Thursday (December 4)

Table A

Table B

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Table A, Game 1

Sanshoku

December 4, Table A, Game 1, E1-0

In E1-0, Okada is the starting dealer and starts off 3-shanten with a red 5m. In the first row, she makes a 5p pair, a 23s block, a 13p block and a 113m shape. Drawing the 2m at the end of the first row, a 123 sanshoku is now in sight.

In the middle of the second row, Nakada fills in the 2p kanchan and calls riichi by throwing the red 5m. Miura gets to a yakuless tenpai two truns later, but it’s useless as Okada draws the 1s immediately after to win. Okada wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku for 4,000 all.

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Sanshoku

December 4, Table A, Game 1, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10028

In E4-0, Setokuma is now the dealer in 3rd place, 7,600 behind 1st place Okada.

Setokuma starts off the hand filling in a 3s kanchan, getting him to 2-shanten. On turn 2, he fills in an 8m kanchan and gets to iishanten. His next few draws focus on finding the best floating tiles, though nothing is hitting. As he waits, both Miura and Okada make yakuhai calls. At the end of the first row, Miura is the first to tenpai and waits on a 7m kanchan.

Within the go-around, Setokuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p penchan, having a 789p sanshoku guaranteed. Though his ippatsu is interrupted by Okada, It shifts the wall to give Setokuma the 7p draw. Setokuma wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Sanshoku for 4,000 all.

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Haitei

December 4, Table A, Game 1, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7530

In S3-1, Nagai is the dealer in 2nd place, 9,300 behind 1st place Setokuma.

Nagai starts off the hand at 4-shanten with a pair of white dragons for value. In the first row, he gathers up a bunch of souzu and pairs up the north, putting 2-shanten. WIth all these good tiles, he breaks up his manzu ryanmen to go for the half flush.

In the middle of the second row, he calls pon on the north to get to iishanten. A turn lter, he gets a 5s to be tenpai on a white dragon/5s shanpon.

Immediately after, Setokuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen.

Though Nagai can easily fold with the white dragon pair, he chooses instead to push. As both players draw and discard, it seems like the hand might end in a draw. Then, on the very last tile in the wall, Nagai gets the red 5s and wins the hand. Nagai wins with Haitei/Honitsu/Aka 1 for 4,000+100 all plu a riichi stick, moving into 1st.

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Results

Game 133

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Table B, Game 1

Amazing Abemas

December 4, Table B, Game 1, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9028

In E1-0, Matsumoto starts out the hand at 4-shanten with two penchans, a kanchan, a ryanmen and a floating red 5s. The first row provides him with a bit of hope by converting a souzu penchan into a 9s pair, as well as creating a 36p ryanmen with the red 5p and a 47s ryanmen with the red 5s. However, he still sits at 3-shanten at the end of the row.

In the middle of the second row, Hisato is the first to tenpai, calling a 234s chii and waiting on a 58p ryanmen and guaranteed a mangan.

At this point, Matsumoto is still iishanten, but the 89m shape still ails him. At the end of the row, he strengthens the shape by adding an additional 8m.

At the start of the third row, Sonoda is next to tenpai, staying dama on a 147m wait. Despite the wide wait, he is furiten on his 1m discard on turn 3.

On Matsumoto turn, he draws a third 9s to finally get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen. On his very next turn, he draws the dora 3p and wins the hand. As if his luck couldn’t get any better, his 9s triple is the uradora and upgrades his hand from a haneman to a baiman! Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 2/Ura 3 for 4,000/8,000.

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Hisato

December 4, Table B, Game 1, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8535

In E4-0, Hisato is back at startnig score after winning a mangan. He still has 14,000 to go to catch up to 1st place Matsumoto.

Hisato starts off at 3-shanten with a secured red 5p and a very likely tanyao hand. Not really able to make any calls, Hisato tries to be as flexible as possible. In the middle of the first row, Sonoda calls a concealed kan of the 9m and makes the 8s into the new dora. It helps Matsumoto immediately with his 8s pair (which later becomes a triplet), but could also help Hisato if he calls riichi. By the end of the first row, Hisato is ahead at iishanten.

At the start of the second row, Hisato makes a triplet of 2p and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen. On his very next draw, he gets the 3p and wins the hand. With an uradora hit, Hisato wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, moving to 1st place by 1,000.

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Results

Game 134

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Table A, Game 2

Kazuma

December 4, Table A, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11529

In E4-0, Kazuma is the dealer in 2nd place and 13,300 behind 1st place Shibukawa.

Kazuma starts off with a strong 2-shanten hand, holding a secured red 5s. Already by turn 2, he is guaranteed a good wait and a strong candidate for tanyao. With a red 5p draw at the end of the first row to fills in a ryanmen, Kazuma gets to iishanten.

In the middle of the second row, Kazuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen, wanting the 6m for max value. On his very next draw, he gets the ideal 6m and wins the hand. Kazuma wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 2 for 6,000 all, easily taking the lead.

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Aki

December 4, Table A, Game 2, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7531

In S1-0, Aki is the dealer in 3rd plcae, 17,600 behind 2nd place Shibukawa and 23,700 behind 1st place Kazuma.

Sitting at 3-shanten start, Aki’s starting hand is quite unremarkable. No value and only bad shape sequence shapes fill her hand. However, after tossing out honours and terminals, she is somehow iishanten with a red 5s and tanyao guaranteed.

In the second row, she makes a triplet of 7s to go along with her 3m triplet. At the end of the row, she makes a triplet of 5s as well and gets to tenpai on a 5m kanchan. She stays dama and hopes to draw either a second pair or upgrade the 4s into a triplet for yakuman tenpai.

A few turns later, Shibukawa chases with a north/1p shanpon, wanting the north for mangan minimum.

In the third row, Aki draws the 5m and wins the hand. Aki wins with Tsumo/Tanyao/Sanankou/Aka 1 for 4,000 all plus a riichi stick, just barely putting her into 2nd place.

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Results

Game 135

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Table B, Game 2

Aka Aka Ura

December 4, Table B, Game 2, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7026

In S2-1, Futoshi is in 3rd place, 6,900 behind 2nd place Takamiya and 7,900 behind 1st place Shiratori. From the very start, our focus is on Takaki, who gets to iishanten on his very first draw and is a 9p away from a guaranteed 789 sanshoku. When we see Futoshi’s hand, he is iishanten as well! Of the two players, Takaki is the first to tenpai, drawing that needed 9p and staying dama on a 5p/5s shanpon, hoping to improve his wait.

Over the never few turns, Futoshi filddles around with his hand hoping to get rid of his 12m penchan shape. He finds the solution by pairing up the 1m and making sequences elseqhere in manzu. After drawing a red 5m to create a 567m sequence and an 8m to create a 678m sequence, Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen. Takaki finds the improvement with a 47p ryanmen and a chasing riichi, but it’s too late as Futoshi draws the 1s immediately after. With his red 5s becoming double dora with the uradora flip, Futoshi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus a riichi stick, moving into 1st.

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Results

Game 136

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