Friday (April 10)

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Game 1

Aki

April 10, Game 1, E3-0

In E3-0, Aki is in 3rd place, 5,500 behind 2nd place Takaki and 15,000 behind 1st place Hisato.

Aki starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a pair of whtie dragons and a connected dora 7p. Interestingly, Aki declined calling the white dragon before her first draw. In her first three turns, she isn’t able to make any progress. In the same timeline, Takaki is able to call pon on the red dragon and gets to tenpai on a 3m kanchan.

On Hisato’s turn, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8p kanchan.

Because Aki rejected the white dragon pon, she now has two safe tiles. At the same time, Takaki switches to a 2m/8p shanpon to be safe as well. By the time Aki discards both of white dragons, she is iishanten. At the end of the first row, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen. A few turns later, Hisato discards the 3m and deals into Aki. With the 7p being the uradora as well, Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 8,000 plus a riichi stick. With the direct hit, Aki is now in 1st place.

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Sasaki

April 10, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8565

In S1-0, Hisato is in 3rd place, 1,900 behind 2nd place Takaki and 9,800 behind 1st place dealer Aki.

Hisato starts out the hand at 2-shanten, but has no immediate value. But, Hisato has nine pinzu tiles in his hand, having an option to force a flush. In the first row, he draws more pinzu and breaks his 89m shape, confirming his pursuit for a flush. By the end of the first row, Hisato is 2-shanten with 11 pinzu tiles in his hand.

Across from him, Takaki has been opening his hand to advance, calling pon on botht the 4s and green dragon. In the middle of the second row, Takaki calls pon on the 3m and gets to tenpai on a 7p kanchan.

Two turns later, Hisato draws another pinzu for iishanten. A turn after that, he gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 9p tanki, guaranteed a mangan. On his very next turn, he gets the 9p and wins the hand. Hisato wins with Tsumo/Chinitsu/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for a 4,000/8,000 baimain, moving into 1st place.

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Aki

April 10, Game 1, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7565

In S2-0, Aki is now in 2nd place and 14,200 behind 1st place dealer Hisato after Hisato’s big baiman win the previous hand.

Aki starts off at 3-shanten for seven pairs, 4-shanten for a standard hand. In her first five turns, Aki ups her pair count from 3 to 5, getting her to iishanten. At the start of the second row, she adds another pair and calls riichi on a 5p tanki, hoping that she finds her red 5p a partner. On her very next turn, Aki draws the 5p and wins the hand. Aki wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000, taking back 1st place.

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Results

Game 7

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Game 2

Daigo

April 10, Game 2, S3-0

In S3-0, Daigo is the dealer in 3rd place, 9,700 behind 2nd place Sonoda and 13,100 behind 1st place Takizawa.

Daigo starts out the hand at 4-shanten with all but two of his tiles being either souzu or honours. Within the first three turns, Daigo calls pon on the 1s and is rid of all off-suits, sitting 3-shanten.

Opposite him, Takizawa has already calls pon on the yakuhai west and is quickly advancing. After making a green dragon triplet, making a ryanmen with the 6p dora and calling pon on the 8m, Takizawa gets to tenpai on a 58p ryanmen.

Back to Daigo, he has advanced one more step after calling pon on the east yakuhai. On his next turn, he completes a 567s sequence and gets to tenpai on a 9s/south shanpon, wanting the south for a mangan. Within the go-around, Takizawa discards the south and wins the hand. Daigo wins with Honitsu/East/South for 12,000, moving into 1st place.

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Win. Again.

April 10, Game 2

In S3-1, Katsumata is in 4th place, 7,100 behind 3rd place Takizawa, 15,700 behind 2nd place Sonoda and 18,000 behind 1st place Daigo. With no more dealership left, Katsumata only has two more hands to make any sort of comeback.

Katsumata starts out the hand at 4-shanten, but lacking value. In the first row, Katsumata makes a 7m triplet and a 1p triplet, getting to 2-shanten.

Across from him, Sonoda starts to move forward, wanting tanyao. At the start of the second row, he calls a 456p sequence and gets to iishanten.On his next turn, he calls pon on the 2m and gets to tenpai on an 8m/4s shanpon.

Between the two of them, Takizawa is at 2-shanten with a clear aim for honitsu. But with Sonoda appearing to be tenpai, he as to be careful. More danger comes along when Daigo calls pon on the 4s and gets to tenpai, but he has no yaku with his 58p ryanmen. At the end of the second row, Takizawa draws the 8m. Instead of keeping the honitsu route, he breaks it to not throw it.

During the go-around, Sonoda discards the 8m and switches to a 7m kanchan. Though the 8m is now safe, Takizawa ends up drawing the 9m. Being tenpai, he instead calls riichi on a 7m penchan. Unfortunately, neither Sonoda nor Takizawa are going to win with no 7m left in the wall.

On Katsumata’s turn, he gets to tenpai on an 8p tanki, holding three concealed triplets and a secured red 5s. Two turns later, Sonoda discards the 8p and deals into Katsumata. Katsumata wins the hand with Sanankou/Aka 1, holding enough fu to make it an 8,000+300 mangan, plus a riichi stick, pushing him up to 3rd place.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7566

In S4-0, Katsumata is now 8,700 behind 1st place Daigo. To take 1st place, Katsumata needs a 3/40 direct hit, a mangan tsumo or a haneman ron.

Katsumata starts out the hand at 3-shanten, but has no value. In the first three turns, though, he creates a 567m to go along with his 567s sequence. With a 67p block, the 567 sanshoku is looking possible. On turn 4, he draws the 5p. Though he can take the immediate sanshoku, tenpai, he stays iishanten and tries to add pinfu as well. On turn 5, Katsumata calls riichi on a 258p three-sided wait, wanting the 2p or 5p for the sanshoku. If he draws either of them (by direct hit or tsumo), he will get 1st place.

At the top, Daigo wants to defend that 1st place position. Being already iishanten, all he needs to do is call pon on the south to be tenpai with a yaku. In the second row, he does exactly that and waits on a 79m wait, guaranteed a mangan.

A few turns later, Katsumata draws the perfect tile, the red 5p, and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000.

In just two hands, Katsumata moved from 4th place to 1st place, an incredible reversal to win the game.

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Results

Game 8

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