Tactics Large
J4 (AD)Z(E) +34
Though ADZE is the highest-scoring play, Quackle doesn't consider it. The best play is 2I GOV#, setting up 1G ZEA# or 1H ZA; BriAnna's blocks score very few points, and I still have ADZE. #tacticslarge
BriAnna McKissen vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 37355)
Endgame Large
E8 COLT +24
I wondered if this was actually best, turns out it isn't :(
Why isn't stickinig myself with RRR not best? -13 to N1 (FEE)T #endgamelarge
Noah Kalus vs. Josh Sokol (Game 35861)
Tactics Small
13E OKRA +20
The same word plays at 6E for 3 more points and blocks the -ER lane on row 5. I think I saw it. My play is more defensive, blocking the lanes on columns D and E without opening any new lanes. #tacticssmall
Alec Sjoholm vs. Orry Swift (Game 32986)
Strategy Small
exch A +0
Current opening theory dictates that I exchange A. But Quackle likes 8H AL followed by 8G LA, probably to reduce Joey's average score next turn, despite increasing Joey's likelihood of getting a bingo and decreasing mine. #strategysmall
Alec Sjoholm vs. Joey Mallick (Game 32723)
Vision Medium
H7 Q(A)T +12
I think I needed to do K4 VERITY here- while there's no guarantee that I'll dump the Q next turn, it's a little more open, and I do still have 4 chances to draw an I or T. And I score 12 more. #visionmedium
Samuel Kaplan vs. Mitchell Brook (Game 36754)
Knowledge Large
K9 SOlVENT +72
N6 SOlVENT has a valuation 10 more than K9 SOlVENT fml I didn't wanna risk BLAES being a phony so let's give a big ol' #knowledgesaddest for BLAES oof
Nitya Chagti vs. Sam Rosin (Game 39567)
Strategy Small
13B BODICE +30
i strongly considered C2 BRO, which sims best, but i feel like i should stop screwing around. i'm holding on to a bit of a tenuous lead, both blanks and X are unseen, etc. it seemed good to kill a few lanes here and score and stuff. #strategysmall ?
Cesar Del Solar vs. Lou Cornelis (Game 39990)
Knowledge Large
M3 AERATES +0 (Lost challenge)
felt too dead not to do this, even though I gave BACKFIRER* pretty much 0 chance at staying on the board. #knowledgelarge
Jason Li vs. Josh Sokol (Game 39481)
Finding Large
15D LO(G)IC +27
Horrible. For the second time in two games, I'm so fixated on blocking things that I fail to see a high prob bingo - this time it's IRO(N)ICAL. I'm also not quite confident enough on ORGIAC to pull the trigger here when he's aggressively fishing with a 3x3 line open. LOGIC seemed fun over ORGIC because of the extension possibilities, and it's generally good to favor scoring opportunities when you're ahead? #findingsaddest
Matt Canik vs. Greg Heidler (Game 32983)
Knowledge Large
15B ETIoLA(T)E +58
There is a nine starting at 5C (answer on next turn). I did not know the word. Every other bingo plays at 15B. Of these, ETIoLATE, LATErITE, and LITErATE score 58 but have front hooks (I thought of PETIoLATE afterward), and LEvITATE scores 57 without a front hook. Thus LEvITATE is second best, after the nine. #knowledgelarge
Michael Early vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 32984)
Time Large
C7 VA(GI) +12
So, usually I would mark this as a KNOWLEDGESADDEST for missing 15H (F)AVRILES, but I'll cut myself some slack this time. O4 ALIVE is fine, I was out of time here. #timeSADDEST
Joshua Castellano vs. Winter (Game 34394)
Endgame Large
13H (O)Y +9
from this position arises (edit: what I thought was) the most amazing endgame sequence I've ever seen a sub-1000 rated player play. I genuinely thought I was Q-sticking here. (edit: And I was)
Quackle's choice is N1 NU, and it seems to win by 209 according to its endgame analysis, so at least that's consistent with its estimations here. Still don't know if I should trust this.
#endgamesaddest
Irene Gedney vs. Josh Sokol (Game 39598)
Finding Small
N2 MAT +18
I think 7c ATT might be the play i was looking for. I didn't like that MATT gave back big overlaps, but ATT is better cause his overlaps score less and they will give back a lane on the A column. The pool isn't too dangerous for those overlaps either. I like it to keep ILKA open. I was kinda lost for options here, didn't see anything besides ilka plays that I liked. At this point I was also not so down about playing with ILKA because I figured I could get away with the S hook and challenge it off if he played it. #findingsmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Bryn Bowen (Game 35240)
Tactics Small
exch EII +0
keeping ES is also worth thinking about. i figured that one was slightly better, but sometimes it's worth not always making the top equity play. i don't think that is a mathematically apt lemma (the top play should always be made) but i figured the difference was small enough that once in a while i like going for it. -0.5 #tacticssmall
Cesar Del Solar vs. Joel Sherman (Game 33684)
Strategy Medium
5C H(A)ME +29
This actually isn't paranoid nor confident enough and there are some really unlucky things that can happen here. The play here is HEM 14m, as there's no 3x3s, you have a pretty much guaranteed score, if Jackson blocks it's game over, and if he plays/bingos elsewhere you can get 50. Yes, losing here requires some horrible draws, but this just doesn't prepare well enough. #strategymedium
Kenji Matsumoto vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 38964)
Finding Large
2E U(H) +5
I saw I8 LAURElED before entering this rack into Quackle, and I missed L1 qUAVERED entirely. This is a weak fish. Somehow Quackle prefers L12 RUE with two R's unseen?? #findinglarge
Leesa Berahovich vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 32988)
Knowledge Medium
I3 Z(A)MIA +36
missed a couple of things here, mainly MAR(CELLED). Didn't know MARCEL was a verb. I guess I'll know for next time CELLED is the opening play. I also missed OZA(L)ID for 40, and potentially misevaluated ZO(O)ID K2. Wanted to do a bit more to the board here, felt in control. #knowledgemedium #findingmedium
Josh Sokol vs. Joey Krafchick (Game 42619)
Strategy Small
12I (O)VOLO +16
seems clear that I should just do G7 OVOLI now that I am analyzing. I knew I was playing scared here, but felt Mack still had a decent play at H12 despite challenging. #strategysmall
Mack Meller vs. Josh Sokol (Game 38613)
Strategy Medium
12A ENOW +30
I saw sim-winner WOW 12B but didn't like keeping a vowel heavy rack. It's better than opening the TWS. I just can't think without sleep, and consequently I'm making mistakes on nearly every turn. (-6) #strategymedium
Joey Mallick vs. Carl Johnson (Game 34481)
Tactics Medium
H1 WA(D) +21
Getting a decent S hook on the board while the equity hit to do so is minimal - I say decent because it takes too many other hooks. Of course, the AANOS leave is pretty gross. It looks like H1 NADA is actually a fair bit better to create an S-specific hook and undouble the A's. #tacticsmedium
Will Anderson vs. Josh Sokol (Game 32878)
Finding Large
11G d(O)LOMITE +68
Definitely questionable. I didn't like 5I MOTLIEr or MOTILEs, but I did not see 11G T(O)ILsOME, which is definitely safer knowing there's 3 Ss left, and Robin didn't seem to hesitate burning an S with DUNTS. #findinglarge
Samuel Kaplan vs. Robin Lewis (Game 36866)
Strategy Medium
J1 CU(Z) +22
G2 UNCOPE wins more. I didn't want to give up all those floaters during the game, but most of them aren't that easy to use. Turns out it's not about the floaters, but denying my opponent an additional turn thus giving him fewer chances to fish. #strategymedium and #knowledgesad for the challenge
Daniel Blake vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 36969)
Strategy Medium
10C FOUR +22
At this point I think I have the board under control because she didn't put the E on HAWS, so I burnt the R so sevens didn't fit on the board. Big mistake. There are a bunch of vowels left and I'm not even up by that much. #strategymedium
Dianne Wittman vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 31891)
Strategy Small
G3 J(O)LT +19
MM: Lots of mediocre choices here. C1 JET sets up DU-- plays but seemed too risky with DKR left to hook EF and AAUU left to hook UTE. I liked that JOLT saved UNFED, which is fairly unlikely to get blocked. Noah pointed out after the game that UNFED first might be better, as I have a chance of hitting 3G JAR next turn for a lot if I can pull one of the 2 remaining As. And DUNE as a leave probably doesn't have much potential to improve beyond UNFED. So going to call this a #strategysmall.
Noah Walton vs. Mack Meller (Game 37187)
Strategy Small
H4 PETTO +20
This was just a clear misevaluation of an opening position I think. The math in my head was all wrong. There are three plays better than this one, I like VET the best #strategysmall
Josh Sokol vs. Paul Holser (Game 37370)
Endgame Medium
K8 PUlVIN(I) +22
so close. I knew nothing that I saw won, but I missed two of his J plays. Quackle again has nothing on my wordfinding ability since it cannot find this play -9 to just brute force with PUt(Z) E9 or VEIN 4A #endgamemedium
Josh Sokol vs. Noah Walton (Game 36850)
Knowledge Medium
O11 PEISE +39
now I was hoping she'd just challenge PEISE, and not MUCROS, which I was still unsure of. EPRISE# is best. I have to give +5 again next turn to report the score accurately #knowledgemedium
Heidi Robertson vs. Josh Sokol (Game 47179)
Strategy Medium
E10 (E)AR +18
I was worried that I would get outrun with a small fish, so I grabbed enough points that a lucky bingo would still matter; but keeping EIILT and blocking the O of GAUCHOS is not a good way to do that. 9A LIEU is the play if I want to get points without blocking any of my scarce bingo lines. #strategymedium
Seth Lipkin vs. Will Anderson (Game 32815)
Finding Medium
L4 IF +15
many terrible choices here. i regret not playing 13J FIZ. i didn't think of it - only thought of FRIZ. need to generate more plays and be better at it. my IF opens a lane but blocks the E. -3.5 #findingmedium
Jonathan Kent vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32934)
Tactics Small
1F EPIG(r)AM +42
A: I chose EPIGrAM because it creates a decent sevens lane on row 2. But 1I PrIMAGE is slightly better, possibly because EPIGrAM creates scoring opportunities for Carl? I don't know. #tacticssmall
C: The whole game, I wanted to play EPIGRAMMIC*, but it's ENGRAMMIC/IDEOGRAMMIC/PHONOGRAMMIC only.
Alec Sjoholm vs. Carl Johnson (Game 34492)
Strategy Medium
H4 WH(I)N(Y) +18
i wanted to open even a crappy lane so this board doesn't fully shut down on me. -8, 12D WHAT sims better, maybe i'll get lucky. idk, hard to know how bad my move is really. #strategymedium
Cesar Del Solar vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 33784)
Vision Medium
13I (G)UEST +12
Maybe just J14 SH would have been fine, as much of an S telegraph as that is as well as GUEST. I clearly made a more desperate move than needed. #visionmedium
Edwin Roth vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 37199)
Endgame Small
13I KID(D)O +32
played this once I saw it, but didn't think about adding the S for long enough to notice (T)AW 13A. KIDDOS is slightly better. -2 #endgamesmall
Carl Johnson vs. Josh Sokol (Game 46180)
Finding Large
D1 VARNA +28
4A BRAV(u)RA was missed. #findinglarge
Quackle likes 6D R(E)B. Not sure what to make of that other than there are no scoring spots on this board for Fern so I can leave myself with my case N for D4? I don't buy it.
Josh Sokol vs. Fern Lindzon (Game 33975)
Tactics Small
E11 XI +40
XI C9 might work enough that it's worth playing? Man, plays like that are so hard to pull the trigger on. I think Michael would even sniff the setup sometimes. Dunno? XED in the same spot is probably a bit better, which I figured afterwards, just liked the E a lot more than the I. #tacticssmall
Michael Fagen vs. Josh Sokol (Game 35777)
Strategy Medium
B1 BIO +22
Too crazy. I was getting nervous that a simple TRAPROCKS bingo would be the death of me and wanted to get more threats on the board, but I just don't need to play this aggressively yet. B1 BI (confusing notation, eh) bingos much more than BIO thanks to the better-balanced leave hitting COCA plays more often; a different approach would be B1 BE, which sets up 1A ONTIC/OB/NEF for me next turn. 6D OB is a pretty simple way to set up a new line without opening myself up to heavy counterplay. Just fishing the B at 2K also bingos a ton of the time. #strategymedium 17:01
Chilee Agunanna vs. Will Anderson (Game 33404)
Tactics Small
8K (U)RARI +18
7D RIA is best, setting up my A. E9 VAIR, which I think I saw, is also better than URARI; the R helps the leave considerably. #tacticssmall
Alec Sjoholm vs. Sid Murali (Game 32990)
Strategy Small
5G H(A)EMIN +22
this really didn't seem like the sort of play I would normally make in a position like this. Keeping things a bit more tight and keeping better with G3 HIN was the fiirst thing I considered, for a decent amount of time too. Quackle agrees that this is substandard. HIN hits a bingo 10% more and scores better than HAEMIN. #strategysmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Josh Sokol (Game 33931)
Strategy Small
8A CL(E)W +39
I liked this to save 11C AXED and 12L XED for next turn then the Z the turn after, but Quackle prefers 11B WAXED. I guess 11 points is a lot to give up and I'm really handcuffing myself with the power tiles by essentially guaranteeing I won't bingo for at least 3 turns. #strategysmall
Matt Graham vs. Mack Meller (Game 34739)
Tactics Small
E10 (F)AH +18
AGINT better than EGINT, that's news to me. I'm heading nowhere in this position without an S, though if he bingos first (which I would prefer to prevent) it will often give me a commeback. FEH sims 4 points higher, gotta trust that #tacticssmall
Michael Fagen vs. Josh Sokol (Game 39800)
Strategy Small
8L YU(C)H +48
it's between yuch and huic here, but annoyingly i insta-played YUCH instead of considering them both. i think HUIC might have a small edge here because it's more defensive. #strategysmall
Nigel Peltier vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32701)
Strategy Medium
9F dITSIER +72
i saw iritises but wanted to expose fewer letters, especially not Ss. however this gives back a ton of points. 9D vISITER is much more defensive. but iritises still sims best anyway - even though he bingoes slightly more after iritises, he scores more on avg after ditsier. #strategymedium -- on 4-ply, visiter climbs up to the top over iritises. -6
Sal Piro vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35133)
Knowledge Large
11E (E)DI(T)ION +16
NOOOOO I FORGOT THEY ADDED A THIRD WORD TO THE ADEIINOT RACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -50 also maybe 3F ION. #knowledgelarge
Joey Mallick vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32698)
Finding Large
O12 MUSO +35
I missed E2 MISSOUN(D). I looked through all the other letters, never shuffled or put in MIS- as a prefix. Sorry Tunnicliffe for I have failed you once more, bingo finding with prefixes and suffixes is still hard for me. #findinglarge
Darrell Day vs. Josh Sokol (Game 33130)
Knowledge Large
4H FUTURA(L) +28
i turn over UUF to my nice leave of ANRT and it's very frustrating. i didn't even look for a bingo, although i did write down AFLNRTUU. it only triggered the slighest stirring in a couple of neurons deep in my brain. #knowledgeSADDEST -46
Cesar Del Solar vs. Will Anderson (Game 32709)
Finding Large
G8 (B)Y +20
bingoes like B3 GYrAtED are not worth it here, but IDEAloGY is definitely the right play here. it's 83 points and i should be able to survive a bingo back on column B. i should have looked a bit harder. -16.5 #findinglarge #knowledgelarge
Cesar Del Solar vs. Josh Sokol (Game 32713)
Strategy Medium
14B PRiVETS +80
Too weird. I thought Joey might be setting up something big with AUGITE, and maybe he is. But PRIVETS doesn't do much to take out 15H. Something like SORPTIVE 2G (which I don't think I saw) or PRIVIEST 3F (which I did see) is best. (-6, #strategymedium)
Joey Mallick vs. Carl Johnson (Game 34481)
Strategy Medium
F1 (N)Y +30
The Duck says there is a 1/8 chance of winning after this play but I'm pretty sure it's lying to me because I went through every endgame and it never has me winning. So, since I'm pretty sure there is no win, I have to hope he screws up. This play fishes for 15D DISU(N)ITE but he's probably going to see that and block. I need to play something like O11 Y(OWIE) to hit the M because he is probably less likely to see 2G D(I)MITIES. If Quackle is actually correct about the 1/8 please let me know, but for now #strategymedium
Nick Ball vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 32761)
Knowledge Small
11G COXES +45
EXED much better, fewer points, but blocks Wendy's best chance at winning COXES making LORDINGS also good, didn't know that was valid. #endgameSAD #knowledgeSAD #strategySAD
Wendy McGrath vs. Danielle Barker (Game 35343)
Endgame Large
14I MOS +17
14M BYS for sure. I was unsure of SEPTORIAS, which is annoying. I wanted to block RELAND. This is -21. The best non-BYS play is the crazy J13 (T)OR for 5. #endgamelarge
Richard Popper vs. Josh Sokol (Game 35855)
Vision Small
I4 LINGOES +68
hmm not sure why I chose LINGOES over LONGIES. I think I had taken a while on the opening rack and wanted to be a bit quicker on this move. It's an extremely minor difference but it's definitely a bit defensive and favorable to play LONGIES. Calling it a vision mistake because I saw all the words in the rack but did not consider LONGIES in this spot. #visionsmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Greg Heidler (Game 33097)