Monday (December 15)

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Game 1

Ippatsu

December 15, Game 1, E2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9526

In E2-1, Daigo is the dealer in 3rd place, 3,900 behind 2nd place Aki and 14,100 behind 1st place dealer Asami.

Daigo starts off the hand at 2-shanten with a pair of red dragons. The first row doesn’t do too much, only giving him a pair of 4p. At the start of the second row, he fills in a 6s kanchan to get to one-away. In the middle of the second row, he draws a third red dragon to create a triplet. Being tenpai, he calls riichi and waits on a 69p ryanmen. On his very next turn, he gets the winning 9p and wins the hand. With the flip, he gets a pleasant surprise: his red dragon is now the uradora as well! With the big boost, Daigo wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Red Dragon/Ura 3 for 3,000+100/6,000+100, moving up to 1st place.

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Dora San

December 15, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7535

In S1-0, Aki is the dealer in 3rd place, 8,200 behind 2nd place Daigo and 9,100 behind 1st place Asami.

Aki starts off with an okay starting hand being 3-shanten from both a pairs and standard hand and holding a pair of 4p dora. Within the first few turns, Aki makes both the 1s and 4p into triplets, getting her to iishanten. With her current hand, though, her only path forward is to stay closed and call riichi.

As she waits, 1st place Asami tries to speed up her hand. With a 567p chii, she gets to tenpai on a 5s/south shanpon. However, she is only allowed to win on the souths and Daigo is holding the other pair.

In the middle of the row, Aki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5s kanchan.

With a weak hand anyways, Asami decides to fold against the dealer riichi.

Shiratori, on the other hand, is still able to get his mangan hand to tenpai towards the end of the hand.

Asami doesn’t have a yaku, but she manages to get back to tenpai on a yakuless 6s wait, hoping to take advantage of tenpai payment.

But, tenpai payment would not be handed out. When Asami draws a dangerous 7m, she discards the nakasuji 5s on her last turn and deals into Aki. Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 3/Ura 1 for 12,000, moving into 1st.

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Ippatsu

December 15, Game 1, S1-1

In S1-1, Daigo is in 2nd place and is trailing 1st place dealer Aki by 3,800.

From the very start, it looks like a battle is brewing. For Daigo, he is 2-away with two ryanmens and a strong chance at pinfu. To his right, Shiratori is already iishanten. The first of the two to get to tenpai is Shiratori, who makes a good wait and calls riichi on turn 3 on a 25s ryanmen.

Back to Daigo, he is at iishanten and waiting on 10 different tiles for tenpai. On turn 5, he makes a pair of 2m and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen. Immediately after, Shiratori discards the 4p and deals in. Daigo wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Tanyao for 8,000+300 plus a riichi stick, moving ahead of Aki for the lead.

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Escaping 4th

December 15, Game 1, S4-1

In S4-1, Shiratori is in 4th place and is 13,000 behind 3rd place Asami. With at least a mangan tsumo, he can put himself into 3rd place and give himself a chance at moving into 1st in the next hand.

Shiratori starts off with a solid 3-shanten hand with a pair of red dragons, but he doesn’t have any other value. By turn 4, his shapes have improved with two ryanmens at 2-shanten, but the search for value continues. At the end of the first row, he gets the value in the form of a red 5m, getting him to iishanten.

It takes a few turns, but Shiratori finally gets to tenpainear the end of the second row and calls riichi on a red dragon/1s shanpon, wanting the red dragon. He doesn’t get the red dragon, but he gets the next best thing: the 1s on the ippatsu turn. Shiratori wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Aka 1 for 4,000+100 all, moving him up to 3rd.

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Results

Game 153

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Game 2

It’s Over 50,000

December 15, Game 2, S1-2

In S1-2, Ooi is the dealer in 1st place. He has a 14,500 lead oveer 2nd place, but he wants to go even further with his continued dealership.

Ooi has a pretty good starting hand, being 2-shanten with a secured red 5p and a 1m dora that just needs a 2m to become a sequence. After completing a 456p sequence (making his two 3p into a pair) and filling in the 2m kanchan, Ooi gets to a wide iishanten. At the end of the row, he makes a good wait and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan.

To his left, 4th place Sonoda builds himself to iishanten and has two red fives for value. With a decent hand to push, he ends up discarding the 8m at the start of the third row and deals in. Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 12,000+200, pushing Ooi up to 51,300.

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Ura San

December 15, Game 2, S2-4
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7031

In S2-4, Sonoda is in the negatives with -200. At 23,900 behind 3rd place, he needs to start winning a lot. The two riichi sticks and the four honba are sure to boost his score if he wins this hand.

Sonoda starts off at 3-shanten with a 2p dora, needing the 3p to complete a sequence. On turn 3, he fills in a 4m kanchan to move one step forward.

Though cheering for the underdog is always nice, it’s 1st place Ooi who has our attention. Having started at 3-shanten with his first 13 tiles, every single tile he’s drawn has moved him foward. After filling in a 4s kanchan to complete a 345s iipeikou, making a 7m kanchan and fillling it in, Ooi gets to tenpai on turn 3 and stays dama on a 25m ryanmen, guaranteed a mangan if he wins.

However, since Ooi didn’t call riichi, his opponents are moving foward without fear. Through the rest of the first row, Sonoda starts to shift to tanyao, breaking up his 9p pair. After making an 2s pair and filling in the 3p kanchan, Sonoda gets to iishanten. At the start of the second row, he draws a third 2s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen.

With this riichi on the table and the good wait, Ooi decides to call riichi to try for more points. Unfortunately, this would be his downfall. Two turns later, Ooi draws and discards the 8p, dealing into Sonoda. Incredibly, Sonoda ends up boosting his score to a haneman when he flips the uradora and his 2s triplet becomes the new dora! Sonoda wins the hand with Riichi/Tanyao/Dora 1/Ura 3 for 12,000+1,200 plus three riichi sticks.

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South 4

December 15, Game 2, S4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9527

In S4-2, Daigo is in 2nd place and is 7,900 behind 1st place Ooi. For 1st place and a double duty daily double, Daigo needs a 3/30 direct hit, a 3/50 or 4/25 tsumo, or a mangan ron.

Daigo starts off with a cool 4-shanten hand with a bunch of ryanmens, two red fives and a dora 9s (though it is isolated). He has both the shapes and the value to make the comeback come true. Within the first few turns, he connects the red 5s and creates a 147s three-sided wait in souzu. At the end of the first row, he gets that 7s and gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten.

At the start of the second row, he fills in one of them and stays dama on a 36m ryanmen. If the guaranteed mangan minimum wasn’t enough, a 3m win would upgrade him to haneman.

However, his opponents are also hungry for a 1st place win. In the middle of the second row, Ooi gets to tenpai on a 36m ryanmen, waiting dama as well with just pinfu. Sitting ahead of Daigo, he would win on a headbump situation, denying Daigo of 1st place.

And across from Daigo, Sonoda has been busy trying to build his junchan, already calling pon on the 9s dora and a 123p sequence. At the start of the third row, he gets to tenpai on a 7p penchan, guaranteed a mangan if he wins, enough to push him into 1st place.

And against the odds, Daigo beats out the headbump position by drawing the 3m on his next turn and winning the hand! Daigo wins the hand with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Sanshoku/Aka 2 for 3,000+200/6,000+200, winning the game and completing the double duty daily double.

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Results

Game 154

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