It's time for a tournament recap! Three of us from Southeast Michigan Riichi drove down to Cincinnati for the inaugural GCRO. There were 20 participants in a 6 hanchan round robin with a top 4 cut and a 2 hanchan final.
Straight away I will say that for an inaugural tournament, this was organized and run extremely well. Transitions from hanchan to hanchan were smooth. There was a small hang up with two tables being transcribed incorrectly for hanchan 6 which resulted in 8 players at one table, but this was recognized by the participants on day one, and was corrected before the hanchan occurred on day two.
It was great to see so many familiar faces and meet new people. For some this was our first time playing together and for others it was our first time playing in person even though we've shared hanchan online in the past.
A hanchan by hanchan recap:
Hanchan 1 - 1st place (+39.5)
This game was Ann Arbor +1. I was seated with Aaron and Brian, and we were joking who would be "replacement Kevin" as we just did practice matches with the 3 of us and Kevin two days prior. I don't remember much of the game play: I was in 3rd going into south and won a couple hands. Then on all last (my deal) I was in 3rd behind both Aaron and Brian with 35200. A +0.2 3rd place seemed a bit on the pathetic side so I was determined to try something.
Something happened, indeed! The player in fourth riichi'd and later dealt into haku tanki - honitsu chun hatsu shosangen dora 1 for 18000 points and I landed the victory.
Hanchan 2 - 1st place (+26.2)
A smaller victory. I just kept my head down and my play clean. A couple highlights - I attempted to hold a tenpai for keiten that I had no intention of riichi on and got tsumo on the haitei for a quick 2k. I cut 4s from a 1222 shape pretty early and was able to riichi on it as dealer which baited out the 1s for an easy 3900 dealer 2 40. In all last, my kamicha riichi'd himself into 4th - if everyone folded, the noten payments would bring him to 2nd place. This plan was in full fruition until there was yet another haitei tsumo which caused the whole thing to backfire.
Hanchan 3 - 3rd place (-13.8)
I trusted a 1-chance and got burned. Highlights and game oddities: Kamicha gets a chiitoi haitei tsumo haneman (not on my deal) of "tiny 4 winds" by tsumoing xia. There was a pair of each wind in the hand. Shosuushi was an option but I think a few winds were gone before stuff paired up. In all last, the player in 4th won a 1000 point hand that didn't change his placement (?). I was in third at the time and he only needed 2k to pass me. On one hand, I was pleased I didn't get 4th. On the other hand, 2nd place was 14900 points ahead of me and I was iishanten for a haneman. If I tsumo that closes a 15000 point gap and I take 2nd by 100 points.
Hanchan 4 - 4th place (-23.5)
There's not a good way to describe this one other than I spent at 75% of this hanchan either stuck in iishanten or folding. I was playing with less experienced players who were very cavalier about calling kans. The average was probably just shy of 1 per hand, with 2 hands having 2 kans called. In a different world where my hands came together, I could have punished this recklessness but nothing was going my way.
Hanchan 5 - 4th place (-29.1)
How the mighty have fallen! This was a yakitori 4th. One player got the lead and proceeded to attempt to get fast and cheap each time. I could not outspeed him because my hands were largely bad. One big win, a ippatsu ron haneman, got headbumped by 2000 points.
I ended the day at -0.7 and pretty much right in the middle. In order to even make the final, I'd need around a +90 game the following day. If yakumans fall into my lap, it's doable but otherwise I'm just playing for the best score I can muster.
Hanchan 6 - 1st place (+38.7)
Those yakumans and dealer runs didn't come, but I did have a strong game. I was seated with one of the top 4 but he was able to get a oya mangan tsumo and pretty much folded the rest of the game while I had my way with the table, winning a couple solid hands (a dora tanki tsumo, and riichi houtei pinfu ura 2) for multiple mangans to send me over 50k. This put me in 6th at the end of the round robin. 5th was only 0.5 ahead of me at +38.5 cumulative, but 4th was +99.7. A big gap delineating those players that had a great run for 6 games compared to those of us who either made mistakes along the way or had a bit of misfortune.
Round robin final scores (names removed to give folks a bit of anonymity)
In the final, the first game ended ridiculously close, with 1st place having 30800 and 4th having 29000. The second match was streamed and you can find it on youtube on Riichi Mahjong Central. A big thank you to Kenji for participating and providing prizes, and providing the streaming setup for the second game of the final! He produces a lot of great content as is working to grow the riichi community! Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxgydMwaTEcf_ZKy4hSqhng
Congrats to Logan on winning the 2020 GCRO!
Some pictures:
The venue was spacious. This is getting ready for the first hanchan.
A large portion of participants try Skyline Chili - a Cincinnati favorite for lunch
Some libations at the sports bar across from our hotel! The hotel breakfast area had perfect sized tables for additional free play, so we had 3 tables going there before going for drinks.
Straight away I will say that for an inaugural tournament, this was organized and run extremely well. Transitions from hanchan to hanchan were smooth. There was a small hang up with two tables being transcribed incorrectly for hanchan 6 which resulted in 8 players at one table, but this was recognized by the participants on day one, and was corrected before the hanchan occurred on day two.
It was great to see so many familiar faces and meet new people. For some this was our first time playing together and for others it was our first time playing in person even though we've shared hanchan online in the past.
A hanchan by hanchan recap:
Hanchan 1 - 1st place (+39.5)
This game was Ann Arbor +1. I was seated with Aaron and Brian, and we were joking who would be "replacement Kevin" as we just did practice matches with the 3 of us and Kevin two days prior. I don't remember much of the game play: I was in 3rd going into south and won a couple hands. Then on all last (my deal) I was in 3rd behind both Aaron and Brian with 35200. A +0.2 3rd place seemed a bit on the pathetic side so I was determined to try something.
Something happened, indeed! The player in fourth riichi'd and later dealt into haku tanki - honitsu chun hatsu shosangen dora 1 for 18000 points and I landed the victory.
Hanchan 2 - 1st place (+26.2)
A smaller victory. I just kept my head down and my play clean. A couple highlights - I attempted to hold a tenpai for keiten that I had no intention of riichi on and got tsumo on the haitei for a quick 2k. I cut 4s from a 1222 shape pretty early and was able to riichi on it as dealer which baited out the 1s for an easy 3900 dealer 2 40. In all last, my kamicha riichi'd himself into 4th - if everyone folded, the noten payments would bring him to 2nd place. This plan was in full fruition until there was yet another haitei tsumo which caused the whole thing to backfire.
Hanchan 3 - 3rd place (-13.8)
I trusted a 1-chance and got burned. Highlights and game oddities: Kamicha gets a chiitoi haitei tsumo haneman (not on my deal) of "tiny 4 winds" by tsumoing xia. There was a pair of each wind in the hand. Shosuushi was an option but I think a few winds were gone before stuff paired up. In all last, the player in 4th won a 1000 point hand that didn't change his placement (?). I was in third at the time and he only needed 2k to pass me. On one hand, I was pleased I didn't get 4th. On the other hand, 2nd place was 14900 points ahead of me and I was iishanten for a haneman. If I tsumo that closes a 15000 point gap and I take 2nd by 100 points.
Hanchan 4 - 4th place (-23.5)
There's not a good way to describe this one other than I spent at 75% of this hanchan either stuck in iishanten or folding. I was playing with less experienced players who were very cavalier about calling kans. The average was probably just shy of 1 per hand, with 2 hands having 2 kans called. In a different world where my hands came together, I could have punished this recklessness but nothing was going my way.
Hanchan 5 - 4th place (-29.1)
How the mighty have fallen! This was a yakitori 4th. One player got the lead and proceeded to attempt to get fast and cheap each time. I could not outspeed him because my hands were largely bad. One big win, a ippatsu ron haneman, got headbumped by 2000 points.
I ended the day at -0.7 and pretty much right in the middle. In order to even make the final, I'd need around a +90 game the following day. If yakumans fall into my lap, it's doable but otherwise I'm just playing for the best score I can muster.
Hanchan 6 - 1st place (+38.7)
Those yakumans and dealer runs didn't come, but I did have a strong game. I was seated with one of the top 4 but he was able to get a oya mangan tsumo and pretty much folded the rest of the game while I had my way with the table, winning a couple solid hands (a dora tanki tsumo, and riichi houtei pinfu ura 2) for multiple mangans to send me over 50k. This put me in 6th at the end of the round robin. 5th was only 0.5 ahead of me at +38.5 cumulative, but 4th was +99.7. A big gap delineating those players that had a great run for 6 games compared to those of us who either made mistakes along the way or had a bit of misfortune.
Round robin final scores (names removed to give folks a bit of anonymity)
In the final, the first game ended ridiculously close, with 1st place having 30800 and 4th having 29000. The second match was streamed and you can find it on youtube on Riichi Mahjong Central. A big thank you to Kenji for participating and providing prizes, and providing the streaming setup for the second game of the final! He produces a lot of great content as is working to grow the riichi community! Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxgydMwaTEcf_ZKy4hSqhng
Congrats to Logan on winning the 2020 GCRO!
Some pictures:
The venue was spacious. This is getting ready for the first hanchan.
A large portion of participants try Skyline Chili - a Cincinnati favorite for lunch
Some libations at the sports bar across from our hotel! The hotel breakfast area had perfect sized tables for additional free play, so we had 3 tables going there before going for drinks.
What happens when you get too many mahjong addicts out at a sports bar? Sanma (and later suuma) friendlies on Mahjong Soul!
A close up picture of shuffling that I just liked:
Additional shout outs to the cohorts from Columbus and Cincinnati - it was great to play with you again! Also, a shout to Panda - we hadn't seen each other since 2018 and it was great to catch up and play. Although Tenhou Tuesday is no longer a thing, we need to keep the dora hugging, story time, and shade button alive through other means.
Stay tuned for the next tournament recap! The lunch hanchans continue this week.
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