Close. I have to block SIXTHS/XYST down there, but better by a few points is simply 15G EATER, scoring only one fewer point than AFREET but setting up FAE on row 14 for many more points than the move I ended up playing. #endgamemedium
Definitely wasn't doing 7F or 7H GIGOT, especially against someone so defensive and when I'm already down a bingo. K4 OUTING was probably a better play with the open N in INOSINE even though it's no guarantee that's staying open, and it takes many hooks so that the board stays open longer. #strategyquestionable
PEEpULS is much better. I only see UPSLEEP* and recognize that as a phony, and I had already lost 2 minutes because I was late from lunch. Still need to see that shit.
#findingmedium
I missed the R hook on JAKE and the L hook for PATAGIA (which I straight up just didn't know, I thought it maybe took an S or nothing). Once I saw that B9 (BA)IRNS guaranteed the win I didn't really think too hard. #visionsaddest #knowledgesaddest
i blocked my own DIASTOLE. OPINIONED is nice, i wish i'd thought of it. i did think of the hook earlier on. it seems like he is going to block much of the time if i do that. #tacticslarge
I considered RESMELT, but wasn't sure on it. spend a few minutes trying to find a double double here. #knowledgeSAD
Also missed some good overlapping 7s. #visionSAD
Just MEEK seems fine, I bingo a ton more to the T. Also considered 14G ACME to block rows 14 and 15, but didn't like that it opened a new sevens lane for -ST words and an easy triple. #strategysmall
Not really sure what my rationale for not playing I5 WYNS was. Wanted to hold onto my S in case I felt like trying PACOS? #strategyLARGE Gonna put a #findingsaddest here too because I can't remember if I saw this
rough, but I need to find EAU 9M for 2 less. This is just slightly too reckless. EAU sacrifices 2 points, but sims 4 better. UVEA doesn't create a great lane, and I have OHMS that is hard to deal with, as well as the deterrents on the F column and 11 row. Marginal lanes are good to deter opponents from playing overly defensively, but also sufficiently defensively. The difference between the two can simply be lack of information. #strategysmall #findingsmall
I think I was a bit too worried about his range here. after OXY his options are limited, so pretty often NIL won't be keeping the best leave possible. with AINT specified, GARDA sims second best to GHAT, which kills the sim. I guess with that type of rack it hits the G quite well. I was too worried about the ANIL lane I guess. I was happy to not play AARGH, but that is probably okay. What he had in reality was def the lower end of his range, but it seems that with a lot of reasonable racks GHAT is the play. I am surprised that ANIL is this small of a worry, but I guess it does partially restrict the lane. #strategysmall
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'm far ahead that I can sacrifice over ten points of equity to avoid allowing triple-triples. In this case, I should play 10D SIKA. This play got probably the longest hold of my career, because Michael was directing the tournament and a bag of tiles was spilled. #tacticsmedium
BALED 4A is the obvious move here. I saw BALED on my rack and just didn't look for a place for it. Also exchanging AQ is probably better too. #visionSADDER #strategy#SADDER
This absolutely needs to be something at 3E or 3F using up more tiles. I liked the annoying O column lane that PAN created, especially with the possibility of a huge ZE/OX/NO hooking play coming down and crushing me, but something like GAMBA also creates lanes while avoiding being saddled with 5 consonants. #strategylarge
AX is the 2nd best play, but a distant 2nd behind N11 IXORA for 44. I need to dig for the 2nd blank better. 4 points might not seem like a lot, but turning over 3 more tiles is actually key here. #findinglarge
wow - i need to play D4 TEW here instead of 10E WYE; despite the worse leave, i have to kill the low-variance high scoring spot. this is the type of advanced move only a few players know how to make. how to learn. ::thinking emoji:: -3.5 #strategymedium
Probably just 6L LI is fine. I really should focus on my I issues knowing it was hard to stop Cornelia from potentially bingoing next turn. G8 (N)IOBITE cleans up my rack nicely but with an S inferred it helps her a lot more than it helps me at this score. #strategymedium
It's none of Jay's BEESWAX what I have on my rack (except if he tracked correctly which he did). Sadly there is no spot for this cool bingo and I would go on to miss F1 WAXE(r)S saving multiple out plays with BE. #endgamelarge
i need to consider defense more. the problem with COZIED is that it gives back a lot more points than ZOOID, which has an atrocious leave but scores 39 pts. i didn't really consider OUZO; i think that's an in-between play that i would have made if i'd thought of it more. J7 DOOZIE is also decent. -6 #strategymedium
It's better to go the aggressive route with 2J NTH since it sets up plays like 5I FAS next turn while taking out a lot of Karl's scoring plays hooking YE. #strategymedium
I felt like I couldn't really play ARIETTE with FWW unseen. The best play is RETE C2, which blocks the 3x3 and clears up the rack nicely. (-4) #visionmedium
I considered I6 VI(E)WY as well as my placement as well as exchanging. I wanted the right side of the board to be openable later on, so I eschewed the I6 placement while behind. F6 OW(L)Y sims better than I would have thought given I am keeping an ugly leave that I felt was more likely to lead to an exchange than playing VIEWY. Based on this, OWLY is probably better. #strategysmall
-3 exch R actually sims ok, although DOR sims better on 4-ply. main problem with DOR is that it's relatively easy to block and i only hold one hook for it. i thought of GRIND as well but didn't consider -R. #strategysmall
and he blocked epitasis.. i always hate moves that keep too outrageous of a vowel-consonant ratio, but i suppose IPSST > AISST? since it likes E11 AI more. -1.5 #tacticssmall
Tunneled on REZ almost immediately, and it's not a huge error; but OOZE and ZOO at least retain some bingo% and need to be considered. #findingsmall 16:51
like this over HEY to not give back easy parallels. sims a few points worse, the HJ combo doesn't seem too good. B7 HEY looks correct here though, didn't consider keeping the Y for a better play next turn. #strategysmall
A(QUA) doesn't seem all that important according to Quackle. Apparently I should play LOAD in the same spot, which was my original instinct. 11L (F)OLD is also reasonable if I think STOVE was a Z setup or if I don't want that variance in my life. Truth is I didn't even think of ZE. #strategysmall
i always struggle a bit with making obvious fishes like this but it seemed to work with a lot of letters, and through the A, etc. quackle prefers N1 PST for 29 or O7 PHT for 14. i think i would have played PHT if i'd thought of it. -2.5 #tacticssmall #visionsmall
poor endgame. i wan't totally sure on FLOCS so didn't want to play it first. #endgamelarge #knowledgelarge. i bled a lot of spread this tourney and it may have made some difference for the cash prizes.
8G TAKING has the best equity. I was leery of giving up an extra bingo lane, easier sevens lanes, and a chance to hook TAKING while using a DWS, which is why I chose KIANG; but I should also be concerned with keeping two T's. #strategysmall
So admittedly I missed 2J ARIOT here which looks pretty nice, but picking which fish to make here was tricky. I don't think I appreciated that M1 HOA would bingo a similar amount to the plays fishing off two As. That looks definitely best thanks to the extra 6 points. But F6 AJAR vs M3 AA vs J10 AA was a tough call. I thought M3 AA would help me get down more bingos but apparently AJAR bingos just as much and doesn't open anything up - it certainly would've worked out better here. #tacticssmall
i was very low on time at this point and freaking out about how close he got so i missed a million outs. i just picked something that scored and accepted the fact that i totally bolloxed up the second half of this game. -11 F11 YIrRS. my favorite out is G6 S(AVO)RILY (L is a blank). #endgamelarge #time
I didn't see FETE in this spot, but I still liked keeping my other E for the GEMOTE hook to bingo. FETE would have still been a little better to score 8 more to dig for the blanks more. #visionmedium
Not sure what's correct here. Blocking the S hook after his last play seems maybe okay, since this play isn't a huge equity sac anyway. #strategysadder
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
although SHOVE opens the board for a comeback, it increases his average by a ton since the board is otherwise dead. VE(N)OSE is nice for that, but I also like keeping the I column open for better opening plays later. GO(N)E is interesting to open the board and keep the S. I probably don't need to panic here and should play VENOSE. #findingsmall
No home for THORITE after that got blocked. Seems like an oversight here- I didn't see K9 THO(U) which only scores 3 less but keeps a stronger leave. Not sure I really need to go for an S that badly despite there being 4 left. #visionsmall #strategymedium
great play for Mina to make me totally freak out. i figured she for sure had a T, and maybe both Ts. i didn't think she'd have the blank, but it's possible. REFI# sims terrible; if i infer ET? for her it does go up a bit, but it's still too meek. i almost laid down 2B FLOOD, but my worry was that she'd just score a lot up there, and save her T for next turn. i have a lot of trouble when other players do stuff like this against me. quackle likes ignoring it and playing FOLIO at 2A (which is also actually a weak block sometimes), i considered this as well and was just worried about opening up another big bingo lane - but then again, maybe you do want to do this when you're up to decrease volatility (if there is a big bingo lane open, and you open another one, your variance in score difference after two plies goes down, and this is what you want when you're ahead by a bingo). -11.5 #strategylarge #niceplaybun
F8 (C)OO(E)E is good. I drew my 3 tiles without shaking the bag too hard and before looking at them had the urge to put them back into the bag. I feel like it's often not the tiles that opponent threw back that you draw, even when you don't shake, but that whenever the draw is bad, you assume. I should have been allowed to put the tiles back before looking at them because Scrabble draws should be random. #findinglarge
Now I'm more inclined to open up since I'm down and he played off 3 tiles instead of one, though I should have looked at the pool here. 8L (C)OPE is clearly better. #strategysad
this is likely wrong. a good player like Joey would be setting up a heavy tile to hit the spot at 10F after my inevitable bingo. i should dump the R there. I considered it but thought he might just be keeping low tiles himself and trying to race me to the bingo, and then OR would be easy for him to bingo to since it has so many hooks, etc. hard choice. i also considered abort for a while. -1.5 #strategysmall
I had seen the 9 before Josh played ADOPT, but then spent way too long trying to find a decent bingo on Column M. There aren't really any that don't allow comeback plays on column N. I saw that TROILUSES was vulnerable to X plays, but if he didn't draw one after ADOPT, I like my chances. The sim winner here is OUtSETS M9, but I'm skeptical. (-4?) #strategymedium