Vision Small
K10 FONT +25
looks like I13 FON is the play here, I missed SICKO. BNNT is quite a bit worse but not ridiculously so, the 7 points seems worth it. I liked making overlaps a bit harder though, but a sim says that's only a minor difference. #visionsmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Julia Bogle (Game 33121)
Finding Small
A10 MOILER +34
Good for finding a scoring play, but Rs are better to keep than Ls on this board, so MOLLIE in the same spot would have been a little better. #findingsmall
Connie Creed vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36436)
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)
Tactics Small
H8 (G)URU +5
7I OUR is also cool, the U isn't super parallelable so it's kind of a board fork. GURU doesn't give much back, and I chose this one for 1 less point because it doens't allow h11 plays. h11 plays aren't so bad for me cause they give more lanes, but they still score better than most other plays on the board. I also like leaving a bit more distance from the E column in case a LEGGY play comes down, partially inhibiting my lanes. although EORS > ERSU, the better board position makes OUR bingo almost as much as GURU. #tacticssmall
Darin True vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 33104)
Strategy Small
G7 C(A)R +9
Hm. I saw CAPRIC but didn't like how it took out lanes in ENROBERS. It is an 11 pt sacrifice but it doesn't sim that far behind CAPRIC. #strategysmall?
Edwin Roth vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 35125)
Finding Unspecified
2J PORED +42
3G PRODDERS is the bingo that he just had to take out! PEDRO in the same spot does sim better than this understandably because I have the S. That's a miss. #findingbad
Mitchell Brook vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36449)
Knowledge Large
A8 CHOI(C)ERS +0 (Lost challenge)
oops. I thought this was good, but if I had given it any thought, it really makes no sense for CHOICE to be a verb. #knowledgelarge
Darin True vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 33104)
Vision Medium
13I (G)UEST +12
Maybe just J14 SH would have been fine, as much of an S telegraph as that is as well as GUEST. I clearly made a more desperate move than needed. #visionmedium
Edwin Roth vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 37199)
Tactics Small
I7 SAW +25
maybe be aggressive and do C11 WAIR? I figure at this point she might easily have an S as she's been grooming her rack. Q prefers M2 WIS with few As out, I bingo more apparently, and average more. I guess I keep VISA open for next turn as well. #tacticssmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Marcela Kadanka (Game 35365)
Strategy Medium
13H NE +11
at this point I should be playing RYA 11b. that blocks the SEGO spot, which is now a threat for me. the R is also not so dangerous with 3 in the pool, and especially since Joey has a knack for keeping scoring tiles so his DEV range is less bingoey than one might expect. this sets up AY above, but that may not be enough to consistently outrun SEGO plays #strategymedium
Jackson Smylie vs. Joey Krafchick (Game 34915)
Strategy Small
E3 BIN +26
this makes the X really powerful, AXES is like a game winning play. She already really likely has an S on her rack, probably not the X but it's possible she kept it with ZA (with AX I12 I'd assume she didn't have it). NIB only allows AXES, whereas BIN allows both axis and axes. am I in a bad enough position to need to win by getting axis? if that's the case I should play BIN. If I think I can win another way I should make it less likely she gets the play, and should play NIB. I didn't consider BI(T) 6F which is pretty cool - I save HADJI for next turn and don't allow the big X possibility. Can I win if she draws the X and I don't draw the blank? I feel like after BIT the game becomes more about the blank, whereas after BIN it's more about the X and AX?S, but the blank could still allow me to bingo if she got the play. Turnover is important here cause of the value of the blank and X, so maybe I should play QUERYING - still saves BIT and HADJI plays, doesn't give anything back.
I'm inclined to not exchange here, even though it seems like a decent option optimally. I think I can outrun here, and I'd like to be able to outrun even if I don't draw the blank. I feel like QUERYING is good even though the sim hates it - I don't allow AX?S plays, I save HADJI and BIT for future turns, at which point she may have played the I or X. I think I should at least play NIB over BIN, my chance of drawing AXIS is pretty low so I should at least make it harder for her to get it. Other than that I have no idea what to do here. #strategysmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Julia Bogle (Game 33121)
Strategy Large
10F J(E)T +26
big error, and I didn't properly find my options here. My thought process was very much focused on JET, and I really remember kinda pretending to myself that I was looking for other options when I was really just excited to play JET cause it felt so good. I want to not make these sort of excitement errors in the future, and truly look for other options. I think I was temporarily unaware of the SEGO threat or something, because once I notice that longterm threat I should be less satisfied with JET. JIB(E)R is absolutely the play here. Not only cause PLT is better than BILPR on this board (more flexibility, not as many problem consonant racks), JIBER takes out the SEGO spot which will be a bitch to block, and the recursive threat will let joey wait for a big play there. #strategylarge even though I didn't find the play, it was based on being unaware of the threat, and JIBER isn't hard to come up with once the threat is noticed
Jackson Smylie vs. Joey Krafchick (Game 34915)
Tactics Small
J4 A(L)ODIA +9
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
Jackson Smylie vs. Marwan Saadi (Game 35362)
Finding Small
N2 MAT +18
I think 7c ATT might be the play i was looking for. I didn't like that MATT gave back big overlaps, but ATT is better cause his overlaps score less and they will give back a lane on the A column. The pool isn't too dangerous for those overlaps either. I like it to keep ILKA open. I was kinda lost for options here, didn't see anything besides ilka plays that I liked. At this point I was also not so down about playing with ILKA because I figured I could get away with the S hook and challenge it off if he played it. #findingsmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Bryn Bowen (Game 35240)
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
8A VAG(A)L +27
Maybe 8A DEV(A) is a little less blocky, or even 9C V(I)G is probably slightly better leavewise, but my win % is still around 8% either way. #visionsmall
Judy Rosenthal vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36870)
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)
Vision Medium
J6 MEsONIC +81
I did see 9D INCOMEs and 9D INCOMEr, but I intentionally passed those up. While this is definitely safer than 9D plays, I did miss H8 (A)NOxEMIC. Not always easy to make the blank an X. #visionmedium
Mark Garrod vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36527)
Strategy Medium
G12 AA +8
lots of options here. 2F ILEA, 2H AA, 2G ALA are all nice aggressive plays. They kinda bank on her not having the K, but that's a decent gamble in this position. If I draw the K I get good scores, and she can't score there easily at all. I sorta like ALA best of the three because I also open a lane on the 3 row that I can hit even if she gets a K play, ISATINE and the like. A(J)I is also interesting to go for ELASTAN(E), ELASTAS(E), ALIENAT(E). 26/156 I hit, which is pretty good. I'm inclined to take the other 2 row routes to go for the K, but I'm not sure I win always when I draw the K. I think it realistically is pretty often though, and something like ILEA would be good for that to draw the K the most, but after she blocks the spot I may not draw a good K play at the bottom. Maybe ALA because I can still get YENTA draws at the bottom, bingo draws, K draws and stuff like YIKES. #strategymedium because this play doesn't have a big plan, I don't think I clued into how much trouble I was in. I was more in the mindset that I would necessarily squeak out an endgame, but with big K plays available I can't just make a play like this. same with YEANS, that is findable and could be bad.
Sophia Ozorio vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 35361)
Strategy Small
H11 CO(R)IA +24
looks pretty close, OC(R)EA is also worth considering. I need to bingo pronto and CO(R)IA lets me do that the most of the 24+ point plays. AERIE felt like it put me a bit too far out of one bingo range. In retrospect, I think OC(R)EA might be the best because it truly forks the board, not letting him parallel on columns G or I, whereas after CO(R)IA he can get stuff like B(O)TT or whatever that blocks everything. I don't expect him to make these plays too often but it's not an option I want to allow. #strategysmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Seth Lipkin (Game 33101)
Finding Medium
F7 (BE)NDY +15
This play isn't bad. At least I found an OK way to play thru this rack, but the play I was looking for here was F7 (BE)RYL which I did miss. That would have given me another S hook to work with despite the slightly less synergistic DNPS leave. On the other hand, I think my play surprisingly sims a little better than BERYL because LPRS is more synergistic. #findingmedium
Jamie McCune vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36504)
Tactics Small
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)
Vision Medium
6K OX +26
I was down to 5:46 at this point and was stressing about time, so I played OX very quickly, as it blocks the B and scores decently. (RE)X is well worth considering to take out the RE- lane and keep a vowel. GNRST can go south far too often, all it takes is a two consonant draw. N5 STRONG looks like the play, not really cause it sets up the X but more cause it starts exhausting the bottom right - I could even make a play next turn that blocks the M and kills the entire right side (save maybe the K column). #visionmedium
Jackson Smylie vs. Matt Canik (Game 33114)
Strategy Large
6J B(U)RP +14
H7 VERB for 9 would have allowed the X spot to be open, although that's not a move I want to make against Mitchell. Against most other players, I might have done that as the opponent would have had to deal with the X hotspot allowing me the VERBS hook. #strategylarge
Mitchell Brook vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36290)
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)
Strategy Medium
G5 YURTA +15
interesting position, depending how I view his odd placement of BLITE. it could be something weird like a scoring rack where he wants too make two spots, or a K. most likely is probably an X. not really sure. it's hard to justify blocking the X bomb cause my plays there are pretty bad and leave the G column. I could also counter-setup with ZA/BA, which mmight actually be fine anyways. this play was a sort of counter-setup, keeping 12a possibilities and h1 possibilities. Q thinks it's way too big a sacrifice, that I should just play YA. i'll call this a #strategymedium
Jackson Smylie vs. Matt Graham (Game 34536)
Strategy Large
14F FLARERS +0 (Lost challenge)
yeah really bad decision here. I usually don't like phonying with stuff where you know what the definition would be, but the doubt is on whether it is included. I feel like people are usually more likely to challenge cause they don't give you as much blind trust as if you plop down some crazy shit. If I didn't have (A)RF available then this decision would be more okay, but I had already talked myself into playing FLARERS and playing it quickly, so when TOO came down I still just went with my decision, but it's so much better to just play ARF. #strategylarge
Jackson Smylie vs. Tom Bond (Game 33106)
Knowledge Medium
L9 BE(E)LINE +20
Found the bingo BEELINE, but unfortunately I did not know it took a D hook. If I'm not gonna realize there's a playable bingo, EEILN is OK to keep on this board for the open D and G, so I think (ADO)BE would have been better than this. #knowledgemedium
Samuel Kaplan vs. Glenn Filzer (Game 36930)
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)
Knowledge Medium
K10 QA(T) +24
QA(T)S is super cool setting up the I, denying good bingo chances in favour of scoring a guaranteed 40+ next turn #findingmedium #knowledgemedium
Joshua Sokol vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 35506)
Strategy Large
C12 NEE +12
this is a poor effort. was banking on the D being in that bag, making it very hard for him to block. however, he can just play TI or NU and block pretty thoroughly. I think NEE I11 is an interesting idea. any NEED blocks will either make a lane going left or going right. might be marginal if he plays GRIDE, but still something. Q likes EH/WOOSH, but I'm worried about plays around there because the G can block so well. #strategylarge cause this isn't very good.
Jackson Smylie vs. Ross Brown (Game 35380)
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)
Vision Unspecified
M5 WAE +24
I think 3I WUD could have been done here to open up a 2nd lane. The extra points immediately were not worth it. Gotta love new themes sometimes, right? That's the beauty of Scrabble. #visionmeh
Connie Creed vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36441)
Strategy Large
7F BOLA +16
Not sure this move really accomplished as much as I thought it would. I suppose it might prevent more 7s from playing, but I'm not closing everything down. 13C BEAU is fine. #strategylarge
Samuel Kaplan vs. Carol McDonald (Game 37168)
Tactics Small
I5 CH(OM)P +17
think I just gotta pull the trigger on DUNCH here. I figured he knew BENDYS so wasn't worried about making another S hook, although CHOMPS is harder to block. NQRU also isn't very good here, I really need a couple more vowels to make it a decent leave, so it's really not so much less risky than PQR, just less shitty. given the difficulty of blocking CHOMPS I should just play DUNCH. #tacticssmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Tom Bond (Game 33106)
Strategy Large
O10 TI(X) +10
after an entire game of overestimating my position, here is a turn where I seem to have grossly underestimated it. I played TI(X) because I decided I probably needed to bingo to win the game. I felt like (V)ITA would allow him to block the 15 row, and then I would have basically nowhere to bingo (barring occasional 1 row bingoes). TI(X) leaves the 1 row as well as the A column, so given a blocking play may end up bingoing more than VITA. however, if I play VITA, he cannot easily block, since I will be in a position to outscore. all the vita blocks are pretty low scoring, so I think I can easily afford to play it. In a sim, VITA bingoes way more than TIX, which indicates the A at 15a is a good lane for me, and it may stay open quite often. The bingo draws on row 1 after TIX are: HR, HS, ES, AS, ID, GS, HS, IR, and RS. given random draws these happen 24/240, so 10% of the time. My position after VITA is surely better than that given the difficulty of blocking the lane while outrunning (just in a 2 ply sim Q has me bingoing 22%). This feels like a strategic error because I did not properly consider the future options after VITA, assuming that a block was inevitable. #strategylarge
Jackson Smylie vs. Greg Heidler (Game 33097)
Vision Small
J10 (J)ORUM +22
should just do HOURI, forks the board some and I probably need the lanes. His range isn't super strong after OXIC cause the board is dead, in fact he had ILRRY. I was happy with JORUM but HOURI seems like the best thing to do for the board. #visionsmall
Thomas Reinke vs. Jackson Smylie (Game 33105)
Strategy Large
11L U(K)E +9
still in a really good position, even though I can't block the 14 lane without giving back a bigger lane. I would have liked to leave 1 in the bag, but didn't realize at the time how crucial that was. The entire plan with U(K)E or 10M (N)EE is for him to bingo on row 14 immediately, giving me back plays on row 15 that should easily outrun. However, leaving 2 in the bag allows him to fish one, possibly N(U) 12C - after UKE I'm up 60, 58 after the fish. It's really hard for me to block bingoes, and I'm stuck either trying to outrun by playing something clunky on row 14 (again hard to not give back good overlaps, gotta hope for like GENUS or something), or outrunning with a UKES play, which will put me up 84 or 87 (depending on if I draw the G). After he gets my rack, I will be up between 76 and 81, and a lot of his row 14 bingoes score more than that (e.g. GIGATON, INNAGES). I'm still in a decent position given that outcome, but he could also fish for a higher score and still not allow me to block - e.g. ZA or ATE. Perhaps I should do RE(D)E 13K to play 3 tiles, forcing him to bingo immediately. It puts me up 60, but all his bingoes will be on the 14 row, and I saw my T for HIST and S for other HI? plays, so I should be outrunning even his 80 point bingoes very often. Although UKE is great for spread, it opens the door to some really great 1 tiles fishes that I can lose to quite often. #strategylarge
Jackson Smylie vs. Michael Fagen (Game 33098)
Strategy Large
7A (E)L +4
It's a nice enough pool to the point where O7 LORANS, TOLANS, or even ROTLS sim much better than this lame fish. I'm just not too happy at this point, but I needed to just cut spread instead of passing those plays up. #strategylarge
Judy Rosenthal vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 37150)
Finding Small
4C TIPI +18
(R)IP might be the play here. I bingo a bit more than after TIPI. (H)ILI is also nice to make a better lane, I bingo quite a bit. this is a bit too closed and doesn't bingo quite enough #findingsmall
Jackson Smylie vs. Bryn Bowen (Game 35240)
Vision Large
G6 JAG +27
Rough turn and pretty much a contributing factor to how this board turned out. I missed 10G J(e)UX which is clearly the move despite taking out my own S hook. It keeps the board open the longest and allows me to fork nicely. 11E JUGS does sim better even though the difference is only 7 between JUGS and my play due to the board shape that I would need because I'm already behind. I wasn't crazy about burning my S for only 7 more, but J(e)UX was the only way to accomplish that. #visionlarge
Connie Creed vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36441)
Strategy Unspecified
B6 PO(I) +11
Admittedly, I was nervous about the Q, which is why I passed up I1 PUJA as the Q only would have played at B7 until my move. PUJA would have been fine as Robin can't do much with this pool. #strategyquestionable
Robin Lewis vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36827)
Vision Unspecified
M10 MELEE +20
Looked for -MEN bingoes, and F1 LIEgEME(N) is the only bingo that plays for 67 which I missed. 3 Es is annoying sometimes. Maybe M9 EME for 22 is a better move than this if I'm gonna miss the bingo? Don't miss hooks. #visionmeh
Samuel Kaplan vs. Robin Lewis (Game 36399)
Finding Unspecified
9G ROAR +12
That 3 Rs rack was very annoying to start. I unfortunately did not see G2 ARmOUR(E)R, and C8 (A)URORA was a much better play if I'm gonna miss the bingo. #findingbad
Edward H Zurav vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36867)
Finding Medium
13B UMBO +21
Too aggressive and open here...M3 ZOMBIS is fine to score, but 7G UMBO is also better score, more defensive, and does just as good a job of saving scoring potential. #findingmedium
Judy Rosenthal vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 36865)
Finding Small
1D (K)ALIF +36
No way will I be able to Q-stick him unless something miraculous happens, so I had the right idea to score again, but 1A FOLKIE is slightly better. #findingsmall
Samuel Kaplan vs. Joel Horn (Game 36772)
Tactics Small
K4 OOZIE(R) +30
DOOZIE might be 6 more but I figured the odds of Rob having a B or W weren't great so might as well try to get back in it this way. This is 2nd behind DOOZIE. #tacticssmall?
Robert Goetz vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 34998)
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)
Vision Medium
14D GODE(T) +26
Missed the sweet (F)O(D)GEL. I am not in a good position, but any board opening play I can make will just get outrun too easily. FODGEL is a better version of this plsy. #visionmedium
Jackson Smylie vs. Tom Bond (Game 33106)
Strategy Small
B2 DOG(Y) +18
I know Bernie's game well enough that he's gonna just take the TWS as soon as I open one up, which won't help him at his deficit. Still should do 7D DUO for 3 more. #strategysmall
Samuel Kaplan vs. Bernie McMahon (Game 35316)
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
H1 ADAPT +35
Meh, I liked the 12 extra points over AUDIT in the same spot, but AUDIT keeps a much more flexible leave for this particular board. I can draw plays like 5K PARR or PAIR as well as 8L PAGE next turn. IU just isn't doing much. #strategymedium
Edward H Zurav vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 37166)
Tactics Unspecified
3E REB(I)D +27
3E BEWIG, which I did not see, seems to be the best immediate equity play, but I do like this play anyway to set up -GH plays ending at 2F that score a lot. #tacticsstrong
Samuel Kaplan vs. Mitchell Brook (Game 36444)