But I didn't know A7 EN(HYDROUS). It was available last turn but probably not beter than PHT. Here it's definitely way better than bingoing. #knowledgesaddest
D4 KILL(JO)Y. I'm pretty sure I would have known this was good if I had seen it and I didn't even look at playing through JO, making it a #visionsmall mistake. Also #knowledgesmall for the +5.
Horrible play. I chickened out of STROUDs and failed to spot H7 (IN)DUcTORS. Doesn't matter who I'm playing, I cannot let a game slip away at this level. #visionlarge
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
NC: Exch. NOQ I'm a dumbass. I saw the floating G and I thought "I don't need the G" but I can play 5F bingos ending in ING by keeping it #STRATEGYMEDIUM #VISIONSADDER
how does one spot KIbOSH(I)N(G) D7 and miss SINKHOl(E) O1. I sadly thought this was better than KIBOSHING so I played it. It is indeed better but ugh. #findingSADDEST
Flailing. 5B URODELE looks like it gets paralleled and utterly fails to open anything for me but perhaps I just need the 22 points and six draws towards the blank and then worry about the board after. I kinda like C9 LOUCHE now to open the board and to fake a double Z setup, which might be annoying for Evan if he doesn't have it. #strategymedium
Freaked out a lot here. I'm up by so much now, basically can't lose. Unless CLAWINGS* is a word and I set up a 3x3 putting the other C at K1. Or maybe if I sacrifice loads of equity for no reason multiple turns in a row. #knowledgesaddest
13G PYE is probably slightly better. I didn't play it because I wanted to more completely block row 14 bingos. I figured my opponent must be on really good stuff to only play 1 tile. The problem is that after 13D PEONY, I basically guarantee that I Q stick myself. I could not find anything better so I just ate the Q. #strategysaddest
it seemed too easy for him to bingo making metrics if i play it at 12H. but then i can get a big Z play! if i play my metric and he bingoes i might not get much back! -3.5 #tacticsmedium
could not be 100% sure of COGG(E)D, so given Glenn's challenge-y nature of years past, I couln't pull the trigger despite being pretty confident. #knowledgesmall
POND has the high valuation, but N5 ADORNS wins more often, because it blocks the lanes on columns L and N without opening an easy lane on column O. #tacticssmall
now I see the spot and decide POUNCY* is phony
I missed every scoring option here. PUNANY# and UNPAY# and NU(N)NY# I didn't know, but L4 NANCY sims best. #findinglarge
Really confusing turn. Basically after EA I wanted whatever my play was here to limit the damage from AXE hooks. Sadly, I saw 10H NEAT and I guess didn't fully appreciate how effectively it accomplishes that task while keeping my vowel. #tacticsmedium
I don't think I was mentally present during this game because so far I've 1) EXCHANGED MY S and 2) fished OO for 4 (not even 8!)
Also 11E COO(R)IES #VISIONSADDEST #FINDINGSADDEST and #knowledgesad for the challenge
there are no scoring spots on this board, and the pool is clunky. Therefore this is actually a really poor decision over U(K)E or (K)UE. KUE was my other consideration, but I liked how this kept a bunch of things open and allowed me to sscore well next turn if I couldn't bingo. #tacticslarge
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
Yeah I had noooo idea what to do here. Quackle says I bingo most with 7A OOT and then with my play, except that my opp bingos most after my play #strategysadder
and as all these thoughts permeated my mind, such as "I should lose this game now, I deserve it." and "am I going to blow this whole tournament now?", I once again faced fake results orientation. I saw REAROUSE, then REASSURE, andd wondered if there was an anagram. I got close, but failed to recognize my high-prob 7. ERASURE keeps me well in the game. #findinglarge
I was panicky and low on time. I wanted to block at least one of A8 of 15H bingo spots, but basically ran out of time after not finding anything and played this to maybe setup my X. 11E VEX(T) is the clear winner. #STRATEGYSADDEST
After TREM, I would have to find EF B7 over OF, to set up OV(ER), perhaps, to win in the endgame.
For some reason Quackle can't find this play in the endgame, but it's 8 worse than 7B OF setting up STOVE 6K. #endgamemedium
TOPS is just so good on both row 10 and column i and also maintains a better balance and I really like it in terms of decreasing variance: I'm basically assured a decent play next turn with a balanced leave that has good upside, as opposed to PRS which can easily crash. Still, this isn't worth it: I know Norases has an A a lot, these spots are not really that good, and I'm giving my opponent over 8 points in expected score next turn while sacrificing 2 points. The OPST flexibility just doesn't make up for the fact that it's certainly nowhere 10 points better than PRS #strategymedium
huge miss of SHEAFED, which I saw but chickened out of. Wasn't quite confident enough that there was a word in this. This is a huge 25-point mistake just as the momentum was turning in my favor. Maybe if I had but more thought into it and thought about SHEAFING. AEFGHINS looks potentially good. #knowledgeSADDEST
im pretty sure my brain was offline here. i saw E5 TWI(R)P but idk why i didnt go through with it. F5 UPW(A)FT is best #knowledgesaddest #strategysaddest
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
quackle likes 14A ARVO solely because it bingoes a lot more than my play. should i really do that? it seems like it gives up more points and bingoes than FRAT. what a weird move. -4 #strategymedium ??
I only thought of the SCORN hook and not the ACORN hook, which is why this move sucks. I'm not in a very good spot with this board shape either way, but a better way to open a 2nd area of the board is to play 12I CO(R)NEL. And no, I was not trying to give Cedar Rapids a shoutout. That's the site of the 2026 SPC. #findingmedium
i spent a long time trying to talk myself into TEUCH but couldn't pull the trigger on it, thinking i was confusing it with TEUGH. i have not as much time to study as some other, taller experts. #knowledgelarge
I considered all three of the top plays here, the other two of which are HUP M1 and HAW 13G. I could see that WAAH made it trickier to fully take out Rows 10 and 14, relative to HAW, and made it easier to score there besides, but figured that most of those scoring plays figured to muck up that part of the board. The case for HUP was that Row 1 is dangerous, and HUP neutralizes it forever. But it didn't seem worth it to sacrifice 10+ points. In the end, HAW G13 wins the sim. The immediate three points are worth it, and it might be better positionally too. -2 #strategysmall
i'm fine with trying to make it a bit harder for him to bingo here and drawing some high pt tiles. quackle still likes just KEP or KOP, hm. -4.5 #tacticsmedium ? i think my play isn't terrible
Despite opening a triple-triple, WASA(BI) (great sushi there by the way) is probably the right play, since it distracts Jason from the X-bomb at J10 #findingmedium
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
oh my god what am i doing this is not a word. i wanted to play K12 JEEP for the longest time but couldn't stomach it because of the E hook (???) and the more obvious I hook. 3A QUA is fine here. #knowledgelarge
M1 NISI is best. But that requires me to know VOLATILES. Failing that, N12 HUB sets up the S on row 15 with low risk, at least compared to 2H HUB. #knowledgemedium