Trying to block row 15 without opening anything on row 14 that didn't already play on row 12. But 15G FLARE fulfils this requirement while scoring three more points. Apparently 15F RALLYE is best, but I would still play FLARE. M3 VOCABLY is awesome, and it doesn't take any hooks, unlike VOCABLE. #findingsmall
I must not have found GIRD somehow. It's odd that Quackle rates DIRGE over 40 points back in valuation, given 4 unseen E's, a clunky pool (which means I am likelier to get a bingo than Will), and the fact that it is--well, seems--easier to play a bingo through a D than through a G. But DIRGE never wins anyway. #findingmedium
decided exactly at this moment to worry about that big ass Z spot *and* that SCRAY is a word (told myself it wasnt). gotta find C10 DECAY #strategysaddest or at the very least do DRAY instead
This is one way to force the board open against him. He's not going to suspect that I am keeping an S. However, this was not a good time to make this specific play because I saw H7 G(A)RISHLY and talked myself out of it. #knowledgelarge
haha, i adore D8 (F)A. i don't know how often that works, but i have ZOOID for 79 a lot of the time after that, and ZOOIDAL for 123 sometimes! LOL. clever quackle. always look for setups i guess. -10 #visionlarge ... my move isn't that bad, it's just that FA/AX is so awesome.
I honestly thought he had taken away a ticket back into the game, but unfortunately I did not see my bing to the O, once again. Damn. If I had only thought about this rack as more than a "play ENTICES/IGLOOS if he doesn't block and play it with KIS if he does block" #findinglarge #knowledgelarge
M6 NE(T)ES or 5A SEEN would be exponentially better than weird desperation out-play (especially when it has a valid, playable anagram) #endgamesaddest #timesaddest
I got the endgame wrong too. I had my tracking as if he had CJ, so I thought I was J-sticking him. If I had tracked AJ, I would have realized I can't stop him from going out, so the best play I would have generated would have been A4 (C)ICALA forcing him to play out with B11 JA(G). #endgamelarge
a bit of a counterintuitive situation here. quackle says i bingo slighlty more next turn if i do ROVED, and it scores 3 more. it sure doesn't seem that way to me. -2.5 #tacticssmall
I spent over 7 minutes on this turn and couldn't find any double-doubles. Two blanks are too hard for a feeble mind like mine. There were four 2x2s. Gah this was horrible #findingsaddest #knowledgesaddest
didn't know DOMATIA#, though this rack did scream of bingo. I missed DAIM(Y)O and OID(I)A which both significantly improve on this. I looked for something like DAIMYO, such a tough thing to spot. OIDIA should not be tough to spot, but I was intent on leaving the S hook open and totally distracted by what had just happened. Really bad. #findingSADDEST #knowledgeSADDEST
This was really bad. I got paranoid about the S hook for MADLINGS for some reason which is ridiculous since I have two S. 12A BUIKS is best. #strategysadder
i did not want to burn the last S with FIDOS. perhaps it just scores too much. i thought i needed to score and then bingo next turn making IFS. the main issue is that FID is too easy to overlap downwards. so FIDO > FID (besides having the better leave). i was playing most of this game on autopilot to protect myself i think; i realized my win % was very low, so i didn't want to spend too much time stressing about it. -2.5 #tacticssmall
The idea here was for me to save my C to eventually score with the COHO hook, which is why I didn't want to part ways with it. The best equity plays are 1J CEE, which I passed up since I saw significant value for the C, and 3L DEE, which I passed up since I didn't want to give Brendan free points with Column O plays. Quackle doesn't seem to mind parting ways with the D since I already have an open D with BOXED. The play I needed to spot was 13B LE(ER)ED for 18. It cleans up the rack better, gets rid of the D, and also sets up another scoring area on the bottom of the board in case Brendan set up Row 2 plays for himself underneath MEOW. DEB is a small to medium sized mistake. #findingmedium
he has a very strong rack; if we give him AENRS then 9L NICK jumps to the top. is this really the best block?? i didn't consider it. i did think of 14L EMIC setting up a possible big play but it doesn't block TOW. -3.5 #strategymedium ?
MM: Quickly narrowed my options here to HABU and 2L HUB. Especially with only 1 S unseen not, I think HUB is correct and I once again got too paranoid about setting up S hooks for Noah that he might not have but I already have. HABU puts me up 28, which felt pretty safe on this board, but as will be shown was not safe at all if I have a suboptimal draw. HUB also keeps a vowel which is very important here. #strategymedium I think.
idk maybe do 10K OE in hopes of hitting EXARATE on row 14? i feel like opp never really lets that happen? probably worth trying tho and at least i don't empty the bag #strategysaddest
N5 DUELLI is beautiful. DILUTE isn't that great. it actually slightly raises his bingo percentage, even though i'm trying to block an easy 7 lane. -3 #findingmedium #knowledgemedium #strategymedium
Wasn't exactly sure how to feel about telegraphing another S here. L3 HUTS would have really blasted the board open better and he would have a really hard time closing the board down after this. #strategymeh
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.
I used my astounding and unfathomable knowledge of the leave values to correctly determine that H1 LIMA is better than H1 DIME and I am vindicated by the engine analysis which evaluates H1 LIMA as 0.1 equity better. Also, I completely missed G6 ID(E)M which is the best play #visionsad
13C (JA)P presumes i bingo through the A for THRIDACE/TRACHEID or through the R for TRICHORD. Pretty sure the A is getting blocked next turn. Sad I didn't know TRICHORD. M1 HIPT at least tries to gimme another letter to play through, i guess. i feel like this is a solid #strategysadder
noooo just play B(O)W. i think i wanted him to waste some equity but why not try to bingo again. i'm trying to consciously fish a little less but blowing up INRST with a nice G to bingo through is just silly. -6.5 #strategymedium
i wanted to open even a crappy lane so this board doesn't fully shut down on me. -8, 12D WHAT sims better, maybe i'll get lucky. idk, hard to know how bad my move is really. #strategymedium
i was in between this and H12 A(N)EW but i wanted to keep my E and hope my oppo whiffed on HAUTER (if i draw the blank or R), but i just gotta play more tiles #strategysad
14M AW maybe? quackle mainly likes it because of my score next turn; i can probably bingo if i'm lucky or use the W for some points (for example a lucky WREN). i must have misthought this, the equity difference is massive! -11.5 #strategylarge
i didn't think of PRETAPING at the time but of course it's good. F2 PI most likely, but do i want to keep the E open like that, i don't know. -4.5 #visionmedium
champ and sim likes 7g EVE which is fascinating. I liked guv over the board because it greatly reduces Ben's scoring chances, where he is scoring nothing without an s. the problem is that my average score is also greatly reduced, and my bingo chanced plummet. EVE is best #tacticsmedium
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.
i held for another 3-4 minutes, and decided that it's very likely good and i had to let it go. i'm glad i didn't make a steam challenge. about my play - i wasn't super enthused about blocking some lanes but i just don't know how to catch up without scoring points. i decided i was going to need to get lucky so i thought scoring 32 pts and bingoing asap next turn was better than fishing. H7 SIR sims best though by win %, it makes sense. #tacticssmall
Quackle prefers D11 NOVA, but there's no way I do that. The second pick, D11 NAV, is reasonable: it makes a sevens lane on row 14, but that almost always allows counterplay, unlike many bingos on rows 11 and 12 that NAV blocks. Also, NAV saves 1M NOO for next turn if necessary. #tacticssmall
now I'm pretty much completely 50/50 about whether Noah has the X, and when I make this play, I'm closer and closer to realizing FU(G) was not an X setup. The best play here is 3I FIN(N)AN. That's a huge miss once again #findinglarge
So I blew the endgame here. I knew what the 8 unseen tiles were and I knew there were two places on the board for bingos: the D column and under PRAISE on row 2. All I needed to do was calculate what bingo my opponent could play through the N on column D and then block the bingo lane under PRAISE. Even if I didn't see FAAN (which I didn't #knowledgesaddest) to play O1 CLUNG or O1 CLUNK etc., I still could have done N2 GLANS. BIG oof
this is not a word and certainly not signifcantly better (or better at all) than the best valid options. 9F NONE sims a lot better due to scoring defense and immediate score. I had gotten way too averse to bad leaves at this point in my Scrabble quest. #knowledgemedium #strategymedium
I was trying to block 15A (G)ARRISON because I thought A3 CORRI(D)AS might not be a word (it is) or he might not see it. SAD! H11 F(R)APE can just outrun everything. #endgameSADDEST
I might genuinely be a dumbass. I considered 11E UMU and then decided to take the Z instead because I was worried about leaving it hanging. #STRATEGYSMALL the dumb bitch disease is alive and kicking, folks
So, yes, I have the blank and im closer to a bingo and it's better to set myself up with 15H AJI and i DID think about it and i did put AJI on the board but then i switched it to JAI at the last second because i was afraid #strategysad