Friday (January 23)

Table A

Table B

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Table A, Game 1

Nagai

January 23, Table A, Game 1, E4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7552

In E4-2, Nagai is in 2nd place and is 10,800 behind 1st place Shibukawa.

Nagai starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a connected red 5s. The first row is designated solely for discarding terminals and honours. However, he moves forward one step. At the start of the second row, though, he makes it so that he is guaranteed a good wait. Towards the end of the row, he is iishanten.

As Nagai shuffles some tiles around, Tojo draws a triplet of 4m dora and gets to tenpai on a 25s ryanmen. She stays dama and waits with mangan minimum, wanting a tsumo for a haneman.

Soon after, Nagai gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen. On his very next draw, he draws the 8m and wins the hand. Nagai wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+200/6,000+200, moving into 1st.

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Tojo

January 23, Table A, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11039

In S4-0, Tojo is the dealer in 3rd place, 13,900 behind 2nd place Shibukawa.

From the start, Tojo is at 2-shanten with only simple tiles. On turn 4, she creates a 789s sequence, breaking the tanyao but gets to iishanten, guaranteed a good wait. At the end of the row, Tojo draws the 2s dora and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen. Near the end of the second row, she draws the 4p and wins the hand. Tojo wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 4,000 all, moving into 2nd.

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Results

Game 209

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Table B, Game 1

Kurosawa Climb

January 23, Table B, Game 1, E4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10045

In E4-1, Kurosawa is the dealer in 3rd place, 4,800 behind 2nd place Taro and 11,500 behind 1st place Ooi. A riichi stick and a honba will give the next winner bonus points.

Kurosawa starts out the hand with a nice 2-shanten hand with a ryanmen and a floating dora white dragon. On turn 2, Kurosawa gets to iishanten. On turn 4, Kurosawa pairs up the white dragon.

Despite this speed, Nakabayashi has it faster. Having started at 2-shanten with three ryanmens, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai on turn 4 and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen.

Immediately, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p/white dragon wait.

Nakabayashi has five winning tiles while Kurosawa only has two. But, Kurosawa defies the odds by drawing the 7p at the end of the second row and winning the hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2 for 4,000+100 all plus two riichi sticks, moving into 1st.

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Results

Game 210

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Table A, Game 2

Hori

January 23, Table A, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8042

In E2-0, Hori is in 4th place, 2,000 behind 2nd place Nakada and 13,400 behind 1st place Katsumata.

Hori starts out the hand drawsing a red 5p to get him to 3-shanten. Within the first four turns, Hori creates a manzu ryanmen, a green dragon pair and fills in a 4p kanchan to secure the dora. After all that, he is at an early iishanten with mangan guaranteed.

As fast as Hori is, Nakada was 2-shanten from the start. With just as good efficiency as Hori, Nakada gets to tenpai first and calls riichi on a 7m kanchan.

Hori draws and discards the safe 1s during the ippatsu, then pushes the dangerous 9m on his next turn. At the start of the second row, Hori makes a triplet of 9s and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen. Within the ippatsu round, Nakada draws and discards the 5m, dealing into Hori. Hori wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Dora 2/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 12,000 plus a riichi stick, putting him within 400 of 1st place.

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Results

Game 211

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Table B, Game 2

Yu

January 23, Table B, Game 2, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10539

In E3-0, Yu is in 1st place, but he is within a mangan deal-in from moving into 4th.

With his first 14 tiles, all but 2 tiles are either souzu or honours. Within the go-around, Yu calls pon on the 9s and gets rid of his last manzu. On his next turn, he gets to iishanten. With a north pon soon after, Yu gets to tenpai on a 69s ryanmen.

Immediately after, Setokuma discards the dora white dragon and gets to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen, waiting with a pinzu honitsu for mangan minimum.

With the white dragon dora discarded, Yu calls pon and shifts to a 58s nobetan, guaranteed a haneman. A few turns later, Ooi discards the 8s trying to call riichi and deals into Yu. Yu wins the hand with Honitsu/White Dragon/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000 plus a riichi stick.

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Ooi

January 23, Table B, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9037

In E4-0, Ooi is in 4th place, 13,000 behind 3rd place Futoshi and 15,000 behind 2nd place Setokuma.

Ooi starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of green dragons. By turn 5, Ooi is iishanten and needs a 6s if he wants a 678 iipeikou. On turn 8, he draws that 6s and calls riichi on a 9m/green dragon shanpon.

Being at a wide 2-shanten and holding a 7p in overflow, Setokuma is able to keep his hand while staying safe. As new tiles become safe, Setokuma is able to keep moving ahead safely. Near the end of the row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen. If he gets a 6s, he will have a haneman. A tsumo on it would be enough to move into 1st.

Immediately after, Ooi draws the green dragon and wins the hand. With the flip, the green dragon also becomes the uradora, boosting his hand by three han. Ooi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Green Dragon/Iipeikou/Ura 3 for 3,000/6,000 plus one riichi stick, enough for 2nd.

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Futoshi

January 23, Table B, Game 2, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7046

In S2-1, Futoshi is in 3rd place, 3,000 behind 2nd place dealer Ooi and 24,000 behind 1st place Yu.

Futoshi starts out the hand at 4-shanten with no value. He does have eight manzu tiles, so a half flush or a full flush could be possible. In the first row, he ups the manzu count to ten tiles (including the red 5m) and is free of all pinzu and souzu.

In the middle of the second row, Futoshi has a choice to be at a chinitsu baiman tenpai on an awkward 5m wait, or take a better south tanki for a mangan tenpai. The maznu tanki wait is quite obvious and not the best, so Futoshi takes the south tanki. A turn later, he switches to a wider and more expensive 3789m wait, getting the full flush tenpai. A 4m or 7m will give him a baiman. Unfortuntaely, despite the wide wait, none remain in the wall.

Within the go-around, Setokuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8p kanchan.

There is a short scare for Ooi potentially discarding the 8m (a tile safe against Setokuma), but Ooi escapes.

With such an expensive hand, Futoshi just keeps pushing. In the middle of the third row, Futoshi has a chance to switch the wait to a 369m wait.

With nobody discarding manzu anyways, Futoshi decides to call riichi on a 369m wait to boost the hand’s value. Within the go-around, Setokuma draws and discards the 3m and deals into Futoshi. With the flip, the two 7m in Futoshi’s hand are now worth 1 han each, an unexpected boost. Futoshi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chinitsu/Iipeikou/Aka 1/Ura 2 for an 12-han sanbaiman, awarding him 24,000+300 from Setokuma and enough to move into 1st place.

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Results

Game 212

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