April 9 (Thursday)

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Game 1

Futoshi Fire

April 9, Game 1

In E1-0, Futoshi starts out the hand at 3-shanten for both a standard hand and seven pairs. Within the first four turns, Futoshi makes a 123m sequence, a 6s pair and a 123p sequence, getting him to iishanten. In the second row, he makes a pinzu ryanmen, then completes a 678p sequence. Being tenpai, Futoshi calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen, wanting the 1p for a 123p iipeikou.

At this point, Date is at iishaten while Genta has safe tiles on hand to stay safe while keeping his hand. By the end of the first row, he is iishanten with a 456m iipeikou. A turn later, he draws a red 5s. Staying dama, he wait son a 4s kanchan, ready with ryanpeikou.

In the middle of the third row, Date draws the red 5p to get herself to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen. A 5m win would give her haneman minimum.

With the two riichi calls on the table, Genta decides to fold despite the tempting ryanpeikou.

On the second-last turn, Shimoishi has a chance to take a big dealer haneman tenpai, but he would need to discard the 1p and be furiten. Though, being tenpai would mean he would keep his dealership as well. Taking the risk, Shimoishi discards the 1p and deals into Futoshi. With the flip, Futoshi’s 6s pair becomes the uradora and upgrades him to a mangan. Futoshi wins with Riichi/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Ura 2 for 8,000 plus a riichi stick.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7065

In E2-0, Futoshi does have two red fives and a single white dragon dora for value, but is down at 4-shanten. On turn 4, there is a bit more hope with a second white dragon, but Shimoishi holds the other two white dragons. With ryanmen in souzu as well, Futoshi is 2-shanten by the end of the first row. In the middle of the second row, Futoshi fills in a 6m kanchan to get to iishanten.

Across from him, Date has a chance to get to tenpai on a 2s kanchan, but chooses not to, looing for some sort of improvement. At the start of the third row, Date creates a ryanmen and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.

At the start of his third row, Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a west/white dragon shanpon, guaranteed at least a haneman. On his very next turn, Futoshi draws the west and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/West/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 4,000/8,000 plus a riichi stick.

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In S2-0, Futoshi is at exactly 50,000 and starts off at 4-shanten with a pair of souths and a connected dora 6s. In the first row, Futoshi makes the interesting decision of skipping on the south pon, wanting to at least have some safety. This choice ends up paying off for him as he draws two 6s in a row to make a triplet.

In the second row, Futoshi completes a 456m sequence and a 678p sequence. Getting to tenpai, he calls riichi on a south/8m shanpon. Two turns later, Date discards the 8m and deals into Futoshi. Futoshi wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 3 for 8,000.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s80_p3220

In S4-1, Futoshi is the dealer with 57,000. A riichi stick and a honba are in the pot.

Despite starting with two good shapes, Futoshi is all the way at 6-shanten for a standard hand, 5-shanten for seven pairs. Though, he does have an 8p for value. He makes very good progress in the first row, pairing up the 8p, red dragon and west. By the end of the row, he is 3-shanten for a standard hand and 2-shanten for seven pairs.

In the second row, he calls a 123m sequence, putting all of his bets on completing the red dragon. Before the row is done, he completes a 456p sequence and is tenpai on a red dragon/8p shanpon.

Towards the end of the row, Futoshi’s winning tile count goes down to 2, with only one of them being a red dragon. On his last draw, he draws a fourth west, giving him one last opportunity. He calls a concealed kan and draws…

…the 8p and wins the hand! With the unexpected draw, Futoshi wins with Rinshan/Dora 3 for 4,000+100 all plus a riichi stick, pushing him up to 70,300.

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Sega Sammy Second Secured

April 9, Game 1, S4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9551

In S4-2, Genta is in 2nd place with a 8,000 ahead of Shimoishi. Currently, he would lose points if the game were to end and is within a Shimoishi mangan away from falling down to 3rd. Genta wants to get to at least 20,000 so that his team would gain points.

Genta starts out the hand at 4-shanten with no value. But, if he can get the 5p dora, it would both add value and open up the possibility of a 456 sanshoku. In the first row, Genta completes a 456m sequence to go along with his 456s sequence. By turn 5, he is iishanten. If he gets the 5p, he would have a three-sided wait along with the sanshoku possibility.

In the middle of the second row, Genta draws the perfect tile: the red 5p. With the hand now boosted by two han (along with the red 5m from earlier), he is now guaranteed at least a mangan. He waits dama with a 369p three-sided wait, with the 6p and 9p giving him a haneman. In the third row, Date discards the 6p and deals into Genta. Genta wins the hand with Pinfu/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000+600.

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Results

Game 5

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Game 2

Nakada

April 9, Game 2, E2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11057

In E2-0, Nakada is in 3rd place, 1,000 behind 2nd place Takamiya and 7,200 behind 1st place Takaki.

Nakada starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a lone west dora. Within the first few turns, she completes a 345m sequence and pairs up the west pair. After making another 345m sequence for iipeikou, Nakada gets to iishanten at the end of the first row.

In the seocnd row, she completes a 567s sequence and calls riichi on a 3s penchan. On her very next draw, she gets the blessed 3s and wins the hand. Nakada wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Iipeikou/Dora 2 for 3,000/6,000.

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Results

Game 6

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