Thursday (September 24)

Table A

Table B

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Table A, Game 1

Rio

September 24, Table A, Game 1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11076

In S2-1, Tojo is the dealer in 1st place, holding more than double the score of 2nd place.

Tojo starts off 3-shanten with a red 5p secured as part of a pair. Despite having started with some annoying kanchans, she fills in one and swaps another for a ryanmen by turn 3. Before the row is done, she fills in a 3s kanchan and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen, wanting the 6p for tanyao.

On her very next turn, she gets the 6p and wins the hand. As luck would have it, her 5p pair becomes the uradora, adding an even bigger boost to her hand. Tojo wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 2 for an unexpected 8,000+100 all baiman to get her to 70,600.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11077

In S3-1, she now has quadruple the score of 2nd place.

Tojo starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a connected dora 7m and a hand poised for tanyao. By turn 5, she has enough good waits to guarantee both tanyao and sanshoku. She just needs to fill two more ryanmens for tenpai.

Though, she will have some challengers. In the middle of the second row, Aikawa gets to tenpai, also having both pinfu and tanyao, and waits on a 58p ryanmen, guaranteed a mangan if she wins.

Two turns later, Shiratori chases with a 3s penchan.

At this point, Tojo is iishanten. Within the go-around she completes a 234m sequence to secure a 234 sanshoku and gets to tenpai on a 58m ryanmen. After staying dama for one turn, she decides to just call riichi. In the middle of the third row, she gets the 8m and wins the hand. Tojo wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Sanshoku/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 4,000+100/8,000+100 baiman plus a riichi stick, getting her score up to 81,700.

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Results

Game 17

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Table B, Game 1

Mizuhara Movement

September 24, Table B, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10555

In S1-0, Mizuhara is the dealer in 3rd place, 800 behind 2nd place Taro and 12,800 behind 1st place Hisato.

Mizuhara starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a connected red 5m for value. In the first row, he completes two of those sequences and gets to iishanten. Two turns into the second row, Mizuhara draws the red 5p, getting her to tenpai. Mizuhara calls riichi and waits on a 369m three-sided wait, guaranteed at least a mangan.

She starts out with six winning tiles in the wall, but everything seems like it’s stuck in the wall. Even by the midpoint of the third row, three still remain in the wall. Then, with just 7 tiles left in the live wall, Nagai discards the 9m trying to take tenpai and deals into Mizuhara. Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 4000 all, moving her into 1st place.

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Hisato Honitsu

September 24, Table B, Game 1, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8583

In S3-1, Hisato is in 2nd place, 6,200 behind 1st place Mizuhara.

Hisato starts off with nine terminals and honours, with pairs of white dragon, south and 9s. On turn 2, Hisato passes on the white dragon, but calls pon on the south. On turn 3, he calls pon on the 9s to take another step forward. At the end of the first row, he breaks up his 89p block to aim for a souzu honitsu.

In the middle of the second row, Hisato completes a 345s sequence for iishanten. With a white dragon pon, he gets to tenpai on a north tanki, guaranteed a mangan. At the end of the row, he upgrades to a 36s nobetan. Within the go-around, Taro discards the 6s (trying to keep competitive since he is very far away from 4th place) and deals into Hisato. Hisato wins the hand with Honitsu/South/White Dragon for 8,000+300, moving into 1st going into the last hand.

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Results

Game 18

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Table A, Game 2

Ooi

September 24, Table A, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9058

In E1-1, Ooi is in a 2nd place tie and is 11,400 behind 1st place dealer Daisuke.

Ooi starts out the hand pairing up the 9p dora, but is 4-shanten with no yaku other than riichi. In the first row, though, he goes from 2 pairs to four pairs within the first three turns, nudging him towards a seven pairs hand. On turn 5, he gets to iishanten.

Ooi makes good progress, but seven pairs can be a waiting game sometimes. To his right, Genta calls a 678m for iishanten and a 678s sequence for tenpai, getting him to tenpai on a 3m kanchan.

Within the go-around, Ooi pairs up the 3p for tenpai and calls riichi on a 5m tanki.

With Ooi’s riichi, Genta decides to fold. For Daisuke, he gets to tenpai during the ippatsu round and waits on a 69p ryanmen.

Immediately after, Shibata discards the 5m trying to keep iishanten and deals into Ooi. Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 12,000+300.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p9059

In S3-2, Ooi is menacing the table with 65,000 and still holding his dealership. Two riichi sticks and two honba in the pot, 2,600 in potential bonuses.

Ooi starts out the hand 4-shanten for a standard hand, 3-shanten for seven pairs. In the first row, Ooi confirms his pursuit of a standard hand, tossing out the additional 5s from the 455s shape (which also includes the red 5s). By the end of the first row, Ooi gets to 3-shanten with two ryanmens. In the second row, he creates a 678p sequence and a 345p sequence (with the red 5p) to get to iishanten.

In the middle of the second row, Shibata (who is at -7,600) gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen. A win on the 1s will be a riichi only hand. A wins on the 4s is a mangan minimum hand.

Two turns later, Ooi draws and discards Shibata’s winning 1s…

…but Shibata lets it pass! With such a cheap hand and being 13,900 behind 3rd place Genta, the value isn’t worth it, even with the 2,600 in bonuses.

With this pass by Shibata, Ooi now has the runway to keep going. On Ooi’s next turn, he gets to tenpai and clals riichi on a 7s penchan, guaranteed at least a mangan.

And as things couldn’t get any worse for Shibata, he draws and discards the 7s dora in the middleof the third row and deals into Ooi. Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 12,000+600 plus three riichi sticks, taking Ooi up to 80,600.

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Results

Game 19

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Table B, Game 2

Honroutou

September 24, Table B, Game 2, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10556

In E1-0, Nakabayashi is the starting south seat and starts off with pairs of 9p, north and 9s. With a bunch of other terminal honour shapes, the hand is gearing up to be something as little as a chanta or as big as thirteen orphans. In the first row, he solidifies this by discarding only middle tiles.

In the second row, he pairs up the 1s and south, getting him iishanten for seven pairs, with the rare honroutou secured as well. In the middle of the row, he adds a red dragon pair for tenpai and calls riichi on a 9m tanki, guaranteed at least 5 han.

Two turns later, Date gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 4m kanchan. Her hand is big, guaranteed at least 5 han as well with Riichi/Sanshoku/Dora 1/Aka 1.

Unfortunately for Date, she ends up drawing and discarding the 9m on her ippatsu turn and deals into Nakabayashi. Nakabayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Chiitoi/Honroutou for 8,000 plus a riichi stick.

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Aki Advancement

September 24, Table B, Game 2

In E4-1, Aki is in 3rd place, 13,600 behind 2nd place dealer Sonoda and 14,000 behind 1st place Nakabayashi. Two riichi sticks and a honba are in the pot.

Aki starts out the hand at 4-shanten with two ryanmens and a connected dora 5p. From the start, it’s clear that Aki wants to go for tanyao. By the end of the first row, she is 2-shanten witht he two ryanmens still intact.

At the start of the second row, Aki pairs up the 5p and breaks up the 36p ryanmen, making it an all-or-nothing on the 5p pair. In the middle of the second row, she makes a 456s sequence for iishanten, creating a 369s three-sided wait just a turn later.

Across from her, 4th place Date is aiming for tanyao with her hand. With an 8s pon enabled by Aki, Date gets to iishanten. In the third row, Date gets to tenpai and waits on a 5s kanchan.

Two turns into the second row, Aki completes a 789s sequence and calls riichi on a 3m kanchan, guaranteed at least a mangan. Two turns later, she draws the 3m and wins the hand. Aki wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus two riichi stick.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7581

In S1-0, Aki is now the dealer and just 1,600 behind 1st place Nakabayashi. Any hand besides a 1/30 ron will be enough to move into top spot.

Aki starts off with a very strong 2-shanten hand, holding two ryanmens, a connected dora 3s and pairs of north and south. In the first row, Aki pairs up the 3s and, just like the previous hand, breaks up the connecting ryanmen and goes all-in on the dora pair. By the end of the row, she makes another ryanmen and gets back on track.

Though the south would be a nice yaku, she has been deadlocked with Sonoda from the start. She makes sure not to put all her eggs in one basket and stays closed, looking for riichi as the main yaku. Through the second row, she breaks her north pair as she completes a 456s sequence and gets to iishanten.

At the start of the third row, Aki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s/south shanpon. As Sonoda folds, he starts to run out of safe tiles. With two more turns to fold, Sonoda ends up breaking his south pair (hoping that it’s safe) and ends up dealing into Aki. Aki wins the hand with Riichi/South/Dora 2 for 12,000.

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Results

Game 20

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