I think 3I WUD could have been done here to open up a 2nd lane. The extra points immediately were not worth it. Gotta love new themes sometimes, right? That's the beauty of Scrabble. #visionmeh
Very sad. I thought I had WAFTURE but realized I didn't. I was only 95% sur of WAFTER. I was probably on tilt and played this too fast. #KNOWLEDGESADDEST
oof. i chickened out on RETRACER, wrote it down but couldn't pull the trigger. ERR is still not right if retracer was phony, maybe something at 12 A like CARET/CERATE/CREATE. -38 #knowledgelarge
O1 BEAU is best, but again, I don't know the hooks to pAtHOGEN. #knowledgelarge but there are also better plays that I did know, like G4 UPO and 3D UVEA. I would like them more if they didn't kill the row 3 lane....
Incredible. Not only did I not know 14J QuIST, but I also chickened out of putting the S on JETSOM and didn't think to play 14J WRIST. This move is so bad that I'm tagging it with multiple mistakes. #knowledgelarge #knowledgelarge #visionlarge
In a do-over, I might go with YOGA instead of YAGER for only 4 less. Considering I average 9 more next turn at a 4 point sacrifice this turn and my bingo % goes up after YOGA, it seems that YOGA is a little better. #strategysmall
maybe TO(C)KED (which I doubted) to induce a challenge. I realized shortly after playing this that LO(C)KET might actually be better as I retain the last D which goes a bit better with the pool and board. #tacticssmall
this is an absolutely huge swing. I'm a favourite if I don't challenge, but I was completely tilted at this point and I didn't want him to be winning. It seemed almost inconceivable that this would be a word. #knowledgelarge
update: ONIE did not block a lot of bings
Wanted to do HUB to set up the Z plays underneath but thought the math didn't work out. Still, I should be playing more romantically than this. And the math does work out. #tacticssaddest
9H (ZA)G actually sims best here. Really cool fish. I was unsure of THANGS and would rather have played THANGS or (T)HANG over this. #strategylarge #knowledgesaddest
N9 ICE #endgamesad
I went over time so we tied with the scores that we had (376-376). There was no recount (I would have lost by 1 point had there been one).
I did not see B6 (ZOO)N(A)L in this position, which appears to be worth it over exchanging since I do still retain a hook to ONES. If I'm going to exchange, I definitely want to keep the C for CONES. Keeping CR isn't a bad option either with the synergy those letters have. #visionmedium
I totally spaced that narco was good...until later. PREY G8 is best. SIm still likes arco better than narco but prey sims 5 poitns better
#Strategymedium #knowledgesaddest
Hm. I saw CAPRIC but didn't like how it took out lanes in ENROBERS. It is an 11 pt sacrifice but it doesn't sim that far behind CAPRIC. #strategysmall?
This is just not a good play. CLUNG does not take an S since it's past tense, and if I'm going to open a little bit without giving back significant points to Robert, and if I'm not going to spot 5E (B)LUM(I)NG, I should do 3B MUL(I)NG to try to go for the X myself since Robert doesn't have it after AR. #visionmedium
i didnt see 4C Q(AT), thought i was Q stuck, so i did this and didnt think oppo could go out #endgamesaddest. Funny thing is, I win by 1 after AMMONO, except I'm a genius and i decided to challenge it before confirming the score. the only reason i won was because my oppo went over time
I kept the A here to perserve the chances of drawing something that hooks AG going down on column M. A better idea is probably just QI, going for ARIETTA/ATRETIC/ITERATE/INTREAT/ARTISTE, but IT is ok too. #tacticssmall
bad! by far the best play is the excellent 11J AMUCK. i have the case S, score 28 pts, and go for letters like the Z to score a lot with. i thought of AMUCKS/AMUCK on my rack, but didn't quite look hard enough. LUCK is very weak and is the type of game-losing play i make way too often. the fact that it takes a Y makes it even worse. 9J MUCK is ok if i don't think of AMUCK. -15.5 #strategylarge #findinglarge
CP likes this, saying it wins 95%, but it's surely dependent on full confidence in CASTLINGS. Given that I did not have that confidence, a great option is 11D VOW/VAW, setting up SOZ/SAZ to follow up in the endgame, also winning 95% because the bingos Bradley does get down score so much less. Unfortunately, I burned a huge amount of time grappling with this position and somehow still didn't generate VOW/VAW, leaving me vulnerable to time pressure on my next move. #strategysmall #timelarge
Massive blunder. I need to play H1 HUGS here. I thought ING bingos were dead after this, but NUKE is a word. Now I have that hanging over me for the rest of the game. #strategysaddest
Very panicky. I was low on time and did not realize that triple-triples were unlikely with this pool. D1 LATRINE is fine. On the other hand, Moiz was very low on time and making a drawn out endgame will be favorable. #strategysaddest
i was honestly going for the extra turnover here instead of just playing DURN. i hate doing things like that, but i realized it may be hard for me to win if he draws the blank. should i just keep grooming my leave instead? because quackle hates my play. -9.5 #strategylarge
I was not a fan of fishing while I'm up by enough since I can withstand a bingo with the INKERS hook. A better idea is to play B12 ONCE, which I did not spot and looks better. #visionmedium
such an insane bingo available here. Can you find it? This is probably worse than MAY L11 because although I block myself with MAY, I also give him a lot less to work with, and I have the blank, so I don't really need to leave everything open. #tacticssmall #findingmedium #knowledgemedium
Quackle likes 11E TREYS to score 10 more and restrict the 11 row, but I'm not so sure - between row 11 and SAL I'm pretty likely to bingo with EIRS after NUTSY. #strategysmall if anything.
i can smell that X setup from a mile away, Josh. YACK is the obvious play here, but when you infer an X, 10D DAM goes up to the top. there is a lot more C-K synergy so CAM is not right here. -5.5 #tacticsmedium
I didn't have much time here and decided I just needed to play fast and I missed K3 (G)OETY. I also wasn't sure of 12H (C)OUTHY. #timesaddest #knowledgesaddest
thought about 4b HAVE for spread cause i Have the case Ss, but there is still a blank out and it just opens the board more. SHAVE is more standard than this, but it also takes NNNRRRR from the pool (mainly just the R is the worry) so he hits the spot more than I do. it's pretty close in a sim, but SHAVE still does better #tacticssmall a lot of that is bingo% though, which isn't very important here
Scored as 36. QANAT has the best equity, but the best play is O3 VALONIA, which blocks high-scoring bingos on columns N and O. Also, I might as well play my I off, given that six more I's are unseen. #strategymedium
LIBEL 11I is actually simming better; i suppose there's the dangerous hotspot i'm creating, plus it's relatively easy for him to score a bunch at 11K as well with the right letters. -2 #strategysmall #finding
This bingos the most, but gives back too many points on row 13. 6L FEH is best even though it doesn't bingo as much because it sets up my S. #strategysad
Bad mistake! I was only 80% sure N10 MUTTS was spelled like that and I thought this was okay, but literally anything holding Z and leaving 8L open is better. #knowledgesaddest #strategysaddest
was 90% sure of TURTLER, which wasn't enough apparently. Really bad confidence at this point. This could theoretically lose to something like BROADAX J7 and I don't draw a vowel. #knowledgesaddest
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.
Bad move. 7E WROTE is fine, despite how horrible the G is, two G's isn't much worse and it doesn't give back as much. Also points. I missed WROTE, too equity-minded
#findingmedium
#tacticsmedium
i spent a very long time on this move before finally deciding to give up and try to cut spread. 14I OY is the obvious equity play here, and much of the time it's just met with another big comeback. i was up around 1000 spread and 3 games on the rest of the field, so the only way to lose the tournament is to lose 3 games by a combined 500 spread points. now that it looks like i'm going to get blown out here, i wanted to try to stem the bleeding and keep scoring tiles. #strategysmall