Friday (December 12)

Table A

Table B

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Table A, Game 1

Setokuma Start

December 12, Table A, Game 1, E1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10031

In E1-1, Setokuma is in a three-way tie for 2nd place after dealer Shibata called riichi and was the only one tenpai, leaving Shibata’s riichi stick up for grabs.

Setokuma starts off at 2-shanten with a red 5m and a dora 7m. Most of the first row doesn’t move him forward, but a 3s kanchan fill at the end of the row gets him to iishanten. At the start of the second row, he draws an 8m. Discarding the red 5m, he switches to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten with pinfu guaranteed. A turn later, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen.

Immediately after, Hisato chases and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.

On Setokuma’s ippatsu turn, he draws the 9m and wins the hand. Hitting an uradora, Setokuma wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus two riichi sticks.

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Hisato

December 12, Table A, Game 1, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8537

In S1-1, Hisato is in 3rd place and is 5,200 behind 2nd place dealer Shibata. 1,300 will go to the next winner.

Hisato starts off the hand filling in a 7p kanchan to get to 2-shanten. By turn 3, he is iishanten with a ryanmen and a kanchan. At the end of the first row, Hisato has a chance to take a 3m kanchan tenpai, but chooses to reject it, trying to get a better wait and any potential value he can.

At the start of the second row, he pairs up the 3p and starts breaking his 9p pair, paving the way for all simples. As Hisato builds, iishanten Setokuma calls an added kan and gives himself two extra dora. Though it doesn’t immediately help Hisato, it does give him a potential uradora chance. Hisato ends up being the first to tenpai, waiting on a 7s kanchan.

Setokuma ends up next to tenpai, waiting on a 4m kanchan.

Despite being tenpai, Hisato ends up breaking his tenpai after drawing a 6p. Drawing a 5p on his next turn, Hisato gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen wait. Setokuma ends up folding against Hisato’s riichi after drawing the dangerous 4p. Despite Setokuma’s big fold, Hisato ends up getting the 4p anyways and wins the hand. Hitting two uradora (thanks to Setokuma’s kan), Hisato wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Ura 2 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus a riichi stick, moving up to 2nd place.

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Results

Game 149

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Table B, Game 1

4th to 1st

December 12, Table B, Game 1, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10534

In S1-1, Mizuhara is in 4th place, 6,700 behind 3rd place Katsumata, 7,300 behind 2nd place dealer Shimoishi and 12,000 behind 1st place Genta. Two riichi sticks and a honba are in the middle.

Before Mizuhara even gets her first draw, she calls pon on the north dora which is also her seat wind. When we take a look at the rest of her hand, she is 2-shanten and has a connected red 5m. Two truns later, she draws a fourth 8m. When she completes a 456m sequence in the middle of the second row, she calls a concealed kan. She doesn’t get to tenpai yet, but her 1p becomes a new dora, upgrading her hand to at least a haneman.

In the middle of the second row, Mizuhara pairs up the 2s and gets to tenpai on a 3p penchan with two left in the wall. On her next turn, she draws a fourth north dora. Yet again, the rinshan doesn’t help, but the kandora flip makes her 6m into a dora and upgrades her to a baiman tenpai. On her next draw, she gets the 3p and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with North/Dora 6/Aka 1 for a sudden 4,000+100/8,000+100 plus two riichi sticks, catapulting her up from 4th to 1st.

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1st to 4th

December 12, Table B, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11025

In S4-0, Shimoishi is in 2nd place and is 9,100 behind 1st place dealer Mizuhara. To take 1st place, Shimoishi needs a 3/40 direct hit, a mangan tsumo or a haneman ron.

Shimoishi starts off the hand with a strong 4-shanten hand, holding a pair of red dragons and dora souths. Being the south seat in the south round, a pon of those souths will give him a yaku and 5 han instantly. In the first few turns, he makes a pair of 9s, completes a 123m sequence and calls pon on the red dragon for iishanten. Before the row is done, he calls pon on the south and gets to tenpai on a 3s penchan, guaranteed a haneman if he wins. He just needs to win. Three remain int he wall.

To his right, Genta is also iishanten having called pon on the white dragon a bit earlier. Completing a 789s, Genta gets to tenpai on a 47m ryanmen.

Being aware of the danger, Mizuhara decides to discard the 3s, a suji against Shimoishi. However, it ends up being the one tile that deals in. Shimoishi wins the hand with Chanta/Red Dragon/Double South/Dora 3 for 12,000, moving Mizuhara from 1st to 4th and Shimoishi up to 1st place.

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Results

Game 150

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Table A, Game 2

Takame

December 12, Table A, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11531

In E2-0, Miura is the dealer and is 6,000 behind 1st place Date.

Miura starts off at 3-shanten with a potential 3-sided wait shape in pinzu. Very quickly, Miura creates a strong shape in pinzu, securing his three-sided wait and a chance at iipeikou. With a ryanmen in manzu as well, he has a good wait and pinfu guaranteed.

As Miura waits, Akutsu is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 6p kanchan, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.

Having held some safe tiles, Miura is able to continue pushing. In the middle of the second row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 147p three-sided wait. A 1p and 4p both give iipeikou.

At the start of the third row, Miura draws the 4p, and wins the hand. As a big bonus, the 4p ends up being the uradora as well. Miura wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Ura 3 for 6,000 all plus a riichi stick, taking a big early lead.

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Date

December 12, Table A, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8538

In E3-0, Date is the dealer in 2nd place and is 17,700 behind 1st place Miura.

Date starts off at 4-shanten with a connected 7p dora for value. With a lot of connected tiles, her hand hand has the ability to advance quickly. After completing squences and drawing a red 5s on turn 5, she is already a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. In the third row, she makes one of those ryanmens into a three-sided wait.

However, mahjong is never that easy. In the middle of the second row, Honda is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan.

Luckily, Date ends up draing safe tiles, allowing her to keep her hand. However, she still wants to win.

At the start of the third row, she is faced with another challenge as Akutsu calls riichi on a 14m ryanmen, also guaranteed at least a mangan.

In the middle of the third row, she finally makes gets to tenpai by making a 4s triplet. She calls riichi and waits on a 58m ryanmen. Immediately after, Akutsu discards the 5m and deals into Date. Date wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 12,000 plus tow riichi sticks, coming within 3,700 of 1st place.

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Results

Game 151

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Table B, Game 2

Aki

December 12, Table B, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7534

In S2-0, Aki is in 4th place 5,700 behind 3rd place Daigo and 10,000 behind 2nd place Kobayashi.

Aki starts off the hand pairing up the green dragon, adding value along with her connected red 5m and red 5s. Within the first few turns, she is able to call pon on the green dragon for 2-shanten. After getting to iishanten, she calls an added kan on the green dragon. The rinshan doesn’t help and the new 9p dora doesn’t help right now either.

At the start of the second row, Aki completes a 456s sequence and gets to tenpai on an 8p tanki. After switching to a 2s tanki, she switches to a 9p tanki on her next turn, upgrading her to a mangan. In the middle of the row, she draws the 9p and wins the hand. Aki wins with Green Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 2,000/4,000, putting her tied with Kobayashi in 2nd place.

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Results

Game 152

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