Enami-san returned to the table from a holiday in New York dedicated to watching baseball and basketball. The change of scene had a deliterious effect on his game as he failed to get into the black at any point in the evening, got stuck with his Yakitori on the table at the end of the first, and had dropped four places in the rankings by the end of the evening.
It was left up to his son-in-law, Hide-san to uphold family honour and win back most of the points dropped by Enami-san and finish in top place, lifting himself off the bottom of the Grand Accumulated Results Table. His victory was secured in the latter part of the evening after the senior players had retired and when the foreign players faded.
Noda put in another solid performance marking a clear trend which could see him get into the black before the second quarter is out…
Jaime managed to arrest his decline by avoiding the red in the first three games of the evening despite a spectacular Chombo in the third game. The early positives outweighed the later negatives and saw Jaime climb back into the black in the GAR table. As for the Chombo, it happened like this: Jaime declared Riichi and then began to concentrate intently on his hand to work out how many possible finishes he had. Hide threw the 4-Coins and there was no response from Jaime or move to take a tile. Hide and David were joking about not knowing Hide’s fate when Jaime took a tile and threw it and play continued, only for Jaime to throw open his tiles and confess that he had committed a Chombo – twice! Once on Hide’s tile and once on his own 7-Coin discard, both tiles being finishing tiles for his hand!!
To do it once in a night might be considered unfortunate, but to do it twice – virtually unheard of!
Jaime also chalked up his first ever “Double Riichi” although I forget whether or not he was able to complete the hand.
David suffered from mid-term late-night fade, profiting from Enami but losing out to the buoyant Hide.
Hide drove David part-way home, discoursing on how many times a night one may give pleasure and supposing that in David’s case it, what with his advanced years and all, it was probably not more than once and with David adding that even that was pushing it a bit what with one thing and another and that to do it once a night might be considered fortunate, but to do it twice a night virtually unheard of and anyway the word pleasure might itself be a bit of an optimistic way of putting it and the two of them then compared the relative merits of marriage romantick (so called) and marriage by courtesy of the shotgun, or “dekichatta kekkon” as it is delicately known in the native tongue. They came down firmly in favour of the latter as being the more likely to produce an estate of conjugal felicity, starting as it does with no absurd inflation of expectations beyond the expectation of an imminent debutancy whereas the former, with its superabundance of hyperbolic conceit, which, once disappointed, will brook no accomodation to the unprepossessing quotidian pleasures of sociable cohabitation, by which time, they had arrived at Route Two and went their separate ways.
Hide –, -12, +42, -14, +32, +42 = +90
Noda +34, -7, –, +14, –, — = +41
Jaime +4, –, +12,* +41, -22, -15 = +20
===
David -2, +47, -21, -41, -10, -27 = -54
Enami -36,** -28, -33, –, –, — = -97
David Hurley
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Point of order. It wasn’t Jaime’s first Double Riichi, but his first successful double riichi! Claimed off Hurley on the 4th discard by the way… No wonder he forgot.