Thursday (March 5)

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Game 1

Shimoishi

March 5, Game 1, E3-6
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11050

In E3-6, Shimoishi is in 3rd place, 200 behind 2nd place dealer Takaki and 11,100 behind 1st place Asami. the next winner will get 2,800 in bonuses.

With his very first draw, Shimoishi gets to iishanten. But, he has no value and has an eyesore of a 7m penchan. To try to improve, he rejects the iishanten and breaks the penchan. By turn 3, he is back to iishanten, improving to a perfect iishanten on turn 4. On turn 5, He shifts a 123s sequence to a 234s sequence, allowing the possibility for tanyao.

His hand stally through most of the second row, but the end of the row finally gets him to tenpai. He calls riichi and waits on a 14p ryanmen, wanting the 4p for the extra han. Two turns later, Shimoishi draws the 4p and wins the hand. By surprise, Shimoishi’s 7s triplet becomes the uradora for an extra three han. Shimoishi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 3 for 3,000+600/6,000+600 plus a riichi stick.

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Uchikawa

March 5, Game 1, E4-1

In E4-1, Uchikawa is the dealer in 3rd place, 8,600 behind 2nd place Asami and 15,900 behind 1st place Shimoishi.

Uchikawa starts out the hand with five pairs, putting him iishanten from seven pairs. But, the green dragon and double east pair encourages him to go for triplets instead. On turn 3, he calls the double east to get things started. A turn later, he does the same with the green dragon. At a turn after that, he calls pon on the 8s and gets to tenpai on a 1m/6s shanpon, guaranteed a mangan.

Though Takaki is 3-shanten and is faced against a dangerous hand, he can’t really fold. After continuing to build, he gets to tenpai at the start of the second row and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen.

Two turns later, Uchikawa draws the 6s and wins the hand. Uchikawa wins with Toitoi/Double East/Green Dragon for 4,000+100 all, moving into 1st place.

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South 4

March 5, Game 1, S4-1

In S4-0, the scores at the top are tight. 1st place Asami is 6,500 ahead of 2nd place Uchikawa, who is 500 ahead of 3rd place Shimoishi. With two riichi sticks and a honba, there’s a chance that. But, far away 4th place Takaki can play spoiler and decide the winner.

Looking around the table, the player closest to tenpai is Shimoishi, sitting iishanten. Uchikawa lags just a bit behind at 2-shanten, while Asami and Takaki are 3-shanten. After making a white dragon triplet and a pair of easts, Shimoishi has a chance to be tenpai on a 3s kanchan, but he rejects it to look for more value, knowing he needs at least a 3/40 to be sure to get 1st place. On his very next turn, he draws the dora 6s and calls riichi on a 5s kanchan, having enough value for 1st place.

Across from him, Takaki is 2-shanten with a connected red 5m and a floating 6s dora. After pairing up the 6s dora and getting the perfect manzu, Takaki gets to tenpai on a 147m three-sided wait. In the middle of the second row, Asami discards the 7m (a safe tile against Shimoishi) and deals into Takaki. Takaki wins the hand with Red Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000+300 plus three riichi sticks.

And with that deal-in, Asami moves down from 1st to 3rd place. And by surprise, Uchikawa finishes in 1st place by not doing anything.

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Results

Game 273

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Game 2

Uchikawa

March 5, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7560

In E2-0, Uchikawa is the dealer in 3rd place, 1,000 behind 2nd place Taro and 12,000 behind 1st place Shimoishi.

Uchikawa starts out the hand at 2-shanten, holding a secured dora 8s dora. On turn 3, he draws another 8s and gets to iishanten. A turn later, he calls pon on the 8s to upgrade him to mangan. Before the row is done, he fills in a 6m kanchan and gets to tenpai on a 23s wait.

Two turns later, Shimoishi gets to tenpai on a 58s ryanmen.

On Uchikawa’s next turn, he switches to a 58m nobetan. The switch pays off as Taro discards the 5m and deals into Uchikawa. Uchikawa wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 3 for 12,000.

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Results

Game 274

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