Not thrilled to open the double-double but this was by far the most palatable equity move; 7E KEPT was my other option, and Quackle prefers it slightly based on just a bit better defense. #strategysmall 17:51
15F EVO# is best, saving N4 GAMA, or 3L AGMA after BriAnna's best block, 8L DIVA. OGAM would be only two points worse if H10 CLITIC were not available. (-11) #endgamelarge
I feel that I had the right idea by doing this over M7 OLEO given the 24 consonants and only 12 vowels unseen, but I think M5 LOOM might be a slightly better version of this just because I get to hang onto my E, although I am scoring 2 more points here and it's not possible to close down the board just yet. LOOM does edge out MOLE in the sim. #strategysmall
Leaving OO isn't appealing either, but AXIAL was missed for 6 more. An exchange 4 is at least random enough to the point where I can just play my game. AXIAL keeps the board open longer, which is what I sorely need to have against Richard. #findingsmall
yeahhh wasn't really sure of SICE, that's bad. ERODE is pretty good if I will play SICE next turn, but she also has an S a lot of the time and may take the spot. #knowledgesmall
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
I should just play D8 EMOTED here -- it's equity and the board is already plenty open. DEEM does double the A-hook potential but without holding an A that's not too great. #tacticssad
i gotta find FL(U)ID ... FUD is not good enough. i was a little worried about the X so that flipped the scales, but i hadn't seen FLUID. -4 #findingmedium
D4 KILL(JO)Y. I'm pretty sure I would have known this was good if I had seen it and I didn't even look at playing through JO, making it a #visionsmall mistake. Also #knowledgesmall for the +5.
I seriously considered playing 1A WAZ(O)OING* before deciding that it was more likely that the blank was in the bag and I could draw it to win than WAZOOING* being a word. This isn't actually the best play. C1 ZO(A) saves 1A WA(ZO)O and wins about 50% of the time as opposed to this which wins about 30% of the time. #endgamelarge
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
I am terrible. I thought it was only KNAIDELS and that I had phonied with SANDLIKE before, but it was DIRTLIKE* against Vera in 2013 where I had TIDELIKE available and chose wrong. Stupid stupid, this is the perfect time to phony anyway. Dahhhhh also KADI and KINDA..... #knowledgesaddest #findingsaddest
I was so close to just doing M11 KYU instead of YUK to be safe. Yes, there is huge Z-bomb upside to YUK, but Vince has one of the *fifteen* unseen Es and Os so, so often to play there himself, and it's instantly by far the best scoring spot on the board. However, I need to add that Vince put down QUID, then looked at it in frustration and picked it up to play QUIN - I kind of read this as an admission that he didn't have an E himself on that turn, which does tip the odds a fair bit in my favor. I probably should still have played it safe here. #strategymedium
there is absolutely no reason to do this. I didn't think SOBERERS* was valid, but because I wasn't sure, I think I was kind of punishing myself, and also, *maybe* he doesn't challenge somehow. #knowledgesaddest
I calculated that ZHOMO would win by 1 here, and it does; but there could have been a scoring error, and there's far a better option here of 14F HERTZ for 62, following up with 10J MOO. #endgamelarge
Fishing is not the right play here, for I do not hit often enough, and once Orry makes his play of M13 LEU I have to start blocking again. I should take the points with 10D GIBES, the sim winner. #tacticsmedium
sim thinks I'm overthinking it and just HM 1A is fine. I wanted to block some stuff at some point with two blanks out. This blocks the C and sets up my M to block the BROWNS hook #strategymedium
i did actually see BUSLOAD but i didn't love using my S like that. dunno, DRUB is overall pretty weak, i suppose. should just take the points. -5 #strategymedium
I(C)ILY is nice and tight, but makes the board too s-dependant for my liking. I wondered if ILIAD was worth the points sacrifice but didn't think about underlaps being easier after IDEAL, which tips the scales in favor of ILIAD. #strategysmall
sort of balked here. Never saw 13K INN which looks pretty good to block the likeliest lane and score, while maintaining the R for RYA. I don't necessarily want to block one spot here, but I might be able to get away with it. #findingsmall
I was trying to block 15A (G)ARRISON because I thought A3 CORRI(D)AS might not be a word (it is) or he might not see it. SAD! H11 F(R)APE can just outrun everything. #endgameSADDEST
now I'm pretty much completely 50/50 about whether Noah has the X, and when I make this play, I'm closer and closer to realizing FU(G) was not an X setup. The best play here is 3I FIN(N)AN. That's a huge miss once again #findinglarge
N11 TIKE dominates the sim, winning 73%, and I have no idea why--it scores 26, but it keeps EUU and makes a higher-scoring (though less useful) bingo line on column O, which should in theory prevent me from outscoring if Mitch has a bingo (54%). 7K ETUI, Championship Player's pick and second place on the sim (63% win), allows the fewest bingos (40%) and keeps a leave that can outscore most plays that aren't bingos. Thus I think ETUI is best. KUE does not block column N at all and is thus significantly worse. #tacticslarge
it's between yuch and huic here, but annoyingly i insta-played YUCH instead of considering them both. i think HUIC might have a small edge here because it's more defensive. #strategysmall
I put down N6 DESICATE* and realized it was horseshit when all the tiles were down, so I took it back played the rest of the game on tilt. N2 CA(N)E(D) #strategysadder
Didn't think NUBBER was good, and eschewed NABBER because of the leave and opening more lanes (remember I'm effectively winning here since Karl needs to beat me by 43). HUE is probably fine over NABBER, but NUBBER is certainly worth it. #knowledgemedium
Your play: RURP. I chickened out of SPURRER and bizarrely didn't play PURR for 4 more, probably distracted by my deliberations over SPURRER's validity. #knowledgelarge
Quackle likes GLEIS but likes G13 GIE a bit more; interestingly, it far prefers GIE to GIO in the same spot, expecting I get a lot more bingos down the M column paralleling SO and perhaps a handful on column I with the (D)O(R) insertion. #strategysmall
7I HIRCINe and I chickened out of I4 CHIR(M)INg because why would that be a word? #KNOWLEDGESADDEST
Spoiler: I maintain that spending like 100 minutes on this move is what cost me the game (along with all of my following mistakes). Stay tuned for primo facepalm opportunities.
i didn't know MEISHI# (or HOTELINGS#) or SHIAI#. i would think i would have seen the latter in a high playability list of some sort. SHAME is obviously quite weaker, but at least it scores a lot. -10.5 #knowledgelarge
I completely failed to see the hyper-agressiive 9J OF here. What a play. Just decided to equity here and see what happened, since I wasn't ahead by enough to play defense at the expense of my rack with all the lanes on the board that weren't getting blocked and an unseen blank to boot. #findingsmall
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
I mean at this point, the 8 more unseen Is are a problem, so I think that B12 GUL should have been the play to minimize my odds of a bad draw. It is simming at the top with O1 GUSTO to take out the dangerous WANDS hook. #findingsmall
I was too afraid of all the lanes on this board. I should still just play HEA(R)D because it scores well. I felt like I needed to be proactive and try and go for blanks and stuff, but yeah... #tacticssmall L(E)HUA 9F is also an option
Apparently Exch. ILNNRV isn't bad given the pool but also, realistically, where am i gonna bingo that isn't from the N on the O column? I guess i could hope to draw a bingo from the A of FOEdARIE or one that underlaps TEA, making WEXES/WEXED? #strategysaddest Also this play was miscounted as 17
Exch. CDFGL is better. I held the F because of the F10 F spot if I hit an E, and also the D9 spot -- those aren't good enough, unfortunately. #strategysad
i had a feeling this wasn't a good move, but i actually could not find anything better. i think i thought of OUCH E4 but that's only marginal. i like TOUCH but there's a lot of unseen Es. 2B URETHAN is the clear star play here; just need to improve anagramming. -7.5 #visionmedium
FEM looks very solid because the leave is much better and I'm much likelier to hit PIEZO H1, can also hit ZERO and stuff 12A. The E is a good tile part 1209830935. #findingsmall