2019 Los Angeles Day 1
Day 1: Saturday, Aug 31, 2019
The round robin portion of the tournament was covered in the first day: three before lunch and three after. Each hanchan observed the time limit of one hour. Games normally finished through S4 well before that. This day covered a bulk of the weekend's events.
With 40 players, the event used ten autotables: eight AMOS JP2, one AMOS JP EX, and one older unknown table.
Before the tournament begins, the opening ceremony covered a general introduction of the pros and Saikouisen. Then it was followed by a performances of Japanese calligraphy and a guitar solo to get everyone in the mood. Naturally, as soon as that was over, the tournament begins.
My first game featured Rachel, Kazuki, and Kyle. I've faced Rachel before in the North American Open last year. In a practice game, I edged out Kazuki by 100 points. Then Kyle took on Hiro in the Tornado Alley Open (Oklahoma) and won that tournament. Throughout the east round, all four of us were rather tense. It was a flat out defensive game, until I managed to capitalize on my south dealer turn to win it.
The second hanchan featured two LAPOM veterans: Sugi and Ruri. Then there's Nick from Philadelphia. I was not familiar with all three; so I had no idea what to expect. Nick goes out early with dealer tsumos and held on to win. I was able to score off of Ruri a couple of times, and so it boiled down to me vs Sugi for second. He gyakutens in the last hand to take second away from me, putting me to third.
The third hanchan pitted me against two PML players: David and Haolun. Sofo from Taiwan rounds out the table. This was another unfamiliar game to me. David was able to start the game off early with dealer mangan, or something like that. However, I was able to negate a portion of that with a dama mangan of my own. After a few hands, the game became myself vs Haolun, especially during his south dealer turn producing multiple renchan. Ultimately, I held on to win.
So for the first three hanchan, I managed to take win the first game, third in the next, and finally won my last game prior to lunch. In terms of point standing, things was looking good immediately. Lunch itself included a tonkatsu bento. Too bad I have no picture, but it was good.
After lunch, the remaining three games was a simple task for me, as I needed to avoid 4th. Of course, simple did not mean easy, as things can go wrong in mahjong. An extra win for a point cushion would be nice, but it was not necessary.
In my fourth hanchan, I got to face Doppo. Nick plays me again, and Kenta sits to my right. It was amazing watching him drop mangan in the first hand, and then he runs his dealership to take the lead capitalizing on Kenta. From there into the rest of the game, he held onto the lead like he should. I was able to get a damaten hit on Kenta to put me into second. In the meantime, Nick was hanging around to a close third but unable to gyakuten me.
My fifth hanchan featured a game with DeltaSierra4 (DS4), who I had not seen since he left Illinois two years ago. Throughout the tournament, our scores were neck and neck within the top spots. So, this game basically determines our result head-to-head. We both faced Akky, whom we both note as particularly good.
The sixth and last hanchan of the day was rather relaxing, as I was comfortably safe in the Top 16. Plus, all three opponents were familiar faces: James (aka SonicKrazy), DDR Dan, and Corak. All of us know each other via online mahjong circles. Nevertheless, I made it a point to beat them. I struck early with a couple tsumo, including one on a riichi dora tanki. For the entire game, I presumed to hold to the lead, until the last hand when we counted our points. For my lack of awareness, James was leading instead. I do not remember how, but I will take my second placement here and like it.
At the end of the round robin, the top 16 was announced and were ceremoniously seated to tables 1-4. The proceedings are shown in the video below. I closed out my games here with a second, third, and second. My round robin score of 109.1 was good enough to be in the 4th spot overall going into the playoffs.
Dinner session:
After the proceedings, we all go out to dinner to Painter's Tape. It was only an easy walk away from the dojo.
Everyone selected their seating among three long tables. For distribution, the three pros each sat at one table and rotated in order to give everyone a chance to converse with them. For assistance, at least one Japanse fluent player was seated at each table too. My interaction with Doppo primarily focused on Tenhou.net as well as the mahjong scene in America. I got to congratulate ASAPIN on his wedding, as well as look back at the 2017 WRC a little. My interaction with Takakura involved questions regarding Saikouisen itself, particularly regarding league set up.
Once everyone had their fill, the latter part of the evening featured the distribution of Tenhou.net product, such as shirts, mugs, folders, etc. Here, they used all sorts of contests from trivia questions, janken (rock paper scissors), etc. I was able to come away with a Tenhou folder and mug. All-in-all, it was an evening of fun and laughs. Again, portions of this evening was captured on video.
After everything, we all return to our hotel rooms and what not to go on to Day 2.
Here is some YouTube coverage part 1 from Riichi Mahjong Central.
Tournament Day 1 (round robin) and Dinner Session
The round robin portion of the tournament was covered in the first day: three before lunch and three after. Each hanchan observed the time limit of one hour. Games normally finished through S4 well before that. This day covered a bulk of the weekend's events.
With 40 players, the event used ten autotables: eight AMOS JP2, one AMOS JP EX, and one older unknown table.
Before the tournament begins, the opening ceremony covered a general introduction of the pros and Saikouisen. Then it was followed by a performances of Japanese calligraphy and a guitar solo to get everyone in the mood. Naturally, as soon as that was over, the tournament begins.
My first game featured Rachel, Kazuki, and Kyle. I've faced Rachel before in the North American Open last year. In a practice game, I edged out Kazuki by 100 points. Then Kyle took on Hiro in the Tornado Alley Open (Oklahoma) and won that tournament. Throughout the east round, all four of us were rather tense. It was a flat out defensive game, until I managed to capitalize on my south dealer turn to win it.
The second hanchan featured two LAPOM veterans: Sugi and Ruri. Then there's Nick from Philadelphia. I was not familiar with all three; so I had no idea what to expect. Nick goes out early with dealer tsumos and held on to win. I was able to score off of Ruri a couple of times, and so it boiled down to me vs Sugi for second. He gyakutens in the last hand to take second away from me, putting me to third.
The third hanchan pitted me against two PML players: David and Haolun. Sofo from Taiwan rounds out the table. This was another unfamiliar game to me. David was able to start the game off early with dealer mangan, or something like that. However, I was able to negate a portion of that with a dama mangan of my own. After a few hands, the game became myself vs Haolun, especially during his south dealer turn producing multiple renchan. Ultimately, I held on to win.
So for the first three hanchan, I managed to take win the first game, third in the next, and finally won my last game prior to lunch. In terms of point standing, things was looking good immediately. Lunch itself included a tonkatsu bento. Too bad I have no picture, but it was good.
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In my fourth hanchan, I got to face Doppo. Nick plays me again, and Kenta sits to my right. It was amazing watching him drop mangan in the first hand, and then he runs his dealership to take the lead capitalizing on Kenta. From there into the rest of the game, he held onto the lead like he should. I was able to get a damaten hit on Kenta to put me into second. In the meantime, Nick was hanging around to a close third but unable to gyakuten me.
My fifth hanchan featured a game with DeltaSierra4 (DS4), who I had not seen since he left Illinois two years ago. Throughout the tournament, our scores were neck and neck within the top spots. So, this game basically determines our result head-to-head. We both faced Akky, whom we both note as particularly good.
The sixth and last hanchan of the day was rather relaxing, as I was comfortably safe in the Top 16. Plus, all three opponents were familiar faces: James (aka SonicKrazy), DDR Dan, and Corak. All of us know each other via online mahjong circles. Nevertheless, I made it a point to beat them. I struck early with a couple tsumo, including one on a riichi dora tanki. For the entire game, I presumed to hold to the lead, until the last hand when we counted our points. For my lack of awareness, James was leading instead. I do not remember how, but I will take my second placement here and like it.
At the end of the round robin, the top 16 was announced and were ceremoniously seated to tables 1-4. The proceedings are shown in the video below. I closed out my games here with a second, third, and second. My round robin score of 109.1 was good enough to be in the 4th spot overall going into the playoffs.
Dinner session:
After the proceedings, we all go out to dinner to Painter's Tape. It was only an easy walk away from the dojo.
Everyone selected their seating among three long tables. For distribution, the three pros each sat at one table and rotated in order to give everyone a chance to converse with them. For assistance, at least one Japanse fluent player was seated at each table too. My interaction with Doppo primarily focused on Tenhou.net as well as the mahjong scene in America. I got to congratulate ASAPIN on his wedding, as well as look back at the 2017 WRC a little. My interaction with Takakura involved questions regarding Saikouisen itself, particularly regarding league set up.
Once everyone had their fill, the latter part of the evening featured the distribution of Tenhou.net product, such as shirts, mugs, folders, etc. Here, they used all sorts of contests from trivia questions, janken (rock paper scissors), etc. I was able to come away with a Tenhou folder and mug. All-in-all, it was an evening of fun and laughs. Again, portions of this evening was captured on video.
After everything, we all return to our hotel rooms and what not to go on to Day 2.
Here is some YouTube coverage part 1 from Riichi Mahjong Central.
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