TEST POST: I'm just copying over a bunch of text with colors and formatting from writefreely
Akagi Ep 1 for people who can't be bothered to read the rule book
The reason I keep hearing for why Akagi is less good than Kaiji is no one outside a very specific subset of weirdos actually knows how this game works. The psychological thriller breaks down if you can’t make sense of the pay structure.
Ok we're 4 minutes into the episode and Nangou is pretty far in the hole. I think he’s down to 24k points in his little drawer. For the sake of brevity, point sticks = poker chips. The round is South 4, 8th turn. We’re about half way through this hand. It is the last hand before we turn chips back into cash.
Nangou's hand is: 235p123m99s 123sRRR
Nangou is going to discard the <span style="color: #4169E1">5p</span>. He could win on either <span style="color: #4169E1">1p</span> or <span style="color: #4169E1">4p</span>, with <span style="color: #4169E1">1p</span> being ideal.
His hand is currently worth 2 guaranteed points. If he wins on <span style="color: #4169E1">4p</span>, this is all he gets. <ul><li>Dragon triplet <span style="color: #DC143C">RRR</span> - 1 point</li> <li>Dora (<span style="color: #228B23">3s</span>) - 1 point each</li></ul> If he wins on the <span style="color: #4169E1">1p</span> he can gain <ul><li>Tricolor matching sequences - 2 points</li> <li>Mixed all terminals + honors - 3 points</li></ul> for a total of <b>7</b> points, with a payout of <b>12k chips</b>.
HOWEVER the yakuza across the table has already called “uno” (<i>riichi</i>), and he's previously discarded <span style="color: #4169E1">2p</span>, which means the safest option for Nangou's wallet is to fold, and discard <span style="color: #4169E1">2p</span>, as it is guaranteed to not deal into that guy’s hand.
MEANWHILE the guy to Nangou's right was waiting on the <span style="color: #4169E1">2p</span> or a <span style="color: #228B23">G</span>reen dragon, so folding would have totally screwed Nangou over. Guy on the right is going for:
