Thursday (November 20)

Table A

Table B

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Table A, Game 1

Mangan Repeat

November 20, Table A, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8021

In S1-1, Okada is the dealer in 1st place with an 8,900 lead, having won a dealer mangan the previous hand.

Okada starts out with a secured red 5s and a loosely-connected dora 8p. In the first row, she makes a pair of red dragons and a second 8p dora, setting her up for mangan. In the second row, she calls a 567s chii to get to 2-shanten. On her next turn, she draws a third red dragon to get to a perfect iishanten.

As Okada waits, 4th place Tojo wants to make moves as well. Near the end of the second row, Tojo gets to tenpai, discards the 8p dora and calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen.

With that 8p discard, Okada calls pon and gets to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen. Two turns later, Okada draws the 7p and wins the hand. Okada wins the hand with Red Dragon/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 4,000+100 all plus a riichi stick.

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VIdeo: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8022

In S1-2, Okada starts with a 4-shanten for a standard hand a 3-shanten for a pairs hand. For value, Okada has a red dragon pair, a connected red 5m and a floating dora 7s. When the red dragon comes out, she calls pon.

Across the table, Tojo gets to tenpai on a 5s kanchan early on, but the cheap yakuless hand can’t win on ron.

Back to Okada, she starts moving faster. After calling a 678p chii and a 567m chii, Okada gets to tenpai on a 7s/1p shanpon, guaranteed a mangan if she wins.

When Tojo draws the 9s, she chooses to fold her hand instead of discarding a souzu tile which is dangerous to the whole table.

The next player to be tenpai is Katsumata, who gets there in the middle of the second row and waits on a 7s dora penchan.

With a 345s chii, Daigo gets to tenpai on a 258s three-sided wait.

On Katsumata’s turn, he draws and discards the 1p and deals into Okada. Okada wins the hand with Red Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000+600, taking Okada up to 66,100.

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Ura Ura

November 20, Table A, Game 1, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9517

In S2-0, Daigo is the dealer in 2nd place and is 35,500 behind 1st place Okada. This dealership is his last big chance at 1st place.

Daigo starts out the hand at 3-shanten with four ryanmens and a connected dora 8m. When the east comes out from Okada on the first turn, however, he chooses to pass on it, hoping to gamble with a more expensive closed hand. Through the first row, Daigo draws a red 5s and creates a 258p three-sided wait, but only moves one step forward to 2-shanten.

Across from him, 3rd place Katsumata wants to catch Daigo. At the start of the second row, Katsumata is the first to tenpai and stays dama on a 3p. A tsumo would put him within 1,000 of Daigo.

Back to Daigo, he is now iishanten with a 69m ryanmen and a 358p three-sided wait, his easts being his pair. In the middle of the second row, he draws the 6m and calls riichi on the three-sided wait.

On Katsumata’s draw, he decides to chase, but discards the 2p to take a 4p/8m shanpon. With the 2p, Daigo calls ron and wins the hand. With the uradora flip, the easts become the new dora and upgrades him to a haneman. Daigo wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 18,000, more than halving Okada’s lead.

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Results

Game 109

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Table B, Game 1

Half Flush

November 20, Table B, Game 1, E4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10525

In E4-1, Nakabayashi is the dealer in 3rd place, just 3,500 from 1st place Miura. With a riichi stick and a honba in the pot, a 2-han hand will be enough to take top spot.

Nakabayashi starts out with a strong 2-shanten hand with both the red 5p and a dora 6p secured. On turn 4, he pairs up the easts, leaving him with three pinzu blocks, two honour blocks and a pair of 3m. When given the opportunity to call a 123p chii, Nakabayahi takes it and shifts to a honitsu hand. With a 4p pon within the go-around, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai on an east/south shanpon. Guaranteed at least a mangan, he can upgrade to a haneman if he wins off the east.

In the second row, Miura drops the south trying to keep iishanten and deals into Nakabayashi. Nakabayashi wins the hand with Honitsu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 12,000+300 plus a riichi stick, moving into the lead.

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Dama

November 20, Table B, Game 1, S1-2

In S1-2, Kurosawa is in 3rd place, 3,500 behind 2nd place dealer Shiratori.

Kurosawa incredibly starts out at iishanten with her first draw, having a ryanmen and a three-sided wait, as well as the red 5p and the red 5m double dora secured. There is some action on the table with Nakabayashi calling pon on the white dragon and Miura on the red dragon, but Kurosawa’s speed is unmatched. At the end of first row, she fills in the ryanmen for tenpai.

Kurosawa can choose to take the 369p wait to guarantee pinfu, but she instead chooses the 258p wait, slightly stronger (since there are 8 left compared to 7 for the 369p wait) with mangan guaranteed. Within the go-around, Shiratori discards the 5p and deals into Kurosawa. Kurosawa wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 8,000+600, moving up to 2nd.

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Dora 4

November 20, Table B, Game 1, S3-1

In S3-1, Shiratori is in 4th place, 2,400 behind 3rd place dealer Miura.

From the very start, Shiratori calls a concealed kan on the 9p. With a pair of wests and two 6p dora in hand as well, he has a path to a callable mangan. With the kandora flip, the 5p in his hand becomes the new dora. To be even more perfect, he draws a 4p to create a 4566p shape.

When the west comes out, he calls pon to secure his yaku. In the middle of the second row, Shiratori gets to tenpai and waits on a 36p ryanmen.

To his left, a scary hand is brewing. Nakabayashi has triplets of 8p and 3m, as well as pairs of 7p, east and 5m. If he makes one of those pairs into a closed triplet, he would be tenpai for a yakuman.

On his very next turn, he draws a third east. Unfortunately, if he wants to take the yakuman tenpai, he will have to discards the 6p dora, Shiratori’s winning tile.

He does have options for other tenpai waits, but discarding the 7p for a 58p/5m wait is relatively cheap, and taking the 69p ryanmen wait is difficult since Shiratori already called a concealed kan on the 9p.

Wanting to win his second suuankou of the season, Nakabayashi discards the 6p, dealing into Shiratori.

Shiratori wins the hand with West/Dora 4 for 8,000+300, moving up to 3rd place and putting him 9,700 from 1st place.

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Dora 4

November 20, Table B, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10024

In S4-0, Kurosawa is in 2nd place and is 400 from the lead. Any win is enough for her to finish the game in top spot.

Kurosawa starts out the hand with pairs of 4m, green dragon and the 8p dora, giving her a yaku option and extra value to boot. She isn’t able to call pon on it in the first row, but she does get to 2-shanten.

At the start of the second row, she makes the 8p dora into a triplet, getting her to iishanten. Two turns later, he draws a third green dragon and gets to tenpai on a 69s ryanmen, staying dama.

She isn’t the only player looking for 1st place, though. To her left, Shiratori has already called pon on the white dragon and the double south. With honitsu guaranteed and a possibility to call the red dragon for haneman, he has the value to get to 1st place. In the middle of the second row, he gets to tenpai and waits on an 8m kanchan, needing the mangan tsumo for 1st place.

On Kurosawa’s turn, she draws a fourth 8p. She calls a concealed kan, though neither the kandora nor rinshan add anything to either her or Shiratori’s hand. Within the go-around, Nakabayashi discards the 9s and deals into Kurosawa. Kurosawa wins the hand with Green Dragon/Dora 4, finishing the game in 1st.

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Results

Game 110

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Table A, Game 2

Ura San

November 20, Table A, Game 2, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7526

In S1-1, Aki is the dealer in 4th place, 6,000 behind 2nd place Genta and 18,900 behind 1st place Hori.

Aki starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a secured dora 7s. The first row pushes her towards sequences, creating a 69s ryanmen to overlap with her 678s sequence, getting her to 2-shanten. On turn 8, she completes a 678m sequence for iishanten, leaving her with the ryanmen and a 224m shape to resolve.

On turn 10, she draws a 9s for tenpai. Needing to choose between the 3m kanchan and the 6p/2m shanpon, Aki decides to call riichi on the shanpon. In the third row, Hori discards the 2m trying to take tenpai and deals into Aki. With the flip, Aki’s 2m become the uradora and suddenly doubles her hand’s han value. Aki wins with Riichi/Dora 2/Ura 3 for 18,000+300, catapulting Aki from 4th to 1st and Hori from 1st to 4th.

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Dora San

November 20, Table A, Game 2, S1-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9518

In S1-2, Genta is in 2nd place and is 12,300 behind 1st place dealer Aki.

Genta starts off with standard 4-shanten hand with a connected red 5s, a floating 6p, and pairs of red dragon and west. Very quickly, he calls pon on the red dragon, makes a 456s sequence and calls pon on the west, getting him to iishanten. The 6p remains isolated.

At the start of the second row, Genta makes the 6p into a pair, getting him to tenpai on an 8m kanchan. A few turns later, he draws a third 6p. Upgrading to a haneman tenpai, he switches to a 9m tanki, looking for a better two-sided or even 3-sided wait. He switches to a 4m tanki after, again not expecting much of it. But, 1st place Aki ends up discarding the 4m and deals into the unlikely tanki. Genta wins the hand with Red Dragon/West/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 12,000+600,, moving up to 1st with a 12,900 lead.

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Results

Game 111

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Table B, Game 2

Ura Ura

November 20, Table B, Game 2, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10025

In E1-0, north seat Honda starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a secured 3s dora. On turn 2, he gets to iishanten. holding a 58s ryanmen and a 2m kanchan. On his next draw, he switches the kanchan for a 69p ryanmen, guaranteed pinfu and a chance at a 789p iipeikou. Over the next few turns, it’s a simple routine of drawing, discarding a waiting.

In the middle of the second row, Honda draws the 6p. Though it’s not the 9p, it gets him to tenpai and he calls riichi on the 58s wait. Two turns later, he draws the 8s and wins the hand. With the flip, his 3p pair becomes the new dora, upgrading his 4/20 hand to a haneman. Honda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 2 for 3,000/6,000.

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Go Ahead

November 20, Table B, Game 2, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10526

In S3-0, Kobayashi is in 3rd place, 200 behind 2nd place dealer Matsumoto and 9,000 behind 1st place Honda.

Kobayashi starts off the hand 4-shanten for a standard hand and 3-shanten for a pairs hand. With a regular 5p dora and a red 5p double dora, as well as a pair of souths, the opportunity to make this hand faster is there. Within the first three turns, Kobayashi makes a pair of green dragons and calls pon on the souths. On turn 5, he calls a 789p chii to get to iishanten. With the 5567p shape in his hand, he looks to build around that extra 5p to both keep that value and to add honitsu into the mix.

At the start of the second row, Kobayashi calls a 567p chii and gets to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen, guaranteed a haneman. Within the go-around, Honda discards the 4p and deals into Kobayashi. Kobayashi wins the hand with Honitsu/Double South/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000, moving Kobayashi into 1st place and Honda down to 4th place.

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Results

Game 112

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