just fishing the F with EFF hits 32/75 of the pool! and is very defensive. I put the T on for extra defense, he averages over 5 less than after VEX. I didn't mind the scoring spot VEXT opens cause if he hits it he's likely giving one back to me. Still, 7E EF or (EF)F look better #findingsmall EF vs (EF)F is interesting, the latter is more standard but the former also invites 8a openings which open the board for me, and I average a lot next turn.
Fairly close, as WIZEN is just better points and leave, but doesn't risk some some sort of disaster o1 type scenario where the blank never realizes its equity. This does a lot more to end the game faster and is a lot less volatile, especially towards S setups that I don't have. Slight edge to WIZEN #strategysmall
i missed ZIBET, which is weird because i'm pretty sure i thought the words "i have ZIBET". -8 #nervousnesslarge #findinglarge i knew i was going to find a way to lose this game because i haven't beaten joel in like 6 games and no matter how positive i was trying to think it was over as soon as something told me to play UTE.
-14 ! bad bad move here. i liked it thematically; blocking a few vertical bingo lanes. quackle prefers three moves at 12K - PAW, MAW, WAP. ordinarily, with a nice lead, it would be foolish to open the board like that. however, her bingo chances are very low - there's only 1 E, lots of I's and other ugly letters left. so PAW is good! #strategylarge #focus #bag
I like how well this goes through the tile bag while I'm ahead by a lot, but 2K BOIT(E) was missed and should have been the play. I should be making plays with less turnover with all those As left. #visionmedium
Pretty significant mistake by getting too greedy. Just take the guaranteed bingo with NOTIFIER. Why can't TONIFIER* be good if TONIFIES and TONIFIED are good along with NOTIFIER, NOTIFIES, and NOTIFIED? Good challenge Beth. #knowledgesad #dictionaryflawslarge
i did consider G10 DUNG but i didn't want to open it up for him after his last play or two. his rack kind of smelled of blanks (i can smell them) and i thought i should keep it a bit closed. i maybe could play H1 GNAR too, or 5M GOD or something. either way, i'm in decent shape. -3.5 #strategysmall
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
I can't afford to keep two of BPV here. B9 BE(S)POT# is best; it frustrates column A and row 15, unloads two of my clunkers, and maximizes turnover for the blanks. I did not know BESPOT#. Next best is the equity play, A6 BOPO#. #knowledgelarge
This is just a much worse version of (R)OWA(N) 9H and I could easily just play (P)OW or something but I still want to dodge the 10 unseen vowels #endgamesad
I was under time pressure and just played equity. I got very lucky that this blocked 11D (BE)WEARIED which I completely missed. 12K VLOG(S) is best. #timesaddest
My penchant for mishandling Gs strikes again; this should be RONG for the same score but far more flexible leave (and RONG doesn't allow BORNE plays to go down). #tacticssmall
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
I thought DIALOGUED was the only valid spelling, but DIALOGED is valid too. Same with DIALOGER just like DIALOGUER. If I wasn't fully sure of the bingo, blocking the hotspot was fine and it at least sims ahead of 4J DODGE and 4J DADO. #knowledgemedium
O4 ACTUA(T)E OOF #KNOWLEDGESADDEST the funny thing is that I SAW O6 ACU(T)E and it would have still been better than O6 TAU(T). WHY didn't I just play it? Some mysteries shall haunt us forever, friends
WA: I didn't see F10 TATOU, which looks nice, especially if I read HOB as a Z setup; though keeping the T for TREW is helpful as well. I'll go ahead and say #visionsmall.
I probably didn't need to be so defensive here since Amika didn't keep an S after OOLITE. I got too focused on blocking this and shoud have looked harder and spotted C9 DA(B)BLE for 40, even with the hooks it takes. That's too many more points. #visionmedium
i think ORB doesn't necessarily imply an incredibly strong leave, but let's give him IRS; quackle still prefers 4D RATHE. i don't know what i was thinking. there are two open lanes, and i have a bigger comeback if i let him bingo on lane 14 a lot of the time. i can't block them both, so force him to bingo there. -11.5 #strategylarge it's a new day and i'm back to my bad play.
I think I needed to do K4 VERITY here- while there's no guarantee that I'll dump the Q next turn, it's a little more open, and I do still have 4 chances to draw an I or T. And I score 12 more. #visionmedium
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
I did not see the best rack-cleanup options here, C8 (R)UBIED or 13B BEDUI(N). Again a lack of ability to generate certain patterns that I must attempt to eliminate. (R)UBIED looks pretty good. #findingsmall
i strongly considered C2 BRO, which sims best, but i feel like i should stop screwing around. i'm holding on to a bit of a tenuous lead, both blanks and X are unseen, etc. it seemed good to kill a few lanes here and score and stuff. #strategysmall ?
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
JC: LMAO. I thought I played optimally here but it's not even close. A1 DEVO is 14 points better. It leads to some dumbass 7 turn dinking sequence that sticks me with the Q but is somehow better. #ENDGAMESADDEST
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
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
lots of options here. This seems a bit too middling and remember regretting it. G(ID) is fine even though it doesn't hit much. I should block the spot and keep decently. #strategysmall
I completely misevaluated where the likely bingos were going. I thought blocking the C column was important, but 15 row is more dangerous. The best simming move is 14C EAR(D) and similar moves on row 14 and 15 also sim well. #strategysaddest
oh shit C3 ENVIR(O)N is an option here. Dig for the blank again, perhaps give myself better tempo, but it doesn't seem like it's the right play. Hm.. This whole game was hm. O7 LEVIN is better at least. #findingsmall
13B MANIA is a better block. H1 A(C)UMEN is available but I think a bingo ending in QUE is the only way I can lose so I think I have to block. #findingsadder
i'm not going to lose the game, but this is a terrible move. i guess i got greedy and thought he might give me a bingo, but instead this gives back a ton of points. just play BATIKS for 49. sheesh! -21 #strategylarge #focus
i'm too much of a perfectionist, once i saw that i missed this bingo i felt bad. i think it's my only bingo miss of the tournament, but it's annoying because i wrote AABORRSU and i checked that i've both gotten and missed this word a few times when studying. the alphagram didn't really look familiar, and it's a hard word, but if one wants to win nationals, one has to find BAROSAUR here. #knowledgeSADDEST
i spent a long time on this move and then made a bad play. i should play CURIE 10K here, i considered it and it is aggressive, and good, i have the case S. it might be slightly worse because he is consonant heavy. i strongly considered 9C UNTIE as well, and saw that the bag was consonant heavy (11 vowels and 16 consonants unseen). i knew he probably had like 4-5 of the consonants at least based on his last few plays, so that may even out the bag a little bit, but still, UTE seemed to bingo a lot. my problem is that the bag still has a lot of ugly high point tiles that won't bingo. i was worried that if i played UNTIE or CURIE i would draw 4 consonants and my rack would go to hell. still, i don't know how i spend such a long time on this rack and then make such a lame move. i should be less afraid and play CURIE. there are high scoring tiles to go for like the J, Z, X which i need to outrun him. i even considered DA(CE) for quite a while, which sims almost as well as CURIE. i basically grossly overestimated how much UTE would bingo, and then spent a while trying to justify to myself that i should play it, and then decided it was worth the risk. i was totally wrong. -9.5 #strategylarge