CoCo Seattle Scrabble tournament round 5. I have heard it said that on an opening turn, one should exchange rather than playing a low-scoring vowel dump, to avoid allowing eights. That is especially true here, as I can keep a better leave after exchanging AOU. #strategysmall
i wrote BAD !! next to this play at some point. not sure what makes it so much worse than missing HADJEE, but something like AVAIL or even EVICT is straightforward here. -2.5 #strategysmall i think i'm mostly mad at myself for fishing for no reason.
There are only 4 winning plays. In order from best to worst valuation, they are 12L (ZOO)N, G1 (T)UP, H1 (R)UNG, and G1 (T)UNG. All of these block 2A FRIGATE except for 12L (ZOO)N, which always wins after 2A FRIGATE because I get C2 (I)NGROUPs if I draw the R and C1 P(I)QUiNG if I draw the Q. G1 (T)UP is only about 2 points worse. #endgamesad
Will blocked LAYOVERS, and with nothing to lose but spread, I decided to check whether HUNTABLE takes an S. O1 SYLVAE has the highest valuation. #knowledgelarge
a little sad that FORGETS was blocked and he didn't give me any floaters for a bingo. i was thinking if he bingoes through the L he'd at least give me an E for GOREFEST! i considered GOFER, but not strongly enough, I guess; should have counted it and compared to OFTER. quackle prefers FOG(Y) best, keeping a great leave that bingoes > 2/3 of the time. i tend to dislike not taking points early and staying within striking distance; if FOGY doesn't work out I'll fall farther behind. It's hard to really know. -3 #strategysmall
this was frustrating. I missed GERB(I)L which seems like the play I would make. Quackle prefers fishing again with (E)RG or B(E)RG. Either way, this seems like a mistake #findingsmall
I was a bit wary of opening all the nice floaters, but I still gotta just do ZOSTER here. if it was ERST instead of ORST then we might be talking. He only bingoes 5% more after zoster? interesting #tacticsmedium
7F NOODGE scores 1 more than GEODE, keeps a better leave, and does not set up a Z bomb. While I agree with Quackle that NOODGE is better than GEODE, I don't see how it's a 10-point mistake. #findinglarge
Quackle picks 5K OWL, but I prefer 5K OWN, which has slightly better equity. I missed the spot, and I thought FON scored 22 before I played it. I also mistakenly thought FON kept better than WON. #findingmedium
I thought it was only CAYOMAS* instead of MACOYAS (I got confused with CAEOMAS) so this is a huge mistake. I was probably supposed to play G2 RUBI(CONED) which is totally badass. #KNOWLEDGESADDEST
This endgame was terribly played. I spent way too long looking for bingoes and there were none, which put me on the verge of going OT after this play. EPIGEAn doesn't play, and I failed to spot Row 10 plays, namely 10K GAPE(D). #visionterrible
i can smell that X setup from a mile away, Josh. YACK is the obvious play here, but when you infer an X, 10D DAM goes up to the top. there is a lot more C-K synergy so CAM is not right here. -5.5 #tacticsmedium
13I DROWN is simming best, which sort of says something about the position. I think I was trying too hard for the J setup, although he does have unconducive tiles to block the setup with. #tacticssmall
it's a significant mistake here to miss DORMY. YOU there is (a lot?) better; it sets up a new lane and it also gives up fewer points. -2 #strategysmall
I wondered if bURNOUS(ES) was good, but not so much because it didn't score anything and this might be better anyway. However, I missed aNUROUS somehow, which fits for 70 at D9 and is clearly the right play. It will be a close game, but aNUROUS gives me the best shot. #findinglarge
ahhh CONVENTED! #visionlarge I also kinda regretted playing FUN, it lets him overlap sometimes when he has MNX tiles. The sim is kinda weird cause it has him opening a lot after FUN, but realistically I think I should play (E)NUF to be more defensive. CO(N)N is super defensive but also blows up my rack. #tacticssmall for ENUF.
huge error here. I thought BING took an S and felt weird about setting up an S hook when he has one on his rack. BUNG is the same type of deal, good aggression but obviously that's not the goal here. I surely would have played BING had I been sure it didn't take an S, but I think BUNG is still far better than my play. BEGUN has two major issues, defensively. It allows plays from 15a which will let the left side be opened, and it doesn't really block the 15 row, the M will now be really really tough to block and will just sit there until one of us hits it. This is why BUNG is better than BEGUN, at least an S play will do great things to the board next turn. as long as I can avoid an immediate bingo I will be in a great position. BING is still the play, also blocking the D, and working out so well so often. #knowledgelarge
dropping the Q bingoes way more than QA(T) here! 23% vs. 6%, AAILRV is surprisingly strong. however, Quackle likes playing QI/VIE or QI/POI best, cause it outruns more consistently. #tacticssmall
wrote down JAGLESS on my scoresheet, and i haven't studied enough to know the words cold. sorry to disappoint my loyal fans out there. now i'll never know how sick it would have been to bingo with JAGLESS. 2E J(A)G is better than my move, btw, i think. -58 #knowledgelarge
Best play here is sick: EREMITE D8, setting up a likely QI C12 for next turn. QAT isn't awful, but you can see that EEIRT is a terrible leave against that pool. (-6) #visionmedium
i thought about this for a while and i've been studying 6s and only remembered UNGUAL and UNGULAR. i couldn't think what UNGULA could be the plural of. but i guess UNGULAR should mean pertaining to an UNGULA. he also took a while on this and thought he might be makng it up #knowledgelarge
really put me on the edge here, I cannot let him 3x3 here with how bingo-prone this board is, so I decided to throw a lot of equity down the drain to block. NUV were poor here, but the Y was very nice, and I get NY(AH) for 30 at a bare minimum. However I just completely spaced on (E)VENT which is just a way better version of this.
In a sim this gets destroyed by ENVY 5I for 35 by almost 20 points. It still loses to ENVY if I add 100 points to my score, which gives you an idea of how bad I am at this game. EVENT is the play #findinglarge
Really tanked on this turn. I didn't want to leave the D open because a bingo there seemed like the only reasonable way I could lose. I should probably just play 15A ZET(A). #strategymedium
Considered BIPOD in the same spot, but didn't want to allow high-scoring 7s ending in S with all four Ss out. Also PRO is a much better leave than NR especially with no Ns played yet. At this point I'm pretty much conceded to an open board so wasn't that worried about the BINDI hook, so chose BIND over BOND to avoid a possible onslaught of Is from the pool. The best play is probably 2J IODIN, which I didn't see. #visionsmall
9F MAXI is a _perfect_ move here, especially after he took so long on DUCKS (it was several minutes, which strongly implied to me he kept a blank; it seems like an easier play to make if he's holding another S). -4 #strategymedium
when i choose to play all ugly i have to play as precisely as possible. maybe a robot can play perfectly after VIM, but i have to be able to find the somewhat hard to anagram CATGUT through the T and see that it's better than CUTCH. keeping the H is nice for the possibility at B10, and CH has good synergy as well. -4.5 #findingmedium
1) I should know the extensions for PRIZE if I play PRIZE 2) I should have calculated the difference between ZIG and PRIZE better
3) I should see PIEZO ffs #findingmedium #strategymedium
now, the same idea is potentially completely ridiculous and bad. I have to give up here and play JETES or JEES, the latter of which I missed. This is the problem with playing B(A)D last turn. One of the reasons is that I will have K column plays to score next turn, and I should play those. But I forwent those last turn. So it's sort of a paradox, and very human to try and continue in the same vein as last turn. But now, I'm sacrificing far more by not taking the points. This play is very commital and I'm basically deciding to never play on the K column unless Lou plays a bingo elsewhere or plays on the 15 row. Quackle hates this because it mainly assumes I will use the K column when I miss. The point is that when I miss, I'm more and more screwed by not scoring. #strategymedium
D12 HA might be better here. I am worried about JET D12, especially since I have 10 fewer points. NAH K3 seems to hit more bingos than this and accomplishes the same thing, also sets up QI for 33. Seems better. I liked blocking all of the bingos. Hard to infer anything from MY. #tacticssmall
He ALMOST played L9 RAIS(I)NG, which would have given me M5 PINKEST
D3 P(O)KE here? Keep trying for a bingo? #strategylarge Also, I miscounted 5F (JO)KIEST as 34 oop
thought about AA for real, which is prob what I play normally, but I didn't like how risky DEIOT was, especially on this board with not many good options for it if I don't hit. 4L ODEA is also fine as a more open option, but AA is nice and defensive. AA just performs similarly to ALODIA in most ways so the score is worth it. I'll say #tacticssmall cause it's probably an overadjustment
I had no time here and sort of gave up. I probably should've played 5A (AW)K to make it at least a bit harder to block possible bingos at 14F and 15A. #timesaddest
I had a hunch that ARREArED* might be phony, and I saw bingos on 14F. So why didn't I just play DREAREr for only 7 fewer? Quackle strongly prefers fishing off two tiles with O10 EGGER.... #knowledgelarge