Sano Hinako (Sega Sammy Phoenix) was third in south 3 with two . She riichi'd a with two red fives and drew 3m on the next turn: , , tsumo, , , two reds, , a for 4,200/8,200. It took her from 26,700 to the top of game 1 on table B, and she held it through the by 2,600. Kayamori Sayaka won game 2 on the same table with three hands of or . Round 36 went to Phoenix: 134.4 points and fourth place. The two fourths on that table went to KADOKAWA Sakura Knights, Okada Sayaka and Akutsu Shota, the night after their second straight sweep. Table A went to Nagai Kosuke (EX Furinkazan), with one top in his previous 13 games, and Asakura Koshin (U-NEXT Pirates), whose two earlier wins both came in the opening week.
Game 1: Nagai (Furinkazan) +74.6 on table A, Sano (Phoenix) +63.3 on table B. Game 2: Asakura (Pirates) +62.6 on table A, Kayamori (Phoenix) +71.1 on table B.
Results at a glance
| Game | Place | Player | Team | pt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1A | 1st | Nagai Kosuke | EX Furinkazan | +74.6 |
| 1A | 2nd | Shiratori Sho | Shibuya ABEMAS | +11.6 |
| 1A | 3rd | Aikawa Megumu | EARTH JETS | -25.0 |
| 1A | 4th | Mizuhara Akina | U-NEXT Pirates | -61.2 |
| 1B | 1st | Sano Hinako | Sega Sammy Phoenix | +63.3 |
| 1B | 2nd | Suzuki Daisuke | BEAST X | +20.7 |
| 1B | 3rd | Setokuma Naoki | TEAM RAIDEN | -20.0 |
| 1B | 4th | Okada Sayaka | KADOKAWA Sakura Knights | -64.0 |
| 2A | 1st | Asakura Koshin | U-NEXT Pirates | +62.6 |
| 2A | 2nd | Matsumoto Yoshihiro | Shibuya ABEMAS | +16.6 |
| 2A | 3rd | Katsumata Kenji | EX Furinkazan | -28.8 |
| 2A | 4th | Ishii Kazuma | EARTH JETS | -50.4 |
| 2B | 1st | Kayamori Sayaka | Sega Sammy Phoenix | +71.1 |
| 2B | 2nd | Hagiwara Masato | TEAM RAIDEN | +2.4 |
| 2B | 3rd | Tojyo Rio | BEAST X | -24.9 |
| 2B | 4th | Akutsu Shota | KADOKAWA Sakura Knights | -48.6 |
Table A, game 1: Nagai's second win, and the dora he'd already decided to cut
Nagai Kosuke (EX Furinkazan) finished second in the individual table as a rookie last season and came into this game with one win in 13, by the kinmaweb match report's count. He won the first hand, a off the first discard and then and , for an open that tsumo'd 2,000/4,000 before Shiratori Sho's (Shibuya ABEMAS) riichi could. Shiratori's reply was a closed riichi that drew a red 5m, 3,000/6,000. In east 3 with one Nagai called east and a 2p into a hand holding three , the , and a red five. Mizuhara Akina (U-NEXT Pirates), with a full hand, cut the 3m he was waiting on: east, hatsu, three dora, red, 12,300.
The hand the report calls decisive came next. Nagai had pon'd haku and an 8s and was on a 6p with two dora, against Shiratori's open 1p-4p with five tiles left to his four. Nagai said in the interview, as the report relays it, that the high had been cut and he trusted the 6p. He'd decided before the draw: if the third dora came, it went straight out. It came, he cut it, and he drew the 6p for 2,000/4,000 and 49,800. From there he sat on the lead, a riichi 1,300 off Mizuhara to end Shiratori's dealer turn and a lone tenpai in the all-last. Mizuhara won nothing and finished on -1,200, still without a top this season. M Data Lab's model puts the decisive hand at east 3 with one honba, Nagai's 12,000 off Mizuhara, worth +31.9 to his expected score.
Table B, game 1: Suzuki Daisuke's calls and Sano's baiman
Okada Sayaka (KADOKAWA Sakura Knights) dealt in five times. The first came in east 2 with one honba, three riichi deep, to Sano's 3,900. The next hand had the call the kinmaweb match report is about. Suzuki Daisuke (BEAST X), Daisuke from here, had pon'd east for a souzu honitsu and was waiting on 1s-4s-7s against two riichi when Sano's riichi tile, a 6s, came out. He chi'd it with 4-5s and cut the 1s: a worse wait on paper, 6s-9s, but it took Sano's ippatsu away. By the report's reading, the 9s became a tile he could cut against the dangerous high souzu, and the 6s was the tile that had just passed as Sano's riichi tile. Okada, out of safe tiles, cut a 6s. East, honitsu, 4,500. Setokuma Naoki (TEAM RAIDEN) took the third, a riichi with a red for 6,400.
Daisuke, dealer in south 3, took 2,900 off Okada's riichi and then built the hand of his night. He pon'd an 8p he could have used in a run, cut a 9p early to hide the pinzu, and pon'd Okada's hatsu into a tenpai on 5p-8p, a wait the 8p pon made hard to see. Okada dealt in: hatsu, honitsu, red, 12,300, and Daisuke led on 43,700 with Okada on 200. Then Sano's riichi drew the on the ippatsu turn and took the lead from third. In the all-last Daisuke needed a , or 5,200 straight off Sano. He riichi'd on turn four with a dora and needed an ura, Sano pushed a 5m through the ippatsu turn, and Setokuma dealt Daisuke the 2m. One ura: 5,200, second by 2,600. Okada finished on -4,000. M Data Lab's model puts the decisive hand at south 3 with two honba, Sano's baiman, worth +60.0 to her expected score, the biggest swing it has given for any hand in these recaps.
Table A, game 2: Asakura's third win and Katsumata's hidden tenpai
Asakura Koshin (U-NEXT Pirates) sat down after his teammate Mizuhara's fourth in game 1. He won east 2 with a closed honitsu, switching to a wait on Ishii Kazuma's (EARTH JETS) safe tile after Ishii's chun riichi, and Ishii dealt in: 6,400 plus a stick. After that Matsumoto Yoshihiro (Shibuya ABEMAS) pulled clear with a riichi, pinfu, red, ura 8,300 off Ishii, and Asakura folded two strong hands against Matsumoto's riichi, a concealed triplet of the dora east among them.
South 3 with one honba was his. Katsumata Kenji (EX Furinkazan), dealer, had called a 2s. Ishii called a 3s into a souzu flush. Asakura riichi'd with pinfu, dora and a red five, and Katsumata, reading Ishii's souzu calls as a , cut the 9p into Asakura: 8,300 and the top by 3,000. In the all-last Asakura kept a 2p that the first discards had made look safe, drew into it, and riichi'd. Ishii, dealer and needing tenpai to stay out of fourth, reached tenpai, broke it, and rebuilt it. Katsumata, 1,400 behind Ishii, called and pushed tiles to stay tenpai, and on his Ishii read him as and folded. Katsumata was tenpai. The draw put Katsumata third and Ishii fourth on 9,600. M Data Lab's model puts the decisive hand at south 3 with one honba, Asakura's 8,000 off Katsumata, worth +28.0 to his expected score.
Table B, game 2: Kayamori's three hands and Hagiwara's first second place
Kayamori Sayaka (Sega Sammy Phoenix) dealt Tojyo Rio (BEAST X) a 2,600 in east 1, then won two of the next three. In east 2 with one honba, after a draw in which Tojyo had made a of the dora west, Kayamori riichi'd on pinfu with a red and drew 8m on the ippatsu turn, ura included: 3,100/6,100 plus two riichi sticks. A chun and three dora 2,000/4,000 followed. Tojyo took 8,000 back off her with east, chun and two reds.
Hagiwara Masato (TEAM RAIDEN) came in with nine fourths and two thirds in 11 games and -549.5 points, last of the 40 players. In south 1 he cut a 9p to keep both and an , drew a 4s that broke the , and riichi'd on 2s-5s rather than an edge 1m. He said afterward, as the report quotes him, that he had no idea which wait had more tiles and wanted to draw the red 5s. Both waits had one tile left. He drew the 2s on the ippatsu turn: riichi, ippatsu, tsumo, pinfu, dora, ura, 3,000/6,000. In south 2 he was tenpai first on a chiitoitsu. Kayamori, one away on a with east pon'd and three dora, caught up and drew the 4p: , , three dora, 3,000/6,000. She took 2,000 off Hagiwara's dealer turn and 3,900 off Tojyo in the all-last against Akutsu's riichi, and finished on 51,100. Hagiwara ended second on 22,400, his first finish above third this season. M Data Lab's model puts the decisive hand at east 2 with one honba, Kayamori's ippatsu , worth +38.7 to her expected score.
Standings after round 36
| # | Team | pt | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KADOKAWA Sakura Knights | +618.2 | 56 |
| 2 | TEAM RAIDEN | +180.1 | 54 |
| 3 | KONAMI Mahjong Fight Club | +174.2 | 54 |
| 4 | Sega Sammy Phoenix | +99.3 | 54 |
| 5 | Akasaka Drivens | +74.8 | 54 |
| 6 | BEAST X | -110.0 | 54 |
| 7 | U-NEXT Pirates | -194.0 | 56 |
| 8 | Shibuya ABEMAS | -234.7 | 54 |
| 9 | EARTH JETS | -257.1 | 54 |
| 10 | EX Furinkazan | -350.8 | 54 |
Phoenix +134.4, Furinkazan +45.8, ABEMAS +28.2, Pirates +1.4, BEAST X -4.2, Raiden -17.6, Jets -75.4, Sakura Knights -112.6. KONAMI Mahjong Fight Club and Akasaka Drivens had the night off. Phoenix pass Drivens into fourth and are 74.9 behind Fight Club. Raiden keep second by 5.9. Jets drop from seventh to ninth after a third and a fourth on the night, and Pirates and ABEMAS move up a place each. Okada's fourth took her from +337.9 to +273.9 on the individual table.
| Team | Semifinals | Title |
|---|---|---|
| KADOKAWA Sakura Knights | 98% | 29% |
| TEAM RAIDEN | 74% | 9% |
| KONAMI Mahjong Fight Club | 78% | 12% |
| Sega Sammy Phoenix | 76% | 13% |
| Akasaka Drivens | 78% | 14% |
| BEAST X | 43% | 4% |
| U-NEXT Pirates | 53% | 8% |
| Shibuya ABEMAS | 38% | 4% |
| EARTH JETS | 32% | 3% |
| EX Furinkazan | 29% | 3% |
Phoenix's semifinal chance rose from 66% to 76% since Thursday's table, the biggest gain by M Data Lab's count. Jets lost the most, 40% to 32%.
Three things to take to your own table
Decide the next discard before the draw. Nagai knew before he drew that a third dora would go straight out, because he'd already judged his kanchan 6p live. He didn't have to weigh it under pressure with Shiratori's five tiles against his four. When you're tenpai in a race, settle what each live tile does to your hand while it's still in the wall.
Wait on the tile that just passed. Daisuke's chi turned a into a two-sided one. It also took away Sano's ippatsu and moved him onto the 6s, the tile Sano had just declared riichi with. Okada, out of safe tiles, cut another one. A tile that just went through a riichi is one the table treats as safe, so count it as more likely to come out than the tile count says.
Hide whether you're tenpai when a place is on the line. Katsumata needed Ishii to think he was , or at least not to know. He called and pushed tiles that could have been feeding Ishii's tenpai, and Ishii folded a tenpai hand on the last discard. Push the tiles you'd push from tenpai even when you're noten.
Sources
Results and pt from kinmaweb's monthly results page, with one correction: the page lists Katsumata Kenji at -18.8 in game 2A, which leaves the game 10.0 above zero. The text report's result line, jankaku's 11,200 and the ranking page all give -28.8, used here. Hand-by-hand from kinmaweb's text reports for table A, game 1, table B, game 1, table A, game 2 and table B, game 2, and its match reports on Nagai's win, Suzuki Daisuke's calls, Asakura's third win and Hagiwara's second place. Values cross-checked against jankaku's reports for table A and table B. Standings from kinmaweb's ranking page, updated November 13. Decisive hands, swings and semifinal odds from M Data Lab's odds page and its game pages for table A, game 1, table B, game 1, table A, game 2 and table B, game 2, rebuilt after the night's last game. The league's official highlight video for November 13 wasn't up when this went live.
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