Tuesday (January 13)

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Game 1

Starting Sakura

Jaunary 13, Game 1, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8037

In E1-0, Akutsu is the starting dealer and starts out at 2-shanten. However, there is no value in his hand. On turn 4, Akutsu rejects iishanten and breaks his south pair, opening the possibility for pinfu and tanyao. On turn 7, Akutsu gets to a wide iishanten.

While Akutsu waits, Miuzhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8m kanchan.

Immediately after, Akutsu gets to tenpai and chases with a 58m ryanmen. If the 8m is discarded though, Mizuhara will win it because of headbump.

And right after that, Nakada chases with an 8m kanchan and guaranteed at least a mangan if she wins. Again, Mizuhara has the 8m headbump advantage.

Though all three players want the 8m, Akutsu has the advantage of also wanting the 5m. In the middle of the third row, Mizuhara draw sand discards the red 5m and deals into Akutsu. Akutsu wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 12,000 plus two riichi sticks taking the early lead.

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Scary Sonoda

January 13, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7040

In E2-0, Sonoda is in 3rd place, 9,400 behind 2nd place dealer Nakada and 12,000 behind 1s place Akutsu.

Sonoda starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of green dragons. But, with a lot of sequence shapes, it’s actually an impediment. On turn 5, Sonoda starts to break his green dragon pair to try for pinfu and tanyao. At the start of the second row, Sonoda gets to a wide iishanten.

To his left, Nakada has already called pon on the 8m dora and is iishanten. Filling in a 7s kanchan in the middle of the second row, Nakada gets to tenpai on a 4s kanchan with mangan minimum.

A few turns later, Sonoda gets to a perfect tenpai and calls riichi on a 147m three-sided wait. On his very next turn, Sonoda draws the 1m and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, moving into 1st.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7041

Jumping to E4-0, Sonoda is down to 2nd place after Akutsu got a direct hit off him. Now Sonoda is 14,000 behind 1st place Akutsu.

Sonoda starts out at 4-shanten with not much to speak of. He spends the entire 1st row discarding terminals and honours. Breaking his 9m pair at the end of the row, he pushes himself back from 2-shanten to 3-shanten.

In the second row, the sequence start coming. By the middle of the second row, he is iishanten with a ryanmen and a kanchan. Around the end of the row, he shifts the kanchan to a ryanmen, then creates a three-sided wait for tenpai. Calling riichi, he again waits on a 147m wait. On his ippatsu turn, Sonoda draws the 4m and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, retaking the lead.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7042

Moving to S2-0, Sonoda’s lead is now down to just 2,000.

Sonoda starts off at 3-shanten with a dora 6m and a red 5s for value. The first row is extremely kind to Sonoda, giving him a red 5m and a red 5p for value. By the end of the first row, Sonoda is at iishanten with three red fives and a dora 6m. In the middle of the second row, Sonoda gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten.

To his left, 3rd place dealer Nakada wants to take advantage of her dealership. Having already called a 678s sequence, Nakada calls a 234m sequence in the middle of the second row and gets to tenpai on a 7p kanchan.

Right after, Sonoda gets to tenpai on a 47m ryanmen. After staying dama for a few turns, Sonoda calls riichi at the start of the third row, guaranteeing at least a mangan if he wins.

Within the go-around, Akutsu gets to tenpai on a 69m ryanmen. After staying dama for one turn, Akutsu calls a tsumogiri riichi.

Unfortunately for him, Akutsu ends up drawing and discarding the 7m on his very enxt turn, dealing into Sonoda. Sonoda wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 3 for 12,000.

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Results

Game 191

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Game 2

Fighting Futoshi

Jaunary 13, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7043

In E2-0, Futoshi is the dealer in 1st place with just a 300 lead over 2nd place.

Futoshi starts out the hand at a nice 2-shanten hand with pairs of south, 1p, 5p and 9m. Also in his hand is the red 5p and a dora 4p. On his second turn, he pairs up the 4p dora for iishanten. After going fishing for potential good waits, Futoshi pairs up the green dragon for his sixth pair on turn 8 and calls riichi on a white dragon tanki. Two turns later, Futoshi draws the white dragon and wins the hand. With the green dragon being the uradora, Futoshi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2/Aka 1/Ura 2 for a cool 8,000 all baiman.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7044

In E2-2, Futoshi draws a red 5m to start the hand, getting him to 2-shanten. With a dora 1m and good shapes, there is a lot of hope for even more gains. But, even with the good waits, Futoshi is stil at 2-shanten by the end of the first row.

Within this time frame, Okada gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1s/2s shanpon.

Getting to iishanten at the start of the second row, Futoshi pushes. At the middle of the second row, Futoshi draws a red 5s and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen, wanting the 7s for a 567s iipeikou and haneman minimum. At the start of the third row, Futoshi draws the ideal 7s and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 6,000+200 all plus a riichi stick, taking Futoshi up to 72,700.

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In E2-3, Futoshi starts off at 4-shanten with a connected red 5s and a pair of easts. Within the first go-around, Futoshi is able to call pon on the east. The rest of the first row doesn’t provide advancement, but he does draw a red 5m to put him at mangan minimum. In the middle of the second row, Futoshi makes a pair and gets himself to 2-shanten with three ryanmens, guaranteeing him a good wait.

To his left, Tojo gets to tenpai on a 14p ryanmen in the middle of the her second row, but has no yaku and is furiten after discarding the 1p on her first turn.

At the end of Futoshi’s 2nd row, he gets to iishanten. A turn later, he gets to tenpai on a 36m ryanmen. Within the go-around, Okada discards the 3m and deals into Futoshi. FUtoshi wins the hand with Double East/Aka 2 for 12,000+900, pushing him up to 85,600.

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Yu Up

January 13, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10538

In E3-0, Yu is the dealer in 2nd place, holding a 6,700 lead over 3rd place Tojo and has a long way to go to catch up to 1st place Futoshi.

Yu starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a floating red 5m. In the first row, Yu makes a bunch of potential sequence shapes, but the red 5m remains floating. To try to get a connector and additional value through tanyao, Yu takes a step back and discards the 9m pair.

In the second row, Yu draws a dora 6m, connecting the red 5m and creating a ryanmen. Through the rest of the first row, Yu calls 456m chii and looks to make a good wait. As Yu waits at iishanten, Okada calls a concealed kan to try to get herself to tenpai. However, her kan ends up making the 7s the new dora, boosting Yu’s by three han. After even more waiting, Yu finally gets to tenpai in the middle of the third row and gets to tenpai on a 3s kanchan.

Right after, Okada gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p kanchan. Unfortunately, none are left int eh wall.

With only one winning tile for Yu and none for Okada, it looks like the hand would go to a draw. Then, on Yu’s last draw, he gets the last 3s and wins the hand. Yu wins with Tanyao/Dora 4/Aka 1 for 6,000 all plus a riichi stick.

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Results

Game 192

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