Friday (April 17)

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Game 1

Shortcut to Haneman

April 17, Game 1, E1-0

In E1-0, Taro starts out the hand at 3-shanten for both a standard and a pairs hand, though is lacking in value. The first row is a bust, leaving him at 3-shanten with no progress. In the second row, Taro makes pairs three turns in a row, including with a red 5s. Now suddenly tenpai, Taro calls riichi and waits on a north tanki. If he hits the uradora, he will have a haneman.

Within the go-around, Nagai chases and waits on a 258p three-sided wait.

Immediately after, Taro draws the north and wins the hand. With the ippatsu and tsumo combination, it’s enough to give him a Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Aka 1 haneman for a 3,000/6,000 plus a riichi stick.

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Nagai Northward

April 17, Game 1, E3-2

In E3-2, Nagai is the dealer in 2nd place, 8,200 behind 1st place Taro.

Nagai starts off the hand at 3-shanten with a single floating 9m dora for value. Quite early on, Nagai decides his best route is to go for tanyao. At the same time, Hisato decides to rush a manzu honitsu hand by calling. With Nagai’s discarded green dragon and 9m dora, Hisato calls pon. With a pon off Nagai’s discarded 2m, Hisato gets to tenpai on a 1m tanki (which he later switches to a 47m nobetan).

By this point, Nagai is iishanten with a guaranteed good wait. It takes a few turns, but he finally gets to tenpai near the end of the second row and calls riichi on a wide 147s three-sided wait Two turns later, Hisato discards the 4s and deals into Nagai. With an uradora, Nagai wins with Riichi/Pinfu/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 12,000+600, easily moving into 1st.

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Hagiwara

April 17, Game 1, S2-3
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10065

In S2-3, Hagiwara is the dealer in 2nd place, trailing Nagai by only 200.

Hagwiara starts out the hand already 2-shanten with two very good shapes and a secured dora 7m. By turn 2, he is already iishanten, waiting on 6 different tiles for tenpai, upgrading the count to 10 soon after, then 12.

Despite this width, it’s Nagai who takes tenpai first calling riichi at the end of the first row on a 6m kanchan, guaranteed at least a mangan.

Within the go-around, Hagiwara chases with a 36p ryanmen. On his very next draw, he gets the 6p and wins the hand. Hagiwara wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 4,000+300 all plus a riichi stick.

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Nagai

April 17, Game 1, S2-4
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7567

In S2-4, Nagai is in 2nd place and is chasing after dealer Hagiwara, 19,000 ahead of him.

Nagai starts out the hand pairing up the white dragons to get him to 3-shanten. It’s slightly late, since Hagiwara discarded the white dragon just before. In the first row, Nagai draws a dora 9s and connects the red 5p, getting him to iishanten.

The second row is a bust, but he gets to in the third row after making a white dragon triplet, calling riichi on a 47p ryanmen.

Soon after, Hagiwara calls 345m chii, breaking the ippatsu and getting to tenpai on an 89s wait.

On Hisato’s second-last draw, he gets to tenpai on a 9s dora tanki. Even with so few tiles left, Hisato takes the plunge and calls riichi.

On Hagiwara’s last turn, he folds to avoid the two riichi players. On the very last tile in the wall, Nagai draws the 7p and wins the hand. Nagai wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Haitei/White Dragon/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 3,000+400/6,000+400 plus a riichi stick. With Hagiwara getting hit with the dealer penalty, Nagai moves into 1st place.

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Results

Game 15

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Game 2

Kurosawa

April 17, Game 2, S3-0

In S3-0, Kurosawa is the dealer in 1st place, 4,700 ahead of 2nd place Sonoda.

Kurosawa starts out at 3-shanten with a secured red 5m. By turn 3, she is at iishanten. At the end of the row, Kurosawa makes a triplet of 7s and calls riichi on a 2s kanchan.

To her right, Date is at 2-shanten with a guaranteed good wait and a secured red 5s. In the middle of the second row, Date calls riichi and waits on a 69m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan.

At the end of the row, Sonoda discards the 2s, the suji against Kurosawa’s 5s, and ends up dealing into the suji trap. With an uradora, Kurosawa wins with Riichi/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 7,700 plus a riichi sticks.

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Results

Game 16

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