Finding Medium
6F HU(T) +14
I think I sacrificed too much short-term equity even if I made a board conducive to my S hook. 4G U(P)HOVE is not an easy play to spot and I think that's better to minimize risk. Evan is more unlikely to hit 2x2s from the V after he just picked 6 tiles, and me picking 2 vowels could potentially kill me for several turns. #findingmedium
Samuel Kaplan vs. Evan Chester (Game 55022)
Strategy Large
M3 VAN +22
I should probably leave the 3 row open, it's hard for him to close. I hated all my options - DAV(E)N? that puts pressure on at least, it's probably better than VAN. I was kinda hoping he wouldn't have a good TAGS block, but he can always do a mediocre one from the G in KLEAGLES or with ETA, and then I have to bingo on some terrible marginal lane. I think I got too obsessed with staying in bingo range, DAVEN isn't likely to win but at least I will be able to have a place to bingo. I think B4 ADD is good as well, keeping the 3 row and 13 rows open. either one of those seem way better than VAN #strategylarge
Jackson Smylie vs. Kenji Matsumoto (Game 33113)
Strategy Large
L10 (V)OR +19
E3 OURIES(T) is probably the best attempt here to try and open something up. It might be difficult for him to block everything especially without the E. #strategysaddest
Joshua Castellano vs. Rob Robinsky (Game 59096)
Strategy Medium
F13 OF(T) +29
expecting my oppo to find BISCUIT and give me a U to play through. C12 FEE(R) is better even though it scores less #strategysadder
Nitya Chagti vs. Terry Kang (Game 61569)
Endgame Large
14A (R)AISE +10
Unfortunately, 1 vowel too many will doom me. I have no wins. I only saw 14A (R)EBATO and missed C3 BOATE(L) for him. If I'm going to miss BOATEL, this play should be 12C OSSIA. #endgamelarge
Evan Chester vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 56140)
Finding Small
D1 JIBED +49
I think I really need to do 15A DJIN here. This is a mistake that is very avoidable. I score only 1 less while giving back so much less to him. #findingsmall
Brandon Randall vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 56148)
Knowledge Small
12H SAYER +52
B2 POR(G)Y is nice. I'm committing to catching up without a bingo after SAYER. 3H OY and 3H AY are nice for fishy plays because they're tough to block + I have the floating T, O and N. #knowledgesad
Nitya Chagti vs. Jason Hazzard (Game 59598)
Vision Medium
E5 TOT(E)R +15
It's good that I saw a play in this area of the board, and I would certainly favor playing more tiles here. A better version of this play is E7 T(E)NET for 7 more. Also not the easiest to spot. #visionmedium
Samuel Kaplan vs. Maddy Kamen (Game 56938)
Vision Unspecified
H7 B(U)MP +26
Very happy I saw this play. It's easily more sound than L12 T(O)MB. I think this is a great time to get some high pointers off my rack and wait to score again with the X. #visionspoton
Samuel Kaplan vs. Zachary Ansell (Game 56655)
Strategy Medium
G2 AUE +11
N6 EAU sims pretty well for something that's so scary. I like 9G A(R)EA. I guess with the former I set up my M and with the latter I score some points. Thinking this might be a #strategysadder
Nitya Chagti vs. Sanya Adebola (Game 58979)
Vision Medium
O3 R(E)QUIN +45
B1 NIQAB does score 14 more than this. That said, I'm shocked I didn't lose out on that much win % even though I lost out on a decent amount of equity. Maybe this isn't that bad of a time to miss NIQAB given that I only need to win the game? There are still 5 more Is to pick and leaving RU won't help out too much with that. I should still find NIQAB and play that given that Evan is more random. #visionmedium
Samuel Kaplan vs. Evan Chester (Game 55022)
Knowledge Small
M2 AGOROT +23
I totally whiffed the CHORIAMBI hook. I don't think I would have been confident of that. J1 GIRO, J1 TIRO, and J2 IOTA are all better. #knowledgesad and also #knowledgesad for the challenge
Joshua Castellano vs. Irfan Siddiqui (Game 60111)
Finding Small
15A LAMS +33
Right idea to use this spot to score and pull ahead. Looking back, I should have seen ALMS in this spot since it's harder to end bingoes with an A than an L. #findingsmall
Samuel Kaplan vs. Zach Bittker (Game 60409)
Finding Small
12A MO(I)sTING +80
First off, I could have played 2G T(R)OMpING for 82. Secondly, I got lucky as this also phony. We are both so bad this game. Even 12A OM(I)TtING would have been fine if I don't see TROMPING. #findingsad
Lynn Cushman vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 56397)
Knowledge Small
1C DHARMA +60
I would have scored no matter what since I still had 1M HAW if Maddy took the left TWS that I opened. I did not know 1D MAHWA in this position. It's another spelling of MAHUA. I would have kept a better leave after MAHWA, but this board is actually decent for Ws since I have the 3M scoring spot to work with as well as the C9 spot, for which I can make parallels next to HOLIER. That said, MAHWA is better equity and most likely would have been my play if I knew it and saw it since if I draw vowels, Ws generally do a poor job of absorbing those types of draws. #knowledgesmall
Samuel Kaplan vs. Maddy Kamen (Game 56938)
Finding Small
N2 HOSTInG +85
And now this game is all but over since I drew very well. That said, I did not know 13F GOT(C)HIeS for 89 and missed 15A (T)OnIGHTS for 86. #findingsmall
Jeff Fiszbein vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 56922)
Strategy Small
10B PAT(E)S +15
The sim says 10D P(E)GS, 10B PAG(E)RS, or D10 TAG, but those aren't really going anywhere. Then again, I feel like a human blocks my setup way more than a sim so I dunno. #strategysad
Scott Jackson vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 60783)
Finding Large
K8 MA(Y)O +18
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
Josh Sokol vs. Matthew Tunnicliffe (Game 48816)
Finding Large
13F SOUtANE +63
1st key miss this game. I completely missed the SPAVIN hook, but I also had a 3x3 of A8 SUbO(C)EAN, which Mack immediately found after the game. If I'm going to miss the SPAVIN hook and the 3x3, at least spot N7 ApO(L)UNES. He dodged a bullet, didn't he? #findinglarge
Samuel Kaplan vs. Mack Meller (Game 60593)
Vision Medium
12I V(E)RT +14
1st tile on my rack is after a Q in the alphabet. Not too often one sees that. 11G V(E)R(I)ST appears to clean up the rack much better and is a clear improvement. I did not spot that. #visionmedium
Mark Abadi vs. Samuel Kaplan (Game 56143)
Strategy Small
6A SNOWMEN +70
The sims said 6A SNOWMEN wins ~82% but 2J WOM(A)NS wins ~85%, which is a bit unintuitive. I think the sim might be overestimating 2J WOM(A)NS slightly because sometimes the opponent will fish 1 with 2 in the bag, but it might still be best. #strategysad
Nitya Chagti vs. Joshua Castellano (Game 56281)