Thursday (April 23)

---

Game 1

There Be Dragons Here

April 23, Game 1, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11064

In E1-0, Shimoishi is the starting dealer, wanting to increase the team’s 1st place lead.

With his very first draw, Shimoishi has a triplet of white dragons, a pair of green dragons and a pair of red dragons. Shimoishi has basically been gifted a yakuman chance. Just add a green dragon triplet and a red dragon triplet and he will have a yakuman secured.

However, Kurosawa has the other red dragon pair. As long as it stays stuck in her hand, the yakuman isn’t happening.

But, if her hand goes towards a tanyao or a pinfu path, then it might come lose. Sure enough, as tanyao and pinfu both come up as possibilities, she breaks the red dragon pair at the end of the first row.

With a pon, Shimoishi gets to iishanten. Even if he isn’t able to call pon on the green dragon, he still has shousangen.

Within the go-around, he is able to call pon on the green dragon as well. So long as he keeps the white dragon together, Shimoishi will have a yakuman secured.

Towards the end of the row, Shimoishi completes a 567p sequence and waits on a 4s tanki. However, none remain in the wall.

Though the wait is dead, the tanki is flexible to be changed. A turn later, he switches to a 9p. Two remain in the wall.

Immediately after, Uchikawa draws the 9p. Being at perfect iishanten, he simply discards it.

And with that, Shimoishi has done it. Shimoishi wins a Daisangen yakuman for 48,000, a huge start for the game and a huge gain for the team.

---

Flushed With Points

April 23, Game 1, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7067

In E4-0, Futoshi is the dealer in 2nd place, chasing after yakuman-winner Shimoishi who is 25,700 ahead.

From the very starts, Futoshi is 4-shanten for a standard hand (3-shanten for seven pairs) with a secured red 5s and a single east dora. With 11 tiles being either souzu or honours, a honitsu is possible.

With some incredible, he advances with every single draw. By turn 3, he is iishanten for seven pairs and is rid of all his off-suits. On turn 4, the east dora becomes a triplet, boosting his hand to baiman minimum if he can keep the route.

On his next turn, he draws a triplet of 9s. With the addition of iipeikou and honitsu now being worth 3-han, he is guaranteed at least 10 han. A tsumo would bring him up to a sanbaiman.

Futoshi has an incredibly quick and expensive hand, but there’s always a chance that someone will ruin it. Right after Futoshi gets to tenpai, Shimoishi calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen.

On Futoshi’s very next turn, he draws the 2s and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Tsumo/Honitsu/Double East/Iipeikou/Dora 3/Aka 1 for an incredibble 12,000 all, enough to move him into 1st place.

---

Results

Game 21

---

Game 2

Triplet Time

April 23, Game 2, E1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7068

In E1-1, Sonoda is in a two-way tie for 3rd place after being noten while Katsumata and Setokuma were tenpai.

Sonoda starts off the hand at 4-shanten with pairs of north and east. On his next turn, he pairs up the south as well. None of the wests are visible, so a yakuman chance is possible. Over the course of the rest of the first row, he calls pon on the north and south getting him to 2-shanten with honitsu guaranteed.

To his right, Katsumata has benefited from the additional turn from the call. Before the row is done, Katsumata is the first to tenpai and waits on a 3s kanchan.

Around the start of the second row, Sonoda calls pon on the east and sits iishanten, waiting on any souzu from 3-7. In the middle of the row, he gets the 8s and gets to tenpai on a 4s kanchan, guaranteed a mangan.

Soon after, Setokuma gets to tenpai on a 58s ryanmen. Guaranteed at least mangan with his dama wait, he can upgrade to a haneman with an 8s.

Despite both Setokuma and Katsumata being tenpai, the danger of Sonoda’s potential yakuman still looms. When Setokuma draws the west, he breaks his hand. Katsumata does the same with his own west draw. In fact, all three of Sonoda’s opponents have a single west, giving him a clear runway to continue.

In the third row, Sonoda adds toitoi and switches to a 5s/8s shanpon, guaranteeing him a haneman. Two turns later, he draws the 8s and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Toitoi/Honitsu/East/Aka 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100.

---

Katsu. Mata.

April 23, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7569

In E3-1, Katsumata is in 2nd place, 18,100 behind 1st place dealer Sonoda.

Katsumata starts out strong, filling in an 8m kanchan to secure the 9m dora and get to 2-shanten. On turn 2, he draws an additional one for some potential extra value. On turn 2, he creaes a ryanmen for iishanten and guarantees himself a good wait.

At the start of the second row, he fills in that ryanmen and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan. If he gets just one booster, he will have a haneman.

In the middle of the second row, he draws the 6m and wins the hand. Getting a booster for flair, Katsumata wins the hand for Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 2/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100, enough to move him ahead of Sonoda by 300.

---

In E4-0, Katsumata is now the dealer and starts off a 3-shanten with a secured dora 2m and a red 5s. On turn 3, he adds a red 5m to the mix as well. His hand has a tanyao lean, so he leans into it by calling pon on the 8s to speed up his hand and get him to iishanten.

As Katsumata waits to get to tenpai with his mangan-minimum hand, Setokuma calls pon on the red dragon and waits tenpai on a 258s three-sided wait.

In the middle of the second row, Katsumata calls a 345s chii and gets to tenpai on 36m ryanmen. Two turns later, Setokuma discards the 6m and deals into Katsumata. Katsumata wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 2 for 12,000.

---

Triplet Time

April 23, Game 2, E4-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11065

In E4-2, Daisuke is in 3rd place 17,400 behind 2nd place Sonoda and 35,300 behind 1st place dealer Katsumata.

Daisuke starts out the hand with an unremarkable 4-shanten hand with no value to be seen. In the first row, shapes start to take shape, getting an 8s triplet and pairs of 3m, 4p and 1s. With these groups intertwined with sequence shapes, his hand has some flexibility.

The first challenge at the table comes up at the start of the second row when Setokuma calls riichi on a 58p/5m wait.

Two turns later, Sonoda joins in with a 58p ryanmen wait. On one hand, he is furiten with the wait. On the other hand, the riichi and forced tsumo going along with his white dragon dora triplet guarantees him at least a mangan if he wins.

And right after him, Katsumata calls riichi with a 4p kanchan.

At this point, all three of the riichi players have one winning tile left in the wall. As Daisuke does the delicate dance of avoiding a deal-in, he ends up making a 3m triplet at the end of the second row for iishanten.

In the third row, he goes back a step after drawing a dangerous 5s. On Daisuke’s second-last draw, he gets the 4p. It’s dangerous against Katsumata, but it actually gets him to iishanten with yakuman potential.

On his last draw, he draws the red 5p, Daisuke draws a red 5p to create a pair and get him tenpai on a 5s/5p shanpon. Though he is technically tenpai for a suuankou, the fact that he has no draws left and no way for someone to call to give him an extra draw means that the yakuman won’t happen.

But, he still has a chance to win by ron. Sure enough, Sonoda draws and discards the red 5s immediately after and deals into Daisuke. Daisuke wins the hand with Toitoi/Tanyao/Sanankou/Aka 2 for 12,000+600 plus three riichi sticks, moving him up to 2nd place.

---

Results

Game 22

---

Intro | Standings