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)
Strategy Medium
O1 WILI +27
The only bingos are 1G WHIlLIED# and WHILlIED, which I did not know. However, Quackle prefers 13A IWI#, which keeps a better leave than WILI# (including two vowels, which is important given the consonant-heavy pool) and gives me a chance to play a bingo from 1H-1O next turn. I considered 9M WAI#, with the same idea; but WAI performs slightly worse than IWI and the bingos, likely because it blocks column L. #strategymedium #knowledgemedium
Alec Sjoholm vs. Peter Armstrong (Game 37351)
Finding Medium
10B REV(A)MP +21
tough turn! I somehow failed to consider 2I REV(A)MP. Not actually a tough turn now. I saw VAMP there only and hated the hook it left. #findingmedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Nicholas Tam (Game 35784)
Tactics Small
14H INClINE +80
This has the highest valuation, but Quackle prefers the safer 11G CoNIINE. INClINE takes D, R, and S, all of which can easily end a seven-letter bingo to bring Michael back into this game. #tacticssmall
Alec Sjoholm vs. Michael Baker (Game 33772)
Strategy Small
4J JUM(P) +30
4J JUM(P)ED is probably fine here. I shouldn't be too worried about triple-triples after a 5 tile play. It also blocks bingos making EDS. #strategysmall
Joshua Castellano vs. Chris Lipe (Game 40998)
Knowledge Large
pass - +0
I only remembered ANTEFIXA taking an L, but it is EL. my position if I accept is also not very good, I will probably do OPERA or exchange. #knowledgelarge
Jackson Smylie vs. Seth Lipkin (Game 33101)
Strategy Medium
9C JA(I) +18
I have to leave one in the bag here. 14A (T)IP is best because it sets up D12 JAIL to outrun any bing winning everytime according the Championship Player. This is almost as good. #strategymedium
Robert Linn vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 31572)
Strategy Small
5M L(UN) +9
Obviously not opening after YIN. LUN preserves HAZAN/AZAN possibilities for the future. The only other move I would potentially do here is 9C HULA, which should be pretty difficult to bingo with. #strategysmall 14:46
Will Anderson vs. Ayotunde Adeyeri (Game 33406)
Endgame Large
4C aCi(NU)S +31
should not go out. -15 to just dropping the blank G at J10. Funny because I set myself up to do a better-than-optimal endgame with KAE. #endgameSADDEST
Winter vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 42667)
Strategy Large
O1 DISH +51
quackle likes C11 AWE. i have the last two Ss and the QUODS lane is open for next turn. also the pool looks like AEEIIOORRTTUU lol. DISS bingoes with a lot of that pool. i should at least have considered that. -14 #strategylarge #focus
Laurie Cohen vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35445)
Strategy Large
1A DATU(M) +27
I have no idea what is best here. I considered N10 DU(E), which is simming best, but I'm pretty sure Quackle is severely underestimating how often that gets blocked. Something like 10L L(ID)O would be good enough. I played this because if IOT? was somehow in the bag, I could win with either A1 (D)ORMIEnT or D6 EROTIsM. There are probably better plays that go for something similar. #strategysaddest
Chris Lipe vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 41012)
Finding Large
11H (N)OVA +14
I saw QUEYS this turn but didn't see AVIONS, and doubted AVIANS. This is why I lose so many games [against Joey] #findinglarge #knowledgelarge
Joey Mallick vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 34569)
Time Large
14E AVI(ON) +16
i had about 30 seconds or so on my clock. i didn't think he was going to let me play OVATIONS, so i was looking for a Q stick. then he did this. i didn't think he had given me a bingo, and i was only looking to the right. i saw novations on my rack at some point but then thought too bad the ON is backwards. i then tried to continue thinking of a way to Q stick him and couldn't figure it out. this is of course a ridiculously bad play, but it didn't register that i wasn't Q-sticking him at the time, i literally just ran out of time. The funniest thing is that slow-playing the game actually works too, i didn't need to find novations. 6F IT wins for example. -120 #endgamelarge #timelarge #nojudgment #meowmeow
Richard Buck vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 33791)
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)
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)
Strategy Medium
M1 PREGAmE +75
A difficult decision. That bingo is coming, sooner rather than later. I've been very fortunate that he hasn't gotten it down yet. I saw options at N4, but they didn't seem worth it at the time. In fact, all of them are, even though Mark might parallel them. PuGAREE N4, tripling the G, is clearly best among those. (-2% win chances) #strategymedium
Mark Miller vs. Carl Johnson (Game 34472)
Endgame Large
14M (M)U(N) +10
This, however, is where I should have lost this game. I thought there was only 1 spot to play the U, but 8L UDO is the other one. So 11D EM should have come down first. #endgamelarge
Samuel Kaplan vs. Edward H Zurav (Game 37292)
Strategy Small
5E OWLY +25
Quackle picks 3H YOW, which is tied for the best equity with 13B YOW--OWLY is a point behind, and the three unseen L's do not significantly diminish the gap. I prefer 13B YOW over 3H YOW, as it opens a potentially high-scoring lane on row 14 and doesn't obstruct the lanes on rows 3 and 5. #strategysmall
Steven Alexander vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 33632)
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 Unspecified
14A VAR +22
Nothing is particularly appealing to me here. I could have also done 6H VAV(s) as well, but I would like to be able to counter with a bingo should he bingo. That's just gonna make it extremely difficult to play on the top of the board in the future. However, H4 VALV(A)R is a miss and would have gotten me out of this mess better. #findingbad
Samuel Kaplan vs. Mark Garrod (Game 36586)
Strategy Large
4A HA(N)IWA +32
D3 FAH is extremely obvious. HANIWA is a rather bad move; she comes back with AMBIENT a lot of the time, or ANIMATE, etc! I don't lose but it's a massive spread difference. #preendgame #focus #strategylarge
Vicky Julian vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35264)
Strategy Small
2N J(O) +18
the only thing that would make up for the phony 4 would be to extend it to HOKYPOKY (which is obviously why I didn't just insta-challenge, why is that good but not HOKY*)
Quackle much prefers JE(O)N 3I due to defense. Makes sense. (O)BE even does significantly better than my fish. #strategysmall and #knowledgesaddest for last move having scored 42 and not 0.
Joshua Sokol vs. Karl Higby (Game 40525)
Strategy Unspecified
M9 MAN(G)A +22
Looked for a while here, no bingoes play. 11G MAt(E)RNAL and TAL(E)sMAN both got blocked. Seeing I had one of the blanks, and now the pool is meh at best from my perspective, I might as well scare Mitchell a bit and allow him to take one of the open triples. He could have drawn the W and/or Y after he just played off 5 tiles, and those can be bingo killers themselves at times. I just know he's gonna try to be as defensive as he can possibly be, which would require him to empty the bag in order to do that, in this case, taking out both 3x3s. That would allow me the best odds to bingo out and win the game. #strategyspoton
Mitchell Brook vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36290)
Strategy Medium
13L OU(T) +12
Championship Player likes 4F PROTEI, which is an awesome find but doesn't block FARL. Of the plays that block FARL, CP prefers K9 PUERIlE. PUERIlE also wins the sim, with O13 ORE/IRE close behind; OUT is too much of a sacrifice. I suppose now is the time to confess that I wasn't certain of INCLINER. #strategymedium
Alec Sjoholm vs. Michael Baker (Game 33772)
Knowledge Large
J2 KOONIES +0 (Lost challenge)
I have no respect for my opponents and my results are suffering as a result. *OR* I have a high expections that max will not lose this game if I don't bing here, and that it was more likely he would not challenge the newly expurgated word. Obviously I played NOOKIES, not this #knowledgesaddest
Maxim Panitch vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 39766)
Finding Small
J2 UNA(R)Y +18
julia is so funny, she was saying how I was already destroying here! I'm only up by like 20 haha. I missed PYU(R)IA here which looks better #findingsmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Julia Bogle (Game 33121)
Finding Small
C3 PAD +20
14A TAPER was my first thought. G11 R(I)P sims second best, and I never thought of it. I decided there's no need to open the bottom, but I think RIP is probably correct, it sims 5 points higher. I bingo much more. #findingsmall
Joshua Sokol vs. Jared Cappel (Game 42467)
Strategy Small
11E MY +28
like this over HEY to not give back easy parallels. sims a few points worse, the HJ combo doesn't seem too good. B7 HEY looks correct here though, didn't consider keeping the Y for a better play next turn. #strategysmall
Mark Miller vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 33120)
Finding Large
7H PO +9
Definitely wasn't sure how to approach this turn. Given that I needed to win this game as opposed to trying to cut spread due to having a large spread lead over Mark, I wasn't in any mood to parallel all the floaters I'm gonna want to have later on. As it turns out, this was a lame and unaggressive move. I think B8 (c)OMPONE was the play I was looking for here to stay withing striking distance and not shut the board down. #findinglarge
Mark Garrod vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36589)
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)
Endgame Small
4A CO(w)E(R) +18
This is just a much worse version of (R)OWA(N) 9H and I could easily just play (P)OW or something but I still want to dodge the 10 unseen vowels #endgamesad
Matt Canik vs. Seth Lipkin (Game 33088)
Vision Medium
K6 MORULAS +74
I might take out Column K seeing how easy PEE is to hook, but there's a better bingo that I missed either way- D8 (C)LAMOURS for 2 more. Not to mention, Libero isn't out of this one yet with how easy it is to hook this board. #visionmedium
Samuel Kaplan vs. Libero Paolella (Game 37170)
Knowledge Small
exch DFLM +0
#Knowledgesad for challenging a three but that's how we roll in this biz
#tacticssmall for keeping CTZ instead of TZ
Nitya Chagti vs. Kaia (Game 43260)
Finding Medium
I5 AVO +17
unfortunately I totally spaced on just VIA B1 here. That seems clear. I considered BIO and BOA there... I didn't like giving up the S here with VASE, but it did score well. I also didn't like the leave of BIO at all. #findingmedium
Joey Krafchick vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 35822)
Finding Medium
2K (F)OZY +38
D11 (T)OTTY seems right, I hit SIZ(Y) with an I, DOZ(Y) with an O, ZEDS or DE(CRYING) with an E, and a whole host of other fun scoring plays exist because I kept the Z, the best tile in Scrabble. #knowledgemedium #findingmedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Jim Nanavati (Game 40109)
Endgame Large
13B JO +24
wow this is actually horrible! I only really win with the A and L draws. with the other draws he has a lot of 1 and 2 point wins, often stuff like R(I)VAL or V(I)TAL saving TU(R)F and TUF(A), and some other stuff. I realized that the O setup here was kinda weak, but still just assumed I was in a great position. That's totally not true. I missed F2 JIAO, which is far better. #endgamelarge JIAO only loses with a V draw to 14G TURF setting up LAT. Although JO will win a lot in reality cause most of the endgames are somewhat difficult, it's still horrible and a massive oversight
Jackson Smylie vs. Maxim Panitch (Game 35246)
Endgame Large
G11 L(A) +2
I thought the A(V)A play was genius, which it was, setting up Q(A)t/t(OY) and Qu(AY) unblockable. Sadly it gives me an out I somehow failed to see!!! And then I play this for some really stupid reason. Maybe hoping she missed Qu(AY)? #endgamesaddest
Irene Gedney vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 39598)
Strategy Small
E10 VARA +21
Quackle prefers 2M AVA, keeping the R. I don't like opening 3x3 spots so cheaply, so I would play the second-place 3B VARA. #strategysmall
Alec Sjoholm vs. Noah Walton (Game 33574)
Strategy Large
14G B(E)NJ +33
Will: Close, but there are more than enough bingoes that still go down along column L that I absolutely need to play BENJES here instead; I probably also do a bit better in endgames by going out in one. #strategylarge
Joshua Castellano vs. Will Anderson (Game 34385)
Strategy Large
15B NAIRA +17
i got so afraid that he would have some 3-3 through IT that i decided to block it, instead of just play AA, keeping EINRS for the triple-triple (or a likely bingo) myself! i really psych myself out a ton when playing top players. -10 #strategylarge
Cesar Del Solar vs. Joey Mallick (Game 32732)
Finding Small
13J ZO(O)TY +34
did not see that 13K was better, since I draw into QA(T) simply 14J when I draw an A, and a bunch of other plays through the T that score 60+ #findingsmall
Joshua Sokol vs. Michael Baker (Game 37674)