Absolutely clutch draw with picking both remaining Ss on just a 3 tile pull. I did bend by accepting the phony, which led to him drawing into his 1st bingo, but there's nothing I can do about his 2nd one except score and dump the V. I also could have left the S off to try scoring with YAEGERS*, which he might not even challenge if both of us really thought YAEGER* was good. #strategymedium
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
who misses two-letter words? I miss two-letter words. I think I might have been conflating the C's inflexibility with my irrational despisal of the G. #endgameSADDEST
3L REI.... but then I have to find CRENATION after C2 CHOIR and C1 ICHOR are blocked. Also N4 CIRRI is better than this because it does not allow 6M MIG. #endgamemedium (-10)
I think it's better to just ditch the Q now and do K1 Q(U)ORUM, which I didn't even spot. It's actually the only way I can even ditch the Q. #visionmedium
I had well under a minute here and the fastest math I could do indicated that this move would win without needing to risk CASTLINGS (I scored it right but added it wrong) - it turned out that it actually tied instead. Then I insisted on recounting the game, even after Bradley offered me a tie, and discovered multiple plays I had overscored, and ended up losing by 3. Tough loss, but I've had worse. #endgamelarge
I need to lose by less than 257 to win the tournament. Losing by 257 exactly is a tie. This sets up an OUTVENOM extension that I didn't see for the whole game. 8H ENMOVE is slightly better. #findingsad
this was frustrating. I missed GERB(I)L which seems like the play I would make. Quackle prefers fishing again with (E)RG or B(E)RG. Either way, this seems like a mistake #findingsmall
yuck, kind of hard to see, but i should. DIGITIZE for 94! i was kind of worrying and playing badly here; CATER was quite the wrong move and it led to some crap :( -37 #findinglarge
Quackle prefers K9 HATH, which I considered. HEATH has the better equity, but the board is good for bingos in the short term, with row 12 and column B, and HATH preserves both lanes and keeps a better bingo leave. #tacticssmall
It felt like I couldn't do much of anything on this board. Indeed, I shouldn't do much of anything: the two best plays are exchange NT and I8 (FAA)N. ANCE# takes many front hooks, and the N which I keep is not one. :( #strategymedium
Y setup! I could be more defensive with H11 EMU or something, maybe that's the call! with the 3 row and such I like setting up a scoring spot, but maybe it gets taken organically too often. given the deliciousness of the 3 row for the Y already, I think EMU is fine cause I score a lot, only a few less than after swum. #findingsmall
H1 BLIP is only 1 less but keeps much better. 4D D(u)PING is sick vision and keeps a comparably good BL leave, but DGIN is just much better than GL as a leave. #findingquestionable
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
12C BAY has the best equity, doesn't give Matt any floaters, and often draws into DATIVE next turn anyway. I'm not sure whether I even looked for anything after I found DATIVE. #visionlarge
I missed a rare opportunity to play KAAS here, in the same spot. #findingsmall
I'm not too worried about the C hook here, since The C is usually a word-starter and he only has 6 squares to play a word starting in C.
I overthought this one. I saw that if I played H10 (A)SHLAR and he binged for 80ish from the R with AI?, I would probably be Q stuck. But even then I'm up too much for it to matter and I can always outrun. #strategylarge
I didn't want to play K5 VIRT(U) and give back 6J Q(I), but I guess it's probably fine. I thought I might be able to induce some low scoring Q dump or an exchange with this play. #strategysadder
Apparently I'm supposed to play on row 4 according to a sim and CP. I guess he bingos there a lot and I have to block or it gives me a better chance to draw a blank. In hindsight I think I agree. This play is bad. #strategylarge
My reasoning for this move was to set up a board where I either hit my fish and bingo or brick my draw and score decently to the triple with OCAS. But AGIRS just doesn't bingo quite enough more to warrant the 10 point sacrifice over ORGIAC. #strategysmall 21:12
i have to do something clever like 2K SIGH here. although my winning % is low, this is how to come back. the problem with my play is it just gives him an easy scoring dump. SIGH makes it tricky for him. also GRITH > BRITH. -3.5 #strategymedium
missed VOE lol, 23 and also nice for the X hooks. I don't assume he has an S, I think it's reasonable he made this play without one. OXO is cute but EEISV is kinda shitty. #findingmedium
AVISO has the best equity, but the sim winners are exchanges, keeping AS, S, or IS. The board is very good for the S with (ADVECT)S, (BALANCER)S, and (QUOTA)S available. #tacticssmall
Absolutely and horribly inexcusable. This is invalid and I held for a while, unable to remember if BATWING or WINGBAT* is valid. I remembered that Reid had a history of knowing a lot of words and I know that I don't know anything at all and eventually accept and make the spread-cutting move but WINGBATS* ISN'T A WORD ASDAFSD
Literally when the only way to lose is to accept a word that looks funny to you, you should probably challenge that word. Guhhhhhh. This is one of many, many times where I show absolutely no faith in my word knoweldge this tournament.
#knowledgesaddest #tacticssaddest (idk if I can tag two things but I'll try)
Better to fish here, but the Q is in the bag 1/3. 2/3 times I draw a bingo 4/8 times, so there's around a 1/3 shot at CALIBRE, BRAILLE or whatever with the blank. I guess it's worth it considering the likelihood I get Q-stuck after this play. #strategylarge
He tried blocking F2 EAtERIE but forgot about EARD. I also forgot about EARD. I hope I would have seen it with more than 1 minute. 1F EAtERIE is gg. #TIMESADDEST
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
N: 15F ULVAS sims better but I kinda liked putting the V out there to block #strategysadder ? definitely a #knowledgesadder for ULVAS
ALSO play was miscounted as 33 oop
14D ULVA is a nice play. i saw it, and passed on it because there's a lot of big tiles left and he can just score there and outrun me (GOUTY or something). but maybe i should do this, so that i have a good scoring spot myself. maybe i don't have much choice. quackle likes ULVA a lot. i think the main point should be to try to find a winning line. what do i have after LAVA? nothing. after ULVA, i get to draw for a big play somewhere, leave 1 in the bag, and then maybe win that way. #strategymedium
I had problems focusing and counting plays here. I don't remember exactly, but I remember counting both plays and getting it wrong and then trying again and getting it right, but blocking the TO and partially the E in AUTOED is much better for bingo defense than blocking up top. This is a stupid decision on my part. I think I thought I could deal with the right side later. #strategysmall
Even if the scores of both HEW plays were reversed, I should still play under AUTOED.
i didn't spot the J14 GYP spot, and at this point i'm pretty unfocused. gotta work on focusing in all situations. since a loss here will make me 1-2 in the early bird so far, it was tough to stay positive, given how i lost the last game! This is a great example of how one lost moment of focus costs one the game. The most elite players make the right play here - it is essential to keep the V to score at 8D, so the best plays should actually keep EV. that makes YEN even better. In the main event, I had a somewhat similar situation, but at that point I was significantly more concentrated and I think I made the right decision. -16 #visionlarge