Masamune Sortie! (Point Commentary 8)

It has been a while.

This is Katoumaru from Sendai.

Have you been watching the Corporate League, Team Masamune's matches?

While looking back at my own matches, I will be providing point-by-point commentary to make it as easy to understand and read as possible for everyone from beginners to advanced players!

There are also past articles (1-7), so I would be happy if those who haven't seen them yet would read them.

Now, let's get started!

Round 128, South 1, South Seat

I was able to reach the South 1 round with 79,000 points after a good hand in the East round.

Opening the starting hand, what should I discard first?
The thoughts I had at this time are the following three points.

1. Organizing the point situation (the proposition of this half-game)
2. The value of winning in this round
3. Image of the final hand shape

1. Organizing the point situation (the proposition of this half-game)
This is my first match since the three-game series recorded in January, but thanks to my reliable teammates, I have reached the final two half-games in a point situation where I can compete for the qualifying line.

Since I don't know the movements of other teams, there is no exact number for the qualifying border, but I started by predicting it would be around +10 to +30 points.
Therefore,I am playing while thinking that if my team's final score can land around +30 points, we should be able to qualify.

Also, the Megurogawa Ron team is a clear rival with a close ranking, and I am fighting with the belief thatbeing ranked higher than the Megurogawa Ron team at the end of the direct confrontation (at the end of the remaining two half-games) is the key to qualifying.

The propositions for this half-game are:
1st: Finish higher than the Megurogawa Ron team.
2nd: If possible, take first place.
3rd: If I get greedy, have the Megurogawa Ron team finish last while I take first.

This is what it comes down to.

Currently, all of these have been achieved, and it can be said that we are in a wonderful situation.

2. The value of winning in this round
As explained in 1, the round is progressing in an ideal development, and if I can win this South 1 round, which is the Megurogawa Ron team's dealer turn, it will be avery valuable win.Also, from the perspective of the Megurogawa Ron team, this is the worst-case scenario, so they will be aiming to add points with all their might during this dealer turn, so it can be said that there is almost no folding in this round.
Moreover, since the opponent is the seasoned pro Kinukawa,
there is a level of trust that we share the same understanding regarding the situation and the proposition of this half-game,so it is easy to imagine that if I make a half-hearted call or a casual ready hand, I will be met with a fierce push-back and suffer a painful experience, unless something extraordinary happens.

3. Image of the final hand shape
So, in this round where the value of winning is high, what kind of shape is closest to a win?

This is a 5-pair, Little Wheels (Shourin) tenpai-ready hand.
While it is possible to call North or Chun to win with Half Flush, I do not want to shorten my hand against a dealer who is coming at me with full force.
Also, I believe that calling, which means skipping a draw and reverting to a 2-away-from-tenpai state for a sequence hand, is not a progression I want to take in this situation.

Therefore, in cases where I can reach tenpai quickly, I proceeded by discarding the 6p, keeping the 1m wait in mind and strongly favoring Seven Pairs.

On the 5th turn, after a flashy discard pile, I drew the 3s, connecting my suited tiles.

The candidates for discard would be West, East (one already discarded), or perhaps the 1s?

Even if West is a safe tile against the dealer, it seems better to discard West than to discard East.

If you discard West,
123s, 44s, 88s, East-East, Chun-Chun, North-North
This is a balance between 6 blocks for a sequence hand and 7 blocks needed for Seven Pairs, a 6-block and 7-block balancing progression.

If you discard 1s,
234(4)s, 88s, East-East, Chun-Chun, North-North
This is a balance between 5 blocks for a sequence hand and 7 blocks needed for Seven Pairs, a 5-block and 7-block balancing progression that leaves open the possibility of declaring Riichi with a West wait, which is an ideal wait (one already discarded, safe against the dealer).

You can actually balance 5 blocks and 7 blocks. It's mysterious, isn't it?

In this hand,
the Little Wheels hand when waiting on West is of much higher value than the Little Wheels hand waiting on 1, 2, or 3s,and I judged that even compared to the loss of 4s acceptance for the sequence hand, it was sufficiently valuable, so I discarded the 1s and was able to win brilliantly.

Brilliantly, I was able to finish the dealer turn of the Meguro-gawa Ron team, which was one of the climaxes, with my own win, and I was able to enter my own dealer turn in the next hand with a significant lead.

Next time, it will be the South 2 round, East seat, Surfing Kato-maru episode.
※For those who don't know what this is about, I recommend watching the video first before reading.

Look forward to it!