Author: Flowingcloud
Please contact Flowingcloud if there are any typos, issues, or input. All feedback is welcome!
Introduction
A relatively short post this time compared to some other posts. This time I will be discussing the bread and butter of dama and understanding how to adjust play based off placement. We will be featuring Hinata Aiko from Saikouisen. She had been previously featured in a post before, so please refer to Episode 3 for more information about her.
This post will be slightly preference based as the decisions are not actually as clear-cut as I make them out to be. These posts made on this blog are merely meant to be used as teaching references and covering certain hands are merely just a means to explain concepts in an easy-to-understand way.
Gameplay
Match: https://www.youtube.com/live/Cs8Gd7HbawQ [Channel membership required]
Clip: https://youtu.be/wAHCqA1IPeE
Ruleset: Saikouisen (aka-nashi; 10/30 uma)
Player: Hinata Aiko
South 3-1; 1,000 Point Deposit (Non-Dealer; West Seat)
Situation: Hinata is currently in first place but not by a solid margin. Second place is only a few thousand points behind and third place is a mangan tsumo behind.
Turn 1
We start off with an impressive hand that would make any player happy. Hinata starts off iishanten with a very obvious 567 sanshoku in the works. There is a lot of potential with sanshoku + dora for a hand that could put Hinata in a good position in South 4.
Turn 6
Kayamori’s (kamicha) Calls
Turn 2: 
Turn 5: 
Note: 2s was discarded after the chii and the following 2m was tedashi (discarded from hand).
Hinata now gets to tenpai and has to make a decision: Riichi or dama.
Generally speaking, riichi is correct in most cases. There’s even a saying: When you don’t know whether to riichi or dama, you should riichi.
Nonetheless, we should still break down the guidelines of when to dama.
- Increase win rate.
- Improve hand quality (via wait or value).
- Avoid dealing in.
- The hand is worth too little and we want more value.
There is really no need for us to improve the hand quality and the hand is already worth a decent amount of points. The focus is mainly to move the game along with minimal risk rather than accumulating even more points. There is also something to note that Hinata might want to prioritize win rate over points since she really wants to be 4,000 points above second place approaching all-last.
- 4,000 points is the point swing if Sugihara (shimocha; 2nd place) is in tenpai while no one else is in tenpai (assuming Sugihara did not riichi).
- 3,000 points would be the point swing if Sugihara declared riichi and she was the only one in tenpai. (4,000 point swing – 1,000 point riichi stick = 3,000 point swing).
Ron: Sanshoku (2) + Dora 1 = 3 han 40 fu (5,200)
How likely do we think the dora 6m will come out? Against her toimen and shimocha, they seem somewhat unlikely to drop dora at the moment, however, Kayamori (kamicha) looks like they’re going honitsu in souzu so there is a chance that dora might naturally come out if she is in tenpai or pushing a still early enough iishanten. The 2s cut after the pon might have been an attempt to disguise the hand of not being honitsu since it was cut after the chii so it must have come from a 223s block (see diagram below). The floating 2s might have been useless if all the other honitsu blocks that have been confirmed, which can lead to an early sakigiri attempt to bluff others if she happens to overflow additional souzu tiles later to create the story that she might not be honitsu. Either way, if as assume that Kayamori is going honitsu, the dora 6m is likely to come out, and there is no need to risk dealing into a honitsu this late in the game.
223s Block Development:
Original: Call: Discard:
Additionally, we do not get punished too hard when we tsumo since 6m tsumo will result in a mangan as well. We still want to be wary about other players since they are likely to hold a pair—or even an ankou—of dora, thus if someone declares riichi, Hinata still has the east pair in hand to fold with.
Tsumo: Tsumo (1) + Sanshoku (2) + Dora 1 = 4 han 30 fu (2,000/4,000)
turn 10
Turn 10: Ron 6m off Kayamori (kamicha)
Eventually, Hinata’s dama paid off as she was able to hit Kayamori directly for 5,200 (+300) points. This is good as now the games moves into all-last, and she directly hit 3rd place and made Kayamori fall into striking range for last place to swing placements into third place. Kayamori is now 22,700 points as all-last dealer and her gap on last place is 6,400 points. Suzuki (toimen; last place) only needs a 1,300/2,600 tsumo (7,800 point swing) to overtake Kayamori. That benefits Hinata since Suzuki likely does not have to go out of her way to build a lot of value, which means that she’ll likely try to go as fast as possible (which in turn means that Hinata can just chill once Suzuki drops an early riichi).
Meanwhile, Hinata’s gap on Sugihara (shimocha) has increased to 8,600 points, which means that Sugihara needs a mangan tsumo in order to overtake for first place (mangan tsumo is a 10,000 point swing). Hinata can be relatively passive in all-last if she does not get a speedy, premium hand to play since she can just fold out and just let someone deal into her opponents since they need to fight for placements, or just wait for the game to end.
Conclusion
There are a few things to take away from this “short” post. If you have not noticed, this post had more to do with understanding your current point position, and changing your plan to suit your current needs. This also highlights the importance of being ahead, as you have so much more decision-making choices compared to someone who is behind.
Understanding the importance of dama to increase win rate over going for guaranteed mangan ron value is something that will do you good when you are ahead in points in the South round. Since there are so few rounds left, the chances someone overtakes you becomes more slim, and you’ll increase the percentages of tops you achieve by doing so.
Moreover, building a solid point gap on second (and the rest of the players) is also important. If Hinata had sanshoku-nomi (so no dora) in this hand, she might have declared riichi to try to obtain more points to build a more solid point gap, however, since 5,200 points is a solid point win, there is really no need to go for more value.