13M GU(T). I thought 1H UNRO(V)E was a huge strategic error after the game, but it's too close to be making short blocking plays, I need to score. It's still a mistake though. #strategysadder
I talk myself out of EXORABLE, remembering that there was something weird about it. What I was remembering was the fact that EXORABLY* is no good but that INEXORABLY is. #knowledgelarge
Q actually recommends SOH at J8 for 42 points here. I suppose it holds JEAN at J2 next turn. This and JEON are neck and neck, I suppose it's a matter of how volatile I want next turn to be #findingsad
my original thought was ZE(E) F6 for 32. But then I saw this, and wondered if it could be worse. Quackle thinks this is around a 3-point error, which I find hard to argue with unless somehow Ricky plays more closed after ZE(E) such a significant amount of the time. #strategysmall
Why didn't I play 14B GRASP? Actually, PING has better equity than both GRASP and Quackle's choice, 12A DING. But DING is better because what, APRS is a better leave and A12-A15 is less lucrative? #tacticssmall
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.
Quackle says N5 IN is the only winning play, but when I play out the games it loses to A1 FUNKiA, A1 FANKlE, and even A1 UNRAKE, so I'm not sure what's best here. #strategysaddest
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
A9 STROBIC #knowledgesaddest for the bing AND the BLEAKY hook T_T also D12 B(A)C is a slightly better version of what i was trying to do with setting up my S
3B OW seemed crazy. I can see why this could be a strategical oversight- G3 WO is 8 fewer points but my bingo % shoots up to 43% compared to just 13% after WITES. It still sims quite a bit ahead of WITES despite what might usually be a big difference in score. On the other hand, this isn't even that good of a board for bingoing besides the open T in PAINT. Other than that, I pretty much have to play a 9 or score like 61 with the S in AMNESIAS. Quackle has puts some 3A plays ahead of some Column G plays. #strategymedium?
unsure of OFFY#! - hence why I didn't play AYU with OFFA, but totally spaced on AYU with FA and FY which is probably the best play anyway #findingsaddest
I have to block INOSITOL! I can also just play OEsTRUAL which I missed, but that's quite bad on spread and I should only play if I have a read that she has INOSITOL. (D)A is a stronger fish, hitting 5/8 in both spots, whereas this hits 4/8. #strategymedium
#knowledgesad for challenge and #Knowledgesaddest for chickening out of CITROUS (i felt like my impulse control was shot on Day 2 from lack of sleep and wanted to rein hallucinations in)
I overthought this a bit I think. XENIC simply is probably fine. She held this for a bit. I think considering she might not know this, and how easy it is to overlap the X and score after this, I should have just done XENIC #strategysmall
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
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
not good enough. 12A SWIVED scores more and i might be able to score next turn too on the S. VICED though sims best, for 38 vs 33 and keeps the W to score with. -6 #strategymedium
This was a very interesting turn. Sim slightly prefers exchanging town to OT and/or exchanging down to ET to this -- I felt like keeping an O was necessary, and given the makeup of the bag, I wanted to keep an E for vowel/consonant balance. #tacticssmall
I thought SCRIB was a word #knowledgesaddest so this doesn't leave a bingo line that I need to win. Something like 3K (C)L(E)W seems good here. #strategysaddest
I did consider H11 XENIA and I6 ONYX. The problem with ONYX is that it gives him a nice scoring spot to work with and keeping 4 vowels wasn't exactly appealing to me. N11 OCEAN would have been really nice as I do save the X for another score. #visionlarge
Apparently FOX is better, but it seemed like it gave back sooo much and I can score with the X next turn, but DHNR can turn into something as well. I could hit INHOLDER or something #tacticsmedium
So many lanes, so much potential! I spent more than 5 minutes looking for bingos and didn't see one. After the game, I gave the rack to Alec and he found the only bingo in about 30 seconds. Dude is *sharp*. Also, LENO 1A is better than any other play by far. I must have gotten flustered after wasting all my time failing to find the bingo that I didn't take more time to find the right non-bingo play. (-30) #visionlarge, #strategylarge, #timemanagementlarge
completely missed the PSHAW hook! I went for PAESANO 2B and APNOEAS 14E, and set up another hook just in case I was missing another bingo with the N/Kevin would be less prone to blocking with more live bingo lanes. I might be best off playing N2 (T)AE for 10 here. It threatens PAVANES with an AN draw and REPAVES with an ER draw. I think Kevin is very likely to have the R, which is why I rejected the hail mary bag-empting EAV(E) D3, which would set up REAVE and a possible bingo in two spots (maybe?). But (T)AE also sets up the Z, and maybe if Kevin messes up somehow I can win if I draw the Z for P(RE)Z or O4 Z- plays. #findinglarge
unfortunately I took 4-5 minutes here making sure there was no 3x3, and didn't count how much a play would score at 13B. TINHORn scores 3 more than my bingos to the C. #findingsmall. ORNITHIC was more defensive but I was only 80% sure of it or so. #knowledgesmall
This was probably the #visionsolid moment of the tourney for me. It almost ties my 6 letter parallel that I found one time at my home club last January.
cool -- bag has good enough letters (including the blanks) and is consonant-heavy enough that quackle wants me to keep S instead of ST here. oops. -0.5 #focus #tacticssmall
she played ZIT with mucho gusto, and it made me think it was probably a setup. I worried that F(I)G, the best block I saw, was gonna be too big a sacrifice in the case it wasn't. however, I think I should have trusted my read on her since even with just XI implied FIG beats FOE and OF by over 5 points. with QI implied it's an even bigger difference, of course. #strategymedium
C13 JEE is the obvious play here. my main issue is that i thought the chances of that E staying open were infinitesimal, and not only that but i was probably going to give up a bunch of points. but the amount of points i give up is actually not that big, he has a bad rack a lot of the time and may overreact to the open E (but then i still have nowhere to bingo except through the N or some miracle overlap). so i don't even know. maybe i shouldn't concern myself too much with this situation. -5 #strategymedium
I1 NARGHiL(E) was missed and I did not know its anagram of NARGILEH. I didn't want to risk trying RINGHAL* since that's a sticky S. Also, H7 L(O)NGHAiR was missed and that's also not easy to spot. #findingsad
His last play was interesting. I wonder if he perhaps didn't think of AMOTION or EMOTION when he played MOTION. While I liked PIT over DIP with the T in MEET available, C2 PITIED scores enough that I should just do that instead of hoping he misses the hooks if he drew them. #strategymedium