Friday (February 13)

Table A

Table B

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Table A, Game 1

Aikawa

February 13, Table A, Game 1, E4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11545

In E4-2, Aikawa is in 1st place with a narrow lead, sitting just 11,000 ahead of 4th place. A riichi stick and a honba are in the pot.

Aikawa starts out with a very nice hand. Sitting at 3-shanten for both a standard and pairs hand, the big value is the pairs of the east dora and the red dragon. Adding on a 4s and 2s pair, she gets things going by calling pon on the 4s. A turn later, she calls pon on the 2s to get to iishanten before the end of the first row. Right after that, she is able to call pon on the east and getws to tenpai on a 69m ryanmen, guaranteed a mangan. As she waits, Hori calls a concealed kan on the 7s and Aikawa calls a added kan on the 2s. Neither of them really help as neither are in her hand and the 6m would only boost her hand from 4 han to 5 han. In the third row, Aikawa draws the 9m and wins the hand. Aikawa wins with East/Dora 3 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus a riichi stick.

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Takizawa Time

February 13, Table A, Game 1, S4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8554

In S4-2, Takizawa is in 2nd place and is 17,900 behind 1st place Aikawa. With a riichi stick and two honba in the pot, Takizawa needs a mangan direct hit, a baiman tsumo or a sanbaiman ron to take 1st place. A difficult task, but not impossible.

Takizawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of 1s dora, as well as a 69s ryanmen, a 69 ryanmen and a 69p ryanmen. In the first row, Takizawa draws a 9m and a 9s. With a 3p penchan shape as well as that 69p ryanmen, there is a chance to add both junchan and sanshoku which would get him to mangan. Adding a 1p to his hand, he gives himself the ability to call pon. In the second row, he calls pon on the 1s and gets to tenpai on a 69p ryanmen. He is only allowed to win on the 9p, but a win on that 9p would give him a haneman. He would need a direct hit off Aikawa.

Wanting to end the game is Aikawa, who is already iishanten with a south pon to secure a yaku. On her next draw, she gets to tenpai on a 36s ryanmen.

It’s a battle betweem Aikawa and Takizawa. In the third row, Aikawa draws the 9p. Still wanting to win, Aikawa pushes that 9p.

And with that, the reversal is complete. Takizawa wins with Junchan/Sanshoku/Dora 3 for 12,000+600 plus a riichi stick, having enough to be 1st place with the direct hit.

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Results

Game 245

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Table B, Game 1

Nagai

February 13, Table B, Game 1, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7556

In E3-0, Nagai is in 4th place, but is 8,900 from 1st place Taro.

Nagai starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a 6m dora near an 8m and a pair of south yakuhai. Within the first row, he adds a green dragon pair to give him a second yaku option.

In the second row, Kurosawa the dealer makes a concealed kan on the west. The kandora flip is the 4m, which gives Nagai a potential additional han. Soon after, Kurosawa calls pon on the east and gets to tenpai on a 25s ryanmen.

On Nagai’s next turn, he pairs up the 4m to get to iishanten. As Nagai breaks his south pair, Nakabayashi calls pon on the south and gets to tenpai on a 6m kanchan.

Within the go-around, Nagai calls pon on the green dragon and gets to tenpai on a 4m/6m shanpon, guaranteed a haneman with either of them. On his very next turn, Nagai draws the 6m and wins the hand. Nagai wins with Green Dragon/Dora 5 for 3,000/6,000, moving into 1st place.

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K

February 13, Table B, Game 1, S2-1

In S2-1, Nakabayashi is the dealer in 4th place, but is within 10,400 from the top spot. A riichi stick and a honba sit in the pot.

Nakabayashi starts out with a very good hand, having a pair of souths and a pair of 4m dora. On turn 2, he makes the 9s into a triplet, guaranteeing him a good wait so long as he can call pon on the south. Before the row is done, he gets that pon and gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten, later improving to a perfect iishanten. In the middle of the second row, he calls pon on the 4p and gets to tenpai on a 69m ryanmen.

Kurosawa actuallly got to tenpai before Kurosawa, but is yakuless with a 5m tanki. Nagai, on the other hand, has a yaku when he calls a 123p sequence and gets to tenpai on a 3m penchan.

ON Kurosawa’s next turn, Kurosawa gets to an improved tenpai and calls riichi on a 79m wait.

At the start of the third row, Nakabayashi draws the 6m and wins the hand. Nakabayashi wins with South/Dora 2 with enough fu to make it 2,600+100 all plus two riichi stick, pushing him into 1st place by 2,400.

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Kurosawa Completion

February 13, Table B, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10049

In S4-0, Kurosawa is in 3rd place, 7,000 behind 2nd place dealer Nagai and 8,000 behind 1st place Nakabayashi. A mangan ron off Nagai or Taro will put her tied for 1st place, while a mangan tsumo or ron off Nakabayashi will make her sole 1st place.

Kurosawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a west triplet (though not her seat wind) and a pair of souths. On turn 4, he fills in an 8p kanchan. On turn 5, she advances to iishanten. After making a pair of 2p and creating a 456m sequence, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a south/2p shanpon. With only the riichi and 9p as her confirmed yaku, Kurosawa needs a tsumo on the south, a direct hit off Nakabayashi on the south, or a direct hit or tsumo on the 2p with one booster to get to 1st place.

To her left, Nakabayashi wants to win the hand and prevent her from moving ahead. In the middle of the row, he fills in a 7s penchan and waits dama on a 69p ryanmen.

Though she needed a near perfect draw, she ends up getting it. At the start of the third row, Kurosawa draws the south and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/South/Dora 1 for 2,000/4,000, winning the game.

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Results

Game 246

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Table A, Game 2

Kazuma

February 13, Table A, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11546

In E2-0, Kazuma is tied for 2nd place and is 10,000 behind 1st place dealer Shibukawa.

Kazuma starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a 3m dora and a red 5s. In the first row, he secures both of those dora and gets to 2-shanten by the end of the row. In the second row, he gets to iishanten and is waiting on 12 different tiles for tenpai. In the middle of the second row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 258m three-sided wait. At the start of the third row, Kazuma draws the 5m and wins the hand. Kazuma wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000.

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Shibukawa

February 13, Table A, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8045

In E4-0, Shibukawa is in a 1st place tie with dealer Kazuma.

Shibukawa starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a pair of 1m and holding holding nine manzu tiles. Even though he had a souzu ryanmen, he breaks it from the first turn to go for some sort of flush. Within a few turns, he makes a pair of green dragons and a triplet of 9m, getting him to iishanten. Any additional manzu will give him tenpai.

As Kazuma waits, Hisato calls pon on the red 5s and gets to tenpai on a white dragon/1s shanpon, only allowed to win on the white dragon.

In the middle of the second row, Shibukawa draws a 1m and gets to tenpai on a 14m/green dragon. A Guaranteed at least a haneman, he will get a baiman with any win other than a green dragon ron. Kazuma gets to tenpai and hops around, but isn’t able to get anything good. In the middle of the third row, Shibukawa dras the green dragon and wins the hand. Shibukawa wins with Tsumo/Honitsu/Sanankou/Green Dragon/Dora 3 for 4,000/8,000, now holding a 24,000 lead over 2nd place Kazuma.

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Results

Game 247

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Table B, Game 2

Yu Go First

February 13, Table B, Game 2, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10549

In E1-0, Yu wants to get his revenge after Nakabayashi was passed in the last hand to lose his 1st place.

With the very first discard, Yu calls pon on the west to secure his yaku and get to 3-shanten. Through the first row, Yu pairs up the 9m dora and the red dragon, getting him to 2-shanten with a route to mangan.

Across from him, Honda is comfortably moving forward, but lacking a yaku or value. But, since he is the dealer, he chooses to call riichi in the second row, throwing the 5p and waiting on the 2p.

Holding three of those 2p is Sonoda, locking them in when he calls riichi on a green dragon/east shanpon.

With Sonoda’s discarded red dragon, Yu calls pon to get to iishanten. Right after, Sonoda discards the 9m dora, allowing Yu to call pon and gets to tenpai on a 36m ryanmen, guaranteed a mangan if he wins. After one turn of rest, Sonoda ends up discarding the 3m and deals into Yu. Yu wins the hand with West/Red Dragon/Dora 3 for 8,000 plus two riichi sticks.

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Sonoda Second

February 13, Table B, Game 2

In S1-3, Sonoda is in 4th place, 11,000 behind 3rd place Aki, 14,00 behind 2nd place Honda and 22,000 behind 1st place Yu.

Sonoda starts out the hand with pairs of north, red dragon and 1p, as well as a 25s ryanmen and a floating dora 8s. Within the first few turns, Yu calls pon on the south and 1m while Sonoda calls pon on the north and red dragon. At the end of the row, Sonoda gets to tenpai on a 7s kanchan.

Across from Sonoda, Aki gets to iishanten in the second row with a route to tanyao. Calling a 678p sequence with the 6p, Aki secures the tanyao and gets to tenpai on a 5m/8m shanpon.

A few turns later, Sonoda draws the 7s and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with North/Red Dragon/Dora 1 for 1,300+300/2,600+300 plus three riichi sticks. Though he is still in 4th place, he gets quite a bit closer.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7055

In S2-0, Sonoda is now 11,300 behind 1st place Yu.

Sonoda starts out with a very messy hand, being 5-shanten for both a standard hand and thirteen orphans. The first row, though, is very kind to Sonoda, giving him a 2p pair and sequences of 123s and 678p, getting him to 2-shanten. In the second row, Sonoda creates a 678m sequence and connects a floating 7s with an 8s, allowing him to call riichi and wait on a 69s ryanmen. If he wins on the 6s, he will have mangan minimum.

Within the go-around, Aki chases with an 8p kanchan, guaranteed at least 7,700 if she wins.

At the start of the third row, Honda discards the 6s (a safe tile against Aki and suji on one side to Sonoda) and deals into Sonoda. Sonoda wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Sanshoku for 8,000 plus a riichi stick, putting Sonoda within 2,300 of 1st place.

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Results

Game 248

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