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.
N10 BEG sims best against a random rack, but after 9K S(O) and the available pool, it seems extremely likely that he has another S. It seemed like the game would be over if I play N10 BEG and he bingos on the O column or even just plays there with his S and I'm holding the Q. I thought my best shot was to to throw the Q back (holding consonants because I thought the bag seemed slightly vowel heavy) and hope he draws it after his N column bingo and I respond with an 1H bingo or column O bingo. However, even simming against the best possible racks, N10 BEG is winning every time. It's probably partly because he is unlikely to be holding a U, which gives me a good chance of drawing a U after N10 BEG. But even with AENQU??, I'm not sure how I can ever win after a column O play. #strategysaddest
I shouldn't play so many tiles to let him stick me with RR. 15K RE is 8 points better than this. But I calculated it out and it seemed I still won. He was also low on time. #endgamemedium
none of this crap would hae happened without retracer. quackle likes 7C TEPEE a lot more, or 7B ETAPE, etc. i think with all the Us out i might be able to score more next turn. -10 #strategylarge
Scored as 36. QANAT has the best equity, but the best play is O3 VALONIA, which blocks high-scoring bingos on columns N and O. Also, I might as well play my I off, given that six more I's are unseen. #strategymedium
RandomRacer says I exchange too much, and if so, this could be an example, as OGEE 11h isn't such a terrible candidate. But I just really don't like playing through with QCR behind on this board when there's plenty of floaters and a perfectly good leave. Quackle has OGEE winning slightly but I just don't agree, but it also has CEOR as a trifle better which I think I agree with: I jettisoned this because of the O floater at b8, but after analysis I think the O is barely worth it, so this is #strategysmall
I didn't see DICTY in this spot, and it's probably better to ditch my T here despite that seeming counterintuitive at first because keeping a V usually won't get along nicely with a hugh consonant:vowel imbalance. #findingmedium
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
12A MENAGE #knowledgesadder also idk how but i saw the word OMEGA and didnt see it fit. i suspect that the part of my brain that plays this game had left on vacation by this point, leaving behind only the part that plays stee at 2am and makes the first move it sees
Sim likes POUF which I wouldn't do, but 6E OAF setting up potential MARID reparallels looks pretty good. I think I saw that but didn't appreciate it fully. #strategysmall
I was confident there were no bingos through the K with his tiles but I missed that he had no bingos starting at E1, so 9E CH(A)W is best, blocking all bingos on the E column. #endgamesad
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
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
The most important line for me to be able to hit is the NAPERIES/JAPERIES hook on Row 1. I don't mind a move like this with 4 Ns left, but 13H (I)NCU(D)AL keeps the entire top open nicely. #visionmedium
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
I didn't care for B1 JEAN just because I don't have an S and Cesar could very well gobble up the A1 spot, but J2 JACANA(s) needs to be spotted. That's the play. #findingmedium
14H (S)pELAEAN is 78! Despite AnNEALED being better because of the placement of the N, it was not worth the extra second to replace the two N's once I had laid the play down. #findingmedium
Pretty interesting sim result here. Quackle's favorite play here is F7 FROG, followed by 2J HOG, 8L FAIR, 2J FOG, then my move of 2J FOH, then 8L FARO. They're all really closely packed together in valuation. Terry just bingoed and the board is loaded with high-equity scoring spots so simulation is going to be even more accurate than usual. FROG is both the highest scoring and most defensive move, cutting off SLEW and badly damaging the scoring potential of any racks Terry draws with the X in it. (By contrast, the Z plays all over the place on this board and there's little I can do about it.) I didn't think of FROG at all, unfortunately. On the other hand, I'm losing and might like SLEW to stay open. HOG vs FOG vs FOH at 2J is quite interesting. Sim prefers HOG, perhaps expecting me to get down some much heavier bingos with SHEN and THEN afterwards. My play of FOH gives me the highest bingo% on my next move, but nevertheless trails HOG by 3 points per turn because of those heavy bingos I draw into, and which stay open a huge amount of the time thanks to the other good scoring spots available. I'll give FROG a #visionsmall and HOG a #tacticssmall.
I ran out of time and had no idea what to do. The sim suggests 9L A(W)L, but I'm not sure if that ever works against a human. Same with C3 A(zO). Maybe 6C LAER. I dunno. #strategysaddest
Fishing off the Y with WIFEY would have been better than my play, and also too many bingoes were missed namely StRIPEY and PYRItES, both of which are not hard to spot. #findinglarge
I think I briefly thought the E in BIVALENT was an I (lmao) and didn't play L12 WAUR. Seems pretty lost regardless, not sure what I'm supposed to do. I thought If I drew XZ and some vowels I might have a chance. #strategysaddest
att 1-2 i have no hope of making the cold equity play here -- as i said in an earlier game i either am too scared to not bingo immediately, or too scared to fall behind in score, depending on the rack (usually the wrong choice for the rack). PIING or PIG are fine here, but i'm too scared. -3 #strategysmall
I static equity autopiloted this turn and the thought of possibly losing this game didn't occur to me but it's probably possible if he bingos twice. Playing off one more tile with L9 CY(A)NIC prevents this. #strategysad
Sucks that O2 POL(Y)ENiC got blocked as well as the flashier but lower scoring N1 PENO(N)CeL. The P isn't that great on this board, therefore B2 CLOP would have been fine. #strategymedium
7L GRR has a considerable positional advantage over this placement. Leaves the easier 7s lane open on row 10, but moreover blocks the R and T in OVERTLY that aren't super useful to me and leaves the A in FAKED alone. #tacticssmall
once I actually realized my misplay in this position I assumed YEAH was probably an 18-point mistake. I mistracked a U instead of a D, so I thought my Q had a better chance of not getting stuck. I also didn't notice that INSNARE played under DIF which I was not blocking. So I should play QA(T) 8C and just brace for impact I think.
#tacticsmedium
Yes, I saw 2A PANADA, and I absolutely should have played it--it scores better, keeps better, turns over one more tile for the blanks, and creates a high-scoring lane on column A, which I may need because I am behind. #strategymedium
wow, this is a plain bad play. i don't think i even looked that long, FAUGH seemed obvious to me. but surely 13L AHOY for 34 is great, and E10 FUGIO looks good too. -10 #findinglarge
And just when Jeremy Hall missed S(A)VIOURS with this exact rack in our game, I would go on to do the same thing! And I did not know G7 V(O)USSOIR. #findinglarge
Incredible. Not only did I not know 14J QuIST, but I also chickened out of putting the S on JETSOM and didn't think to play 14J WRIST. This move is so bad that I'm tagging it with multiple mistakes. #knowledgelarge #knowledgelarge #visionlarge
This bingo is very hard to find which I did miss, M2 SPAReR(I)B for 80. Not sure I'd ever think to look for something that ended with a B. #findinglarge
INTU is clearly a better leave than ETU but i think 7G WAIN sims best partially because i can bingo through the N? i'm not totally sure. my bingo % goes up after it. #tacticssmall
wasted a lot of time here and didn't even find all the plays. NEWB is there as well as WREN (I saw WREN but not NEWB), BR(E)W I didn't even consider, but I don't like it. Not sure what is right here, but I am sure that I overscored this by 2 and Joey called me on it, and 2 points is a lot. B(U)RGER might just be the play at E7. I was trying to get a blowout here also, since if Karl beat Mack, I would have to have beaten Joey by more. I was hoping that my insolence wouldn't cost me the game, so there was a lot of pressure. This is probably a bit much especially since I'm trying to win by a lot. #strategysmall