Endgame Small
14L DREG +24
#endgamesmall O1 QI is better because after DREG he can block with OBE, saving AI for 9. If I start with Qi, he can't block with OBE cause that gives DREG back for more. this endgame worked out better cause there was the chance he missed my out
Jackson Smylie vs. Bryn Bowen (Game 35240)
Strategy Large
K3 BLUN(T) +14
i didn't see ANNUL, i did see ANN but didn't like keeping a U -- but even ANN sims a lot better than BLUNT. i think ANNUL/ANN are nice because of the defense, BLUNT gives up more pts. -8 #strategylarge
Mina Le vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35123)
Vision Small
N1 GLADE +23
huge misplay this turn, totally missed a lot of interesting options. HUMANE opens the door to GE(D) and LE(D)E and LE(D)GE as setups. GAED N2 is also perhaps a better play. S(T)AGED is interesting as well. The key here is whether he has a blank on his rack. I think the answer is usually, since Q(I) for 31 would often come down. But with the board not great for bingoes, or a rack that isn't helped by the blank a lot, he may elecet to play Qi without another blank in hand. I remember thinking it was decently likely he didn't have another blank, but wasn't sure. I now think that he would probably keep the blank very often and play for 31, the options to outrun in an endgame are immense. A sim has GED, LEDGE, STAGED, GAED, EDGE, and GLADE I'm really not sure what's right, but I am pretty sure I would play LE(D)GE had I seen HUMANE. #visionsmall
Will Anderson vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 33127)
Finding Small
D1 AUTUM(N) +18
YUM 7A #findingSAD #strategySADDER. Instead I opened up another possible triple triple (SUNSHADE was there already, and now ENDASHES), just really wanted to get rid of those Us
Danielle Barker vs. Peter Maas (Game 35342)
Finding Large
D8 (Z)AIDEH +38
#findinglarge Missing this was frustrating but not surprising. High point tiles in weird locations like this has been a pretty persistent weak spot for me in practice.
Kenji Matsumoto vs. Joe Edley (Game 38918)
Knowledge Large
13C UTRIC(L)E +26
i missed reticule... sigh. yeah, i was definitely not feeling it at all this afternoon :( i'm not surprised i missed it. i don't think i miss it earlier in the tourney. but then again, this just shows me how much i need to study. that way even if i'm having a bad day, the words just come automatically. #knowledgelarge
Cesar Del Solar vs. John Karris (Game 32683)
Endgame Large
F1 BEN(E)T +0 (Lost challenge)
he was low on time in the endgame, and I spent a lot of time on AQUAS so I was low on time. I have a win here - 2K B(I)N(I)T. fucking awful #endgamelarge I thought this might be good, wasn't sure
Jackson Smylie vs. Maxim Panitch (Game 35243)
Knowledge Large
E2 RAUNChY +77
I was unsure of TRUANCY and DURANCY*. TRUANCY plays for 90 at 13I. I forgot about UNCHARY, seeing it and not being sure. #knowledgelarge
Matt Graham vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 34819)
Tactics Medium
L9 NOPE +16
totally confused here. This was actually pretty awful since he can just re-overlap and fork the board. I did happen to block SUBATOM in two spots, but
#tacticsmedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Scott Appel (Game 33141)
Strategy Small
8H OK +12
the previous game against chris schneider was one of the worst games i've ever played. i know i like saying that a lot and hyperbolizing, but it really truly was; it's up on cross-tables for your viewing needs. i still blame it on that first round loss; i truly believe that if i had won the first game i would have won this tournament, but instead i am sitting here at 5-7 with 8 games to go. after tacos el gordo, one of my favorite restaurants in north america, i felt like it would be a waste of my time and money to not give it my very best shot, so i resolved to play the next 8 games as well as i possibly could. i think KEG or OAKED are a little better than my move, though. -1.5 #strategysmall
Cesar Del Solar vs. John Karris (Game 35441)
Strategy Large
9I OE +10
i'm pretty sure i saw EE, and thought keeping STEEN was fine. i don't like Os that much. it's kinda shocking to me that EE sims so much better at 7H, but i guess it also doesn't give back some big pts. yeah, i shoulda done that. -11 #strategylarge
Tony Leah vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 34750)
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)
Strategy Small
5J (C)RYING +24
this is fine, but just (C)RY is really nice much of the time, giving nothing tremendous back, and bingo-ing way more than CRYING. reduces opponent score by almost 10 immediately. Should have given it more thought. #strategysmall
Joshua Sokol vs. Christopher Sykes (Game 41790)
Tactics Small
12K HENT +23
Wasn't really a fan of giving Reid easy and obvious underlaps to HEX, especially with 5 unseen Is and two unseen Us at this stage in the game. Sim still prefers HEX by about a point and HENT sets up sad possibilities if he's got one of the three unseen esses though. #tacticssad maybe but I'd probably do it again unless someone smart tells me not to
Reid Hattaway vs. Matt Canik (Game 32971)
Knowledge Small
12G OF +19
I think I missed 3B NA(I)F. That seems good here as well, since I am not sure of SEPTORIAS, so a lot of the value of OF decreases if I choose not to play SEPTORIAS. #knowledgesmall
Richard Popper vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 35855)
Strategy Large
11B OU(T)LED +14
J: Very lost this turn. There aren't really any great options. At this point I figured I needed to blank to win, so I went for turnover, but blocking all those lanes is certainly incorrect. Championship Player is saying N12 OU, but I think that's too aggressive given the score and the pool. Something like 2I (O)UR maybe, I dunno. Suggestions are welcome and also #strategylarge.
Joshua Castellano vs. Will Anderson (Game 32551)
Knowledge Medium
5H UNHI(P) +20
M1 NISI is best. But that requires me to know VOLATILES. Failing that, N12 HUB sets up the S on row 15 with low risk, at least compared to 2H HUB. #knowledgemedium
Tom Bond vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 34239)
Finding Medium
14F ANTIFAs +73
I missed B2 InFANTA, which scores 2 more points and is easily best. I chose this over ANTIFAt and ANtIFAT because I thought this would be harder to underlap, and also to show off one of the new NWL words. L1 TIFFANY is awesome. #findingmedium
Carl Johnson vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 34513)
Strategy Medium
G5 T(OWE)L +9
this is not a good move. i need to outrun him and score more. i didn't want to empty the bag so he wouldn't plan his outgame, but i may not have a choice here. N1 TAN scores 18 and will help outrun him. i don't think i have many ways to win after TOWEL. -3 #preendgame #strategymedium
Peter Barkman vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 33687)
Tactics Medium
2D FOHN +31
Apparently FOX is better, but it seemed like it gave back sooo much and I can score with the X next turn, but DHNR can turn into something as well. I could hit INHOLDER or something #tacticsmedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 33070)
Endgame Medium
B12 IXI(A) +22
realized that I fucked this up after playing IXI(A)
I just can't see IRE(N)IC over the board for some reason. Thought it was -12 but Quackle says -9 #endgamemedium
Jeffrey Nelson vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 35820)
Endgame Large
B11 o(U)PA +18
I was trying to block 15A (G)ARRISON because I thought A3 CORRI(D)AS might not be a word (it is) or he might not see it. SAD! H11 F(R)APE can just outrun everything. #endgameSADDEST
Joshua Castellano vs. Winter (Game 34581)
Knowledge Large
12F CHUG +21
i spent a long time trying to talk myself into TEUCH but couldn't pull the trigger on it, thinking i was confusing it with TEUGH. i have not as much time to study as some other, taller experts. #knowledgelarge
Cesar Del Solar vs. Lou Cornelis (Game 40025)
Time Large
1D EElIER +22
He tried blocking F2 EAtERIE but forgot about EARD. I also forgot about EARD. I hope I would have seen it with more than 1 minute. 1F EAtERIE is gg. #TIMESADDEST
Joshua Castellano vs. Chris Lipe (Game 40998)
Strategy Medium
J4 CUIF +16
i hated the leave of J9 OH. i probably have no choice. i thought i would open a bit, keep a better leave, and keep OH for next turn, but i guess CUIF just doesn't score enough. -5.5 #strategymedium
Lisa Odom vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 33680)
Tactics Medium
2J (O)DOUR +19
Fishing for Z plays at 10J in a way that doesn't arouse suspicion. J10 ZA is best, followed by plays using the letters BURD, BUD, BURDS, etc. but suspiciously not at 10J. #tacticsmedium
Alec Sjoholm vs. Carl Johnson (Game 34492)
Strategy Large
K6 Q(I) +11
wow, this play sims unexpectedly badly. i bingo a lot less than i thought i did -- only about 46%. I guess Ys are the worst letter in Scrabble. quackle likes 3L DY(K)E for 24 - even though i don't bingo often, i get a ton of points the next turn. -9.5 #strategylarge
Darrell Day vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32716)
Strategy Large
4H WAW +18
14M AW maybe? quackle mainly likes it because of my score next turn; i can probably bingo if i'm lucky or use the W for some points (for example a lucky WREN). i must have misthought this, the equity difference is massive! -11.5 #strategylarge
Cesar Del Solar vs. Frank Tangredi (Game 35148)
Strategy Large
3K CAZ +39
Sim despises this. I get it, EEIO is weak despite the lopsided C/V ratio unseen and I'm still just letting the LABS hook sit there undisturbed. I was close to doing 11E ZODIAC but balked at the possibility of Vince opening column A with a play from 12A, creating situations with multiple very dangerous bingo lines available. 10D AIZLE is a fine way to score nearly as well as ZODIAC, block a couple lines, and make it more difficult to open the left side of the board while also scoring anything. #strategylarge
Vince Castellano vs. Will Anderson (Game 34595)
Knowledge Medium
M9 BARMS +43
M9 SAMBUR even, over H10 SAMBUR, with the inference. And this is a good inference, since his range with FERED is random. Until I figure out what his other two tiles were very quickly #knowledgemedium
Andre Popadynec vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 33179)
Strategy Large
10L L(A)Y +14
I tunneled on fishing and didn't see 14A LYMS, which seems best here. I was thinking that this play wins with any vowel + blank draw threatening SALMONS/SIMNELS in multiple places. #STRATEGYSADDEST
Winter vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 41006)
Strategy Medium
G5 YURTA +15
interesting position, depending how I view his odd placement of BLITE. it could be something weird like a scoring rack where he wants too make two spots, or a K. most likely is probably an X. not really sure. it's hard to justify blocking the X bomb cause my plays there are pretty bad and leave the G column. I could also counter-setup with ZA/BA, which mmight actually be fine anyways. this play was a sort of counter-setup, keeping 12a possibilities and h1 possibilities. Q thinks it's way too big a sacrifice, that I should just play YA. i'll call this a #strategymedium
Jackson Smylie vs. Matt Graham (Game 34536)
Strategy Large
7A (E)L +4
It's a nice enough pool to the point where O7 LORANS, TOLANS, or even ROTLS sim much better than this lame fish. I'm just not too happy at this point, but I needed to just cut spread instead of passing those plays up. #strategylarge
Judy Rosenthal vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 37150)
Strategy Large
11J VA(N)T +14
This is delusional. First, 11I VAU(N)T is better, but I irrationally didn't want to put the A next to the triple word. Second, 3A VATU is way better, I'm not up enough to be pulling shit like what I did. Third, HAININGS is a word, so this doesn't even lock the board down. #strategySADDEST
Robert Linn vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 34397)
Tactics Small
exch DFLNN +0
cool -- bag has good enough letters (including the blanks) and is consonant-heavy enough that quackle wants me to keep S instead of ST here. oops. -0.5 #focus #tacticssmall
Jeremy Hall vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35147)
Strategy Large
M3 BEGS +20
I again don't really know if I should play 4A BEGS or M3 BEGS or exchange. I was trying to block what I thought was the easier spot here. I await your hatemail #strategylarge
Joshua Castellano vs. Rasheed Balogun (Game 37518)
Strategy Small
7F FI(L)E +19
don't remember why I didn't just do TWIG here, obv don't bingo as much but outrun a lot better. I did FILE over WILE also to not make an extra S hook, hopefully can block POOVES and FLECKS together at some point #strategysmall
Bruce D Ambrosio vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 33124)
Knowledge Large
13K GIRL +19
whichever god blessed me with these tiles four times in a row is crying in their bedroom listening to emo music from the early 2000s. 13H GLARIER #KNOWLEDGESADDEST
Robert Linn vs. Nitya Chagti (Game 39561)
Strategy Large
15K (S)HIFT +45
I put down 15K (S)HIVA first but picked it up because I was afraid of not drawing enough vowels with FLT to get the bing I need. I didn't even consider Q bombs. RIP. Even 15K (S)HAFT is alright, this is a huge oversight. #strategylarge
Jesse Day vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 32772)
Tactics Small
F10 BEMA +25
When you bingo and then draw an unplayable Q, it's as if you scored like 30 points on your first move instead of 80.
I wanted to leave options for next turn, but I should just play ABEAM G2. I considered BEAM to set ABEAM up, but not ABEAM for long enough. This seemed better than MABE to not leave an S-hook that might stay open and to perhaps induce BEMAH*. #tacticssmall
Joshua Sokol vs. Don Finkey (Game 33872)