Tuesday (November 18)

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Game 1

Chinitsu

November 18, Game 1, E1-0

In E1-0, Aikawa starts off the hand 5-shanten for a standard hand at 4-shanten for seven pairs. The first row gives her a ryanmen in pinzu, but also a lot of souzu tiles. By the end of the first row, she has ten souzu tiles, including three 1s and three 7s.

With a flush being an easy call route, she takes the opportunity to call pon on the 1s at the start of the second row. Breaking her pinzu ryanmen, she confirms the pursuit. Soon after, she calls a 789s chii for iishanten. Filling in a 3s penchan on her next draw, she gets to tenpai and waits on a 36s ryanmen.

With the flush obvious, players can easily push so long as they don’t throw souzu. One of the players taking advantage of that fact is Uchikawa. In the middle of the second row, he calls a 345p chii for iishanten. In the third row, he completes a sequence and gets to tenpai on a 47m ryanmen.

Uchikawa’s hope is short-lived as Aikawa draws the 3s within the go-around and wins the hand. Aikawa wins with Chinitsu for 2,000/4,000.

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Chinitsu

November 18, Game 1, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8530

In E3-0, Takizawa is in 1st place after hitting Aikawa directly with a mangan.

Takizawa starts out the hand with a series of souzu, holding eight bamboo tiles. Without even having to call, Takizawa quickly advances his hand. By the end of the first row, he is up to 11 souzu tiles, holding a triplet of 1s and two completed sequences.

At the start of the second row, Takizawa draws yet another souzu tiles. Though he could take a 36m ryanmen right now, he chooses to go all-in and push for the flush. On his very next turn, he gets to tenpai on a 36s ryanmen.

On his next turn, he has a choice between switching to a 148s wait or keeping the 36s ryanmen. With more 148s unseen compared to the 36s, he makes the switch.

With Takizawa’s discarded 5s, Aikawa calls pon and gets to tenpai on a 7s/9s shanpon. If she draws either of them, she will have sanankou and a mangan. Unfortunately, she ends up drawing and discarding the 4s on her very next turn and deals into Takizawa. Takizawa wins the hand with a closed Chinitsu for 12,000.

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Results

Game 107

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Game 2

Driving Start

November 18, Game 2, E1-0

In E1-0, Futoshi starts off the hand at 4-shanten with pairs of 1p and the west guest wind. Without a major reform in his hand, he will just have to wait and see what comes to him to advance. On turn 2, he draws the red 5m double dora, boosting his hand’s han value by 2. Playing fairly efficiently, he gets to 2-shanten by the end of the first row.

Across from him, Aki is already waiting with a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten with a connected red 5s. At the end of her first row, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen.

Drawing another 5m dora during the ippatsu round, Futoshi breaks his west pair to maintain safety. After discarding that and some additional honours, he manages to get to iishanten, now with a mangan minimum hand. At the end of the second row, he calls pon on the 3p, now guaranteeing him tanyao and giving him the ability to speed up his hand. Within the go-around, Futoshi calls a 678p sequence and gets to tenpai on a 47m ryanmen.

In the middle of the third row, Futoshi draws the 4m and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick.

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Hiro

November 18, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11522

In E2-0, Shibata is in 4th place, just 2,000 from 2nd place Takamiya and 13,000 behind 1st place dealer Futoshi.

Shibata’s very first draw is the red 5m, creating a ryanmen and getting him to 2-shanten. By turn 3, he has converted a lone 8s into a 789s sequence, putting him iishanten. On turn 5, he completes a 567m sequence and gets to tenpai on a 5p kanchan. However, he stays dama since there are multiple upgrades in value, from the 4m or 7m giving him iipeikou, to the 7p to add pinfu, to the 3p giving him both pinfu and a dora.

As Shibata waits for that upgrade, Aki starts calling. Right after another, she calls pon on the 1p and 7p, getting her to a honitsu tenpai on a 58p wait.

On his next turn, Shibata draws the 7m to get iipeikou. He continues to stay dama on the 5p kanchan, but is now allowed to call ron. On his next turn, he upgrades it to a 58p ryanmen, adding pinfu. With the good wait, he calls riichi.

Shibata has a good wait, but it overlaps with Aki’s. With Aki being earlier in turn order, she will be the winner on ron. Despite this disadvantage, Shibata can still win on ron. In the middle of the third row, Shibata beats the odds and draws the 8p to win the hand. Hitting the uradora, Shibata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, moving into 1st.

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Escaping 4th

November 18, Game 2, S4-0

In S4-0, Takamiya is in 4th place and is 4,200 behind 3rd place dealer Aki. To move out of 4th, she needs a 2/40 direct hit, a 2/50 or 3/25 tsumo, or a 3/40 ron.

Takamiya starts out the hand with pairs of west, 8p and 4s, as well as a single red 5s. On turn 2, she makes a pair of white dragons. If she can make all of the pairs into triplets (particularly the two honour pairs), she will have enough for 3rd place. When the white dragon comes out, Takamiya is quick to call pon, starting the process. On her next turn, she pairs up the 9m, now only needing to “pon, pon, ron”.

When the 8p comes out, she calls pon for iishanten. With a 4s pon in the second row, Takamiya gets to tenpai on a west/9m shanpon. Either one will give her 2nd place.

Across from her, Shibata also wants to advance, needing a 2/40 win to have enough value. To get this value, he breaks his 1m pair to go for tanyao. As a result of consecutive kans from Takamiya, Shibata’s 6p becomes the new dora. Soon after, Shibata gets to a closed 36p ryanmen tenpai. With 3 han guaranteed, a 6p dora win will give him iipeikou for mangan, and one booster on top of it will give him a haneman.

Unfortunately, Shibata draws the west on his very next turn. Wanting to win, Shibata pushes it and deals into Takamiya. Takamiya wins the hand with Toitoi/White Dragon. With a lot of han from the kans, she hits 50 fu for 6,400. It’s not enough to move into 3rd, but she does escape 4th place and helps the team be the top gainers of the day.

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Results

Game 108

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