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)
Tactics Medium
H10 RAD +17
i didn't think of G7 HERD. it seems relatively easy for him to block downards though, with either HERD or my play (column G down, or even something like AE, lol). i'm in more trouble than quackle thinks. quackle likes N12 DENE but that doesn't open a new lane. should i do it anyway and try to open a lane later? i don't know. -4 #tacticsmedium
Cesar Del Solar vs. Joel Sherman (Game 32936)
Finding Small
4D WYE +26
Was nervous about big bingos making LOX and EPIC after E5 OX and figured WYE could outrun any airballs with SEPIC. I think the idea is fine with WYE, but if I'm gonna do that I should play YOWIE. #findingsmall
Mack Meller vs. Joey Mallick (Game 34738)
Tactics Medium
8G (DEW)AN +21
yeah lol OUTA/AG is just a lot better, I bingo waaaay more. I saw the play, but then just kinda liked this recurring S setup and how it was a bit more defensive. #tacticsmedium this felt like a bit of a focus error
Mark Pistolese vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 35241)
Finding Large
H7 DEFT +16
shiiiiiit I missed FREMD. #findinglarge I was also close to exchanging here, and I think it is fine, especially cause DEFT doesn't take an S so overlaps may not leave me with much. ERST sims best, followed by EMRST then DERST then DEFT quite a bit below #tacticssmall as well for the DOUBLE FAIL!!1
Jackson Smylie vs. Doris Bourbonnais (Game 35371)
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)
Endgame Large
13K AWA +28
awful and discouraging. I completely forgot that DEVI was a word so i only thought of making the hook an A. also, because I had spent like half my time on the first three moves, i was pretty low here and could not see a good way to win. i did see FRAT, which quackle says is a winning play, but where's the other spot for WAI besides WAIT? -8 #endgamelarge (edit: 5B WAIR, making three "new" in the last few years 2s!! how can I hope to play Collins if I can't find TWL 2s??)
Joel Sherman vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 34026)
Tactics Small
H6 OXER +22
I didn't consider for long enough the option of exchanging OQ. I also eschewed the defensive aspect of LOX. It would appear exchanging down to ELR is best here #tacticssmall
Joshua Sokol vs. Deen Hergott (Game 35775)
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)
Knowledge Large
H1 BLED +32
not sure enough of BLAWED (and i really should be because i know BLAW is a verb, but maybe its only past tense is BLAWN, who knows). but whatever, this wins. -9 #knowledgelarge
John Karris vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35453)
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)
Strategy Medium
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 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)
Tactics Small
exch NQ +0
wow, i would hate to play QaTS here, but it sims best by a little. lol. i should keep RS? or ST? or something. i don't need this ugly RSST? leave. jeez. -3 #tacticssmall
Cesar Del Solar vs. Joey Mallick (Game 32732)
Tactics Small
12D ARENITE +72
dunno, what letter do you put in the 2x2 lane if you know Matt is strong AND he has an A? He probably also has an E, so RETINAE looks better. #tacticssmall
Joshua Sokol vs. Matt Canik (Game 33165)
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)
Tactics Small
F14 Q(I) +31
this is Carl's rack. He said he considered QUaSS 14F. He probably also considered QUa in the same spot but knowing his style he would not play this since it gives back an immediately lucrative bingo spot for me. Another really interesting play is 14A SO(T), keeping the deadly QU? combination for 14F. It really doesn't appear to be a play keeping the Q, so unless I had a play in that spot, Carl would be likely to be able to play there next turn, perhaps even draw an A or an I to be able to retain his blank. I really like that play, but QUa's numbers are crushing according to quackle. 38-point average score after 66 instead of 66 average score after 31 (assuming Carl finds all of his blank bingos, which is a likely scenario).
Considering the option of recurringly keeping the Q, I think SO(T) would be the play here. #tacticssmall
Carl Johnson vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 33058)
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)
Tactics Small
B6 AHI +22
When will I learn that I should never keep two I's? AHI has the best equity, but 12C TAHINI is best overall; having two I's greatly hinders my potential for a 2*2 on column K. #tacticssmall
Alec Sjoholm vs. Michael Baker (Game 33772)
Endgame Large
M8 OVUM +16
I dunno. Championship Player says it's alright, but the only play that has a nonzero win % is M8 UM, which sets up the massive N8 VAQUERO which should always be blocked. Probably worth a shot I guess. #endgamelarge
Sam Kantimathi vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 32558)
Endgame Medium
A3 (U)P +7
I have to block A3 UNTANNEd, but there are better ways. Best is 9A OWE, leaving J4 ZIP 32 while setting up A8 ZORI 39. Best of the plays I saw was 4A PE, but the optimal sequence includes 7C ZOA, which I missed. #endgamemedium (-13)
Jeff Fiszbein vs. Alec Sjoholm (Game 32987)
Strategy Small
12G YARROW +31
not sure what to do here. i laid down YARROW, and then couldn't pick it up for ROSARY cuz he saw that i had a W, and that's annoying; i thought ROSARY was better after all. maybe it's ok to let him know i have the W! quackle likes C13 YOW or C11 VOWER too. it's hard to make a play like YOW when i'm down by a lot, giving him an easy scoring spot, but it gives me the best bingo chances and i need that. -2 #strategysmall ? seems like a bigger mistake.
David Teich vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32938)
Tactics Small
9H (S)H(Y) +22
Quackle picks the standard G8 JOHN, but I prefer SHY because JOHN opens high-scoring bingo lanes on rows 11 and 12 and sacrifices 4 points. But I didn't know TREADLES takes an S, and thus there was already a bingo lane on row 10. This may be a #tacticssmall
Alec Sjoholm vs. Mike Frentz (Game 33068)
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)
Finding Small
12G S(E)XY +14
this seemed like the right theme to go with, but XYS(T)S (I only considered XYST I think) is just too powerful I think. GNS is a whole lot better than GNSS even taking defense into account. I should want to get rid of these consos a bit more. #findingsmall
Josh Greenway vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 35779)
Strategy Medium
I1 HESSIaN +80
this is the worst possible draw to EINSS, seriously. i need the blank after the bingo! although H1 HIES actually looks better than my play. -3.5 #strategymedium
Cesar Del Solar vs. Joey Krafchick (Game 35408)
Finding Medium
O1 ZHOS +58
Played ZHOS quite quickly but didn't stop to think of N2 SHASH, which scores 9 more and draws into a boatload of heavy Z plays on column A or at the very least O1 ZO/ZOO. #findingmedium 14:42
Vince Castellano vs. Will Anderson (Game 33168)
Tactics Medium
F8 (G)UV +15
quackle prefers taking the pts with B4 NAV (and also killing that part of the board). RTU? should bingo pretty often, and it's good to score more points here. -5.5 #visionmedium #tacticsmedium
Cesar Del Solar vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 32702)
Tactics Small
J12 MOW +35
tough call here. I liked TWO(S)OME some but the S hook is more risk than I'd like to take here. LOW, MOW, and LOWE are all interesting. She averages a bit more after LOW cause of the E hook, but it's close. I average most after LOW, ELOT isn't very good generally or here. LOWE might be the best medium between them, I score more on average next turn than after MOW and only sacrifice one point. Her average is about the same after each play. #tacticssmall
Anna Miransky vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 35363)
Knowledge Large
B9 (H)YE +33
GAWSY crossed my mind here but I didn't want to take a risk - thought HYE would run the score up to where I could outrun a lot of bingos. I'll give myself a blanket #knowledgelarge here to cover the rest of the game for not knowing CASTLINGS for sure.
Bradley Whitmarsh vs. Will Anderson (Game 34977)
Strategy Small
B2 MO(U)TH +36
i did see MOTHERLY here but it didn't seem worth it to bingo for "only" 62. that's actually pretty dumb; particularly because motherly also blocks a lane and puts me up by a ton. MOUTH actually does better by equity, but motherly wins by win%, by just a little. #strategysmall
Cesar Del Solar vs. Jonathan Kent (Game 32940)
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)
Strategy Large
14L EARS +30
i don't know about this. i think i was a bit unfocused here and unable to figure out how to break ahead. i saw my S wasn't worth a ton on this board and i need to score. but 12L LARS looks a lot better. -8.5 #focus #strategylarge
Cesar Del Solar vs. Frank Tangredi (Game 35148)
Finding Small
B1 fATALIS(M) +72
I think I took like 7 minutes here at least ugh, there's nothing better than this or (W)AgTAILS and (M)ATILdAS. This gives too many overlaps. #findingsmall
Joshua Sokol vs. Fern Lindzon (Game 33977)
Vision Large
F3 ROO +8
then I promptly forget about reovirus! I played this to make the position tougher and to keep the S open for me to hit, as I likely have the better rack. this may not actually make his position too hard as he has lucrative hooks with BDFKM. REOVIRUS is a big miss. #visionlarge
Jackson Smylie vs. Michael Fagen (Game 33098)
Tactics Small
K4 IFS +21
This was quite aggressive. I didn't see 7D OF, which makes it quite hard for Rob to do much of anything. This is a bit counter-productive, since my 2nd S is useful to hook LUV (or BUY for that matter). This nicely creates a spot to play a bingo that doesn't require the S to be in 1st to 6th position, but he is just too likely to play there, and there is just no reason to give up an easier spot for Rob to bingo as well. My rack is more than good enough to coast despite being a bit down on the scoreboard. OF 5J was definitely too aggressive though, at least I didn't play that. #finidingsmall #tacticssmall
Robert Goetz vs. Joshua Sokol (Game 35862)
Strategy Small
15A AbETTER +76
C: ugh RET? out of that poolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
A: Apparently 15A ThEATER is best. #strategysmall although Quackle is bad at pre-endgames
Alec Sjoholm vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 32703)
Tactics Small
2J KEPI +36
i didn't see PINKOEs here, but it might not be worth bingoing. my first choice KOP is best. i want to give myself the best bingo chances next turn. -2 #tacticssmall
Cesar Del Solar vs. Jonathan Kent (Game 32940)
Endgame Medium
6N (Q)I +11
clearly i should block his F spot and play DIB at F2 but no matter what i lose. he can set up an unblockable FLAM at H12 by playing ER. still, endgame fail. #endgamemedium
Cesar Del Solar vs. Joey Mallick (Game 33804)
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)
Strategy Small
O13 FAG +28
N1 GAUFERS never wins, obviously; CP slightly prefers 11K UG to FAG, but I was imagining FAG potentially drawing into solid scoring bingos on both columns A and N. The problem with FAG is obviously that first, it empties the bag. Second, I was worried that if Tim has the Y he can outrun me with any reasonable FREETY play, but given that I probably need the Y and either the M or the other blank to even threaten the win, I should just bank on drawing it myself, making blocking it unimportant. At least I made a play that has a nontrivial chunk of winning%. #strategysmall 0:45
Will Anderson vs. Tim Weiss (Game 33171)
Strategy Small
12A (C)RYPT +24
Not thrilled to open the double-double but this was by far the most palatable equity move; 7E KEPT was my other option, and Quackle prefers it slightly based on just a bit better defense. #strategysmall 17:51
Ben Schoenbrun vs. Will Anderson (Game 33172)
Knowledge Large
F2 ZEE +37
another poor decision. I felt I had a larger grasp on this game than in actuality. I should play 8L (O)OZE for more and leave the R open
not challenging last move was #knowledgelarge
this move is #tacticsmedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Orry Swift (Game 33140)
Strategy Small
2J WEI(R)D +34
WEEDIER only plays in Collins! :( WEIRD might just give up too many points. JEWED or WIDEN sim better partially for that reason -- i also bingo slightly more often after JEWED. -2 #strategysmall
Trip Payne vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 35446)
Tactics Small
exch HOQ +0
-0.5 #tacticssmall. basically a choice to not keep the H this time. i thought it might sim slightly worse but i wanted more bingo % since he exchanged if that makes any sense.
Jeremy Hall vs. Cesar Del Solar (Game 34028)
Vision Small
A13 EAU +16
WA: I didn't see F10 TATOU, which looks nice, especially if I read HOB as a Z setup; though keeping the T for TREW is helpful as well. I'll go ahead and say #visionsmall.
Will Anderson vs. David Koenig (Game 34986)
Strategy Medium
J12 (A)DZ +33
Seemed a worthwhile gamble; if Tim doesn't have an E or blank it's just so annoying. Quackle slightly prefers M8 PEZANT, 2A PATZER, and 13J GATED. PEZANT opens two lines at once on a board without many good ones; PATZER creates a moderately annoying threat on column A. Marlon noted that GATED sets up both ZAG and ZIT as potential overlaps on row 11, which I didn't consider. All three plays draw more tiles towards a blank with both unseen than ADZ does. Upgrading this from small to #strategymedium. 11:14
Will Anderson vs. Tim Weiss (Game 33171)
Tactics Small
11J AWING +32
Almost; AWEING is better by a smidge. A bunch of Es to redraw if I'm worried about that. Didn't think of it. #tacticssmall #findingsmall 13:35
Will Anderson vs. Robert Linn (Game 33409)
Vision Large
9K (T)IARA +17
now I am finally burned for missing ASCRIBES! ARIARY comes up for the second game in a row, but this time I'm more confident it's best. TIARA has defensive merit as well, but I will want to deal with ASCRIBES at some point, especially because he can use it to fork the board and open the top left. ARIARY given his EFIKN rack looks best. This play error looks medium in size but the mistake of missing the A hook is a huge error. #visionlarge
Jackson Smylie vs. Michael Fagen (Game 33098)