Tactics Small
exch BGT +0
or RT. looks close. QRTU may be a bit better midgame, but I can still get quite a few 35 point plays. Q prefers RT by a bit #tacticssmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Tom Bond (Game 33106)
Vision Small
8L J(E)LL +57
wow didn't consider L1 JAWL(I)NE! it's nice to not open the O column. I think I prefer it by a bit, setting up the scoring spot is okay as well with my lead. #visionsmall
Darin True vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 33104)
Tactics Small
I8 STRIGAE +76
Another tank here as I evaluated as many placements as possible. The board after STRIGAE was pretty close to locked down, FOXIEST plays aside; maybe one or two more defensive moves would create a real problem for Dave. Quackle actually prefers 11A STRIGATE and I5 AIGRETS, both of which I considered; I'm not sure I thought of 14B SEAGIRT, which is also a play it likes better. #tacticssmall
David Koenig vs. Will Anderson (Game 34597)
Finding Large
E8 (A)DhESION +66
this play was MISDONE, I spent too much time trying to find a bingo through the A of BARKED, panicked and went with the worst possible BINGO.
#findingSADDEST
Danielle Barker vs. Peter Maas (Game 35342)
Strategy Medium
H1 FAINE +35
B10 FAN(J)ET is best equity but I don't think it's quite enough for a response to exchange 2. J14 FA is probably a bit better. #strategymedium
Joshua Castellano vs. Mina Le (Game 34680)
Tactics Large
14D (F)OO +15
Drawing OOO killed any chance I had of winning this game. C2 APO has the best valuation; it blocks Carl's next play, and the pool is consonant-heavy, so I don't have to worry about keeping five vowels on my rack. #tacticslarge
Alec Sjoholm vs. Carl Johnson (Game 34514)
Finding Medium
9A CAFE +20
for this tournament i'm trying to take my time quackling. often i can find plays i missed in the actual tournament if i look a little harder. i need to figure out how to stop missing these. FEE 9B seems pretty standard. my play is bad. but even 9C FE is better than what i played, or VEGETE, all of which i saw now. i couldn't see anything else while playing. :/ -5 #findingmedium
Jonathan Kent vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32937)
Tactics Small
10I LIRI +8
LIRI is the equity play, but Quackle strongly favors 13C TIRL. The only reason I can think of is that Richard averages more next turn by playing through the R or I of LIRI, blocking my best lanes in the process. #tacticssmall
Alec Sjoholm vs. Richard Stein (Game 34237)
Vision Medium
5E LARDY +30
YET or YELD E9 win the sim easily. It's possible that I missed the Y hook on OGEE, but maybe it didn't seem right to fish at this score. E5 does seem like a good thing to block, but apparently not worth breaking up the rack over. Either #strategymedium or #visionmedium (-6)
Chris Cree vs. Carl Johnson (Game 34475)
Strategy Small
13I CONgEED +81
i liked sacrificing some points here to kill the bottom left of the board; i thought it was worth it. 13G CODEiNE sims best because it scores best, i guess, lol. maybe i should do it. quackle doesn't like these types of sacrifices. is congeed correct? i also saw encoded etc at 13G but it still doesn't kill the bottom left quadrant. -3.5 #notanerror? #strategysmall?
Cesar Del Solar vs. Joel Sherman (Game 32936)
Finding Large
10H (N)EP +27
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
Will Anderson vs. Winter (Game 34378)
Strategy Large
E9 (L)OOR +8
Here I am again shitting my pants trying to block as many bings as possible when I should just be playing equity. Compared to the top equity play of O12 OURN, this brings her % down by a chonking 2 percentage points. #STRATEGYSADDEST
Joshua Castellano vs. KC Frodyma (Game 34969)
Tactics Small
N8 PUB +28
i played the rest of this game in like 2-3 minutes. i realized the only way i was going to win is to speed play; i believe he was down to around 5-6 minutes by now. i'm normally a very slow player so this was an interesting tactic. -3 NUB in the same spot, but shrug. #tacticssmall
Edwin Roth vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35145)
Strategy Small
E7 DOG +21
he played CRAB too quickly. he has a bingo there a lot of the time, but he probably has it even if i block CRAB. AG bingoes more often, but i wanted to open an additional lane.. so i don't know. if we give him a leave of ATS? for giggles, my move rises up a little higher, but G13 OD is at the top, i guess opening another triple for me to use or something. not a good position for me, but this is all a result of VIM. i'm going to be down my next move unless i bingo back. -0.5 #strategysmall
Cesar Del Solar vs. Bruce D Ambrosio (Game 35339)
Strategy Large
4K CA(G)EY +30
I did see AY/AYE/TYE at N5, but CAGEY seemed better. Quackle says this is a serious mistake, because I'm destroying my rack for a block that isn't effective; he still has Row 1. (-19 valuation, -5% win%) #strategylarge
Mark Miller vs. Carl Johnson (Game 34472)
Tactics Large
M3 AG +22
Blocking 2F CAZIQUES 106. Quackle hates this and prefers N6 BI, which blocks the hotspot at N6 (the Q and X are unseen) and outruns CAZIQUES with every possible draw. If I draw the X, I threaten A5 COAX 66! #tacticslarge
Alec Sjoholm vs. Will Anderson (Game 32892)
Endgame Large
3B (S)LEEK +40
Unfortunately, though I was lamenting the fact that SHEIK wouldn't play because KE* isn't a word, I forgot about it once Carl played EX. I burned the rest of my time checking and double-checking AIMORV? for bingos and just assuring myself that AVIFORM# was Collins and OVIFORM TWL; when finally it came time to make a move, I made a huge mistake with SLEEK, which leaves only one out, compared to SHEIK, which scores 12 more and goes out in two. SLEEK is a whopping -35. #endgamelarge
Carl Johnson vs. Will Anderson (Game 32903)
Endgame Large
9C D(IF) +17
C: i think i lost it here. this is how to do well at nationals; find the winning play. i cashed in my D too early. i can have that spot later (if he blocks it i have AD/DAH too). i need to play at N13 so that he can't play there!! i was low on time, only about 3 minutes, but i didn't do a good enough job here :( -- the winning play is N13 REI #endgamelarge (it's a small error point-wise, but it loses the game)
A: Actually, REI loses by 2 after I play E4 RAH. (-6)
Alec Sjoholm vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32680)
Strategy Medium
5J MOB +18
The Duck is saying that I need to keep either the M or B to increase my bing % with something like 10F OM or 10F OB, which seems right looking back at it. NOSE is probably slightly too vowel heavy. #strategymedium
Joshua Castellano vs. Richard Buck (Game 32548)
Strategy Small
3I MIR(I)D +22
looks like I chose wrong here. M1 MODI, 6D ROD, 6D ROM all look worth playing here. I liked opening the top left with this play, but I also set up QAT and X plays, which are really annoying. ROD is probably my favourite of the bunch. #strategysmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Anita Rackham (Game 35364)
Finding Large
7F LE(v) +3
completely missing a few plays here, such a tough spot! 5J MES(N)E is pretty clearly best here, sets up a lane that's really hard to block completely. This is all I came up with. I can get something once in a while but mostly, I'm preparing to use the C next turn on row 6 to fork the board. Otherwise, if I want to wait, I can play C(H)EL(A) 11J. This doesn't score enough to threaten much #findinglarge
Jackson Smylie vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 33783)
Strategy Medium
14A URE +14
Flailing. 5B URODELE looks like it gets paralleled and utterly fails to open anything for me but perhaps I just need the 22 points and six draws towards the blank and then worry about the board after. I kinda like C9 LOUCHE now to open the board and to fake a double Z setup, which might be annoying for Evan if he doesn't have it. #strategymedium
Will Anderson vs. Evan Berofsky (Game 34987)
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)
Strategy Medium
13B WEX(E)D +32
I think NEPHEW crossed my mind but I don't think it occurred to me that it sets up my X. WEXED gives back much higher scores as well. #strategymedium
Chris Lipe vs. Will Anderson (Game 34978)
Tactics Small
M7 GOOIE(S)T +22
i spent a little while doing math on this move. 2 of the 43 unseen tiles are Z and J, so the chance he drew at least one of them is 1 - (41/43)*(40/42)*(39/41)*(38/40)*(37/39)*(36/38)*(35/37) or about 30%. First of all, is that actually right? And second, i estimated it as roughly 25% - which is not quite right, but i figured it was close enough. I should figure out a better way to do this kind of math. either way, it is probably for naught because the best play is either NOOGIE or GOOIER, sacrificing 8 pts but keeping a more workable leave, and not opening up as huge of a hotspot. -1.5 #tacticssmall
Cesar Del Solar vs. Joel Sherman (Game 33684)
Knowledge Medium
7H PAP +18
#knowledgemedium APP(U)LES or PAP(U)LES here, also BAP over PAP by 3 points! I was definitely focused on ABLE words too much here especially with no open A.
Norma Lovett vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 33543)
Endgame Medium
15D (R)ECUR +21
Apparently, B6 COR wins the most. I think I considered that but I thought there must've been something deadly on row 15 or maybe an A8 bing starting with P or B. #endgamemedium
Joshua Castellano vs. Randi Goldberg (Game 34963)
Finding Small
12A CONIUM +30
I didn't see O5 YONI; it seems a hair above CONIUM, which at least partially blocks some of the FOU hooking bingos Jason might have. #findingsmall
Will Anderson vs. Jason Keller (Game 34609)
Tactics Small
8G JEW +26
Will: Hmm, I almost did BENJ and Quackle ever so slightly prefers it, but not for the reason I would expect (allowing fewer bingos) - it actually allows more bingos than JEW (24% to 19%), but almost equivalent average scores, which I think suggests that JEW is easier to overlap for solid scores on non-bingo turns. Even the leftmost placement of BENJ, which certainly looks like it would be hard to play sevens against, yields more bingos than JEW. BENJ then outperforms JEW on my own next turn by several points thanks to the more flexible leave. #tacticssmall
Will Anderson vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 34643)
Knowledge Medium
6B HUE +27
Didn't think NUBBER was good, and eschewed NABBER because of the leave and opening more lanes (remember I'm effectively winning here since Karl needs to beat me by 43). HUE is probably fine over NABBER, but NUBBER is certainly worth it. #knowledgemedium
Karl Higby vs. Mack Meller (Game 34747)
Endgame Medium
15H (A)FREET +10
Close. I have to block SIXTHS/XYST down there, but better by a few points is simply 15G EATER, scoring only one fewer point than AFREET but setting up FAE on row 14 for many more points than the move I ended up playing. #endgamemedium
Jason Broersma vs. Will Anderson (Game 34991)
Knowledge Medium
L4 COMF(Y) +30
L7 Z(Y)MOID. I think I knew this word? Anyway, if I had studied it more I think I would have found it so I'll tag as #knowledgemedium instead of finding or vision.
Robert Linn vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 31572)
Strategy Medium
13G BUT +16
i think this was a massive mistake. i didn't want to play 3C TAX for 29 because it keeps two Us, and i was worried that i was just going to have a very clunky rack the following turn and lose that way. my play at least sets up a lane. but, if he has WAX or TAX himself i'm dead. i really regret not playing TAX. i think i could survive with BLSUU and 29 pts. having the case S is awesome. i can also do E11 HABU, which i also like. -6 #strategymedium
Cesar Del Solar vs. Matt Graham (Game 32681)
Tactics Medium
14A VAW +32
WOW Quackle hates this, despite that VAW has the highest score and best equity. 14A QI is best by far. The next best Q spot scores 11 points, and QI saves N8 NAW for next turn. #tacticsmedium
Michael Early vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 32984)
Strategy Medium
A5 REAL +21
I chose REAL over ORAL because there were 7 E's unseen and no O's. But I did not consider what the benefit of keeping the O would be, and now that I am considering it I don't see any significant benefit; EE > EO, and even triplicate E's are fine. I should just play ORAL. Quackle prefers C12 NOR but that's ridiculous with IIIM unseen. #strategymedium
Alec Sjoholm vs. Thomas Reinke (Game 33066)
Strategy Small
7G PELF +22
i was in a bad mental state after losing the first game, and i know this affects me. FL(O)P is the equity play here. I think when I'm tilting, I just make weird bad plays, either adjusting to score too much or to leave too much, depending on how worried I am. I may have overcompensated here, thinking i better take the extra 5 points and keep MNT instead of EMNT (i even remember thinking the E is not worth 5 points, so take the 5 points, but as is common for me when I'm playing unwell, I don't pay attention to defense at all -- PELF gives up 4 more pts on average than FL(O)P). -3 #strategysmall
Edwin Roth vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35351)
Finding Medium
7F JUN +19
damn, I just didn't see MEOW at 9G. I thought a whole lot about this turn and figured I was overthinking, but I really enjoyed the defensiveness of this play. He's maybe not going to want to make the equity plays next turn since they throw the board dangerously open, so he might either exchange or make a small play that just gives me scoring chances with my M and my W? MEOW is clearly best here, and I liked WOMEN at 7F as well. JOW and JEW at 7F seemed close but gross. #findingmedium for missing MEOW and #highlyquestionable for the rest
David Boys vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 35755)
Vision Medium
9K (B)O(T)S +29
Mainly considered BOTS, 6I IONS, and D8 VIATOR. I discarded IONS pretty quickly as I felt it needlessly gives Ken an easy like for 7s. The main downside of BOTS was that I can draw 3 Is, but I felt with VIATOR the upside of ISS wasn't that great - in all likelihood I'll be making a play like BOTS anyway next turn, and perhaps not even that if I don't draw an E or O. The one benefit that makes VIATOR worth considering is that it blocks plays like 12A ZETA, but I decided those were unlikely enough and would probably give me a big play back enough that BOTS was worth it. But the best play, which I didn't consider, looks to be 6G SARINS - the second S isn't that valuable after BOTS anyway, and SARINS gives me more chances at the scoring tiles in the pool while minimizing the chances of I trouble. #visionmedium
Kenneth Rubin vs. Mack Meller (Game 34726)
Finding Large
5F ETUI +15
I don't remember whether I passed up on the bingos or missed them entirely. But the top 5 plays are all bingos: D5 mUTINEER is best, followed by D6 cEINTURE, D5 rEUNITER, D6 gENITURE, and D6 UNrETIRE. #findinglarge
Alec Sjoholm vs. John Karris (Game 32989)
Tactics Large
C3 QI +25
wow this is awful! I def overestimated EEESX and underestimated EIQ. Us are out, I have QI as backup, and QUIN? plays at the bottom right can hit hard. M1 EXES looks like the play here. I also didn't realize K6 QI is better than this cause I set up EXES next turn for 51!! well worth the 2 point sacrifice, but EXES still kills that in a sim #tacticslarge
Joshua Sokol vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 35372)
Tactics Small
7B TELOGEN +68
Tied for best play with 11F ELONGATE scorewise. Seeing the board is open as is, I might as well get others going. This was held but not challenged. #tacticssmall
Richard Popper vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 35215)
Strategy Medium
O12 CYST +43
I took the points and defense, but AAR is a bad leave, I'm slightly behind, there are two good S spots (TOONIES and ALGUAZILS), and I know Cesar did not keep an S. I should play 13A CAY and go for a bingo. #strategymedium
Alec Sjoholm vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32680)
Strategy Small
6F (C)ATTY +18
OY E9 wins the sim, even though there aren't many bingos to be drawn. It's probably even better than that since Rafi is telegraphing a bingo and might give me more lanes. (-2) #strategysmall
Carl Johnson vs. Rafi Stern (Game 34485)
Finding Small
F7 U(G)LY +16
This game is going to be interesting. Too bad I missed a key option here, E5 LAY(O)UTS, so perhaps things would have been different if I had seen that. I liked this over (G)UY because the leave was less bingo-dependent and slightly less variant. I probably missed LAY(O)UTS because I spent the first minute or so of my time lamenting that SALUTORY* was the word I think Nigel Peltier played against Conrad at 2014 Nationals which Conrad accepted. #findingsmall
Matthew Tunnicliffe vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 33638)
Knowledge Large
9C Z(E)K +32
i chickened out on ICKER. that's by far the best play here. i just need to learn the words basically. i don't know how to learn 4s and 5s. i don't think Aerolith is the best way for short words. -11. i also considered C12 MM but it seemed too weak, it sims better than my play though. #knowledgelarge
Cesar Del Solar vs. Matt Graham (Game 32681)
Tactics Small
F6 PI(L)AW +24
i purposely played it a bit more open instead of the obvious 7E PAW, but i think that's a mistake. probably just keep it closed. -3 #tacticssmall
Jay Levin vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32939)
Tactics Small
11D (K)IP +18
and he blocked epitasis.. i always hate moves that keep too outrageous of a vowel-consonant ratio, but i suppose IPSST > AISST? since it likes E11 AI more. -1.5 #tacticssmall
Cesar Del Solar vs. Frank Tangredi (Game 35105)
Knowledge Medium
F3 SH +17
I want to do (NA)RDS 5J even though it blocks the D in FOOD, because YARAKS is good! I always forget that because of its definition: a fit condition for hunting: -- used of a hawk. The last part confuses my brain into thinking it's an adjectiive or an exclamation. #knowledgemedium #tacticsmedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Wes Eddings (Game 33883)
Vision Large
8J (D)ATIVE +33
12C BAY has the best equity, doesn't give Matt any floaters, and often draws into DATIVE next turn anyway. I'm not sure whether I even looked for anything after I found DATIVE. #visionlarge
Matt Graham vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 33194)
Finding Medium
11K (F)UG +7
this has quite good recursion potential, so it's not as much of a mistake as quackle says over OU(T)AGE. But it's a testament to how OUTAGE is better than FUG doesn't immediately do as well, since it means I don't draw a huge Q play as often as I would like to. #findingmedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Will Anderson (Game 32898)
Finding Medium
10J HATED +36
in speed games, there is enormous value in seeing bingos quickly. I unfortunately do not usually have that capacity, so I often make plays like this, that can't be too much worse than a bingo, but that are clearly inferior. The time I save is very valuable, but immediately missing the bingos is obviously a problem. Had I taken the time to see a bingo after not immediately seeing one, I would have lost a lot of time and it would not have been worth it. Best looks to be L5 cATHEAD, which looks like it would lead to a game where whoever gets the next bingo will win. #findingmedium
Noah Walton vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 35563)
Strategy Large
10I (V)O(E) +8
Drat. NOESIS scores 45, and playing parallel to OBOE on column M with any number of things retainng one S is just far better than fishing just an O. Might've been a bit tilted drawing my third consecutive unplayable CSW bingo - but the disappointing thing is that in this particular case, I might've been more apt to find NOESIS since I already had ANOESIS# in my mind. #visionlarge #strategylarge
Matt Canik vs. Will Anderson (Game 32890)
Strategy Small
E4 MIME(O)ED +24
Quackle likes H6 MILE a lot. I don't see what's so great about it, but MIMEOED is probably a mistake anyway, as it blows up the rack. 7E MEG is the best equity play but Championship Player doesn't seem to consider it. D8 VIMEN is reasonable. #strategysmall
Alec Sjoholm vs. Betty Cornelison (Game 33768)
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)
Strategy Medium
L8 WOO +17
This is one of five plays that win 100% because they block N5 VENDEES--a word I had forgotten about. Quackle likes L8 WO because it doesn't empty the bag. This is the pre-endgame, though, and I don't trust Quackle here. I like 10J WAUR, unloading a U with one unseen. #strategymedium
Alec Sjoholm vs. Gunther Jacobi (Game 33633)
Finding Small
J10 BU(R)G +25
both aitches are out, so this is highly dangerous. It's notably better to play 10J D(E)BUG against a robot, but perhaps not against a human, as the extra points keep the pressure on, especially if he doesn't have the H or any easy play elsewhere.
#findingsmall
Matt Graham vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 33135)
Strategy Medium
B1 (Q)I +22
a bit of a hard move here. i had a feeling this wasn't quite right, but it seemed worth it to go for the small chance at IKEBANA/ABELIAN (~12%), score 22, and if it doesn't work i can fish next turn too. quackle likes D3 ABA for some reason, ugh. or BAIT 6B. i don't know. -3 #strategymedium
Cesar Del Solar vs. Joel Sherman (Game 33553)
Knowledge Large
6G U(n)IFIC +18
this is probably OK since it keeps things more open long-term than other plays. #highlyquestionable #knowledgelarge for last turn
Ross Brown vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 35785)
Knowledge Large
9A CAPOT +26
7F UPO sims best, and I probably would have played that if I had seen H8 RaMSHORN; Kenji's best play after UPO is B7 RAMSHOrN. CAPOT is bad even if RaMSHORN doesn't exist, because of Kenji's next play. #knowledgelarge
Kenji Matsumoto vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 33090)