Thursday (November 13)

Table A

Table B

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Table A, Game 1

Dora Dora

November 13, Table A, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7021

In S1-0, Sonoda is in 2nd place and 12,300 behind 1st place dealer Honda.

Sonoda starts out the hand already at 2-shanten with a lone dora 2m and a loosely-connected red 5p. Quite quickly, Sonoda’s hand accelerated. With a 6p draw, Sonoda more securely connects the red 5p. A turn later, he advances to iishanten.

Sonoda has potential for wide waits, but he still holds onto the dora 2m for potential value. This hold ends up paying off as he draws the 2m dora on his next turn for tenpai. He calls riichi and waits on a 47m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a haneman if he wins. Honda challenges Sonoda by getting to tenpai in soon after, but he is unable to beat Sonoda. In the second row, Sonoda draws the 4m and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000, moving into 1st.

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Gyakuten

November 13, Table A, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9514

In S4-0, Daigo is in 3rd place, 12,300 behind 2nd place Honda and 19,300 behind 1st place Honda. For 2nd place, Daigo needs a 3/50 or 4/25 direct hit, a haneman tsumo or a baiman ron. However, if Daigo wants to set his sights big, he would need a baiman tsumo or direct hit off Sonoda, or a sanbaiman ron for 1st place.

Daigo starts out with such a gift of a hand, holding a pair of 9s dora and two red fives as part of ryanmens. At 3-shanten, His hand has a fighting chance with a lot of value. This could be the hand for a comeback.

But first, he has to fight the rest of the table. One player who doesn’t want to be passed is Sonoda, who quickly calls both the 9m and green dragon to get to a first-row tenpai on a 1m/4m shanpon.

At this point, Daigo is 2-shanten, but he gets to iishanten himself at the end of the first row.

4th place Miura is also hungry for a comeback. With a 789s chii, Miura gets to iishanten for a full flush, guaranteed a haneman. After a 567s chii and a 2s draw, Miura gets to tenpai on a 3s/4s shanpon.

In the middle of his second row, Daigo makes a 9p triplet and finally gets to tenpai. Daigo calls riichi and waits on a 47p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a haneman if he wins, If he can get the direct hit or tsumo, he would move into 2nd place. If he gets the tsumo and hits two boosters, Daigo would take 1st place. He would need to get very lucky.

On his very next turn, Daigo miraculously gets the 4p! One miracle has happened to give him at least 2nd place, but he needs one more miracle to get to the elusive 1st. Daigo flips the uradora…

…and he hits it! With a Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 2/Aka 2/Ura 1 win, Daigo wins a 4,000/8,000 baiman to finish the game in 1st place!

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Results

Game 97

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Table B, Game 1

Hisato

November 13, Table B, Game 2, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8527

In E2-1, Hisato is in 4th place, but he is just 9,000 behind 1st place dealer Aki.

Hisato starts out the hand at 4-shanten with two secured red fives and a loose dora 8p. His aim for the first row looks to be a callable tanyao, but he holds both a single red dragon and green dragon as possible safe tiles or yakuhai candidates. By the end of hte row, he is 3-shanten, but has lots of calling potential.

Across the table from him, Kobayashi is the first to tenpai, getting there at the start of the second row. However, his 1m tanki is weak, so he stays dama. turn later, he upgrades it to a much wider 369s wait and calls riichi.

Back to Hisato, he is still at 2-shanten. However, he is guaranteed a good wait with his hand and a strong potential for a mangan, so he pushes. In the middle of the row, he gets to iishanten.

Around this time, Kobayashi draws a fourth 3p, so he calls kan. He doesn’t get the kandora, but the flip does make the red 5s in his hand into double dora. It also ups Hisato’s hand to a guaranteed mangan.

On Hori’s turn, he gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 36p ryanmen. After Kobayashi’s kan, Hori’s wait is now dead.

At the end of the second row, Hisato gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a haneman. In the middle of the third row, he gets the 6m and wins the hand. Hisato wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 3,000+100/6,000+100, taking the lead.

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Kobayashi

November 13, Table B, Game 1, E3-0

In E3-0, Kobayashi is the dealer in 4th place, 2,000 behind 3rd place Hori and 6,000 behind 2nd place Aki.

Kobayashi starts off at 4-shanten, but he does have a pair of white dragons and a connected dora 2s for value. Over his first four turns, he makes the 2s into a pair and the white dragon into a triplet, giving him strong guaranteed value. By the end of the first row he is at a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten.

At the start of the second row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen. Looking around the table, the only player with strong push potential is Hori. In the middle of the third row, Hori has the chance to take tenpai, but has to push the 5p to do so. Taking the risk, Hori discards the 5p trying to call riichi and deals into Kobayashi. Kobayashi wins the hand with Riichi/White Dragon/Dora 2 for 12,000, moving him up to 2nd place.

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Hori

November 13, Table B, Game 1, E4-2

In E4-2, Hori is the dealer in 4th place and 16,000 behind 3rd place Aki. Two riichi sticks and two honba are in the pot.

From the start, Hori is 3-shanten with a pair of 6m dora and a strong leaning towards tanyao. Though such a hand would be good for calling, useful tiles just came to him. On turn 3, Hori is already iishanten. At the end of the first row, Hori gets to tenpai on a 58s ryanmen, staying dama. In the middle of the second row, Hori draws the 5s and wins the hand. Hori wins the hand with Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 2 for 4,000+200 all plus two riichi sticks, moving into 3rd place and just 5,600 behind 1st place Hisato.

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Aki

November 13, Table B, Game 1, S1-4
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7523

In S1-4, Aki is in 4th place, but is just 8,400 behind 1st place dealer Hisato. The next winner will get 2,200 in bonus sticks, making Aki’s job a little easier.

Aki starts off with a solid 2-shanten hand with a pair of white dragons and a ryanmen. Not liking an overlapping penchan, Aki takes a step back to try for better waits. The gamble pays off, as she ends up iishanten at the end of the first row with a pair of 2s dora.

However, mahjong isn’t always that easy. In the middle of the second row, she is challenged by dealer Hisato who calls riichi on a 2s dora kanchan.

Within the go-around, Aki draws a third white dragon to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen.

With three winning tiles for Aki and one for Hisato, Aki has the advantage. In the middle of the third row, Aki draws the 9s and wins the hand. Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/White Dragon/Dora 2 for 2,000+400/4,000+400 plus two riichi stick, taking the lead.

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Hisato

November 13, Table B, Game 1, S3-0

In S3-0, Hisato is in 3rd place, 6,600 behind 2nd place Kobayashi and 7,200 behind 1st place Aki.

Hisato starts out the hand at 3-shanten to fill in a 4s kanchan. With a connected red 5p and two ryanmens, the hand has a chance at a standard pinfu shape. By turn 5, Hisato gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. After a lot of drawing and discarding, Hisato gets to tenpai in the middle of the second row and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen.

Within the go-around, Kobayashi gets to tenpai on a 14s ryanmen.

On Hisato’s very next turn, he get the 7p and wins the hand. Hisato wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000, moving into 1st place.

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Results

Game 98

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Table A, Game 2

Phoenix Fire

November 13, Table A, Game 2, E1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9515

In E1-1, Takaki is in 2nd place and just 1,000 from the lead. With a riichi stick and a honba in the pot, any win is enough to move up.

Takaki starts out the hand at a distant 5-shanten, not having much in value except for a dora west. The first row does provide some advancement, but only gets him to 3-shanten. The second row does a lot better, giving him two red fives a a few sequences as well. In the middle of the second row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen. Two turns later, he draws the 9m and wins the hand. Hitting an uradora, Takaki wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus a riichi stick.

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Hiro

November 13, Table A, Game 2, E2-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11519

In E2-0, Shibata is tied for 3rd place, 6,100 behind 2nd place Takaki.

Shibata starts out the hand at 5-shanten, but he at least has a connected dora 4m and two ryanmens. Shibata pushes his hand towards tanyao in the first row while also adding a red 5p to the mix. Despite this, he only gets to 3-shanten. By the middle fo the second row, however, he gets to iishanten.

To his right, Takaki wants to put some difference between him and the bottom two. Soon after Shibata gets to iishanten, Takaki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s kanchan.

Durign the ippatsu round, Shibata draws the red 5m, the perfect tile that gets him to tenpai. Challenging Takaki, Shibata calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan. Immediately after, Takaki draws and discards the 9p and deals into Shibata. Shibata wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 12,000+600 plus a riichi stick.

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Ippatsu

November 13, Table A, Game 2, E4-4
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10022

In E4-4, Kurosawa is in 3rd place, 6,700 behind 2nd place Shibata and 15,900 behind 1st place dealer Takaki.

Kurosawa starts out the hand with a good 2-shanten hand with a three-sided wait in hand. By her third draw, Kurosawa is iishanten. On her fourth turn, Kurosawa gets to tenpai on a 7s kanchan, but chooses not to call riichi since she doesn’t have any other value.

At the start of the second row, Kurosawa draws a 4s dora for value and calls riichi on a 5s kanchan. On her very next turn, Kurosawa gets the perfect red 5s and wins the hand. Hitting the uradora, Kurosawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+400/6,000+400

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Results

Game 99

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Table B, Game 2

Tanki

November 13, Table B, Game 2, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8528

In E2-1, Takizawa is in 1st place and has a 7,000 lead over 2nd place dealer Yu. 1,300 in bonuses will go to the next winner.

Takizawa starts out the hand at 4-shanten, having to compete agains the 2-shanten Yu. Takizawa advances quickly in the first row and matches Yu at iishanten at the end of the first row. As a bonus, Takizawa has a lot of souzu tiles, giving him a option to go for a souzu flush if he wants to take the risk. By turn 8, Takizawa gets to the flush iishanten.

In the middle of the second row, Yu gets to tenpai first and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen.

With Yu’s 3s riichi tile, Yu calls a 345s sequence to widen his acceptance. Yu tries to put his next 4s discard sideways, but it is yet again called by Takizawa for a 456s chii. Discarding the 3s, Takizawa gets to tenpai on a 14s ryanmen.

Two turns later, Takizawa draws a dora white dragon. Not wanting to discard the dora, Takizawa gives up on the full flush and takes the dora tanki instead. The shift it perfect as Yu ends up drawing and discarding the white dragon and deals into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with Honitsu/Ittsuu/Dora 2 for 8,000+300 plus a riichi stick.

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Katsumata

November 13, Table B, Game 2, E3-0

In E3-0, Katsumata is in 2nd place and trails 1st place Takizawa by 20,300.

Katsumata starts out the hand at 4-shanten with two ryanmens. With a pair of norths in hand, he doesn’t have an easy way to open. However, good waits came to Katsumata. On turn 7, Katsumata gets to iishanten with a ryanmen and a three-sided wait.

Despite the good wait, Katsumata isn’t the first to tenpai. On Yu’s turn, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5s/8s shanpon.

Within the go-around, Akutsu gets to tenpai on a 47m ryanmen.

Wanting to avoid the riichi, Katsumata takes a step back by discarding his north pair. But, he manages to fill in the three-sided wait and make the 4s pair, getting him to tenpai with tanyao. Katsumata calls riichi and waits on a 36s ryanmen. A few turns later, he draws the 3p and wins the hand. Hitting the uradora. Katsumata wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick.

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Results

Game 100

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