My thinking here was that RIDIC blocks the board for bingos completely and after any IRIDIC play I was highly likely to follow up with a bingo of my own. But something like 12B CIRL also blocks the board nearly completely without allowing huge potential counterplay, and I completely spaced on K11 CRIT, though I'm not sure how smart that move is to actually play. (edit: K11 CRIT was not actually available to me thanks to my AUGITES annotation error referenced earlier) #strategymedium
I had the right idea by passing up D1 QUAKY as I will likely draw a play there next turn. 1H NARKY is a sligtly better version of this because I have a 9/29 chance of picking an A or an O for QUAD/QUOD as opposed to only a 6/26 chance of picking an A or an E for QUAY/QUEY. #visionsmall
My thinking here was that by playing SEEM down low instead of EMEUTE the odds were good that if Ayo bingoed, it would still be on row 3 or 5 yielding strong counterplay. the other play I strongly considered was 5E MEE, but a SMEE bingo after that could be a disaster, especially because it scores 11 fewer points than SEEM. Quackle calls for 3B EMEUTE, which I also thought about; I suppose I can withstand most of the responses to that too, and the somewhat bingo-prone unseen tiles combine well with the S, so I get EFS bingos a lot. Thinking this is probably at least a #strategysmall 6:56
tough endgame. I have to block MELODIA (and EARLDOM which I missed). Didn't see any way to do this and save two outs, but NOM(O)I does it. MORI(O)N is very gutsy and also leaves outs. -10 #endgamelarge
i missed reticule... sigh. yeah, i was definitely not feeling it at all this afternoon :( i'm not surprised i missed it. i don't think i miss it earlier in the tourney. but then again, this just shows me how much i need to study. that way even if i'm having a bad day, the words just come automatically. #knowledgelarge
quackle really thinks i should play through this rack. i didn't spot O4 LARDER, that seems ok enough, i suppose. or I10 REAR? gross choices here. -7 #strategymedium
now, the same idea is potentially completely ridiculous and bad. I have to give up here and play JETES or JEES, the latter of which I missed. This is the problem with playing B(A)D last turn. One of the reasons is that I will have K column plays to score next turn, and I should play those. But I forwent those last turn. So it's sort of a paradox, and very human to try and continue in the same vein as last turn. But now, I'm sacrificing far more by not taking the points. This play is very commital and I'm basically deciding to never play on the K column unless Lou plays a bingo elsewhere or plays on the 15 row. Quackle hates this because it mainly assumes I will use the K column when I miss. The point is that when I miss, I'm more and more screwed by not scoring. #strategymedium
At the time, I was really conflicted about this play. I saw that if Alec hit a big -IC word at 2B, I was in a lot of trouble, but I also figured I was substantially more likely to hit the spot. I also considered KOINE at H1, which wins the sim. -2 #strategysmall
Considered AMINE and AMINIC but missed LIMACINE, which Quackle prefers; unlike AMINE, it doesn't hook/give up bingos, and it scores as much as I can get. #findingsmall 10:53
i chickened out on the far better P(A)NFUL. i didn't want to risk it on a word i wasn't totally sure of, but i need to be better at the words. -17 #knowledgelarge. also, N7 VULN > FLAP because HUMERAL takes an S. i completely had forgotten about this.
he played CRAB too quickly. he has a bingo there a lot of the time, but he probably has it even if i block CRAB. AG bingoes more often, but i wanted to open an additional lane.. so i don't know. if we give him a leave of ATS? for giggles, my move rises up a little higher, but G13 OD is at the top, i guess opening another triple for me to use or something. not a good position for me, but this is all a result of VIM. i'm going to be down my next move unless i bingo back. -0.5 #strategysmall
I think I missed 3B NA(I)F. That seems good here as well, since I am not sure of SEPTORIAS, so a lot of the value of OF decreases if I choose not to play SEPTORIAS. #knowledgesmall
OOF is right. at least i didnt throw away a win by missing 10G E(M)OTICON. i saw N10 COOTI(E) but thought i could still make up spread if i bingoed next turn #findingsaddest #strategysaddest
I got the endgame wrong too. I had my tracking as if he had CJ, so I thought I was J-sticking him. If I had tracked AJ, I would have realized I can't stop him from going out, so the best play I would have generated would have been A4 (C)ICALA forcing him to play out with B11 JA(G). #endgamelarge
i was in a bad mental state after losing the first game, and i know this affects me. FL(O)P is the equity play here. I think when I'm tilting, I just make weird bad plays, either adjusting to score too much or to leave too much, depending on how worried I am. I may have overcompensated here, thinking i better take the extra 5 points and keep MNT instead of EMNT (i even remember thinking the E is not worth 5 points, so take the 5 points, but as is common for me when I'm playing unwell, I don't pay attention to defense at all -- PELF gives up 4 more pts on average than FL(O)P). -3 #strategysmall
I missed the MOHO hook this turn. I would have probably played YUM there, keeping the board full of S hooks. MY is also okay, but YUM bingoes far more. #visionsmall
No floating B for BANDPASS or PASSBAND. That would have been a nice way to get my psyche up. I guess I7 ASP is fine despite the hooks it gives up. I guess Quackle wants that volatility when I'm down quite a bit already. Not to mention my spread is awful. #strategysmall
14M BYS for sure. I was unsure of SEPTORIAS, which is annoying. I wanted to block RELAND. This is -21. The best non-BYS play is the crazy J13 (T)OR for 5. #endgamelarge
I thought the S was pretty valuable on this board but Quackle is saying to play L9 (T)EAMS. J12 A(U)F is also worth considering, but her last few plays seem kinda fishy. #strategysmall
YET or YELD E9 win the sim easily. It's possible that I missed the Y hook on OGEE, but maybe it didn't seem right to fish at this score. E5 does seem like a good thing to block, but apparently not worth breaking up the rack over. Either #strategymedium or #visionmedium (-6)
Suuuuuper low on time at this point, didnt really look at what was left in the bag, and didn't want to lose to a trip-trip. I need to play 6J OE. I3 UN(d)OES is pretty cool (I saw O10 UN(D)OES and didn't want to float an S, so it's sad that I didn't see it at I3). My play, horrifyingly, actually gives back a lot (opp's avg score goes up 4 compared to OE and 6 compared to UN(d)OES/UN(D)OES with random rack, up by 7 and 10 if I specify J, and up by 9 and 13 if I specify EIRST). Huge #strategysaddest
I really did not like any of my options and I thought there was a good chance Jim would play at H1 again allowing me to bingo through the floaters. D7 (ABID)ER is probably fine. #strategylarge
i chickened out on ICKER. that's by far the best play here. i just need to learn the words basically. i don't know how to learn 4s and 5s. i don't think Aerolith is the best way for short words. -11. i also considered C12 MM but it seemed too weak, it sims better than my play though. #knowledgelarge
ugh i was so frustrated by JAUNTEd that i spent literally 9 minutes on this move. i spent a very long time trying to alternatively talk myself out of BESETTED*, talk myself into playing DEBT instead of bingoing, and then trying to find a better bingo than BESTEaD. then for about two minutes i started even doubting BESTEad was good. With about 12 minutes on my clock i said screw it and just played bestead. very frustrating, constantly losing to Joel. DEBT sims significantly better than BESTEaD, and BEDrEST is also a better bingo. -8.5 #strategylarge -- i didn't think he would leave the 3-3 open
I saw enough that FOX allowed REP, but didn't see that he had REM B13 as well. Being in time trouble isn't quite as bad as it seems, though still very costly. I spent most of the time on FIRMS, making sure that it was a solid option. -1 #endgamesmall #timemanagementmedium
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
interesting position, depending how I view his odd placement of BLITE. it could be something weird like a scoring rack where he wants too make two spots, or a K. most likely is probably an X. not really sure. it's hard to justify blocking the X bomb cause my plays there are pretty bad and leave the G column. I could also counter-setup with ZA/BA, which mmight actually be fine anyways. this play was a sort of counter-setup, keeping 12a possibilities and h1 possibilities. Q thinks it's way too big a sacrifice, that I should just play YA. i'll call this a #strategymedium
Not exactly a fan of this position either, but the fact that I just drew another A makes my miss of LOGAN look that much bigger. Since the X isn't that good of a tile on this board, it's probably better to just take the 2 more points with 9F (T)AX instead of trying to force the board open, even though I like open boards better against him. #strategymedium
Definitely questionable. I didn't like 5I MOTLIEr or MOTILEs, but I did not see 11G T(O)ILsOME, which is definitely safer knowing there's 3 Ss left, and Robin didn't seem to hesitate burning an S with DUNTS. #findinglarge