Tactics Small
J10 JI(G) +27
i did see 2F JEE, but didn't like that i don't have one of the A's to front-hook it. i don't like it that much, idk. i think i would still do JIG any day unless someone convinces me otherwise. -4 #tacticssmall (if anything)
Christopher Sykes vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32708)
Strategy Medium
N9 (A)Y +26
AACIRT is not all that strong of a leave here. weird move. i guess i like sorta blocking the S too, but this still is meh. -4 #strategymedium C2 YA looks standard, but very easy to overlap. maybe M1 YEA?
Cesar Del Solar vs. Rick Julian (Game 35142)
Strategy Large
10G BESTEaD +68
ugh i was so frustrated by JAUNTEd that i spent literally 9 minutes on this move. i spent a very long time trying to alternatively talk myself out of BESETTED*, talk myself into playing DEBT instead of bingoing, and then trying to find a better bingo than BESTEaD. then for about two minutes i started even doubting BESTEad was good. With about 12 minutes on my clock i said screw it and just played bestead. very frustrating, constantly losing to Joel. DEBT sims significantly better than BESTEaD, and BEDrEST is also a better bingo. -8.5 #strategylarge -- i didn't think he would leave the 3-3 open
Joel Sherman vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 34026)
Endgame Small
C1 KLAP +35
Felt clever mathing this out and feeling like I had gotten this endgame right - but Quackle humbles me with 2L NAN, setting up NANE/KELP in a way which can only be blocked if Lynda plays something like US/NANS for 10, eating both the J and V when I respond with 15K KELPY. KLAP is second best and 4 points off of that sequence. #endgamesmall 7:10
Will Anderson vs. Lynda Woods Cleary (Game 33405)
Tactics Medium
exch OUUWW +0
Quackle hates this exchange and wants me to conserve spread by playing G3 WOWS, blocking the bingo lanes on rows 2-4 while saving 4I LUAU for next turn. #tacticsmedium
Jerry Lerman vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 32985)
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)
Tactics Medium
L10 (S)OLATE +22
almost fished the O for ATELIER/LAETRI(L)E unblockable or ELATERS/STEALER.
Fishing the O is .5 better for average spread than my play of SOLATE. The I, along with the A, is most likely to be in the bag given his last play of S(E)A. So fishing the O is best #tacticsmedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Eric Harshbarger (Game 35818)
Vision Small
14J FAV(E)R +38
Somehow missed 13I VAV - although it sims completely evenly with FAVER I think I prefer VAV for a couple reasons. First, the FHRT leave synergizes really well with the row 4 scoring lane forming CH. Second, in this particular scenario, it's not clear to me that Winter will know PAWAW and if I draw the W I could score a boatload with it at 14J to the DWS. #visionsmall
Will Anderson vs. Winter (Game 34378)
Strategy Medium
10B INTINE +20
i don't have time for this garbage. i need to like take care of my house and work on some side projects, not draw EIIN to INT. so i don't know, excuse me for not fishing again when i'm down by 150 pts with 12L INIA, this game is done. -6 #lucklarge #fml #strategymedium
Matt Graham vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 33681)
Tactics Medium
G3 COW +25
Chosen over G3 WOG because this scores two more points and opens, and the G can hook SIN while the C cannot. D11 WOG scores the same as G3 WOG (which I didn't realize), so the same argument applies--but Quackle strongly prefers D11 WOG. In retrospect, I agree; D11 WOG keeps better tiles and closes, which I should want to do with my lead. #tacticsmedium
Alec Sjoholm vs. Chris Sjoholm (Game 33771)
Strategy Medium
12G WOKEST +33
i saw the only bingo here, 10E NETWOrKS. the main reason i didn't want to play it is that i might be down if he bingoes to DIGHTS afterwards, with an uglyish board. i thought i could take points, keep the blank, and draw some more of the good stuff in the bag? tough choice, but WOKEST does sim just above NETWORKS by win %! 12L WOKS though is the top play, which takes out that lane as well but keeps a better leave for bingoing next turn. oops. -6 #strategymedium
Cesar Del Solar vs. David Pearl (Game 35443)
Tactics Small
exch IIIQUV +0
Quackle likes keeping the Q here, EQU ahead of E and EIQU doing best - I score 6 more on avg. than keeping E, which is pretty cool. I remember thinking that the Q was probably not so great on the first turn, but that seems incorrect. #tacticssmall EIQU is the most variant leave of the bunch, though
Jackson Smylie vs. Anita Rackham (Game 35364)
Knowledge Medium
O12 (F)EUS +32
This is when S(PORTERs) becomes relevant. I was not a fan of it at the start of the game, but I forgot about it when things started frowning upon me in this middlegame. It is absolutely relevant here and keeping my S is very important. #knowledgemedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Frank Tangredi (Game 35853)
Knowledge Medium
10H ASHAmED +76
i think i wasn't totally sure that metopons was good. but metopae/metope are two different things. so abashed is better. -6.5 #knowledgemedium
Cesar Del Solar vs. Rafi Stern (Game 32705)
Finding Medium
8L O(T)IC +21
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
Joshua Sokol vs. Fern Lindzon (Game 33975)
Finding Small
14I (S)WUM +17
Y setup! I could be more defensive with H11 EMU or something, maybe that's the call! with the 3 row and such I like setting up a scoring spot, but maybe it gets taken organically too often. given the deliciousness of the 3 row for the Y already, I think EMU is fine cause I score a lot, only a few less than after swum. #findingsmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Mark Pistolese (Game 35375)
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)
Finding Small
12C FYKE(S) +30
oh maybe just FYK(E) here, a bit less defensive. didn't see it. I was close ot playing DYKE, hoping he might not know the D hook, but I think he would. Q has it similar to FYKE, and that seems a bt better than FYKES. #findingsmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Michael Fagen (Game 35368)
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)
Finding Large
O12 (D)UCT +21
it might be that the best way to win is to try to go out next turn. O9 CONDUIT/NOCTUID score a lot and may be possible ways to do this. totally didn't see them. minus a lot, #findinglarge
Jay Levin vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32939)
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 33560)
Time Large
O8 BEG +23
Before this turn, I had maybe 9 minutes on my clock, but my tracking was off. I think I spent about 8 minutes retracking before realizing we were missing a tile. By the time we found it I had maybe a minute left. I panicked and played this. #TIMESADDEST
Joshua Castellano vs. Tim Weiss (Game 34401)
Finding Medium
5K OM(A) +18
I saw O10 FAKEER as I entered this rack into Quackle. Surprisingly OMA is only about 7 points worse, but that is likely because it keeps FAKEER for next turn. #findingmedium
Alec Sjoholm vs. John Karris (Game 32989)
Vision Medium
E1 RETOU(C)H +24
i had a feeling this wasn't a good move, but i actually could not find anything better. i think i thought of OUCH E4 but that's only marginal. i like TOUCH but there's a lot of unseen Es. 2B URETHAN is the clear star play here; just need to improve anagramming. -7.5 #visionmedium
Cesar Del Solar vs. Joey Mallick (Game 33804)
Tactics Large
N2 DIVAN +26
when I originally challenged THREATER*, the clock reset. We both had around 12 minutes left and we agreed upon that, but I had used a ton of time in the last few moves to which I only had around 2 minutes and change. It really bothered me not knowing how much time I had left exactly, but it shouldn't have. I should have been calm and collected. Instead, I played this because it seemed to accomplish a lot of goals, as well as setting my X up, and I didn't want there to be a dispute.
All of this to excuse the fact that I still cannot see the word VIAND immediately when I see DIVAN. VIAND is just a much better version of this, especially when you consider what happened in the game. #tacticslarge
Joey Krafchick vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 34807)
Vision Medium
4A J(O)TA +38
This is OK in its own right, and it does score the most, but 8J IDEATE would have allowed me to save my J and given me 5 chances to draw an A and something else for nice 6F plays! #visionmedium
I wish Woogles would have a button that allows me to change lexicons in the middle of the game, JAI# at 6F would have easily been it in that case! LOL
Connie Creed vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36192)
Tactics Small
10J WO +30
I missed 7M WOE and 12D OWE here, I was v fixated on TWO/WOE before he played BEEN so I think I tunnelled on the spot. #tacticssmall OWE looks a bit better for my bingo % even though the S is a better lane for me, he doesn't block the N as much as the S next turn.
Nicholas Tam vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 35376)
Time Unspecified
B6 ELOIN +20
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
Alec Sjoholm vs. Carl Johnson (Game 34492)
Finding Medium
F2 GR(I)M +15
must have missed M(U)GG, obv better. I didn't like that this also closes the option of opening the top left later on, GRIM opens this marginal G line but prevents me from doing a good setup there later. #findingmedium
Stefan Fatsis vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 33117)
Endgame Large
M9 PAG(E)R +22
I panicked here. Massively.
I didn't know what the standings were, I just knew I had to play a valid word to secure the win. I also wanted to play the endgame well. I saw (S)PURGALL and briefly wondered if I could be making it up. I tried to see what his highest-scoring play was, but with seconds to go I could only see 15, which would tie the game, but I couldn't be sure. Had I been aware of the standings, I would have played the bingo!
#endgamelarge
Karl Higby vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 33876)
Strategy Small
K2 ID(E)AL +26
Quackle despises this, but I think it's fine - GOO isn't a good leave but the PLAYMATES spot is quite dangerous and IDEAL does as good a job of blocking it as I can while scoring a lot in the process. I saw GEOIDAL but it leaves lots of stuff like ZEES there and also puts an A in a dangerous spot at K8. Maybe a #strategysmall, but I still think my play is ideal.
Mack Meller vs. Matt Graham (Game 34732)
Finding Small
M9 KRAIT +39
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
Steven DiNapoli vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 35814)
Knowledge Large
pass - +0
i had like 8 seconds on my clock and i instantly challenged this because Ted Gest is a scrabble director and i have SLALOM to go out. #knowledgelarge
Trip Payne vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35446)
Finding Large
15A FET +24
now worried about ABASIC* smh, the star play is 7G P(R)EED(I)T for 42(!). This hits PRIED 13I with an R, thought it might be worth going for. #knowledgelarge #findinglarge
Matt Graham vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 34819)
Vision Medium
J1 V(E)G +7
I was sad to see touche come down! not only does it make a sneaky K1 lane, it also blocked my devastating V(OUCH) setup I was gonna make, setting up JAW or JAG. but ah fuck I missed a great opportunity with (Y)AWL here, setting up JEW above for hella plays, JIG, JAG next turn which happens a lot. I got really tunneled on VEG vs. JEW and misssed that opportunity, which REALLY helps me outrun. #visionmedium
Nicholas Tam vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 35376)
Knowledge Large
12D AXE +0 (Lost challenge)
big miss, ANNEXES, surprisingly I get a chance to play ANNEXES a little later too.
don't know why I thoughty ADA was good.
#findingSADDEST #knowledgeSADDEST
Danielle Barker vs. Wayne Clifford (Game 33586)
Finding Small
A8 CuRvIES(T) +77
one of many ridiculous draws at the start of the tourney. I missed the two 8s that doubled the C after looking a bit less than a minute. I had already used a lot of my clock so I decided this was probably fine anyway since it blocks.
#findingsmall
Joshua Sokol vs. Scott Appel (Game 33141)
Strategy Medium
4A TAUON +18
i saw UNROOT at M3 but i didn't like it that much. i'm down a bit over a tempo and there's only a couple of lamish bingo lanes open. UNROOT sets up some overlap possibilities for him. it didn't seem that exciting. but maybe it's right. TAUON gives back 6 more pts on average. -4 #strategymedium
Alec Sjoholm vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32703)
Knowledge Large
15C WINgB(A)TS +63
Absolutely and horribly inexcusable. This is invalid and I held for a while, unable to remember if BATWING or WINGBAT* is valid. I remembered that Reid had a history of knowing a lot of words and I know that I don't know anything at all and eventually accept and make the spread-cutting move but WINGBATS* ISN'T A WORD ASDAFSD
Literally when the only way to lose is to accept a word that looks funny to you, you should probably challenge that word. Guhhhhhh. This is one of many, many times where I show absolutely no faith in my word knoweldge this tournament.
#knowledgesaddest #tacticssaddest (idk if I can tag two things but I'll try)
Reid Hattaway vs. Matt Canik (Game 32971)
Finding Small
3K ILK +21
I didn't consider fishing the M, nor did I consider M12 (E)LK! ELK looks really strong now, and it's not easy to block either. ILK does pretty well, and does open the right side which is important (and thought he miiiight miss ilka). I considered 13L TSK as well to set up a really hard to block lane, but without S in hand it's not as powerful. this looks like a #findingsmall for ELK
Jackson Smylie vs. Bryn Bowen (Game 35240)
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)
Vision Medium
4H PI(L)OT +30
PITOT 10J is better, once again because F2 (A: 10J?) is such a big spot. Also better is TIPTOED 13C, breaking up the unpalatable DS combo. (-3.5) #visionmedium
Alec Sjoholm vs. Carl Johnson (Game 34492)
Strategy Small
I8 (E)XOME +47
C11 MAX outperforms EXOME - extra point, unduplicates the As, yields one fewer point to Benjy thanks to that nasty column J reparallel. #strategysmall
Will Anderson vs. Ben Schoenbrun (Game 34592)
Strategy Small
J7 (NU)TSY +21
Quackle likes 11E TREYS to score 10 more and restrict the 11 row, but I'm not so sure - between row 11 and SAL I'm pretty likely to bingo with EIRS after NUTSY. #strategysmall if anything.
Karl Higby vs. Mack Meller (Game 34724)
Strategy Large
A8 TUB +25
This is top equity, but I'm really disappointed in myself for this move. RORE is a flashing neon sign that Winter has the X or in the best case scenario for me is hoping to get it on his draw. Josh Sokol, please forgive me for not learning my lessons from you. I deserved to get hit with a ZEX bomb for 90 points after this. The play is obviously J10 WRIT. #strategylarge
Winter vs. Will Anderson (Game 34406)
Knowledge Medium
E7 D(E)NTINAL +68
i did see NONTIDAL but i wasn't totally sure about it. i figured i would take the bingo i'm sure of. I think i would have tried nontidal if dentinal didn't exist. no excuse for not learning my high prob bingos better, though. better hit the books again... -4 #knowledgemedium
Lisa Odom vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 33680)
Strategy Medium
15L BEIN +38
Second mistake in a row. I need to play BEEPING now while I have a playable bingo that scores 78. I balked at evening the score only to still be down tempo afterwards with potentially massive overlaps available; but there's only one A and one O left, so it's possible Terry can't even do anything on column A after BEEPING with APE/OPE. Also, GP? is pretty poor and there are a ton of whammy tiles in the bag that will torpedo my bingo% if I draw them. I regretted not playing BEEPING almost immediately. Quackle says it's a 7 point equity mistake. #strategymedium 10:20
Terry Kang Rau vs. Will Anderson (Game 33407)
Finding Small
K9 EMIC +18
Considered AMINE and AMINIC but missed LIMACINE, which Quackle prefers; unlike AMINE, it doesn't hook/give up bingos, and it scores as much as I can get. #findingsmall 10:53
Lynda Woods Cleary vs. Will Anderson (Game 33395)
Strategy Small
9H TALLY +23
TALLY isn't really a dramatic enough fork to do over just I6 LAZY; a play to the triple after TALLY leaves a horrendous board for scoring if I don't hit a bingo, and hitting one isn't very likely. That being said, LAZY can get me fenced in pretty much immediately as well. Tough spot. I think LAZY is better. #strategysmall
Kenji Matsumoto vs. Will Anderson (Game 32882)
Tactics Small
C11 V(A)LOR +16
Quackle assigns this the highest valuation, but M11 TOR and a few other plays have undetectably better win chances (99.99 > 99.99 apparently). I considered TOR but I did not realize that it forced bingos ending in S to play on column N instead of column M, thus giving me high-scoring responses. #tacticssmall
Alec Sjoholm vs. Michael Baker (Game 33631)
Strategy Medium
N6 XERIC +61
I liked this for defense, but XI bingos so much it looks like it's worth it. Especially for spread purposes it's probably the correct play, which would matter a lot later in the tournament. #strategymedium
Joel Horn vs. Mack Meller (Game 34731)
Strategy Medium
C7 CUTE(Y) +14
bad move. but ACUITY can give up so many pts! i don't know. ACUTE 14J also seems wrong. maybe 10G LIEU is fine but i also hate it. i don't know, i hate all my options. what's best here?- 5.5 #strategymedium
Adam Ginzberg vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35158)
Finding Medium
D1 FU(C)K +34
EBBS is annoying now, there's something to be said for leaving the C open in part to make a lay down to D8 to take out EBBS. however, ebbs isn't a huge threat cause it opens the triple for me, so outrunning is more of the goal here, with VIGILS open a bit as well. TAKA looks good for both of these goals, DFIU is more balanced as well and I block VIGILS. #findingmedium
Jackson Smylie vs. Mark Pistolese (Game 35375)
Tactics Medium
10C W(AD)I +10
I inferred a Z. But Jeff didn't have a Z. In my defense, 10C WADI wins the sim when I infer a Z, because none of Championship Player's choices block ADZ. But otherwise, 9G WIT is best. #tacticsmedium
Jeff Fiszbein vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 32987)
Knowledge Medium
J13 (I)F +13
i wasn't totally sure on FOLIAGED. FADO at N11 is simming best. it seems a bit too aggressive for my liking, but maybe i can do D9 DEAF or DEFEAT then (i didn't see AMIRS). my play bingos < 60% of the time and it may not be worth it. -4.5 #tacticsmedium #knowledgemedium #visionmedium
Edward De Guzman vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32707)
Tactics Small
H7 WOE +12
out of the EO/EE + FS/WS comboes, I liked EEFS best, at least right now. the W could be useful at other times, and maybe FOE is a bit better than WOE here. I didn't like the FO combo, so WOE over WEE, plus the hooks. I can also do EEEW here. I didn't like EEOS after FEW, inviting overlaps that I won't be able to hit well, and making no S hook. Q likes FOE best by a bit, I bingo a smidge less than after WOE but score a bit better w the W for overlaps. #tacticssmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Maxim Panitch (Game 35369)
Tactics Small
C1 BAH +36
NOH might be better because it saves QA(T) 8D which is currently my best Q spot, and unlikely to improve much. I could also play QA(T) now #tacticssmall
Joshua Sokol vs. Kevin Gauthier (Game 35885)
Finding Large
H1 FAIRER +40
i shouldn't be that hard on myself, but wow am i sucking this game. i saw AIRFARE, and it plays, hooking HADJE* (HADJEE). kind of embarrassed. -43 #findinglarge
Cesar Del Solar vs. Jerome Loch (Game 35104)
Endgame 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)
Finding Medium
11G (A)UDIT +12
I didn't see TUR(BI)D, which looks like a better X setup. It's not as clearly an X setup and doesn't open an S hook for him. With ADES I wasn't so concerned but I'm still giving him a couple awesome lanes, and he's taking the spot very often anyways. Even XU/LOT is probably fine here. #findingmedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 35372)
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)
Knowledge Large
A3 LEWisES +85
the Lewises say hi. Hi Lewises! wasn't sure enough of webless or aweless for that matter, although i liked the second more. but i should find tWELvES. bingos with two blanks are hard. #knowledgelarge -9
Mike Frentz vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35177)