this is probably an overadjustment, I wanted to prevent monster E column bingoes. however, I am taking quite a big hit, about 6 points in the sim. Tough call, cause VERY also makes her plays a bit easier. I think this is a bit too far, since TERM has some risk involved as well with the leave and stuff. #strategysmall but it's up for debate!
I should probably leave the 3 row open, it's hard for him to close. I hated all my options - DAV(E)N? that puts pressure on at least, it's probably better than VAN. I was kinda hoping he wouldn't have a good TAGS block, but he can always do a mediocre one from the G in KLEAGLES or with ETA, and then I have to bingo on some terrible marginal lane. I think I got too obsessed with staying in bingo range, DAVEN isn't likely to win but at least I will be able to have a place to bingo. I think B4 ADD is good as well, keeping the 3 row and 13 rows open. either one of those seem way better than VAN #strategylarge
with an ERS inference, OLIO is second best to 3K O(B)OLI, which i thought about and wasn't 100% sure was a word. i still don't like OBOLI all that much, i give him his choice of two lanes to bingo to. i like that OLIO sets up a spot for the W i might draw here (since he likely didn't keep it). still, quackle says it's a -2, and quackle is gospel. PBUH. -2 #strategysmall
I didn't have to phony here. I saw TOKENING but it looked awful, and missed everything else. KENoT(R)ON is a word I was not familiar with, and it plays for 94! I also had NEKTON(I)c. #knowledgelarge
Thought this was a good phony though. I chose the more volatile spot because it was less likely to get challenged if it meant leaving big spots open.
DIATRON doesn't play, wonderful. If Jamie is gonna bingo anyway even after I do L9 ODOR, maybe do that instead. This was too aggressive. #strategylarge
I did see A8 PiNNATE(D) and was unsure if PINNATE took a D. I knew it did not take an S. I did not know 4A PlAN(G)ENT and even that's better than my play. Also, if I am going to use Column K, I think PiNNATE is better since not as many things go next to an I as an E. #findingmedium
B3 BUNKIE is better; I didn't know the word. The pool is strong, and BUNKIE unloads all my bad tiles while scoring only one point fewer. #knowledgesmall
this is not a good move. i need to outrun him and score more. i didn't want to empty the bag so he wouldn't plan his outgame, but i may not have a choice here. N1 TAN scores 18 and will help outrun him. i don't think i have many ways to win after TOWEL. -3 #preendgame #strategymedium
phony! I saw AWL/JARL, not PALEAE, and I think I considered EEW. this isn't even a great play if it's good! EEW sims best. #tacticssmall #knowledgesmall
weird decision by me. I should just keep Z or ZN, ZNT is wayy to conso heavy in this early game position. I felt like I was responding to a bingo so I wanted to be ready, but ZN is ready. #strategysmall
chickened out of 2B WH(I)FT #knowledgesad also i picked 15A WHI(T) over 1A WHI(D) because i figured the T was easier to trip-trip through but i should just go for the points #strategysadder
Were TWIGHTING# not valid, JEE would win; it blocks Ben's outs and outruns J9 SH with 6H SET. Instead, JEE is a losing play. All of my winning plays make T(WIGhTING)#; M1 EST and SET are best. #knowledgelarge (-20)
EVET sims worse than obvious moves like 1F KEF but I like that it reduces Tim's average score by about 5 points and eliminates that nightmare huge 4x scenario. Still probably a #strategymedium.
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
This is my first big mistake this game missing the superior 14B A(N)TIPHoN. It is a word that I knew, and although I also saw 13B T(R)ANsHIP, I like the play I made over T(R)ANsHIP with the Z still unseen. #findinglarge
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
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
I did see OXY in this spot but I wasn't willing to do that after Noah exposed an F. That would have given him great counterplay. Probably E7 UNAXED would have been a little better just because the X is a terrible tile to keep on this board too. #findingsmall
maybe TO(C)KED (which I doubted) to induce a challenge. I realized shortly after playing this that LO(C)KET might actually be better as I retain the last D which goes a bit better with the pool and board. #tacticssmall
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
oh god, what an awful mistake. i really thought this was a word. i laid it down for a while trying to think of something better and didn't see nuncios. #knowledgelarge
I was ready to play UNTENTED despite being unsure, but he gave me an A to play through, and I decided to make a big sacrifice to play something I was sure of. Once I played TAUTENED I started getting a bit pissed off at myself. I had been convinced UNTENTED was valid, but was more like 70% beforehand. 30% of the time I lose way too much to justify not taking around a 10 point sacrifice, but this assumes Seth will always know. Once again intimidated by the word knowledge, to a fault. Seth was likely to have challenged this, as he demonstrated when I asked him about UNTENTED after the game. #knowledgeSADDEST
I normally play GUV but I not only liked the board shape after VUG vs GUV, but I also liked that I could re-hook if he played VUGG to VUGGY or even VUGH to VUGHS. GUV reduces opponent score by 3 over VUG immediately. hm so perhaps VUG helps him more than it helps me. #tacticssmall
Right idea. I did see a good play and considered DEMETON as well as MONTY and MONEY at J2. MON(E)YED is the standout play since that does dispose of the Y, which can be a bingo killer even though it's a nice scoring tile to keep on this specific board since DEMETON sets up another spot for my Y. #findingmedium
This rack, while LEGIT AF if you will, seemed pretty awkward for this board. I didn't see the G being that good here and was looking to partially block the S if I didn't see anything that scored super well. With that said, 9C GELATI for 26 is insane board vision and didn't spot that. #visionlarge
should probably play the bingos here for board dynamics and score control. Problem was I was unsure of both SLEAZING and GLAZINGS. I also missed D2 ZAG, gonna have to look harder in my cupboard next time. #findingmedium
he blocked kinesis and apparently i don't know that INKLE is a word. why don't i know literally any words? i really didn't deserve to be in the top tables, but that's ok. #knowledgelarge
What in the ever living fuck. I remember thinking "Welp, it's ENAMOUR and NEUROMAS which don't fit". No, I don't know where the S came from, I was clearly delirious. #FINDINGSADDEST
I guess I could empty the bag by doing B(E)NZAL in the same spot. I can comfortably outrun out bingoes he could have. But since I didn't see that, I settled on this. #findingmedium
very hard to analyze a move like this. i need macondo to have inferencing. many moves here would look dumb in retrospect. of course my move looks terrible; i laid down FER/RUGAE first but FERE being good makes that bad. in the end i thought this would make his bingos less likely (i was inferring an S, but that's definitely not necessary). details window shows RUNE still gives up a few more bingos than RUGAE, but the "best" play is GENUA in the same spot, even though it gives up the most bingos. maybe it just really needs me to bingo back. #strategylarge
I really only considered QaDI O1, VE(G) I6 and this. I was worried SERIFING* was good, so I calculated the endgames with that in mind. This is wrong since SERIFING* is not a word. 3K V(OWE)D blocks REFINES/SMEW, the only available bingo, and keeps threats of Qa(D)I open.
#knowledgemedium
It's not like I was a huge fan of this play, but again, it seemed pretty straightforward. It's not. It's way less defensive than POGO and even EGO. POGO is probably the best play #strategysmall
this has quite good recursion potential, so it's not as much of a mistake as quackle says over OU(T)AGE. But it's a testament to how OUTAGE is better than FUG doesn't immediately do as well, since it means I don't draw a huge Q play as often as I would like to. #findingmedium
G5 G(U)ANO ugh #endgamelarge
and he shorted me 4 points from his rack even though I knew it. I was rattled after this game. Matt was very much a destabilizing force.