I did see A8 PiNNATE(D) and was unsure if PINNATE took a D. I knew it did not take an S. I did not know 4A PlAN(G)ENT and even that's better than my play. Also, if I am going to use Column K, I think PiNNATE is better since not as many things go next to an I as an E. #findingmedium
YAGE is pretty poor defensively.I liked this becayse i thought it was quite defensive unsless Annette had an s, but overlooked j6 GEY which scores 5 more and is more defensive. Even though gyve sets up my s, it isn't ocrrect. Sim likes GEY by 1.5 #strategysmall
12I GENOA is a slightly better version of 12J EOAN. E1 NO(Od)GE sims best but idk. I mean, my opponent's next turn scores the most after this play. Maybe I'm just supposed to eat it. #strategysad at the very least
considered dropping the K and this or TRAIK. I didn't consider KI or KA. KI is clearly better than KA because it allows so much less counterplay at N10. TRAIK might also be better than KRAIT because is slows Steven down more than it slows me down, I don't really want to bingo at M1 despite it being the most fortuitous lane on the board. M9 KI is the play. #findingsmall
Tricky move; Quackle wants H6 GNAT to increase my odds of drawing a vowel. Even though that move leaves only one S hook on the board, it's seemingly impossible to block effectively without very specific plays from BI that probably represent huge equity sacrifices. #strategysmall
I felt like a moron after this - I really, truly was weighing BOIL vs LOBI against Noel's leave of TIRES and somehow brain farted and played BOIL, which allows 20% more bingos than LOBI. I remember realizing I had made a big mistake even before Noel played his bingo. #strategylarge 18:52
I was thinking about blocking the N on M2 here, but Quackle thinks I should just play D4 WI(R)E. Playing N1 LAW doesn't stop the other bingo lanes that are still on this board, and I get hit back with O1 AVE anyway (and my opponent holds on to the blank). #strategysmall
I tunnel visioned the new spot and didn't even notice that JEAN plays at N12 for 44 as well. JADE gives back nasty parallels with AJEE and perhaps X bombs in addition to Z bombs, which would play with ZEE anyway if I don't address that area. #visionsmall
-4 4A HEVEA #strategymedium . i'm not loving that play. it doesn't seem right for me to just give him a bunch of points. but i guess ALIVE makes it easier for him to bingo! it's also a sick pearl jam song. it comes down to points mostly, HEVEA is 11 more pts than ALIVE.
how did I miss 2M BRR? It's not great to block the C, but it's worse to score zero with a reasonable play on hand. This was horrendous. #findingSADDEST
at some point before my turn realized this likely wasn't a word, and that INARMED was the word in here. Still, didn't find MIDRANGE so I had to phony. Got away with this, but MIDRANGE is probably correct #findingSADDEST
Lamented STEEPEN being blocked - at no point did ENSTEEP remotely come close to entering my mind. If I'm being honest, what *did* go through my mind was - should I play STEEPEN and hook NAD*? Nah, Winter surely knows that NADS is sticky-S, and probably has some kind of lewd device for remembering that factoid. #findinglarge
pretty sure he didn't have another S, he took quite a bit of time on VOWS, so i figured he had not kept an S and probably had a leave with one-pointers. still, it's a bit much; maybe just doing 13B AA is fine. but i still like this a lot. -4 #strategymedium
missed GLOOPY in the same spot, which I imagine has to be better. PHYTOL I didn't count, but it seems potentially worth playing due to scor. POTTY looked awful. #findingsmall
Although I'm in a great position after HAMATE (his bingoes will empty the bag, leaving me up a tempo in a close endgame, meaning a very likely win), I should still do AHEM N11 - I really loved what that did, but I was only 90% sure that AHEM didn't take an S, and if it takes an S that could be a game-losing mistake. I felt like the chance that AHEM took an S was higher than the chance that HAMATE would lose me the game when AHEM would win me the game. Either way this is just an estimation and a clear word knowledge error. #knowledgemedium
No home for THORITE after that got blocked. Seems like an oversight here- I didn't see K9 THO(U) which only scores 3 less but keeps a stronger leave. Not sure I really need to go for an S that badly despite there being 4 left. #visionsmall #strategymedium
pretty bad miss of AC(T)OR. (FE)M M1 hits bingos with a D, S, U and V and also Quackle wants me to play SCORIA 15A next turn a lot which I will never do, so M1 (FE)M has the best valuation. #findingmedium
I did not see 4A CELE(BRANT) here. That's a cool one and the aggression is mandatory at this deficit. Maybe E4 BELL if I don't spot CELEBRANT? #visionlarge
bad! by far the best play is the excellent 11J AMUCK. i have the case S, score 28 pts, and go for letters like the Z to score a lot with. i thought of AMUCKS/AMUCK on my rack, but didn't quite look hard enough. LUCK is very weak and is the type of game-losing play i make way too often. the fact that it takes a Y makes it even worse. 9J MUCK is ok if i don't think of AMUCK. -15.5 #strategylarge #findinglarge
and now I consider BOXINGS and don't even think about what it could mean, just that I must be confusing it with FOXINGS. Idiotic. CENSING or INCENSE play with BOXINGS. This is horrible in comparison #knowledgeSADDEST
I missed 15J TAHSIL! What a wicked play #knowledgemedium #findingmedium
compared HALT and HILT, decided that yes there were more A's out, but the ZI combo is still much worse than ZA, although I get NAZI with an A, so hmm.
yeah, i need to consider equity a bit more robotically. WAUR/WAUL at 13G score too much to disregard. i know they keep ILU or IRU, but that's 11 pts better than keeping a W, and giving back slightly more bingos. -7.5 #strategymedium. it's funny, two fairly significant strategic errors in a row, but i did think it through at least.
How on earth did I draw a rack one letter off from the rack I had when I played DOGY a few turns ago? And even more impressive was the fact that I drew another D, W, and a Y, not even a high probability rack. K10 WY(N)D is a little tricky to spot and is 6 more. Not too big of a mistake. #findingsmall
saw a ridiculous amount of ghosts this endgame, most notable after D2 BEE, thinking that after (TE)MPT 5C, my outs were blocked and that my best was LI(T)U G3 which loses by 1 to uN(FAZED), until a recount would have tied the game up given my earlier misscore of TWeRKED. The worst part in all this isn't that I had misscored TWERKED, but that I missed that TEMPT gives me (M)ULIE E5 as an out. This endgame should have been clear as day to me and instead I just flushed 6 minutes down the drain and basically hoped (informedly) that this would be enough. -10 #endgamesaddest
At this point I was really paranoid that Marty had the other blank. I think I've gotta suck it up and just hope he doesn't bing through the O and play 11J (I)NVEST. #findinglarge
Q likes the aggressive AW G3 here, but that seems a bit ridiculous to me (-3?)
I hated to give up the D for FEUD but I see no plays that make sense that are good. Maybe that's why Q likes AW so much? maybe #tacticssmall
ahhh CONVENTED! #visionlarge I also kinda regretted playing FUN, it lets him overlap sometimes when he has MNX tiles. The sim is kinda weird cause it has him opening a lot after FUN, but realistically I think I should play (E)NUF to be more defensive. CO(N)N is super defensive but also blows up my rack. #tacticssmall for ENUF.
Will: Burned all the rest of my time here. I considered AWARN, AWARD, HARDLINE, HARDLINER, and N10 IDLER/ELDIN. HARDLINER attempts to luck into an outbingo that Josh can't block by playing parallel to HARDLINER, and also might luck into ZQ draws (HARDLINER makes a big Q spot). Maybe I draw something to the I and play it after he blocks the R, for example. Amazingly AWARD bingos 35% to AWARN's 11%, though the usual caveat applies that those numbers are going to be lower than Quackle thinks because Josh is going to seek to lower them. I'm just amazed at that disparity. My problem with IDLER, which looks good at first glance, is that any parallel play putting a difficult letter on row 15 is basically game over; there's no space left. At least after AWARD there's both row 13 and the Y of DAVY. I kinda wish I did HARDLINER now just for the lulz. #strategysmall
-2 to ODE blocking N(A)N and slowplaying. He also would have gone over if I did that. Takes guts. #endgamesmall
something was underscored by 2, so final recorded as 388-380
now I figure I can't play (REJECT)IONS because he just opened a 3x3, but I guess I can still play D(E)AF and save the 60 points for next turn. #tacticssmall
Everyone hated this play, and so did I. But I couldn't figure out what to do, and MOI actually sims decently. The correct play is probably SINOPIE B8, which I didn't see. It's the highest scoring play, keeps the R, and goes for turnover. Turnover is not usually that important this early, but sometimes there's nothing else to do. (-5) #visionsmall
once again being safe, though I missed SPElEAN in the same spot which I would be sure of as opposed to SPEANEd, which I was not, given I always confused SNEAPED SPEANED with SNEAKED SKEANED*. #knowledgemedium #findingmedium
I suppose he could have S(E)RAGLIO, the only playable 7 on row 14, and nothing else. I should therefore play deP(L)ANES A2 or fish with E(ME).
10F WONS has to be worth it even though this sets up my J nicely. I could draw a J play at C7 as well as hit K5 JO, but WONS is too many more points. #strategylarge
I was so close to just doing M11 KYU instead of YUK to be safe. Yes, there is huge Z-bomb upside to YUK, but Vince has one of the *fifteen* unseen Es and Os so, so often to play there himself, and it's instantly by far the best scoring spot on the board. However, I need to add that Vince put down QUID, then looked at it in frustration and picked it up to play QUIN - I kind of read this as an admission that he didn't have an E himself on that turn, which does tip the odds a fair bit in my favor. I probably should still have played it safe here. #strategymedium
Definitely wasn't sure how to feel about WO in the same spot as I didn't love EILNR on this board. Maybe WON is a little better for the leave, but there's still 4 Ss left and I don't give up an S hook with WORN over WON. WO is a reasonable play because Robin will want to score thru the V in VETOED some of the time which could open up a bingo line for me. I did not spot D8 WOL(V)ER which would have given me a nice fork and scored a couple more. #strategymedium
Not exactly a fan of this position either, but the fact that I just drew another A makes my miss of LOGAN look that much bigger. Since the X isn't that good of a tile on this board, it's probably better to just take the 2 more points with 9F (T)AX instead of trying to force the board open, even though I like open boards better against him. #strategymedium
still in a really good position, even though I can't block the 14 lane without giving back a bigger lane. I would have liked to leave 1 in the bag, but didn't realize at the time how crucial that was. The entire plan with U(K)E or 10M (N)EE is for him to bingo on row 14 immediately, giving me back plays on row 15 that should easily outrun. However, leaving 2 in the bag allows him to fish one, possibly N(U) 12C - after UKE I'm up 60, 58 after the fish. It's really hard for me to block bingoes, and I'm stuck either trying to outrun by playing something clunky on row 14 (again hard to not give back good overlaps, gotta hope for like GENUS or something), or outrunning with a UKES play, which will put me up 84 or 87 (depending on if I draw the G). After he gets my rack, I will be up between 76 and 81, and a lot of his row 14 bingoes score more than that (e.g. GIGATON, INNAGES). I'm still in a decent position given that outcome, but he could also fish for a higher score and still not allow me to block - e.g. ZA or ATE. Perhaps I should do RE(D)E 13K to play 3 tiles, forcing him to bingo immediately. It puts me up 60, but all his bingoes will be on the 14 row, and I saw my T for HIST and S for other HI? plays, so I should be outrunning even his 80 point bingoes very often. Although UKE is great for spread, it opens the door to some really great 1 tiles fishes that I can lose to quite often. #strategylarge
So many lanes, so much potential! I spent more than 5 minutes looking for bingos and didn't see one. After the game, I gave the rack to Alec and he found the only bingo in about 30 seconds. Dude is *sharp*. Also, LENO 1A is better than any other play by far. I must have gotten flustered after wasting all my time failing to find the bingo that I didn't take more time to find the right non-bingo play. (-30) #visionlarge, #strategylarge, #timemanagementlarge
I did not want to make this play. It's almost certain that Noah has another E here, as otherwise he would have kept his E and played FIST/FAST. Also, there are 8 unseen E's. This means that he's going to be able to access the O column a crushing amount of the time, and I'll be left with row 14 and whatever counterplay his O column play leaves me with, which is peanuts. I basically had to hope here that he just didn't have an E, which meant no A or I last turn either. I considered NIX 11E as well, to keep things open. NIX looks better because I draw COWED 12B which sets up SCOWED. #strategysmall
the issue with EKING bares its teeth. Now I am potentially in range to come back without a bingo at least? Keeping the Z seems to have a lot of value, and I should play JILT 5D. #strategysmall