I intentionally did not go out with 13C sENN(IT) knowing he had 3 seconds left on his clock and was going to lose 10 points accordingly. D8 N(AB)Es would have been better than my move to prevent his highest scoring out play. #endgamesmall
wow this is awful! I def overestimated EEESX and underestimated EIQ. Us are out, I have QI as backup, and QUIN? plays at the bottom right can hit hard. M1 EXES looks like the play here. I also didn't realize K6 QI is better than this cause I set up EXES next turn for 51!! well worth the 2 point sacrifice, but EXES still kills that in a sim #tacticslarge
It doesn't look like there's any out in 2 that blocks row 15, but 14G T(E)NOR is best threatening C12 J(O)UR to go out and G3 J(E)U once it gets blocked. #endgamesaddest
B3 BUNKIE is better; I didn't know the word. The pool is strong, and BUNKIE unloads all my bad tiles while scoring only one point fewer. #knowledgesmall
it was at this point that I knew I would lose the game. I somehow missed 7F HOYA, which despite sucking, is far and away the best shot I have. #findingsmall
I saw 4K AD(O) and figured N1 AM was better because 2 more points but I probably need that lane. This is, ofc, because I missed all possible bingos #knowledgesaddest #tacticssad
I kinda like giving so little back with TORN, but QUIN may just be fine. QUINT plays will give me hooks. There's also NOR which gives even less back, the I and M hooks aren't really dangerous. Looks like a better version of TORN, I can get some INN plays too. I often feel compelled in these games to give back no hooks at all, but that doesn't mean TORN is the most defensive play. QUIN is fine for offence. #tacticssmall
disappointing move. i wrote down LINTELED on my scoresheet and decided to not pull the trigger on it, even though i certainly liked it. no reason to chicken out on this. also DENTIL is 4 more. -41.5 #knowledgelarge
giving him an inference of ES here. i didn't see PYXIDIA, but i thought PARDI had some troll value since he knew i had the X. obviously PYXIDIA is the play. sheesh. -35.5 #findinglarge
Column A may be my best way of coming back, and I should not block it. All the best plays are exchanges: -AIII, -IIIO, -III, -AIIIO, -II.... #strategymedium
I didn't see FETE in this spot, but I still liked keeping my other E for the GEMOTE hook to bingo. FETE would have still been a little better to score 8 more to dig for the blanks more. #visionmedium
looks like I13 FON is the play here, I missed SICKO. BNNT is quite a bit worse but not ridiculously so, the 7 points seems worth it. I liked making overlaps a bit harder though, but a sim says that's only a minor difference. #visionsmall
this is admittedly a bit of a weird move. i'm not up by that much and i have the dreaded Q, but at least i have a U to go with it -- yet i can't really play it somewhere that makes sense. NUCHA does sim best, keeping the U open, drawing for an I for QI, or maybe some other synergistic tiles. tough move. RANCH J1 seems to sim best as keeping QU is probably for the best despite the point sacrifice. -1.5 #tacticssmall
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
I saw AAEOPZ and was hoping the last tile would be a T for ZAPATEO. But I'm glad I didn't draw ZAPATEO since there would not have been a home for it. Now then: I think this is better than the 9C placement as it is more defensive. ZOEA would have been a little better just because I keep 1 less vowel. #findingsmall
Shitty attempt at blocking O6 bingos. I did not think about the IER, IES, IED bingos that still fit after N10 GRE(Y). I was considering N8 TIGER(Y) but I thought that gave too many O7 possibilities back. N8 TIGER(Y) is slightly better than this at blocking bingos. Blocking the ELKS hook seemed forced to me at the time, but 15M GUE is best. #STRATEGYSADDEST
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 had no time here and sort of gave up. I probably should've played 5A (AW)K to make it at least a bit harder to block possible bingos at 14F and 15A. #timesaddest
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
interesting spot number 1.
I never considered Q(A)T C13, but that and QU(A) are incredibly close in a sim. Q(A)T definitely bingos more, though is a bit less defensive than QU(A). However, considering Matthew's last play was forced, I should be less worried about scoring and bingo defense. Q(A)T is superior to QU(A) in this context. SQU(A)T was also considered, as it scores well and doesn't eat into my bingo chances too much, and I can bingo later anyway when better lanes are possibly open. Other than that, P(A)R, P(A)T, T(A)P, R(A)P, P(A) and PR(A)Y are also options here, which I didn't consider all of, but they are all pretty similar. I decided that my Q bingos weren't likely enough and high-scoring enough to justify scoring around 15 less immediately. Quackle agrees. #findingsmall
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
still need to improve at defense. D4 QI gives up way fewer points even though it scores 2 less. i can also draw stuff like hoplites or bingos to the S. i think i was trying to block the S lane partially, but that's not worth sacrificing easy triple pts. -6 #strategymedium
I decided FU(G) was such a weird play that it had to be a setup an overwhelming majority of the time. I did a bunch of estimations here and determined that this was barely worth playing if his play was a setup 80% of the time. However, what I failed to analyze was that this does block the hardest-hitting X plays, but gives back easy -AX plays in return which score around 40 points, so I'm not actually reducing Noah's average score by nearly as much as I thought I was. My other thought here was YO(K). I thought his range was specific enough now that the 14K spot would be mine a lot and that I could draw YO(K)ES or even something better a lot of the time. On paper I average well after BUR(F)I(s), but not nearly enough. There are plays that average more immediately as well, such as the bingo-seeking plays of M7 BUY and BUOY. BUR(F)I(s) should edge those out pretty convincingly in the turns after next, though. Even when I specify OUX as a partial rack leave, BUR(F)I(s) performs remarkably worse than YO(K). And unfortunately, just like Noah, I missed a cool disconnected play that solves most of my problems and keeps the game much closer. 13G (F)U(s)IB(L)Y is the way to go here. It blocks any setup potential better than any other candidate play and scores well. It does block the 14J spot which I still thought was a good asset, but that's OK. I've already tried to draw into a big play there and failed, no need to put all my eggs in one basket with the score so close. A ton of time and thought went into this play, and it's a glaring error. Tunnel visioning into not seeing that this didn't rid the board of big X plays like I wanted it to, as well as setting myself up for only one good outcome. #strategylarge #findinglarge
Missed the sweet (F)O(D)GEL. I am not in a good position, but any board opening play I can make will just get outrun too easily. FODGEL is a better version of this plsy. #visionmedium
Rd 3 Philly virtual 5-16-2021. Missed DEGAGE which is better for turnover. Maybe GEODE should have been it if I'm gonna miss DEGAGE. This just makes it easy for him to parallel. #findinglarge
There are some bingos through the O that I have to block, but M6 FA is apparently better. I think we forgot to add the +5 for this challenge during the game. #endgamesaddest
I'm shocked at how well this play sims despite it being poor on equity. Even so, I think I need to be more desperate by doing 2M WA(B). It only plays 2 tiles just like ROW does, but it makes a much higher scoring threat on Row 1. I'd do WAB in a do-over. I didn't see A8 (C)UBOID, but I really needed Column A open since any vowel can go after the C. #findingsmall
That 3 Rs rack was very annoying to start. I unfortunately did not see G2 ARmOUR(E)R, and C8 (A)URORA was a much better play if I'm gonna miss the bingo. #findingbad
js: COIN at 7H is kinda sneaky cd: this is it, i finally lose. gg man. i should see 7H COIN, which is clearly much better, but i was starting to have tunnel vision. -11.5 #findinglarge
D1 CHAtEAU and D1 CHApEAU. Not me looking for a V to play VAUCH, not spotting it in AVIATOR, and missing every bingo ever while i was at it, too #knowledgesaddest