Monday (February 9)

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Game 1

No More Ura San

February 9, Game 1, E4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7051

In E4-2, Asami is in 4th place, 9,000 behind 3rd place Okada.

With her very first draw, Asami is already iishanten. On turn 2, she improves it to a perfect iishanten. Over the next few turns, she moves her hand around, moving from 5 types of tiles to tenpai, to 8 types of tiles to tenpai. On turn 8, Asami gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen.

To her left, Nakabayashi is at iishanten with a secured red 5p. On turn 10, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 6m/2p shanpon.

Two turns later, Asami draws the 4p and wins the hand. With the flip, she gets a big boost as her south triplet becomes the new dora. Asami wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 3 for 2,000+200/4,000+200 plus a riichi stick, moving up to 3rd.

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Dora San

February 9, Game 1, S2-0

In S2-0, Nakabayashi is the dealer in 1st place, winning a mangan the previous hand to make space.

Nakabayashi starts out the hand making a triplet of the 2p dora, giving him a big value boost. However, he is back at 4-shanten with no clear yaku. On turn 2, he pairs up the green dragon, giving him that possible yaku. Creating some kanchan shapes, Nakabayashi gets to iishanten at the end of the first row. In the middle of the second row, Nakabayashi completes a 456m sequence and calls riichi on a 5s kanchan (rejecting the 7s iipeikou kanchan). Within the go-around, Okada discards the 5s and deals into Nakabayashi. Nakabayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 3 for 12,000, moving him up to 51,600.

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Triplets

February 9, Game 1, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7052

In S2-1, Asami is in 4th place, 7,200 behind 3rd place Okada and 17,500 behind 2nd place Hisato.

Asami starts out the hand with pairs of red dragon, north and 6p. Over her next two turns, she pairs up the west and the green dragon as well, getting her to chiitoi iishanten. With the four honour pairs, though, she can also easily go for a triplets hand. In the first row, she calls pon on the green dragon for iishanten. Two turns later, Asami draws a third north and gets to tenpai on a red dragon/6p shanpon. Soon after, Hisato discards the red dragon trying to take tenpai and deals into Asami. Asami wins the hand with Toitoi/Honitsu/Green Dragon/Red Dragon for 12,000+300, going up to 2nd place.

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Results

Game 237

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Game 2

Takamiya Time

February 9, Game 2, E1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8552

In E1-1, Takamiya is in 1st place after beating out a riichi and winning the first hand during her dealership.

From the very start, Takamiya is 2-shanten with a secured red 5p and all four of the 8s. On turn 4, she pairs up the 6s. With that pair secured, Takamiya calls a concealed kan on the 8s and makes the 5p the new dora. With two in her hand, she is now guaranteed at least a mangan. On her next turn, she fills in a 6p kanchan and stays dama on a 4m kanchan. Within the go-around, Kobayashi discards the 4m and deals into Takamiya. Takamiya wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000+300.

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Akasaka Approach

February 9, Game 2, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7053

In S3-0, Taro is in 2nd place and is 23,900 behind 1st place Takamiya.

Taro starts out the hand at a messy 4-shanten with some bad shapes and only a 4s dora for value. Pairs starts shaping up for Taro in the first row, making the 4s into a pair next to a 5s pairs, which is near an 8s pair. By the end of the row, he is 2-shanten for a pairs hand, 3-shanten for a standard hand. At the start of the second row, Taro makes a 66678m shape, On his next turn, he draws a 6s to connect the souzu pairs and getting him to a standard iishanten.

To his right, Takamiya wants to keep the game going and is at iishanten as well. On turn 8, she is the first to tenpai and waits dama on a 6s kanchan.

Within the go-around, Taro gets to tenpai as well and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen, getting mangan minimum with a 6s win. Though, Takamiya manages to push her hand into the third row and actually switch to a 36s ryanmen as well, she ends up folding on a dangerous 9p draw on her last turn. Right after, Hori gets to tenpai on a 69s ryanmen, but is furiten.

With no calls by anyone, the last tile is headed towards Taro. Then, on Taro’s last draw, the last tile in the wall, Taro draws the perfect 6s and wins the hand! WIth the 5s being the uradora, his hand gets boosted by two more han! Taro wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Haitei/Iipeikou/Dora 2/Ura 2 for a 4,000/8,000 baiman, putting him within 3,900 of 1st place going into the final hand.

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Results

Game 238

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