/4,000+100, finishing in 2nd place.

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Results

Game 68

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