I was sheepishly just trying to catch my breath after I had to wait for 7 minutes for TA to come down. Still should find this, though my spread doesn't much matter #endgamemedium
ugh this is too difficult. with such a small % chance of winning, i don't know what's right anymore. it seems in these types of situations i have to limit the amount of damage he can do, so something like 4K AY or YA is going to sim best despite keeping a U. the problem with GUY, even though it does play short and keeps a good leave, is that it gives back so many points; i know this but have to hope he can't punish it too much. -3 #strategymedium
While it might normally be OK to block JALOPS plays, it's definitely not OK to miss Column K plays with KLUTZY though. Therefore, maybe K5 PINY or K3 PARITY? #visionbad
1st live tourney for me in 2.5 years! The drive to Holden, MA was well worth it. I stopped off in CT on the way there the day before to hang out with another buddy and had a great time with him too. Despite some word knowledge errors I made this tourney, it felt nice to use real equipment when it mattered most. So here it goes: I saw SLEEPED* but correctly passed that up. Unfortunately, I thought SPEEL was a noun and not a verb, so I chickened out of SPEELED. #knowledgelarge
Before this turn, I had maybe 9 minutes on my clock, but my tracking was off. I think I spent about 8 minutes retracking before realizing we were missing a tile. By the time we found it I had maybe a minute left. I panicked and played this. #TIMESADDEST
I didn't see NONHErO which I would have been more sure of, and also sure that it doesn't have an S hook. The R placement makes G8 NONHErO the move. #findingsmall
YAGE is pretty poor defensively.I liked this becayse i thought it was quite defensive unsless Annette had an s, but overlooked j6 GEY which scores 5 more and is more defensive. Even though gyve sets up my s, it isn't ocrrect. Sim likes GEY by 1.5 #strategysmall
D11 (T)OTTY seems right, I hit SIZ(Y) with an I, DOZ(Y) with an O, ZEDS or DE(CRYING) with an E, and a whole host of other fun scoring plays exist because I kept the Z, the best tile in Scrabble. #knowledgemedium #findingmedium
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??)
I have like 0% chance of winning. With L11 SIEGE at least I can prioritize reaching 300 sometime this century. But, like, it's the case S. I'm feeling greedy. Also I forgot to look on that side of the board. #strategysaddest ? #visionsaddest ALSO #knowledgesad for challenging a 3. May or may not have been a "stop closing down the board for the love of god" challenge, but my lips are sealed
i was actually doing some math here to try to figure out what the chances he drew an E were. i think i calculated somewhere in the 30% range. didn't see the amazing H10 PINETA. -0.5 #visionsmall
hard for me to determine which one is better between YEW and WAME. i see that EUY is a worse leave than AEMU and WAME might be worse defensively, but i like keeping the Y to score again next turn; YEW seemed easier to overlap etc. meh. -2 #tacticssmall
Yea, I looked thru the N in INCH trying to find something other that INTERNAL which would not open up a 3x3 for David. It's too easy to spend several minutes on a turn like this when I have a million bingoes available. Might as well just do 11A ReTINAE, idk. That's several more. #strategylarge
I had also completely missed QIS, thought I was winning until he made his crushing move. Having to block RE(G)INA(E) was just the icing on the cake. -7 to LO(G)OI, but this seemed to have the only chance of winning. #endgamemedium
i wonder if i should actually exchange. quackle likes 14J WRIT. at this point in the game i'm low on time and not thinking straight; there's a lot of Es to draw so if i play WRIT i give myself a chance at JEU (which is hard to block) or even JOULE. i need to play faster and stop taking so long on every play so i have time to actually think here. -7 #strategymedium
As frustrating as this game was, I didn't see BIZE at 13F unfortunately. If I had to do it over again, I play 13F G(I)BE threatening to go out with N10 InIA and C10 lI(T)AI, forcing him to play 11I BIZ(E)S. #endgamebad
Top equity C13 KEX gives up extremely simple VOX in response. I played AX over C12 XI because I wanted to cut off DUSTINGS now while it was still so dangerous; sadly, I missed C11 AKIN, which looks wonderful to score, give nothing back, stop DUSTINGS, and set up the stealth AKING hook for later. #findingsmall 16:31
1st significant mistake this game. First off, I don't need to make a defensive move as I'm only going up by so much. Secondly, I can get rid of more high pointers with G4 KERY(G)M(A), which wins easily more often than YERBA. #visionlarge
when I originally challenged THREATER*, the clock reset. We both had around 12 minutes left and we agreed upon that, but I had used a ton of time in the last few moves to which I only had around 2 minutes and change. It really bothered me not knowing how much time I had left exactly, but it shouldn't have. I should have been calm and collected. Instead, I played this because it seemed to accomplish a lot of goals, as well as setting my X up, and I didn't want there to be a dispute.
All of this to excuse the fact that I still cannot see the word VIAND immediately when I see DIVAN. VIAND is just a much better version of this, especially when you consider what happened in the game. #tacticslarge
tough choice here again. I could open nothing of import with M3 JOG and sacrifice a lot of points, go with DEBARKING now and eat his bingos, or go with JINGO 4A which seems to be most thematic, hoping to respond to a bingo with a scoring play from the J. Big issue with both JINGO and DEBARKING is that they bail out a lot of draws. AI and II in particular get bailed out bigtime with bingos after DEBARKING and JAILER with JINGO. That's just the beginning. However, he bingos so often no matter what (2/3 if I do nothing and he finds everything) that it's maybe worth giving up here. I so often sacrifice points to play JOG and get bingo-ed on from the C. But the lingering issue is DEBARKERS. Since Quackle once again assumes DEBARKERS will be played if Wally doesn't bingo, other plays (JINGO and JOG) are a lot more reasonable than Quackle thinks. Considering the numbers and what I know here, I think this was a minor mistake, despite winning the sim. Definitely a tough position to sus out without calculating and iterating, which I don't think I did either. #strategysmall
Pretty sure G3 XU wins 7/8 (loses with Q draw) and this wins 6/8 (loses with G and Q draw). I wanted to block G3 QI and 1H (F)REEZInG. I was very scared of losing with 1H (F)REEZInG + Q stick for a bajillion points. I probably have to just give up if the Q is in the bag. #strategysadder
I spent forever on this play, and didn't get anywhere. My brain was fried and I couldn't focus. I saw plays like WEB 7L or NEWB 12M. I also saw GLOW 5A. WEB/NEWB has to be right. It's possible that Rafi doesn't have either the blank or the S, and with the board getting tighter every turn, I need to keep lanes open to give myself a fighting chance. (-4) #strategymedium
Wayyyy to many points to lose out on here. Not only was I unsure of M8 LITHOES (LITHOS* isn't good), but 13B HOSTILE plays for 90! I could have had much more on this turn. #visionlarge
I thought SCRIB was a word #knowledgesaddest so this doesn't leave a bingo line that I need to win. Something like 3K (C)L(E)W seems good here. #strategysaddest
wrote down JAGLESS on my scoresheet, and i haven't studied enough to know the words cold. sorry to disappoint my loyal fans out there. now i'll never know how sick it would have been to bingo with JAGLESS. 2E J(A)G is better than my move, btw, i think. -58 #knowledgelarge
-3.5 to the pretty aggressive 10A OGIVAL. but i shoulda spotted VOILA or GAVOT. remember that the meow meow was not in full effect after my round 2 loss. I had to reset myself after the early bird and start over, and it wasn't until the next day that i achieved good focus again! #findingmedium
Another big mistake. 10I WERE is much harder to underlap since WA and WI are not words. My opponent scores 7 fewer points after 10I WERE. #STRATEGYLARGE
I completely failed to see any of the -LIKE bingos through the K that were available in the pool until after I made my play. I3 F(O)H is definitely best here for blocking bingos. #findingsaddest
I see the merit in Quackle's pick J10 HIT, that TIZ blocks the H spot at J10 and the Z can consistently score well. But I have a blank, and the H is better for bingos. #tacticssmall
5D STRaNDE(R) is clearly a better choice and his next move explains why. If I'm going to miss that, maybe 15C NERDi(E)ST is a better choice. #findingmedium
14J TROGGS sims best, but I'm not sure if I prefer that given her range. Although I really liked what J9 (A)GGRO did to the board with my leave, I don't think this is correct, though I'm not really sure what is. N4 GROG and 13K GORG(E) seem like reasonable options. #strategymedium
I should do I6 UNROOF. I figured he always has a Z bomb with the second A of ACETA, but maybe sometimes whiffs the top one, but it draws into stuff enough on a four tile pull that I should be blocking both. Unfortunately, I looked through the R for only a little while for plays like that, figuring I had nothing worth playing, and didn't think of it as an option. #findingmedium
So, usually I would mark this as a KNOWLEDGESADDEST for missing 15H (F)AVRILES, but I'll cut myself some slack this time. O4 ALIVE is fine, I was out of time here. #timeSADDEST
hm, definitely thought WELT had better equity overall. Seems TWEET is slightly better as Mack bingos significantly less given the lack of home for lots of 7s and only 3 floaters. Didn't think of that. WELT seems around a point worse #strategysmall
CP likes this, saying it wins 95%, but it's surely dependent on full confidence in CASTLINGS. Given that I did not have that confidence, a great option is 11D VOW/VAW, setting up SOZ/SAZ to follow up in the endgame, also winning 95% because the bingos Bradley does get down score so much less. Unfortunately, I burned a huge amount of time grappling with this position and somehow still didn't generate VOW/VAW, leaving me vulnerable to time pressure on my next move. #strategysmall #timelarge
In addition to having higher equity than FINNED, 7M FIN allows fewer immediate bingos, more effectively blocking those making GAITT# which I didn't see. #visionmedium I guess
Unfortunately, though I was lamenting the fact that SHEIK wouldn't play because KE* isn't a word, I forgot about it once Carl played EX. I burned the rest of my time checking and double-checking AIMORV? for bingos and just assuring myself that AVIFORM# was Collins and OVIFORM TWL; when finally it came time to make a move, I made a huge mistake with SLEEK, which leaves only one out, compared to SHEIK, which scores 12 more and goes out in two. SLEEK is a whopping -35. #endgamelarge
This turn destroyed me and I spent maybe 10 minutes tanking because I didn't know what to do. I really didn't want to open with 13H (SH)INOLA. F6 IO seems fine in hindsight #TIMESADDEST